Passover to Pentecost – The Spring Feasts: When are they and how are they relevant today?
The Lord’s Holy Days, Feast Days, Jewish Feasts, Appointed Times, Mo’edim — whatever term you use, don’t miss these days! If you are seeking more intimacy in your walk with Yeshua, learning about, experiencing and keeping these feasts (including the Sabbath) will bring you not only into deeper intimacy with him, but Yehovah will shower you with new understanding, unexpected blessings, strengthened faith and fresh excitement daily. I highly recommend it!
Included here is a list of my blog posts about the Spring Feasts and a Biblical haggadah for Passover.
First of all, this quick reference guide shows the 2022 Hebrew and Gregorian dates, the Hebrew names, the purpose of the Feasts and Biblical instructions for observing them from a Messianic understanding.
Although for me the first time through the Feasts was more learning than experiencing, with each passing year, they grow in richness and revelation of Yeshua. In the following posts I’ve attempted to share some of those insights in the hopes that you will be encouraged to start or continue your pursuit of your own journey into intimacy with Him.
- Why celebrate all these Jewish holidays? Haven’t those been done away with?
- The Feasts of the Lord: Going Through the Motions
- The Spring Feasts: A Time to Remember, A Time to Anticipate
- Preparing Ourselves for the Spring Feasts – Part 1
- Preparing Ourselves for the Spring Feasts – Part 2
- Passover and Easter: What are You Celebrating?
- Messianic Passover Haggadah for use at home or in a group setting
- Learnings from Leaven
- Why Count the Omer? Part 1: The First 40 Days
- Why Count the Omer? Part 2: Nine Days of Prayer
- Why Count the Omer? Part 3: God’s Spirit Poured Out
- 2022 Omer Count Calendar
- Pentecost: 2000 Years Ago or 2022?
- The Day of Pentecost Guarantees Yehovah’s Promises
- Yeshua’s Ascension Brings a Double Portion on Pentecost
Why Count the Omer, Part 1: The First 40 Days
Counting the Omer – most are familiar with the culmination of the count, which is Pentecost, also called the Festival of Weeks. “Weeks” is taken from the Hebrew word “shavuot” and refers to the seven weeks that precede Pentecost. Leviticus 23:15 tells us to count the weeks between the Feast of First Fruits and Pentecost:
“From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks.”
Why Count the Omer? Part 2: Nine Days of Prayer
In Leviticus 23:15 God instructs us to count the seven weeks (49 days) that occur before the Day of Pentecost (the 50th day) also called the Festival of Weeks and Shavuot in Hebrew. But counting days with no explanation? Why would this be important to God and to us?
For the Israelites, it pertained mainly to their harvest cycle and offerings to be presented. For us living after the time of Yeshua, and the giving of the Holy Spirit to the disciples, we can see the spiritual implications of this count. We know that on the 50th day after Yeshua’s resurrection, something unimaginably wonderful happened: The pouring out of the Holy Spirit not only on the disciples, but on all those who come to faith in Yeshua as the Messiah! The implications of that day reverberate even stronger in these last of the last days. The 50th day is one I want to be prepared for every year. (more…)
Why Count the Omer? Part 3: God’s Spirit Poured Out
This 3-part blog series focuses on the Lord’s instruction in Leviticus 23:15 to count the seven weeks (49 days) that occur before the Day of Pentecost (the 50th day) also called the Festival of Weeks and Shavuot in Hebrew. For the Israelites, the count was about the harvest, thus the word “omer” which was a unit of measure used to count and track grain harvests. Yeshua taught us the spiritual meaning of “harvest” as those ready to receive the good news of the Messiah (Matt 9:37). That’s what the third phase of counting the omer is about.
In Parts 1 and 2, I laid out a three-phase structure for the 49-day count:
- The first 40 days
- Days 41-49
- The 50th day
The first two phases prepare us for what’s about to happen on the 50th day and beyond. (more…)
Messianic Sabbath 