Shavuot/Pentecost, Our Betrothal

The Eyrusin - Kiddushin are fulfilled in the Feast of Pentecost! God sent His authorized prophet, Moses, to Pharaoh to tell him to let His chosen Israel go so that they could hold a Feast with Him in the wilderness – that Feast was Pentecost!

Pharaoh conceded to God’s Passover and the Children of Israel experienced their Exodus, passing through the Red Sea (Mikvah). Exactly fifty days later they found themselves at mount Sinai. God instructed Moses to have the people prepare (sanctify) themselves. There under the cloud of God’s Presence (Hoopah), God gifted the Israelis (and all the world I might add) with the Torah (Ketubah) - which is known as the Law of the Covenant. It was an awe-inspiring moment! But it was a substitutionary external gift, a type and shadow, until God would make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and Judah.

Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…I will put My law (Torah) in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jer 31:31-33

When Jesus rose from the dead, He taught His disciples about Himself in the Law, Prophets and Psalms – oh, to have been the fly on the wall when He did!  Then He admonished His disciples to go and WAIT for the promise of the Father in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. This would be an inauguration in the Kingdom of Heaven by the re-internalization of God’s Word in our hearts!

 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘You have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now….you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’  Acts 1:4-9

Jesus ascended exactly forty days after His resurrection. The disciples waited for an additional ten days, and when the (50th) fiftieth day had fully come, the Feast of Pentecost happened – so what did happen, 

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:1-4

This was a lot like what the Israelis experienced at Sinai, BUT instead of giving Torah on external tablets of stone, God wrote it on their hearts - no longer external, but internalized! They erupted with a fiery, powerful heavenly language bursting out from within! They started speaking the language, both of men and angels, of the Kingdom that they were being inaugurated into – they were born again!

When the surrounding Israelis heard them speaking in tongues, they didn’t know quite what to think. But Peter stood and began to boldly preach the historical accounts in tandem with prophecies leading up to this amazing moment of fulfillment that they were all witnessing. After hearing his explanation, 3,000 Israelis asked what they needed to do to receive the Father’s glorious promise (Matan); Peter clearly and boldly proclaimed,

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

Amazing. isn’t it? Peter presents the full protocol of Shiddukhin and Eyrusin - Kiddushin in this single Scripture – Mazel Tov! As a witness to this Scripture, I personally entered into a lifestyle of repentance in 1986 and was baptized in the Name of Jesus for the remission of my MANY manifold sins, and soon after, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues -- this amazing and miraculous experiential relationship with the Holy Spirit has been ongoing and ever increasing. 

The wonders of God are not dusty relics of the past, but FRESH AND ON TAP IN THE NOW!