Lesson 87 - Junior

Memory Verse

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse" (Malachi 3:10).

Notes

Feasts

The Lord told the Children of Israel that they should keep three feasts during the year, at which time all the men were required to appear before the Lord. The attendance of the women was voluntary, but many of them must have kept these feasts along with the men. No doubt they looked forward to the time when they could gather with God's people in fellowship and worship at these feasts to receive His blessing.

The first one was called the feast of the Passover, commemorating their deliverance from Egypt. The second, the feast of weeks, was in an acknowledgement of gratitude to the Giver of the harvest. It is believed it was also in remembrance of giving the Law, the spiritual food by which the soul is fed. "Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live" (Deuteronomy 8:3). The feast of tabernacles, or the ingathering, was the third one.

Pentecost

Since we have already studied about the feast of the Passover and will later study the feast of tabernacles, we will consider the second feast, the feast of weeks, or week of weeks, because they were to count seven weeks from the beginning of the harvest to determine its date. It is sometimes called the feast of the harvest for it was held at the end of the feast of harvest. It has still another name: the feast of Pentecost, since it was fifty days after the Passover. The word Pentecost is taken from the Greek word meaning fifty.

We have learned that on the day following the Passover Sabbath, the Children of Israel were to bring an offering of the grain " a sheaf offering " because it was the beginning of the harvest. This was called the offering of the firstfruits since it was offered unto the Lord first and it was no doubt barley, as barley ripened before wheat. In [LEV:23:14], we read that the people were not to eat any of the harvest " green ears, parched corn, nor bread " until this offering was given unto the Lord. The sheaf offering not only sanctified the harvest but made it certain. "For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy" (Romans 11:16).

At the end of the harvest of wheat, seven weeks after the offering of the sheaf of firstfruits, the Children of Israel were to bring unto the Lord, with the burnt offerings to consecrate themselves, two loaves of wheat bread also as firstfruits. At the feast of the Passover they could use only unleavened bread to symbolize the putting away of their sin and also to commemorate the bread they so hastily prepared as they left Egypt. but this time they were to use leavened bread in gratitude for their daily bread, which was leavened or made with yeast. This was called the feast of weeks.

Freewill Offerings

Not only were they to take the offerings that God required of them but He left a part of the offerings to the generosity of the individual. They were to give a freewill offering as God blessed them. Just as one rejoices today when he gives freely unto the Lord, whether it be time, talent, or substance, so this was a time of great rejoicing " praising and thanking God for the harvest He had given them. They also rejoiced in their freedom as they looked back to the time when they were slaves of the Egyptians. In the same manner we praise God when we think of the life we once lived, and how God has delivered us from being slaves of Satan. We rejoice in the freedom we now have.

They were also given a law (recorded in [LEV:19:9]) to leave the corners of the fields and the forgotten sheaves ([DEU:24:19]) for the poor, the widows, and the strangers. We remember that through this very law the Lord took care of Ruth. She was a Moabite woman, a stranger in the land, the daughter-in-law of Naomi. She chose to serve God rather than be with her own people, and the Lord provided for her through the gleanings that she gathered in the field of Boaz. God's people are still mindful of those in need physically, but especially in need spiritually. It was necessary to obey even in a small matter, lest their offering would not be accepted. God still requires obedience; and we read in [ISM:15:22], "To obey is better than sacrifice."

Day of Pentecost

The most wonderful of all the feasts of Pentecost ever held is known as the Day of Pentecost, recorded in The Acts, the second chapter. It was just fifty days the selfsame hour ("the third hour of the day"), after Christ was nailed to the cross at the Crucifixion.

Jesus, our Paschal Lamb, was slain at the time of the killing of the Passover. He was buried and arose again the third day to "become the firstfruits of them that slept" (I Corinthians 15:20).

Just before He ascended into Heaven, He told the disciples that they would be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days later ([ACT:1:5]). They did not know just when it would be, but they tarried in an upper room in Jerusalem as Jesus told them to do. The Acts, chapter 1, verse 14, tells us that they "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication." They were eager to spread the Gospel, but Jesus had told them to "wait for the promise of the Father" (Acts 1:4).

As the day of the feast drew nigh, no doubt they were filled with praises not only for what God had already done for them but also for the gift of the Holy Ghost that was promised them. They were in an upper room in one accord, and suddenly there came a sound from Heaven like a mighty wind that filled the house. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

In the multitudes that gathered in the city for the feast were men of many different countries. These men heard, each in his own language, the disciples speak the wonderful works of God. Naturally they were amazed and wondered about it; but Peter, being filled with the power of the Holy Ghost, began to preach to them. He told them that it was the fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel. As he preached Jesus to them, they were convicted of their sins, and three thousand were saved that day. What a different Peter from the one who denied his Lord a few weeks before!

Promised to Us

Peter included the saints of today when he said that the gift of the Holy Ghost is promised to "all that are afar off, even s many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:39). It is just as important today for God's people to receive the power of the Holy Ghost as it was for the disciples to receive it.

Like all the promises of God, one must meet His conditions in order to receive the power. His disciples were saved and walked with Jesus more than three years. Later He prayed to the Father for them: "Sanctify them through thy truth: they word is truth" (John 17:17). After that they were told to tarry for the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

In like manner today, one must be prepared to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. A person must not only be saved but also sanctified, a second definite work of grace. When one is saved his sins are washed away. The heart is cleansed by the Blood through sanctification. Then one can expect the Third Person of the Trinity to come in and dwell in his heart.

It is the most wonderful experience a person can have. It is worth every effort and every consecration, for it not only gives one power for service but also makes him ready for Jesus' coming. It is given with the same evidence today as it was on the Day of Pentecost -" that of speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance " and without that evidence one cannot claim to have the baptism.

In salvation one receives some of the Spirit of God, in sanctification a little more, and in the baptism of the Holy Ghost he is filled to overflowing. A blessing more than he can contain is poured out. It has been said, "In sanctification you have the witness of the Spirit, the breathing of the Holy Ghost upon you; but in the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the power comes down into your inmost being in floods of Living Water."

Our Lesson

God's children today do not wait until a feast day, nor just three times a year to present themselves to Him. They make their consecrations daily unto the Lord. They give their firstfruits, not only tithes -" the one-tenth that belongs to God -" but tributes of freewill offerings, as God prospers them. They not only give of that which they earn but they give of time, of talent, of material, that like the sheaf offering, it will sanctify the whole of their lives. "Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase" (Proverbs 3:9).

Questions

1. How many times a year were they to present themselves to the Lord?

2. Give two other names for the feast of Pentecost.

3. What did it commemorate?

4. How was the Day of Pentecost different from the other feasts of Pentecost?

5. What did the disciples receive that day, that is also promised to us?

6. Who was the firstfruits of them that slept?

7. How can we give our firstfruits?