Dear Family,
Today is Sunday, April 23, 2023. It is Day 15; Day 1 of Week 3 in Count to Pentecost.
As we enter this third week of our Counting to Pentecost from the Wavesheaf Offering, it is good to remind ourselves of exactly what God has told us to do regarding the Counting.
Let us be careful to learn and remember that God instructed the Counting of seven weeks as well as the Counting of 50 days.
Deuteronomy 16:9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. God labeled the weeks exactly as “seven weeks.” Notice He did not say just any period of time would do. For example, we know God created the first week beginning on the first day of the week. It is the day that English speaking people call Sunday. Then, He ended the first week by creating and resting on the seventh day, the Sabbath.
Along with the 50 days He tells us to Count, God was also careful to make sure we understand that the weeks must “be out” when we are to meet in the commanded holy convocation.
Numbers 28:26 Also in the day of the firstfruits, when ye bring a new meat offering unto the LORD after your weeks be out, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work:
Exodus 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest….
Clearly, these verses indicate seven full weeks, beginning and ending as weeks have begun and ended since God created time for us back in Genesis 1. That means we begin our Count on the first day of the week, a Sunday. Then after our weeks are out, we have a holy convocation. That would, of course, take place on the 50th day. And, in this Counting, that day would obviously be a Sunday, the first day of another week. That is when the Counting ends.
As children, most of us have experienced the anticipation of something significant happening when we Counted toward a particular date. The Counting seemed to impart more positive expectations for whatever we were waiting for. May God bless us with a renewed sense of hope and an increased expectation of good from our God as we eagerly await Pentecost this and every year.
Ben Faulkner, Pastor
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