Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

The 50 Greatest Days in History: The Prophetic
Significance of Passover and Shavuot

About 3,500 years ago: There was exactly 50 days between the Passover in Egypt to when Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai (Shavuot).

About 2,000 years ago: There was exactly 50 days between the Passover in Jerusalem when Yeshua rose again to the day of Pentecost (Shavuot).

These two parallel events in Israelite history forever changed the world. Both events took place within the same 50-day period between Passover and Shavuot (Pentecost).

"This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you" (Exodus 12:2).

In all of Israel's history there is no span more important than the season of Passover to Shavuot. As the Bible states, it is our beginning.

As definitely as YEHOVAH God created the heavens and the earth with the stellar declaration, "Let there be light," so YEHOVAH God created a beginning for Israel in her exodus from Egypt with signs and wonders. Seven weeks later (50 days) YEHOVAH gathered this young nation at the foot of Mount Sinai and audibly declared to them the Ten Commandments (Words).

This seminal experience established the prophetic setting for the 50 Greatest Days in history when the Messiah bore the sins of the world as the Passover Lamb. The Messiah expressed it clearly when he sat down to celebrate his last meal with his disciples.

Then he said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer" (Luke 22:15, NKJV). However, this was not to be since he died hours before the Passover meal.

He then made his inaugural statement as he lifted the cup of wine saying, "this cup is the new Covenant in my blood."

But it was his resurrection on "Yom Habikurim" (first fruits) that began the 50-day countdown to the outpouring of the holy spirit on Shavuot (also known as Pentecost). These same 50 days are described in the Torah, "You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain" (Deuteronomy 16:9). From the moment the Messiah rose from the dead "the sickle was put to the grain." It was "T-minus 50 days and counting!"

When YEHOVAH God commanded Israel to keep the Feasts (Exodus 23:17), He was requiring more than remembrance or re-enactment. These holy days were Divine appointments! He established a calendar punctuated with special dates, times and seasons filled with prophetic significance.

YEHOVAH was training us as a nation "to be there" -- a witness to His faithfulness and the fulfillment of His promised Messiah.

There were huge crowds of observant Israelites present to see the Messiah crucified during the festival of Passover.

YEHOVAH God set a prophetic stage for the Messiah to die as the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" on Passover and his resurrection on Yom Habikkurim (First Fruits).

Consequently, 500 witnesses saw him between Passover and Shavuot (Pentecost).

As the Bible commands us to count the 50 days between Yom Habikkurim (the day of the resurrection) and Shavuot, the Messiah commanded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem during these days of "counting the omer" (50 days), until they saw the promise of the holy spirit.

During those 50 days only the most devout and the most curious Israelites made the pilgrimage to the holy city. Jerusalem was a whirlwind of controversy as widespread rumors and unbridled speculations of a risen Messiah completely seized both the religion and the politics of the day. Some accused Yeshua's disciples of stealing his body. Many said that this Messiah had ascended into Heaven from the Mount of Olives accompanied by angelic beings.

For nearly the first 40 days of counting the omer it appeared his followers had all but disappeared. They seemed scattered to the four winds! Some went fishing and many had returned to their normative existence as their Messianic hopes were dashed to pieces like broken pottery.

But during the last 10 days before Shavuot, an astonishing transformation took place in his followers. Instead of the air of defeat and scattering, they were "continually in the Temple," unashamed, enthusiastically praying, and exhibiting an awesome sense of expectation.

As the early morning service in the Temple was ending, they finished reading the Torah portions in Exodus 19 and 20 revealing the wonders of Sinai.

The Torah portion read that morning was like a prophetic trumpet call:

"Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire...and the whole mountain quaked greatly" (Exodus 19:16-19, NKJV).

The attention of these devout Israelites would soon be riveted to events in the Temple courtyard (Acts 2). But first, they had to read the Haftarah portion that accompanied the Torah reading for Shavuot. All turned their attention to the prophet Ezekiel (chapter 1) as he proclaimed his "Whirlwind Vision."

"And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north...And I heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, in their going was the sound of tumult, like the sound of an army" (Ezekiel 1:4, 24).

As the crowds exited the Temple this Shavuot morning 2,000 years ago, these powerful prophet pictures were fresh in their minds. YEHOVAH's Word validated, by the mouth of two witnesses (Moses and Ezekiel), the spectacle of Yeshua's followers manifesting the wonders of Sinai from the book of Exodus and of the haftarah portion from Ezekiel.

The sounds of a mighty rushing wind seemed to pour out of the Temple itself, first descending from the Holy of Holies in heaven, and exploding downward into the Holy of Holies on earth. Then, just as quickly, it poured out through the thick torn curtain that seemed to be waiting for this moment. Suddenly, as if from the Torah and the Prophets' scrolls themselves, there stood cloven tongues of fire upon the heads of the disciples as they declared, in a multitude of languages, the glories of YEHOVAH God!

It is no coincidence that YEHOVAH God poured out His spirit on those faithful men and women who were waiting in the Temple courts. They were required to be there by Divine decree, by Divine appointment!

Because of the requirement to be present, the tremendous story of Acts chapter 2 unfolds, "...and they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews [Judahites] devout men, from every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5). Because they were devout Judahite men they were present and became witnesses of YEHOVAH's prophetic purposes. They were the first to taste the "first fruits of the spirit" and the first to proclaim the good news of the Messiah to the 3,000 Judahite souls waiting in the Temple courts to receive him. Because it was Shavuot and because they were required "to be there!" It was the most important 50 days in history since YEHOVAH God closed the Garden of Eden to mankind.

To appreciate the 50-day period even more, read Leviticus 23, Luke chapters 22, 23 and 24, along with Acts chapters 1 and 2. These five chapters of the New Covenant scriptures form a chronology of the 50 days between Passover and Shavuot (Pentecost).

Speaking of 50...

Periods of seven seem important in YEHOVAH's prophetic timetable. In seven days YEHOVAH God re-created the earth (Genesis 2). On the seventh day, YEHOVAH rested. Later YEHOVAH God gave the Law through Moses and commanded us to rest on the seventh day of the (lunar) week, the Sabbath, and to keep it holy (Leviticus 23). In our agricultural cycle of years, the land was to go untilled and unplanted every seventh year to give the land a Sabbath rest. YEHOVAH extended the pattern of sevens in our agricultural year to seven periods of seven years (49 years), followed by the Year of Jubilee (50th year) when all debts would be removed. Now that's deliverance!

Soon, the clock of time will strike 2,000 years since the Messiah's resurrection from the dead. Soon the trumpet, a shofar in Zion, will herald the clarion call of YEHOVAH God and the Messiah to all nations.

May we be found as faithful in our day as the devout Judahites of Acts chapter two. May we feel that God-breathed necessity "to be there" for all of His divine appointments in our lives. And may we be as fortunate as they were to behold His prophetic handiwork when YEHOVAH God's feet stand once again on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:9).