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Pentecost: Shavuot:
The Feast of First Fruits.

Thou art My Son, This Day have I begotten Thee.

This Day was the Birth of Christ Jesus, God's First Fruit and Only Begotten Son.
And on this day, God brought forth His First Fruit children with the Birth of His Ecclesia/Church.
 

There have been in the past, and are now today, Christian and Messianic scholars of history and scripture that have many controversies with the Roman Church.  Just one of the controversy's concerns December the 25th.  This day was decreed by the political and spiritual authority of Rome and the Roman Church, to be Christmas, the birthday of Jesus Christ.  The following is a well known historical fact, for that day of December the 25th, within the Julian calendar, was Pagan Roman's festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the birthday of the Unconquered Sun that celebrated the Roman sun god Jupiter with other cultic deities, such as Apollo and Diana.  However, the Church at Rome, having prostituted herself with the power of political Rome, covered over the inconvenient historical pagan holiday, with her menstruous napkin of soiled authority, and conveniently sanitized the dark hole of Rome's many gods with Christianity.  The Law and the events of time were changed to suit the mingled politics of Rome with the harlotry of the Roman Church.  The prince of darkness continues to remain hidden within the whirlpool hole of confusions, until he opens the pit and the Babylonian head of evil is once again established for a short period of time. (See Revelation 9 verse 1 thru 3.)

For the many diligent students of the Word of God, we posit for your edification, that Yahweh God had previously appointed in time, the one specific Feast day of  Shavuot/ Pentecost, to be for the birth of His only Begotten Son.  The Lord Jesus Christ, was born of the seed of Woman/Ishshah, to be the incarnate Son of Man, through the Word of the Holy Spirit of the only Lord Yahweh God Almighty.  It would appear that the advent of that one specific day in the Jewish Calendar of months, has been in the light all of this time, but our eyes of proud flesh have been blinded through Satanic deception to God's Promised Salvation day of rejoicing

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. (See Mounce Luke 1 verse 26 thru 28.)

To remove some of the confusion with the Almighty's creation of time, we need to understand that God set the days of the earth in lunar time.  Up until the days of King Hezekiah and prior to the Babylonian era the Almighty God instituted 12 months in the biblical year of 360 days, in which 4 months had been given names, Abib, Ziv, Ethanim and Cheshvan also called Bul Except for the 1st Month of Abib, the rest of the Jewish months were generally known or called by their numerical position in the Jew's calendar year, such as the second month, even though the second month had a secondary name of Ziv.  Likewise the seventh month had the secondary name of Ethanim.  The days of the week were all sequentially numbered in Hebrew.  As you know, the simple order, began with the 1st day of the week until the 7th day, with only the 7th day having  a special name of the Sabbath, Yahweh God's assigned  day of rest. 

Now let us look to the significance of 2 timing events in history and consider how they have altered time.  The first is when at the command of the Lord, Israel smote the nations of the  kings of the Amorites and the 5 kings with them.  (See Joshua 10 verse 12 thru 14.) Is it not written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and did not go down about a day. If the sun stood still for about a day then the sun would have ceased to move in the heavens for about a 24 hour period, therefore measured time would haven been altered  accordingly.

The second time occurred in the latter days of king Hezekiah's life.  It is declared in Scripture that Hezekiah lived his life according to the directions of the Lord, and the Lord was well pleased with Hezekiah.. (See 2nd Kings 18 verse 3 thru 5.) The Lord Yahweh blessed Hezekiah according to Hezekiah's goodness, but nevertheless the days came when Hezekiah would be struck down by the infected sickness of a boil, and the prophet Isaiah told Hezekiah that he would would die.  (See 2nd Kings 20 verse 3 thru 5.) Hezekiah wept in prayer to Yahweh God, and Yahweh hearing Hezekiah's prayer, sent Isaiah to Hezekiah to tell him the Word of the Lord and that He would heal Hezekiah. (See 2nd Kings 20 verse 4 thru 6.) The prophet Isaiah told king Hezekiah that he could choose a sign in a sundial to proof that the Lord God would heal him.  Hezekiah chose that the sundial would go backward 15 degrees rather than to go 15 degrees forward.  Almighty God moved the sundial 15 degrees backward and backed up time accordingly.  15 years would be added to Hezekiah's life, but  there would be sever consequences.  A wicked son, named Manasseh, would be born during the extend life time of Hezekiah, and would reign 55 years.  (See 2nd Kings 21 verse 1 thru 2.) Lunar earth time had been changed in accordance with the earth's orbital expansion around the sun. 

After Hezekiah died it was about  85 years later that the Eternal God would sell the corrupted Jews into Babylonian captivity.  Following the Jews captivity in Babylon their now corrupted lunar calendar would be changed with the months of the year now renamed and in accordance with the recalculated Babylonian lunar months.   

In the present Jewish calendar, there are 5 Babylonian named months found in the Septuagint; Nisan, Sivan, Elul, Kislev (Casleu), and Adar, but they were generally qualified with a numerical month associated with Israel's covenant past with the Eternal Creator of all things.  These 5 Babylonian named months were used by the authors of the Babylonian exile, and then were utilized in the time of the Maccabeus.  The writings of the Hebrew prophets and the new Covenant writings are completely absent of the named Babylonian months.  In fact, in the New Testament writings, only the 6th Month is written specifically in the first chapter of Luke.  No other months, either numbered or name are inscribed in the Gospel Scriptures.  

We believe with certainty that it is the 6th Month of the Jewish calendar that the annunciation by the angel Gabriel was given to the virgin Mary.  With her acceptance of Gabriel's Word, there was the conception within her womb of the Son of Man/Adam by the Holy Spirit of Father God Almighty. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy Word.  In this miracle of true Life, the Shekinah Glory of the Almighty God would encompassed Mary to bring forth within her womb, the miraculous conception of the Word of God, to be One with the true genetic seed of the Hebrew virgin Mary. (See Luke 1 verse 35.) 

After investigating all of the presented evidence, then perhaps we can come to a needful common sense conclusion to the Truth of God's unfailing Word.  The following is a synopsis of the Jewish Calendar after Judah of Israel's exile in Babylon.  The Babylonian mathematicians originally discovered this Lunar Calendar of months, but it is now known as the Metonic Cycle.

 

Jewish
Calendar Months

  Days of the Month     God ordained 3 feast that were to be kept forever by the children of Abraham: (Exodus 23 verse 14.)
   
The Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Shavuot-Pentecost, and the Feast of Feast of Tabernacles.

Nisan or Biblically named Abib or
First Month
Feast of Unleavened Bread with the full moon

Days of the month 30. Day 1 begins with the New Moon.
End of March or beginning of April in the Julian calendar

Day 1 is the beginning of the new ecclesiastical year for the Jew.  Day 14 is the preparation for the Passover with the Paschal Sacrifice.  Day 15 begins with a full moon, the First Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread celebrated with the Passover meal.   Day 21 is the close of the Feast of Unleavened bread.

Iyar or Biblically named Ziv  Second Month.

Days of the month 29. Day 1 begins with the New Moon.
April-May in the Julian calendar:

Day 15 is the Second, or little Passover.  Day 18 is Lag-le-Omer, or the 33rd day in Omer, i.e. from the presentation of the first ripe sheaf offered on the 2nd day of the Passover in the evening of the 16th of Nisan.

Sivan.
Biblically assigned 3rd Month.
Feast of Shavuot-Pentecost

May-June in the Julian calendar: Days of the month 30. Day 1 begins with the New Moon.

Day 6, Shavuot is named for the end of God's declared Feast of 7 weeks, also known as the day of the Feast of First Fruits, (See Leviticus 23 verse 10 thru 12 and Numbers 28 verse 26.) The wave offering of the first Omer of the spring harvest of grains did not occur until Israel had first entered into God's promised land and they had harvested from the fields the already growing grains.  That day of the first fruit offering would have occurred on the morrow of the Sabbath.   So then, fifty days later, on the 6th day of the 3rd Month, now known as Sivan, is when the two loaves of leavened bread made of the first ripe wheat were waved. This Day also commemorates the giving of the Law when Israel becomes a Covenant Nation with God. The Hellenized Jews gave the Feast Day the name of Pentecost that meant 50 days.  We will also show its significance beyond what is known; for Jesus Christ the Word of God, and pre-incarnate Law Giver will be born the Son of Man/Adam on the 6th day of the Third Month at the spring time birthing of the lambs.  The shepherd's, who were tending to their flocks in the night while the ewes were giving birth to lambs, saw the Glory of the Lord, and then heard the Angel of God say: Fear not! For I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be for all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord(See Luke 2 verse 7 thru 20.)

God gave the world the Gift of His Son on this one same day of Shavuot, and later the Only Begotten Son would give His Life for that which was dead in sins and trespasses. Fifty days after Jesus/Yeshua the Messiah's crucifixion death, burial and resurrection, the Ecclesia/church of the Messiah was also birthed by the Spirit of God with the first fruits of Christ Spirit to His redeemed. (See Romans 8 verse 22 thru 23 with Galatians 5 verse 22 thru 25.)  So then three things took place on the 6th day of Sivan/the 6th Month: 1. Israel was birthed at Sinai:  2. On this one specified day of spring, The Messiah of God was birthed as the Son of Man by the Holy Spirit of God: 3. The Church/Ecclesia was birthed by the same Holy Spirit of God that was conceived in Jesus/Yeshua and raised Him from the dead. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (See Romans 8 verse 13 thru 14.)

Thamus. Biblically assigned  4th Month

Days of the month 29. Day 1 begins with the New Moon. 
June-July in the Julian calendar:

Day 17. Is a Fast; with the taking of Jerusalem on the 9th by Nebuchadnezzar (and on the 17th by Titus). If the 17th occur on a Sabbath, the Fast is kept on the day following.
 

Ab
Biblically named Av the 5th Month.

Days of the month 30.
Day 1 begins with the New Moon. 
July-August in the Julian calendar:

Day 9 Is a Fast because of the destruction of the Temple that occurred 3 times on this 9th day of Av.

Elul.
Biblically assigned the 6th month. (Note Luke 1 verse 26.)

Days of the month 30  Day 1 begins with the New Moon. August-September in the Julian calendar

Luke's Gospel account reveals that the angel Gabriel appears to Mary, a virgin woman of Israel, in the beginning of the 6th month of Elul.  Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive a Son by the Spirit of God.  Mary agrees, and then approximately 9 months later, on the 6th day of the Third Month of Sivan, Emanuel is born as God's first Born Son, Jesus Christ, Yeshua haMashiach.  That specific day in time was established by God as a High Sabbath, and is called the Feast of Weeks or First Fruits.  In Hebrew tradition, the 6th day is also specified as 'Shavuot' but in Greek 'Pentecost'.

Tishri or Biblically named Ethanim or the Seventh Month.
Feast of Tabernacles

Days of the month 30. September-October in the Julian calendar.

The beginning of the Jewish Civil Year with day 1 & 2 being a New Year's Feast. Day 3. Fast for the murder of Gedaliah. Day 10. Day of Atonement; Great Fast. Day 15 begins with a full moon and is the Feast of Tabernacles. Day 21. Close of the Feast. Day 22. Octave of the Feast of Tabernacles, and a High Sabbath. (In the Synagogues, on the 23rd day of the Feast is the annual completion of the Reading of the Law.)

Marcheshvan or Biblically named Cheshvan, Bul, The 8th Month.

Days of the month 29 or 30.
Day 1 begins with the New Moon.
October-November in the Julian calendar:


 

Kislev (Casleu). Biblically assigned the 9th Month

Days of the month 29 or 30. Day 1 begins with the New Moon.  November-December in the Julian calendar

Day 25 is the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple, known as Hanukkah or the Feast of Candles, lasting eight days, in remembrance of the Restoration of the Temple occurring after the victory gained by Judas Maccabeus (BC 148) over the Syrians.

Tebeth. Biblically assigned the 10th Month

Days of the month 29. Day 1 begins with the New Moon.  December-January in the Julian calendar:

Day 10 is a Fast on account of the Siege of Jerusalem.

Shebat. Biblically assigned the 11th Month

Days of the month 30. Day 1 begins with the New Moon.  January-February in the Julian calendar:

 

Adar. (Biblically assigned the 12th Month)

Days of the month 30. Day 1 begins with the New Moon.
February-March in the Julian calendar:

Day 13 is the Fast of Esther. If it falls on a Sabbath, kept on the Thursday preceding. Day 14. Purim, or Feast of Haman. Day 15. Purim Proper.

 

Jewish Leap Year

 

The Jewish leap year has seven occurrences in a nineteen year cycle.  The 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years are leap years in this cycle of nineteen years, and each leap year will have between 383 to 385 days to accommodate the inserted month of Adar I.  Within the nineteen year cycle, there would be the insertion of seven months that would bring the lunar year in step with the Julian calendar.  The lunar year had become 354 days 8 hours 48min 38sec, as compared to the Julian Calendar year of 365 and 1/4 days.  The Jewish calendar has 7 days in a week like the Julian or the latter Gregorian calendar, but now in the present Jewish lunar calendar there are 50.7 weeks in a regular year and 54.8 weeks in a leap year.  So then the Jewish calendar consists of either 12 or 13 months with either 29 or 30 days, and each normal lunar year can be 353, 354, 355 days long, with each leap year bring 383, 384 or 385 days long.

Adar I.  February-March in the Julian calendar:

Leap Year 
1 month added
Days of the month 29.

Is added after the month of Shevat (Shebat) and before the month of Adar in every leap year.  The month is also known as Adar Rishon or Adar Alef.

The many protesting scholars, when they try to use scripture to correct this specific gross error of the Roman Church, have utilized several wrong assumptions that are written in the Gospel of Luke to justify their calculations in the timing of the Lord's birth.  A somewhat resent example is presented by the Messianic scholars, who try to establish their mathematical reference to the Feast of Tabernacle to the Lord's Birth by utilizing Luke's Gospel chapter 1 verse 5.  They fabricate an erroneous foundation from the following Scripture:  There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. We need to know that, after the Babylonian exile, the ancestral family of Zacharias was inserted into the 8th priestly course of Abia (Abijah).  Abijah was of the house of Levi and did not return from the Babylonian exile, therefore the family of Zacharias was inserted into the priestly course.  The Mathematics associated with the Abijah priestly course will not work in the course of time. There are several reason that should become evident in the whole of the following apologetics.

The present day Messianic scholars have thought that the temple service of the priest of the eighth course of Abijah, mentioned in the first chapter of Luke, is the key to the discovery of Christ's birth, but let's rightly evaluate that possibility.  In God's creation of the earth, sun and moon, we should understand that originally there would have been 360 days with 12 months or 51.429 weeks in the year of the Lord.  So God's yearly calendar for the earth would have been the same in the time of David.   In the last days of  David's life, he apparently instructed that lots be cast to established the 24 courses of the Levitical priestly order of service to the Temple.  It should be obvious that each course would serve the house of the Lord twice in the year for a total of 48 weeks. (See 1st Chronicles 24 verse 1 thru 19.)  Each one of the 24 courses would serve from Sabbath evening to the beginning of the following Sabbath evening for 7 full days, then the next sequential course in rotation would take over.  On the 3 Major feasts, all of the 24 courses of the priesthood were to be present in the service of the temple. 

  1. Following the slaying of the Passover, and on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the High Sabbath day of Abib/Nisan the 15th, there would be all 24 courses present for 7 days ending on a High Sabbath day. 

  2. Then on Pentecost, the Third Month/Sivan the 6th day there would be the 24 courses present for this one High Sabbath day.

  3. Then on the required Feast of Tabernacles, occurring on the Seventh Month/Tishri on the 15th day, there would be all 24 courses present for 8 days, with the 1st day and the 8th day being High Sabbaths.  God had also declared the 1st and 10th days of the Seventh Month to be of His High Sabbath days. 

Originally, with out all the variables, the 24 courses could be set in fixed weekly times of service, year in and year out.  But the times of the year changed during Hezekiah's days, occurring during and continuing into the present time.  The Jewish calendar, being a copy of the Babylonian lunar calendar, is set to the Metonic Cycles: click Here

So then, we have a major problem after God extended the obit of the earth around the sun, that changed the length of the year from 360 days into 365 days.  The calculations using the 8th course of the priesthood of Abia to ascertain the birth of Jesus Christ, and or His coming again, would absolutely fail for a certainty, because there is now the inclusion of leap years, in the Jewish calendar.  The days in the year are now changed with the variableness of the days in a year going from 353, 354, 355 days long, with the adding of a month to the adjusting leap year, which now becomes either 383, 384 or 385 days long.   Please consider the following Biblical time line: From the time of Hezekiah and the miracle of the shadow of the sundial going back 10 degrees and the change in days, until Judah was taken away in bondage to Babylon, and then Judah's return from its exile in Babylon back into the promised land, and then until Zacharias' encounter with the angel proclaiming that Elizabeth would give birth, is approximately 700 years with maybe 258 leap years occurring during that period of time.  So then approximately 258 additional months would have been added to this time period, and the 24 courses of priestly service could not have continually revolved in sequence around God's corrupted era of lunar time.  It is impossible that the 24 disrupted courses of priestly service could follow an order of precision, from one specific week in a certain month of a year to the same week in that certain month in the next year, whether its a leap year or not.  Also of forgotten note, the course of Abijah would have served twice in each year, so then which additional week or month did Zacharias serve.  In the end of logic; the lots were originally cast in David's time, to show a rotation order of service of the priesthood in a 360 day year, but after the Babylonian exile it is impossible to specify a certain week for the 24 courses of temple service within the Babylonian Jewish lunar calendar.

As presented by well meaning Messianic believers, their explanation of the birth of the Lord's Christ to have occurred on an unspecified day in the month of Tishri,  is mathematical impossibility.   If mathematical logic fails to convince the reader, then let us make our appeal to God's Holy Spirit, so as to rightly understand the simplicity of written scripture.

Confusion with the Sixth Month.

In chapter one of his Gospel, Luke gives simple clarity to the conception month of Jesus/Yeshua.  Luke's Gospel states that the angel Gabriel appeared to the virgin Mary in the sixth month. God Almighty, in the beginning created time, and the named sixth month is within the timeframe of God's original Jewish calendar of lunar months and not that of the new Julian calendar.  Now, with simple mathematics, we can ascertain from Luke's written account that the conception of the Word of God took place in the sixth month (Elul) when the Shekinah Glory of the Holy Word of Father God Almighty impregnated the ovum seed of the virgin woman Mary.  After 9 months of gestation in Mary's womb, the Lamb of God was born in the springtime with the birthing of the lambs, and was God's very last Lamb, born on the 6th day of Shavuot, the  Feast Day of First Fruit.  The incarnate Man, Jesus the Christ of God, was born in God's perfect timing to die in God's perfect timing: For on the 15th of Abib/Nisan during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. God's Passover Lamb, with His crucifixion death and His resurrection into Life, the Son of Adam victoriously took away the sins of the world.

Luke's story account in Chapter 1, begins by stating that both Zacharias and Elisabeth throughout there age, were both righteous before the Lord, but had never conceived a child. 

It came to pass that while Zacharias executed the priest office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense with his entrance into the temple.

Luke 1 verse 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.

We would believe that Luke's stated 'whole multitude of the people 'would indicate a day conceived by the Jews to be of noteworthiness.  If we consider that Zacharias the priest served his priesthood course during the 12th month of Adar during the Festival of Purim then the conception of John (the Baptist) in the womb of Elisabeth, would give credence to the virgin Mary's conception by the Spirit of God in the 6th month of Elul, and then for Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God to be birthed 9 months later in the spring of the High Feast Day that occurred on the 6th Day of the 3rd Month of Sivan, the Feast of Shavuot. (Now review Luke 1 verse 11 thru 14.)

Luke 1 verse 24 And after those days (of his ministration) his (Zacharias) wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, 25 Thus has the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein He looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.

After Elizabeth had conceived and then knew within a month that according to her bodily signs that she was pregnant, she then began marking the months of her pregnancy.  We posit that Elisabeth's count would have begun in the 1st month of Nisan, perhaps on the 15th day, as the first month of her pregnancy, and she would conceal her pregnancy until the 5th month, now known in the Jewish calendar as Ab, the 5th month.

Luke 1 verse 26 And De (But, Moreover) in the Sixth Month (Elul) the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

Mary was a mature young woman who was true to her Hebraic virginity, and she was not a child in her early teens to be taken advantaged of by the Eternal, as is slanderously taught by many of the pulpit.  Mary, the woman, conveys to the Angel Gabriel that she has had no physical relation with any man. Then Gabriel reveals to Mary of how the Glory of the Spirit of God shall encompass her and she shall conceive and bare the Son of the Most High God.  Gabriel then gives Mary a sign.

Luke 1 verse 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she has also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 

In Luke 1 verse 26, Scripture states specifically that the angel Gabriel, was sent by God, to appear to Mary in-en the Sixth Month.  Gabriel is informing the virgin Mary, of a confirming sign that her cousin Elizabeth, who was known to be barren, is now 6 months into her conception of a son.  Elizabeth is in the sixth month of her pregnancy and Gabriel's annunciation is also the 6 month of the Jewish calendar year. 

Thus the scripture reads: and after those days Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months. The annunciation of Gabriel to Mary came first, in the 6th Month of the Jewish calendar year, and then the angel Gabriel reveals another impossibility, for the barren Elizabeth, even with her age, had now begun her 6th month of pregnancy.  BEHOLD, the Angel Gabriel is continuing to reveal God's chosen revelation moment so as to confirm to Mary, God's Power; "For with God nothing shall be impossible." (see Luke 1 verse 36 thru  38.) In the order of God's Word made the flesh of the Son of Man, Gabriel's Word is given in God's chronology of the 6th Month to bring forth precisely the one day of the birth of God's Salvation Word of Promise on the sixth of Shavuot the Feast day of First Fruits.

It would appear that after Gabriel, the messenger of God, had left Mary, that Mary hurries to the house of Zacharias and Elisabeth to further confirm the Truth of what she had heard concerning Elisabeth.  Two things are confirmed to Mary. We witness that after Mary's greeting to Elisabeth that the pregnant Elisabeth proclaims with a loud voice to her Hebrew cousin Mary: Blessed is the FRUIT of thy womb: And Elisabeth acknowledges that Mary is the mother of her Lord.

And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: and she spoke out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the FRUIT of thy womb.  And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? And blessed is she that believes: For there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. (See Luke 1 verse 41 thru 45.)

Mary with inspiration speaks what is know as the Magnificat.  Obviously the FRUIT of Mary's womb is the Incarnate First FRUIT Son of Yahweh God Almighty; and is the Promised Lamb of God's Salvation, Who from before the foundation of the world, would take away the sins of the world. Because of man's vanity, infused with confusion, what has not been so obvious, is that Yeshua/Jesus would be born on the Almighty's designated end day of the spring time Feast of Weeks, called in Hebrew Shavuot and later know in Greek as Pentecost.

In the Jewish Calendar, and after their return from Babylon, the Sixth Month would be known as the month of Elul.  It would logically appear that an unspecified day in the Sixth Jewish month is when the incarnation of Emanuel took place.   Simply counting backwards, the month of Elizabeth's beginning pregnancy would have been in the 12th Month of Adar within the Jewish calendar.  It would appear in God's timely intervention with the announcement of Elisabeth's pregnancy, and with Zacharias being included in the order of Abijah, and his wife Elisabeth of the daughter's of Levi that they both were genetically pure in the stock of Jacob, known as Israel.  Perhaps of significance, is that the name Abijah of the eight course, means Jehovah is my Father.  John the Baptist, with the Spirit of Elijah, would be the forerunner in the proclamation of Jesus/Yeshua as the Christ of God. (See  Luke 7 verse 24 thru 29.)

So then, the annunciation of the coming Christ Child took place in the Sixth Month, the month of Elul, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and said to her: Hail thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; Blessed art thou among women.  Fear not Mary:  For thou has found favor with God, and behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shall call His Name Jesus.  He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob (Israel) forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.  And the virgin hearing the full decree of Gabriel said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord  Be it unto me according to thy Word.  (See Luke 1 verse 26 thru 38.) When the young woman Mary acknowledged to the angel Gabriel that she was the handmade of the Lord, she was declaring her faithful servanthood to the Word of Yahweh God Almighty, and would have an understanding of the Hebrew heritage of her family as was reported to Luke in his gospel Chapter 3 verse 23 thru 38.  Mary is the Hebrew virgin woman that fulfils Isaiah's prophetic sign. Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His Name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7 verse 14.)

Within moments of Mary's acceptance, the Word of God was conceived within the Seed of the virgin WoMan, and the unleavened True Bread of heaven gestated 9 months within the womb of the Jewish virgin Mary, becoming the Son of Man/Adam.  The birth of God's Salvation for man-kind took place nine months later in the town of Bethlehem, the House of Bread.  That time of His birth would be in the Third Jewish Month of late spring, (the month now called Sivan), when the shepherds were watching over their flocks, during the eve at night, when the ewes were giving birth to their lambs.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you: You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying:  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2 verse 9 thru 14.)

The Lord [Yahweh]  has said unto Me, Thou art My Son; This Day have I begotten Thee.  This Day is a special Day that was decreed long ago by the Lord God Almighty, for it was to be the Day of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.  And This same Day, in Greek we know as Pentecost would also be the day that God's Holy Spirit would give the birth to the Ecclesia of God, as the First Fruits of Christ's Salvation seed.  Pentecost is the birthday of the Ecclesia of both the Jew and Gentile. 

Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the Ghost.  And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,  and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. (Matthew 27 verse 50 thru 53.)

Now with the Son of Man's resurrection in the power of His Father God's Spirit of Holiness, the Lord Jesus Christ has become the Excellency of God's Firstfruits.  The Lord Jesus  raised to Life from the grave as the First Born from the dead, and then with His Resurrection Power by God's Holy Spirit of Life, Jesus brought forth out of their graves, those who were dead because of sin, and yet lived with faith in God's Promised Messiah. (See 1st Corinthians 15 verse 20 thru 22, and John 11 verse 25.)

From thence, the Risen Lord and Savior of mankind declared to His disciples that there was to be that certain fruitful day of His previous Promise, when the One Holy Spirit of God would come, and be an abiding Presence, within the heart of all of Christ's believing disciples. Behold I send the Promise of My Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on High(See Luke 24 verse 46 thru 49.) That day of Promise was fulfilled on the 6th day of the Third Month of Sivan, known in Hebrew as Shavuot, and was the one celebratory day that ended the Jewish harvest Festival of 7 Weeks. 

The Festival of Weeks had commenced soon after the last Pascal lamb was sacrificed on the 9th hour of the High Sabbath day of the 15th of Nissan, and then shortly thereafter, the sun went down, becoming the evening of the 16th of Nissan.  So then, on the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (the 16th of Nissan), the literal counting of day after day, would continue until the Harvest Festival ended 50 days later on the 6th day of the Third Month/Sivan.  On this day, the high priest would now present to Holy God Almighty the wave offering of the two large baked loafs of leavened wheat bread.  And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall you number fifty days; and you shall offer a new grain offering unto the Lord. You shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven: They are the Firstfruits unto the Lord. (Leviticus 23:15 thru 17.)

Day in and day out within every year, there was to be only unleavened bread set before the Holy of Holies of Holy, Holy, Holy the Lord God Almighty, but on this one day of Pentecost there was a new grain offering with leaven (yeast) baked into the bread.  Christ Jesus, the Holy unleavened Bread of Heaven, was born the flesh of Man on this 6th day of 3rd Month/Sivan, and in His crucifixion death on the cross on Abib/Nisan the 15th, He was made to be the leaven of sin for us, that we leavened sinners, both Jew and Gentile alike, might be made in Jesus Christ's sinless resurrection, the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. 

The first fruits of the Christ's Ecclesia of sinners, were also birthed on that High Sabbath day of the 6th day of the 3rd Month/Sivan.  Jesus/Yeshuah the Unleavened Bread of Heaven, was made to be our sin as the leavened bread, when He was crucified on the cross for our sakes, that henceforth, we might participate, perhaps even daily, in the Unleavened Bread that is One with the Spirit of the resurrected sinless Body of Christ Jesus.  Through total faith in Christ Jesus, the souls of our being, were given new birth by the Spirit of God, Who sealed us with the Holy Spirit's Blood of Jesus Christ, the First Born Son of God raised from the dead.   Our Faith, born within God's sacrifice of His sinless Son for our sin, and believing we are secure with Jesus Christ's resurrection into the Life of His Father God, would enable us to become the temple of the Holy Spirit of God, and we, in Thanksgiving, would worship the Almighty, even daily, in the Spirit and Truth of Jesus Christ. 

To Israel, Shavuot is the 50th day that the nation of Israel was delivered in the Passover, and that significant day also celebrates when the Torah was given at Mount Sinai.  The church's understanding should be that the Torah was given by the pre-incarnate Christ of God, to be Israel's school master, and to keep God's chosen ones in the will of God, until the future day when God's Promised Messiah would be born of the genetic seed of WoMan from Adam, becoming the flesh of the original Adam/Man, and show us that as the incarnate Word of God in the flesh of Man/Adam that Jesus is the only Way, the Truth, and the Life of man kind. 

This celebrated day of the Third Month (Sivan) is also known in the Greek as Pentecost, and this was the very same day that the Lord's first fruits of His Ecclesia was given birth by God's Holy Spirit.  And now on this Feast Day of the Lord, the One Holy Spirit of God would harvest the first fruit of the souls of Christ's disciples, into the one Body of their risen Lord so that they may bring forth worthy of Holy Lord God Almighty.  For the Fruit, born of the Spirit of God, will manifest love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.  Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit [of His Grace]. (Galatians 5 verse 22 thru 25.) Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of [the spirit of] your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12 verse 1 thru 2.)

Many people on that day of Shavuot, upon hearing of the mighty rushing wind of the Spirit, began to gather outside of the house of the disciples of the Lord.  Peter preached the Gospel to the gathered people, and on the Words of Peter, three thousand persons in Jerusalem believed in Jesus, Yeshuah their Messiah, and were added to the Lord that very same harvest day of Shavuot. (See Act 2 verse 14 thru 40.)

From Alfred Edersheim's Book, The Temple: Its Ministry and Service.

To us the Day of Pentecost is, indeed, the Feast of Firstfruits, and that of the giving of the better law, written not in tables of stone, but on the fleshy tables of the [new] heart, with the Spirit of the living God. For, as the worshippers were in the Temple, probably just as they were offering the wave-lambs and the wave-bread, the multitude heard that sound from heaven, as of a mighty rushing wind, which drew them to the house where the apostles were gathered, there to hear every man in his own language the wonderful works of God. And on that Pentecost day, from the harvest of firstfruits, not less than three thousand souls added to the Church were presented as a wave-offering to the Lord. [Now] the mighty rushing sound of the Presence and Power of the Holy Ghost has gone forth into all the world. [My inserted edits are bracketed, and with one ending sentence being left off.]

Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The Lord has said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.  (See Psalm 2 verse 6 thru 8.)

And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the Promise which was made unto the fathers, God has fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.  (See Acts 13 verse 26 thru 37.) Please notice in the above scripture the word again.  In that the Promised Holy One of God would be the first begotten of the Father from the genetic seed of the fathers, then the Only Begotten of Holy Father God needed first to be born on the earth of the seed of Abraham from that of God's creation of Adam/Man.  From the beginning, Jesus/Yeshua was the Word of the Yahweh Father God, born of His Father's Spirit,  and the Anointed One would come in the flesh of Man as declared in Genesis 3, wherefore Father God would raise up His Son in the Likeness of His Holiness.  And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, etc.) they took Him down from the tree, and laid Him in a sepulcher. But God raised Him from the dead.  In the first Adam, the Man of the earth, all die, but the last Adam/Man Christ Jesus is from above and is a life giving Spirit, being One Spirit with His Father the God of the living.  Christ Jesus in not a born again man, but Jesus/Yeshua is the First Born of His Father, Incarnately born of His Father's Spirit.  Jesus in fulfilling all righteousness was water baptized by John, and when Jesus came out of the water: Lo, a Voice from heaven, said: This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I AM well pleased.  Jesus conceived of His Father's Spirit, and born the Son of Adam, would live His Life as the Last Adam/Man, in full accord with the Salvation Will of His Holy Father God.  Jesus said to the doubter: If you have seen Me, then you have seen the Father. Jesus is the very likeness of His Father and totally fulfilled His Father's Word of Salvation, therefore it is written: Thou shall not permit Thine Holy ,One to see corruption. (See Psalm 16 verse 8 thru 11.)

Chapter 5 of John's Gospel speaks of a Feast of the Jews, but does not indicate which Feast it is associated with.  However, John does speak of one day and that being the Sabbath.  Now is that day the High Sabbath of Shavuot, where the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is near the sheep market and speaks of His Father God and the reason why the Son of God has come in fulfillment of the Scriptures. 

See also John chapter 6 and what is described as the Passover, but there were no lambs to be slaughtered and then eaten, for in TRUTH  this was God's Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The Lord Jesus Christ fed 5,000 men with a lad's 5 barley loaves and 2 small fishes.  No doubt the barley bread was unleavened, for the Jews were to celebrate this God Ordained Feast for 7 days, while eating only unleavened bread.  The Eternal God's sufficiency in His Feast is seen in the 12 full baskets that were left over from the barley loaves. There is more than enough in God's Eternal Word:  I AM the Bread of Life.  I AM the Living Bread, Which has come down from heaven: If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live forever.  For the Bread I give is My Flesh; Declares the Living Bread of God. (Consider Deuteronomy 18 verse 18 thru 19.)

As we continue to travel in the Spirit, we hope that God's Holy Spirit affords the opportunity, for all of us to be led into a better understanding of God's New Covenant through His Fountain of Living Water.

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Robert Glenn Pratten