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counting is embodied into the very NAME of the festival, both in
Hebrew and Greek---both in Old Testament and New. And if it is
counted any other way, we nullify the very NAME of the festival.
It is IMPORTANT that we figure the RIGHT DAY!
Suppose the disciples and the "Jews, devout men out of
every nation, had figured only 49 days, by counting the first
Sunday as one day FROM Sunday---or had figured to the morrow after
seven SATURDAYS instead of seven WEEKS numbered from a Sunday, as
we are SO PLAINLY directed? They would have assembled, NOT on the
day of Pentecost at all, but on a PAGAN SUNDAY, and they would have
waited all day IN VAIN---and WITHOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT. Then they
would have gone away, thinking the day had passed, and on the
following day, which was the TRUE "Feast of WEEKS," the Holy Spirit
would have come, but they would not have been there to receive
God's most precious Gift! Yes, it is IMPORTANT we figure the right
day.
The MEANING of "Pentecost."
Notice, first, "Pentecost" is not "an upper room" as some
seem to believe. It is not an experience. The Scripture does not
say "When the EXPERIENCE of Pentecost came," it says "when the DAY
OF PENTECOST was fully come." Pentecost is a DAY. The day before,
or the day after, is not Pentecost---is not the FIFTIETH day---is
not the festival of WEEKS.
"Pentecost" is one of the annual Sabbaths, or Holydays OF
THE LORD (not of Moses), which the Eternal God set apart for His
people FOREVER. If those who were converted into the New Testament
CHURCH had not been ASSEMBLED, observing that day, some 50 days
after Christ had nailed all things done away to His Cross, they
would not have received the Holy Spirit---the New Testament Church
would not have started!
Notice Exodus 23:14-16: "Three times thou shalt keep a
feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened
bread. . . and the feast of harvest, the FIRSTFRUITS of thy labors,
which thou has sown in the field; and the feast of INGATHERING,
which is in the end of the year."
God gave to His CHURCH, at the time when the Church was
first called, while His people were still in Egypt, seven annual
holydays to picture to the Church GOD'S PLAN OF REDEMPTION, which
the Church was to proclaim. The Church, both of Old and New
Testaments, was to be used as God's instrumentality in carrying out
His PLAN. The holydays were given to keep the Church in the true
knowledge and understanding of the Plan the Church was to be used
in carrying out.
As the redemptive Plan BEGINS with the crucified Lamb of
God that taketh away the sins of the world, so the annual festive
season began with the Passover, picturing the Crucifixion. Once we
repent of sin, and turn to Jesus Christ as sin-bearer and personal
Saviour, with FAITH in His shed blood for the remission of sins, we
are JUSTIFIED. But justification has only to do with a guilty
PAST. We must then QUIT sinning---put sin COMPLETELY out of our