Israel and the Nations: A Theological Opinion, Part 1 - Ron Cantor Messiah's Mandate

Israel and the Nations: A Theological Opinion, Part 1

Ron Cantor —  August 4, 2017 

Often, well-meaning, Israel-loving people will say to me, “I am Jewish now. I am grafted in.” I never, ever say anything close to, “No, you’re not Jewish.” I focus more on how grateful I am that they love God and pray for the Jewish people. However, it is interesting that the Church went from saying, “You can’t be Jewish and believe in Jesus,” to, “All believers are Jewish.”

Which is it? What does the Bible actually say? I will make six statements and then seek to back each one up with Scripture, one blog post at a time:

1. Jews who receive Yeshua remain Jews, just as a females remain female or a male remains a male, after coming to faith.
2. Gentile simply means a member of the nations. When a member of the nations comes to faith, he does not become Jewish but continues to be a member of his or her nation.
3. However, Jewish and Gentile believers are equal in the sight of God. Jews are neither favored above Gentiles nor discriminated against, in regards to non-Jews.
4. Salvation is free, but rewards in the kingdom are based on merit, not ethnicity. Intimacy with God is based on the desire and passion of the individual believer, not whether they are Jew or non-Jew, male or female, etc.
5. Jewish and non-Jewish believers make up the One New Man—a mystery that was hidden in times past. Paul calls this the household of God. In this household, the Gentile believers become joint-heirs with Jewish believers—without losing their own ethnicity and without replacing the Jewish people.
6. Ethnicity is important to God, which is why non-Jewish believers do not become Jews or Israelis (Israelites) after coming to faith. They are called to stand in the gap for their nation.

Blog One: Jewish believers are still Jews

The early believers clearly had zero issues with the idea of being Jewish and believing in the Jewish Messiah. The question with which they wrestled was, “Can a Gentile believe in Jesus, without converting to Judaism?” The apostles, through their lives and teaching, give no hint of leaving Judaism. In fact, rumors were being spread about Paul teaching Jewish believers “to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs” (Acts 21:21). Paul, upon the advice of the Jerusalem apostles, went to the Temple to make a sacrifice so that, “everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.” (Acts 21:24)

Church Fathers turn against Jews

However, the Church Fathers in the second century began to teach that once a Jew comes to faith, he is no longer a Jew. Many were vicious in their accusations against the Jewish people. Peter the Venerable wondered about the humanity of Jews: Truly I doubt whether a Jew can be really human.

Ignatius Bishop of Antioch (98-117A.D.) – Epistle to the Magnesians

For if we are still practicing Judaism, we admit that we have not received God’s favor…it is wrong to talk about Jesus Christ and live like Jews. For Christianity did not believe in Judaism, but Judaism in Christianity.

They lined up to accuse the entire Jewish nation of killing Yeshua (forgetting that He laid down his life by His own free will for them.) Another, Justin Martyr taught that Christians were the true “Israelite race” and that the Hebrew Scriptures now belonged to the church exclusively. He did not believe you could be both Christian and Jewish. He also taught that circumcision was for judgement (as opposed to being there mark of the covenant of Abraham).

The purpose of [circumcision] was that you and only you might suffer the afflictions that are now justly yours; that only your land be desolated, and your cities ruined by fire, that the fruits of you land be eaten by strangers before your very eyes; that not one of you be permitted to enter your city of Jerusalem.

Apostles continued to live as Jews

However, it was not like this a century before. Paul continued to identify as a Jew, preaching the Jewish Messiah to the Jew first in every city he went. We never see Paul inviting Jews to enter into another religion. To the Jewish leaders in Rome, he shares, “For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain” (Acts 28:20). Certainly the hope of Israel was not a new religion, but the fulfillment of the Hebrew prophets.

We find Jacob (James) the brother of Yeshua, 30 years after the resurrection, praying daily in the Temple. It was said that he was the most respected Jew in Jerusalem from all the sects of Judaism. He was called the “camel-kneed” for the hours that he spent in prayer for Israel. The evidence is clear that he remained a part of the people of Israel till his death.

When Peter preached on Shavuot (Pentecost), he did not present a new religion, but proclaimed to his exclusively Jewish crowd, salvation and forgiveness through Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah.

Paul says in Romans that the gift and calling of God to Israel is “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). He says, in Romans 3, that there is “much value” in being Jewish (Romans 3:1-4). Clearly, Jewish believers in Yeshua are still Jewish and part of Israel.

Neither Jew nor Gentile?

What, then, do we make of the oft-quoted Galatians 3:28?

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua.”

Bible teachers have used this statement to say that Jewish believers are no longer Jews. But they miss one major issue. If that is true, then male and females no longer have distinctions, and yet, I have never been able to get pregnant!

So, what then is the point of his passage? That being in Messiah overshadows our other roles and callings. I live in Israel. We have many Jewish immigrants from all over the world. Suppose I brought all the Jewish people together from so many nations and said, “Today, we are not Americans, Ethiopians, Russians or Argentinians, but we are Israelis!” Technically, that is not true. I am still American even though I am also Israeli. But anyone with common sense would understand my intention—that I am focusing on what unites us.

While our roles/callings are important, none of them bring any special favor with Messiah. In other words, God doesn’t reward me for what he made me. He rewards me according to faithfulness to that calling (Matt. 25:14-30)

Any person—Jew, non-Jew, slave, female, etc., can freely come to Messiah. This was a major difference between the Old and New Covenants and what Paul was so excitedly shared with his Gentile audience: “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Eph. 3:12), no matter what your background, race, class, ethnicity or gender.

So, in Galatians 3, he is not saying something negative about Jews, but something positive about non-Jews—that there are no restrictions keeping them from Messiah. As Peter said, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right” (Acts 10:34-35).

In the second part, we will address are second statement: Gentile simply means a member of the nations. When a member of the nations comes to faith, he does not become Jewish, but continues to be a member of his or her nation.

Unique Network Brings New Light to Messianic Ministries in Israel - BLESS ISRAEL NETWORK STAFF

Unique Network Brings New Light to Messianic Ministries in Israel

7/1/2016 BLESS ISRAEL NETWORK STAFF

(Bless Israel Network )

A unique Israel-based ministry is looking to connect believers around the world to the Jewish believers in Israel in a very personal way. It's called Bless Israel Network.

The network's initial project is a program called Revelation to the Nations. It's the first-ever dedicated internet TV platform and worldwide voice for the Israeli body of Jewish believers. Hosts Daniel and Devorah Calic, who have lived in Israel for several years, discovered something which most of the body around the world might consider surprising.

A Startling Revelation

The majority of believers around the world have minimal contact with the Israeli messianic community. Most churches have little or no knowledge of what their believing brethren are doing in God's Holy Land. A small number of churches will occasionally have a leader from Israel's messianic community as a guest. Generally these guests are part of the handful of thriving Israeli congregations or ministries that have the resources allowing them to travel frequently to maintain support from believers around the world. 

What the Calics have discovered is the vast majority of Israeli Messianic congregations and ministries are small, and lack the necessary resources to travel and get needed support.

They've also discovered this vibrant community of small congregations and ministries is providing much needed humanitarian aid. They're eager for their voices to be heard outside Israel. It is these unheard, underfunded congregations and ministries that the Calics are committed to provide a platform for.

Unique Program

This first-of-its-kind program has some additional interesting aspects. For example, the contact information of the guests will be provided on the program, allowing viewers to establish personal connections with the congregation or ministry of their choice, giving viewers the opportunity to bless them. That blessing will play a direct role in building the kingdom in Israel because it will allow these congregation and ministries to expand their humanitarian outreach. Scripture says, speaking to Abraham and his descendants, "I will bless those who bless you."

Forging Previously Unheard of Relationships

Bless Israel Network will focus on congregations and ministries engaged in humanitarian outreach. In spite of Israel being second only to Silicon Valley in cutting edge technology, there is widespread humanitarian need throughout a cross section of Israel's the social spectrum.

For example, almost 200,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel. They are elderly, in frail health, many live alone and 50,000 of them live in poverty. It's a huge challenge, which is only partially being met. Israel also has many thousands of Jewish immigrants from around the world who have fled their native countries due to anti-Semitism, unhealthy living conditions and a hope for a better life.

Many make aliyah to Israel out of a desire to live in the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. These immigrants face numerous assimilation issues, such as housing, language challenges, medical care, employment, legal assistance and so on. In fact, the need is so great the government is quietly partnering with some of the messianic ministries because they cannot meet all the needs themselves. More arrive on a regular basis.

This has fostered previously unheard of opportunities for relations between Jewish believers and the traditional Jewish community. Many of the congregations and ministries whose leaders the Calics will interview are at the forefront of this trailblazing social phenomenon. Revelation to the Nations will provide them a voice.

Well-Known Leaders Support BIN

Recently, the Calics recorded the pilot episode of Revelation to the Nations in order to provide a glimpse of what viewers can expect. Their initial guest is Eitan Shishkoff. They chose Shishkoff, but not because his congregation is small or that he is not well-known, but because Shishkoff is one of the most respected Messianic leaders in Israel. He was chosen because of the wonderful project he is heading up, which will bless the entire body of believers in Israel. The interview can be found at blessisrealnetwork.com.

Revelation to the Nations has stirred the hearts of many inside and outside Israel, creating lots of excitement and anticipation. What Daniel and Devorah are doing is unique and "necessary" according to Eitan. Some other well-known leaders have expressed their support for the up and coming ministry:

Rabbi Jonathan Bernis, president of Jewish Voice Ministries International: "I completely support the vision of Bless Israel Network to provide a platform for the leaders of Israeli congregations and ministries to share what they are doing to build the kingdom of God in Israel."

Dr. David Reagan, founder and director of Lion and Lamb Ministries: "I praise God for the visionary venture He has placed in the hearts of Daniel and D'vorah. It certainly is deserving of widespread support from the Christian community." 

The Calics are in the United States through the end of August speaking and meeting with Christian churches, Messianic congregations and organizations who want to know more about this unique kingdom building venture. For more information visit blessisraelnetwork.com. 

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Is the Veil and Hardening Over Israel Being Lifted? - GRANT BERRY CHARISMA NEWS

Note: As we quickly approach the last days before Yeshua/Jesus returns, the mystery to awaken and restore Israel into the family in the One New Man, becomes paramount in God's Glory plan to establish His kingdom upon the earth. In this light, the Holy Spirit is shifting His focus onto a very necessary spiritual restoration that must occur between Jew and Gentile members of the family of God, so that His end-time plan can be realized through us. We call this The Reconnection, where both groups are intricately linked and greatly in need of one another, yet presently, the family of God is quite divided and separate.

As a result, I am beginning a new series called, "What is The One New Man?" In these articles we will explore and re-examine the pertinent Scriptures on The One New Man, as well as issues relating to Israel and the Church, and we will interview leaders from both sides of the family to gain a better understanding. However, the main goal is to help bring the body of Messiah/Christ into a greater unity and depth of understanding of this mystery; not through a Gentile or Jewish lens, but rather through our Father's eyes and heart, who longs for His family to be one and to be united into His end-time purposes and plans—in order for us to be mobilized us into the fray (John 17:23). 

If you haven't read part 1 of this article, which lays the foundation for a better understanding of Romans 11, please click here.

Romans 11 Continued

So, what is the first thing that the apostle Paul writes to us in Romans 11 about the people of Israel? He asks us a question. In fact in the first 11 verses he actually asks three questions and all of them refer to the fate, path and outcome of the Jewish people—each with a different consequence. The first relates to the part of Israel who believe in Yeshua, the second to those who do not and the blindness that is upon them, and the third speaks of the balance of Israel that is to be restored towards or near the end, who are still veiled.

Except with his third question and response, he uses the rest of the chapter to explain this complexity to the church (those who rejected and are still blinded), and God's redemptive heart and position toward His first-born children, who will ultimately be restored. Indeed I believe that everything he has written and explained to us thus far in these three vital chapters (9-11) of Romans concerning Israel and the church, is so that we may fully grasp and comprehend this mystery that surrounds Israel's spiritual restoration towards the end, as well as our most significant role to help in this process.

This is highly significant to us during these days that we gain a fresh understanding of these verses. For there are many of us in the church who have over spiritualized these Scriptures now believing that the Israel of God is found solely in the church. Actually downgrading Israel's role to that of any other nation or people, while Paul makes clear to us that they are a covenant people (verse 27), and that their call and gifts are irrevocable (verse 29), which is not only crucial to our understanding, but also to our eschatology.

With all due respect, I believe this theology to be incorrect, because the bride is not complete and ready until physical Israel is properly restored to the family of God, which is very different from what is mostly taught today in the church. For Israel is the missing piece of the puzzle, not only with the re-establishment of the Jewish branches with the current remnant of Jewish believers, but also with Israel's final spiritual awakening, which comes with the final harvest of souls toward the end of the age (Romans 11:25-27).

In fact, I believe that our reconnection to our Jewish roots is the final act of restoration for the church, which not only prepares us for His coming to establish a Messianic kingdom upon the earth, but also to aid in the balance of Israel's salvation. What an honor! For did not Jesus tell us that the first would be last and did He not tell them that you will not see me again until you say, "Baruch Haba B'Shem Adonai – Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 23:39). In other words, it is not until they are spiritually awakened that they will be able to make such a comment.

So, let's take a look at these questions and responses and the three paths of the Jewish people with their ultimate journey to faith.

Path No. 1 and the First Question – the Remnant

"Did God reject His people? By no means!.... So too at this present time there is a remnant chosen by grace." Here, Paul addresses the first issue that relates to the Jewish remnant who believes in Yeshua.  Through Elijah's experience with Israel's apostasy who thought he was the only one left who believed, Paul explains to us from the time of Jesus to this present day there would be a remnant of Jewish people who would believe.

Indeed, Jewish believers founded the church and they took the gospel out to the nations, so the rest of God's family could be grafted into the faith. And over the first century there were a decent number of Jewish people who actually believed. These Scriptures have also applied to a remnant of Jewish believers coming to faith over the centuries up until this modern day and from the time of Yeshua/Jesus to now, there have always been a small remnant of Jewish believers coming to faith.

Path No. 2 and the Second Question – Those Veiled

"What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, as it is written: 'God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.'"

Much can be said about this explanation, especially regarding our understanding of the timing of Israel's hardening. Did it come upon them, because they rejected Yeshua, or was it already on them before Messiah/Christ came? In my 2nd book The Ezekiel Generation, I dedicated a whole chapter to this subject, in our understanding of the different veils upon mankind (Chapter 8), and how they actually came about. I would encourage you to read it.

While we can trace the explanation to this hardening of Israel to the Torah (five books of Moses) in the book of Deuteronomy (29:4), we are also aware that all humankind's hearts are veiled to God as a result of sin, which naturally hardens. However, it is not until Israel and Judah totally abandoned God to their idols that the Lord commands Isaiah to proclaim a blindness and deafness upon them, which has remained to this day (Isaiah 6:9,10). And it is to this Scripture that I believe the apostle Paul is referring to here. Regardless, those of Israel whose eyes were not opened remained under this curse, up UNTIL the appointed time when this veil will be removed (verses 25-26).

Path No. 3 and the Third Question – Israel Restored

"Again I ask: Did they stumble beyond recovery? Not at all!"

Again Paul questions us, however this time it relates solely to those Jewish people who have still not believed and remain under the veil. Please note however, that they are still referred to as Israel in this text (verse 11).

Did they stumble beyond recovery? Not at all! And Paul makes clear to us that there is a future redemption for Israel that is still to come. For what else can these Scriptures refer to? And one must ask the question as to why the church fathers did not see this when Scripture is so clear concerning Israel's ultimate restoration. Paul writes ... "How much greater riches will their fullness bring! ... For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ... And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ... After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! ... I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening IN PART UNTIL the full number of Gentiles has come in, and IN THIS WAY all Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:11-27).

Unequivocally, the veil and hardening over Israel will be lifted. If we are willing to accept it, it is already begun through the Messianic Movement and the many thousands of Jewish believers who are now coming to faith during these days. Please note here that since Israel took back possession of Jerusalem in 1967, more Jewish souls have come to Messiah than in the last 1900 years put together.

This is the first part of this mystery to be revealed and according to Scripture there will be a mass awakening of Israel of a final remnant—a turning to the Lord with a great repentance (Zechariah 12:10). But will this happen between God and Israel alone, or is His church the catalyst to help bring this about? To be continued ... 

Grant Berry is a Jewish believer in Yeshua/Jesus and author of The New Covenant Prophecy and The Ezekiel Generation. He has founded Reconnecting Ministries with the specific focus to help the church reconnect spiritually to Israel and considers it vital to the kingdom of God in the last days. His website is reconnectingministries.org.

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The Mystery of the Date of Pentecost - Zola Levitt Ministries

The Mystery of the Date of Pentecost

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by Thomas S. McCall, Th.D.

Dr. Thomas McCall, the Senior Theologian of our ministry, has written many articles for the Levitt Letter. He holds a Th.M. in Old Testament studies and a Th.D. in Semitic languages and Old Testament. He has served as Zola’s co-author, mentor, pastor, and friend for nearly 30 years.

This article appeared originally in the July 1995 Levitt Letter.

Page Contents

• Introduction
• Problem with Vagueness
• The Case for Sunday

Introduction

For believers in Jesus the Messiah, the dating of Pentecost is one of the most exquisite examples of type and fulfillment in the Scriptures. Pentecost means fifty, and is actually fifty days from another feast, First Fruits. These calculations are explained in Leviticus 23:10–11, 15–17. The feast of First Fruits was to occur on the day after the Sabbath (verse 11), which was always the Sunday of Passover week. Pentecost, then, was the day after the seventh following Sabbath (verses 15–16), which would be the fiftieth day after First Fruits and also on a Sunday.

The fulfillment of these feasts is striking. Jesus died the Friday of Passover week and had to be buried hastily before sunset, which was when the Sabbath began. His body remained in the borrowed sepulchre throughout the Sabbath day, but on that Sunday morning, when the priest was to offer the First Fruits offering in the Temple, Christ arose from the dead, the first fruits of them that slept (I Cor. 15:20).

For forty ensuing days, the Lord appeared to His disciples in His resurrection body, and then ascended into Heaven. Ten days later, the Sunday of the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon the believers in Jerusalem and created the ekklesia, the called out body of Christ, the church. These fulfillments were obviously no coincidence, but were part of the overall plan and purpose of God in verifying the powerful meaning of the death and resurrection of Christ, and the establishment of the new body of believers.

From then on, the Jewish believers in Christ must have repeatedly informed the people of Israel about the nature of the fulfillment of Passover, First Fruits and Pentecost. It must have made a great impact on the Jewish people who lived between the resurrection of Christ and the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, a span of about forty years.

The Rabbis’ Problem with Vagueness

This brings us to the explanation of First Fruits and Pentecost offered in a recent article by Moshe Kohn in the Jerusalem Post.Students of the New Testament might well be mystified over the tortured reasoning concerning what he perceives as the singular vagueness in the Torah about these two feasts:

It is strange that of all the festivals the Torah ordains, Shavuot [Weeks, Pentecost] alone the anniversary of the event that marks the birth of the Jewish people is given no specific date. The Torah only tells us that at a vaguely specified time during Pessah, from the day after the shabbat … there shall be seven full weeks. Till the day after the seventhshabbat you shall count 50 days (Leviticus 23:15–16).

Why is the day after the Sabbath considered vague? It seems pretty definite to us! It means the day after Saturday, that is, Sunday. This is the way the Sadducees and the later Jewish sect of the Karaites understood the Scriptures, as Kohn explains:

This vague formulation was in dispute between Jewish sectarians and the Sages. The Sadducees maintained thatshabbat in this passage is a proper noun referring to the weekly Shabbat.

According to this understanding, accepted by the Karaites and Samaritans, the omer count begins the first Sunday after the first Shabbat of Pessah, so that Shavuot always falls on Sunday seven weeks later (as it happens to fall this year).

The normal Saturday meaning of the Sabbath in this passage was the view of the Sadducees. They were the priestly party and had control of the Temple, where the feasts were focused until the Temple was destroyed. The view of the Sadducees appears to be supported by the Septuagint, which was the translation from Hebrew to Greek by Jewish scholars in Egypt around 180 BC. In rendering the two Hebrew words mimmacharat hashabbat (on the morrow after the Sabbath) in Lev. 23:11, they used the Greek word protos (first). This would indicate the first day of the week, or Sunday. Thus, the Septuagint suggests that the Sunday First Fruits and Pentecost was observed throughout the centuries before the First Coming of the Messiah.

However, Kohn explains that the Sages, the rabbis who compiled the Talmud after the destruction of the Temple, had a very different interpretation of the term Sabbath in this passage:

The Sages’ view … was that this shabbat is the generic for day of rest, referring to the first day of Pessah. Accordingly, the count begins the second day of Pessah rather the night before and Shavuot always falls on Sivan 6.

No less strange is that the Torah doesn’t name this 50th day as the day of the Mount Sinai event. Again it is the talmudic Sages who ruled that the date is Sivan 6. (Shabbat 6b, Pessahim 68b)

Now, this is strange! The rabbis decided that in this case the term Sabbath did not mean Saturday, but something else: the first day of Passover, or, more precisely, the first day of Unleavened Bread (the second day of Passover). What justification do they have for changing the meaning of Sabbath that way? Kohn does not say, but there must have been a very strong motive to cause the Sages to interpret Sabbath as something other than the regular sacred Saturday Sabbath.

We have no proof, but suggest that the change came some time after the resurrection of Christ and before the destruction of the Temple. Think of the impact the Jewish believers must have had as they described the Lord’s resurrection on the Sunday of Passover week at First Fruits and the coming of the Spirit seven Sundays later on Pentecost. The leaders must have been hard pressed to explain away the relevance of the feasts and their fulfillment in the Messiah.

The solution they came up with was to obfuscate the calendar in such a way as to make the connection less clear between the feasts and their fulfillment in Christ and the Holy Spirit. The strategy apparently worked because most Jewish people today see no connection whatever between the Feasts and the Messiah. By the time Josephus wrote his history about the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Jewish authorities had established the concept that First Fruits was always on Nisan 16, and Pentecost on Sivan 6. Josephus went through a rather lengthy explanation that the Sabbath of Lev. 23:11 meant the first day of Unleavened Bread, not Saturday. Thus, apparently some time before the destruction of the Temple, the practice of observing First Fruits and Pentecost on Nisan 16 and Sivan 6 was in place.

Instead of causing Jewish leaders to marvel over the relationship between the Feasts and the Messiah, the current festival schedule leaves scholars like Moshe Kohn scratching their heads. They are perplexed over the vagueness of the dates of First Fruits and Pentecost, and why there is no clear statement in the Torah that Pentecost is the day Moses received the Law, which is the teaching of the Sages. Such appears to be part of the veil over the eyes of the majority of Jewish people that so tragically obscures the truth about the Messiah in the Law.

Nevertheless, many Jews today and a lot of Gentiles who have no background in these matters are being graciously enlightened and are receiving the Lord.

The Case for Sunday for First Fruits and Pentecost

There are strong arguments for the Sunday interpretation for First Fruits and Pentecost in the Leviticus passage:

1. The basic meaning of the term Shabbat in the Torah is Saturday. There are some rare exceptions to this rule, but the context usually clarifies the meaning when there is an exception. It would appear that the burden of proof would be with anyone who claims that Shabbat means anything other than Saturday. Thus, the morrow after the Sabbath must mean Sunday unless there are compelling reasons for understanding otherwise.
2. Even if the Sages could make a case for the first day of Unleavened Bread (the second day of Passover) to be considered a Sabbath, how could the seven succeeding Sabbaths be considered anything other than Saturdays? In order for Pentecost to fall always on Sivan 6, the seventh Sabbath after First Fruits has to be understood as something other than a Saturday. If it was difficult to consider the first day of Unleavened Bread as a Sabbath, it would appear almost impossible to consider Sivan 5 (seven weeks later) to be a Sabbath, no matter what day of the week on which it fell. Yet this is what the Sages are asking us to believe in order to accept what they have ruled.
3. All the other Mosaic feasts are given specific dates, such as Nisan 14, Tishri 1, Tishri 10, and so forth. If the Lord intended for First Fruits and Pentecost always to fall on Nisan 16 and Sivan 6, why did He not so specify as He did with the other feasts? Why go through the elaborate process of counting the seven Sabbaths, unless it was clear that these two feasts were moveable, and would fall on different days of the month each year? It seems that the emphasis in these two feasts is that they would always fall on the same day of the week (Sunday) every year, rather than on the same numerical day of the month.
4. As indicated above, the Septuagint appears to confirm the Saturday meaning of Sabbath in Lev. 23:11 because it usedprotos to translate the phrase on the morrow after the Sabbath. The testimony of the Septuagint is important because it represents the thinking of Jewish authorities long before the first coming of Christ and the development of the Talmudic positions on controversial matters.

Thus, the great weight of evidence is that First Fruits and Pentecost were always intended to fall on Sundays, without regard to the day of the month they occurred. As for the New Testament record, it is clear that Jesus arose from the dead on Sunday, the First Day of the Week, the day after the Sabbath, as the fulfillment of the feast of First Fruits. What day of the month was this that year? We believe that Thursday was Nisan 14, the day the Passover lambs were sacrificed. Jesus ate the traditional Passover and died on Friday, Nisan 15, and arose from the dead on Sunday, Nisan 17. This would mean Pentecost fell that year on Sivan 7.

Source: Zola Levitt Ministries - Pentecost

Messianic Theology in 15 Minutes - Daniel Juster

Dr. Daniel Juster of Tikkun International presents Messianic Theology in just 15 minutes!

A must see for you to enjoy and pass along!