Shavuot - The Feast of Equipping

Shavuot (Pentecost) is the equipping holiday. On this day, God revealed His truth. On the very same day of the year, a millennium and a half later, He enabled that truth to be downloaded into our hearts. That truth sets us free, builds us up, enables us to walk in supernatural gifts, launches us into the great commission, and causes our hearts to beat in anticipation of our King’s return to Jerusalem. 

Lightning flashed, thunder shook the mountain, and the shofar blast grew louder and louder as God’s truth descended from Heaven onto Mount Sinai. The creator of all reached out to His creation and mercifully instructed them on the perfect definition of right and wrong. He revealed Himself that day. It was His way. His word. It was the way of paradise that had been betrayed in the Garden of Eden.

But this truth was too heavy for fallen humanity to bear, and this was no surprise to God. He spoke through the Prophet Jeremiah, saying not to worry, and that He would make a new covenant with Israel, causing their wicked hearts and iniquitous minds to be reset to God’s truth.

In chapter 42, the Prophet Isaiah declares that this promise to Israel will extend to the nations. He declares that the elect one, whom God has put His Spirit upon, will bring justice, Torah, and light to the Gentiles. 

Yeshua came, and His disciple John documented His instruction, “Keep my commandments.” “...the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.” “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things.” Yeshua’s commandments are His Father’s commandments. The Father revealed them to men at Sinai, the Son cleanses men from transgression of them, and the Holy Spirit restores and enables hearts to hold them. 

Yeshua invited His disciples to enter into this new covenant. They took the cup and ate the bread, affirming and internalizing their acceptance. 

The writer of Hebrews confirms that His work provided a supernatural reset. He says that Yeshua “offered one sacrifice for sins forever,” “perfecting forever those who are being sanctified.” He continues that “the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us;” “I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” and then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

And there’s even more! In Acts chapter one, Yeshua tells His disciples that the Holy Spirit, this heart-scribe of God’s truth, will come upon them, enabling them to bear His name to the ends of the earth in preparation for the restoration of all things.

Paul gives us a needed clarification on the fruit of the heart-scribe’s work. He says, “The fruit of the spirit is straining at gnats….” Oh, sorry, wrong passage… he says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” The Holy Spirit directs not only in understanding knowledge about what truth is but also in how to act in truth. Walking in the spirit of the law is included in the heart transplant operation of the new covenant.

In Revelation, it is the “Spirit and the Bride,” the Bride filled with the Spirit, the Bride with the Spirit in her heart, The Bride who has embraced the new covenant, the Bride that has God’s perfect instruction - the truth, the fruits, and the coming kingdom vision, who says, “come Lord Yeshua!

God’s plan is for us to be cleansed of our sin and transformed into vessels for His service, loving one another well, spreading the good news to the ends of the earth, building up the kingdom of God, and working towards the day when the Messiah returns to Jerusalem and brings His kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. May it be soon and in our day!