Leviticus 23:15-16 ‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord.
On a Gregorian calendar, we are in the year of 2024, the holiday of Shavuot/Feast of Weeks/Pentecost begins at sunset on Tuesday, June 11th. The God Appointed holiday ends at sunset Thursday, June 13th.
The Feast takes place in the month of Sivan on the 6th and 7th of a Hebrew calendar. This is the Hebrew year 5784 on the traditional lunar calendar.
On the solar Essene calendar, Shavuot/Feast of Weeks/Pentecost began on what was Sunday, Sivan 15th, 5949 or June 2nd, 2024. Yes, the Counting of the Omer is calculated differently by the Essenes as compared to how the Pharisees marked time.
As the Essenes mark time, this Biblical year which began in the Spring of 2024 is a Sabbatical or a Shemitah. Next year is a Jubilee, arguably a year the Lord Jesus could return for his bride, the church.
Only God the Father knows what time it truly is. And we wonder why no one knows the day or the hour…
Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they (apostles) were all together in one place.
Arguably, it was the year 33 AD. Nation Israel was celebrating and living the holiday. Jewish men had been coming to the Jerusalem for over 1,500 years per God’s instruction for Shavuot (Exodus 23:14-17) since the time of Moses. Shavuot is one of the three holidays where Jewish men are required to come to Jerusalem. The men were to make their presentation and sacrifice before God at the Temple.
Pentecost: In the Greek New Testament, Shavuot (Hebrew) is translated as Pentekoste (Greek). Per Strong’s Concordance, it means: the fiftieth day; the second of the three great Jewish feasts, celebrated at Jerusalem yearly, the seventh week after the Passover, in grateful recognition of the completed harvest. We have transliterated the word to Pentecost (English).
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Tongues or γλῶσσα/glóssa in the original Greek language. This is the word which is used for the anatomical feature inside one’s mouth. Stick out your tongue.
It is also the term which is translated as language. What language or tongue do you speak?
The text confirms these “tongues” were not babbling, unintelligible, nonsensical jargon we see from our 21st century televangelists. These were different languages.
Acts 2:6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.
Acts 2:8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?
Language or διάλεκτος/dialektos in the Greek. The word is translated as speech or language.
There were people from all around the known world at that time. Many people with many different languages. And yet, they were all able to understand what was being said in their native language or tongue.
Acts 2:9-11 Parthians and Medes and Elamites (modern day Iran and Iraq) and residents of Mesopotamia (Iraq), Judea (Israel) and Cappadocia (Turkey), Pontus (northern Turkey) and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia (Turkey), Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome (Italy), both Jews and proselytes, Cretans (island of Crete) and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
The miracle was all these people heard the good news of Jesus in their native language and dialect. There was no confusion. There was clear, understood communication. God the Holy Spirit had no problem overcoming the language judgment on humanity at the Tower of Babel.
Acts 2:22-24 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it.
This is the beginning of the church, the body of Christ. And the good news of Jesus spread to all parts of the world.
