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What Does Shavuot/Pentecost have to do with the birth of the CHURCH?
I have been taught that that the “Church” was birthed in the New Testament, specifically in Acts 2 at Pentecost. Jesus had arrived and He promised a new entity - "His Church". Now there would be something other than "Israel". Israel will still have its own path to take but now a brand new thing is happening and Acts 2 kicks it off. But is that really the story the Bible tells? I found a very different story in the Scriptures.
When I say “Church", I mean the Greek word “Ekklesia” (ἐκκλησία Strongs G1577) that is used in the Greek New Testament. There are a couple of theories, but no one knows exactly why we translate “Ekklesia” as Church. A more accurate interpretation of “Ekklesia” would be “assembly” as the word means “a called out assembly, but it’s much too late for that. At this point in order to have any meaningful discussion we have to use the word “Church”. The English word “Church" has 2 meanings – The People of God or the place that they meet. I will only be using it in the sense of “The People of God, specifically The People of the only true God, YAHWEH and His son, Jesus or Yahshua, His Hebrew name, which means “YAHWEH Saves”.
Using the Greek word “Ekklesia” I searched the Septuagint*1, (the Greek Old Testament) translated about 300 years before Jesus was born. The Jewish scribes that translated the Old Testament into Greek chose the word “Ekklesia" to describe the “Assembly” of YAHWEH. The New Testament authors chose the same word when describing the Gods People. It would be helpful if translations stayed consistent throughout the Bible. For instance, the Bible translates the Hebrew “Yahshua” into Joshua in the Old Testament but translates the exact same name in the New Testament as “Jesus”. That is why it is very important to study the original languages. And when I study the Greek word for Church “Ekklesia” I find that God’s Church is throughout the Old Testament. Also when I study the Hebrew text I find the word “Qahal” ( קָהָל H6951) is used to describe the “Assembly” of YAHWEH. And “Qahal” also means "an assembly that is called out”. So, the Hebrew text also shows that YAHWEH’s Assembly/Church is throughout the Old Testament. It’s not the Greek word “Ekklesia or the Hebrew word “Qahal” that is significant. In the Bible the words “church or assembly” are not special. They are quite common. It’s the context and modifiers that tell me when they are significant. Its YAHWEH’s church/assembly, the church/assembly of YAHWEH, Jesus’ church. Whose “ekklesia” or “qahael” / “assembly/church” are we talking about. That’s what makes it special. Whe I see that, I can see YAHWEH’s Church throughout the Bible and not just in the New Testament.
When I look for the birth of Church, I find that the Scriptures reveal that YAHWEH birthed His Church “Ekklesia” when He rescued the Israelites out of Egypt. The Ekklesia, the Church, the Assembly of the LORD/YAHWEH, was created at the first Covenant at Mt. Sanai (Ex 19:5-8 & Ex 24:3)*2. This is all part of YAHWEH’s plan to restore Humanity to Himself and bring us back into fellowship with Him. The fellowship we lost in the Garden. When we rejected fellowship with God, YAHWEH began His plan of bringing us back to Him. God called Abraham and promised him that through his descendants God would bring all nations including Gentiles back to Him. When God rescued Abraham’s descendants and a large number of Gentiles out of Egypt*3 He made a covenant with them. However, because of the peoples hard rebellious hearts they were not able to keep their side of this Covenant. Jeremiah and Ezekiel both prophecied that YAHWEH is going to give a New Covenant that will enable people to stay in fellowship with Him.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. "And I will put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and follow My ordinances”. Eze 26:26-27
"Behold, days are coming," declares YAHWEH, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares YAHWEH. "For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares YAHWEH: "I will put My Torah within them and write it on their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jer 31:31-33
There is a beautiful Feast of YAHWEH called The Festival of Shavuot//Pentecost that happens at the same time of year that this First Covenant was given. It is no coincidence that at this same Festival, Shavuot, in Acts 2, the Church/Assembly of YAHWEH, which had broken the first covenant, was given the New Covenant. Both events had similar sounds and symbols - wind, fire, smoke, voices/languages (the Hebrew word translated thunder in Exodus is “kolot” Strong’s H6963, which means voices or languages). At the first Shavout/Pentecost YAHWEH gave His Words written on stone tablets. At Shavout/Pentecost in Acts He wrote His Torah on hearts. At Mt. Sinai, God's presence was symbolized by a cloud and fire, which led the Israelites out of Egypt. Later, God moved His presence into the Tabernacle and then the Temple. (2 Chron. 5:7-8, 13-14). When that temple was rebuilt there is no record of God moving His presence into that temple. Then in Acts 2 during Shavuot, God's presence moved into a "new temple," the followers of Jesus (1 Cor 3:16;Rom. 8:9)*4.
In Acts 2, the people were in Jerusalem to celebrate Shavuot and remember the time long ago when God showed up in fire, wind, smoke and voices/thunder at Mt. Sinai. Suddenly, it looks like God is showing up again in the same way that He came before. They see fire and smoke and hear voices and the place is shaking violently. God is back! At Mt. Sinai, 3000 were killed as a result of them breaking God's Torah. In Acts 2, 3000 were added to God's Church as He wrote His Torah on their Hearts. Looking at the history of Shavuot and what God did there makes the story of Acts 2 so much deeper and increases my faith in the God of the Bible. His plans were made since the beginning of time and are exact down to the last detail. What a mighty God we serve!
At Shavuot in Acts 2 God enters His New Temple. This is not the final restoration act of renewing the fellowship that He had with humanity in the Garden but it’s a very big step. Humans rejected and broke fellowship with God in the garden. Humans lost the garden and are on a journey of God bringing us completely back to Him. In this journey God is teaching us important things about Him and important things about ourselves. The giving of the New Covenant in Acts 2 is not an unexpected something new, it’s the anticipated promise of how we can get past our constant failure to keep our side of the covenant. We lost God’s presence in the Garden, so God presented us a way to get a piece of His Holy presence in the Tabernacle/Temple. As God knew we would, we failed to keep that small piece of His presence in the Temple. But God has now made us to be His temple. We are now the place that YAHWEH has chosen to put His name*5. Each of us can now experience a piece of His presence inside us and when 2 or 3 of us gather together we become the Temple and He is in our presence corporately. God’s People, God’s Elect have been there from the beginning and He has been rescuing them and restoring them to Himself. There is no Church that is God’s Elect that is separate from the Israel that is God’s Elect. Gentiles were in Exodus 19 at the first Covenant and birth of the Church and it has always been the plan to save the whole world. God chose to do it through Abrham’s descendants, of which I am grafted into and have become a citizen of God’s Israel*3. Through the Messiah, male or female, Jew or Gentile can all become children of Israel and all heirs of the Promise.
Followers of Judaism celebrate Shavuot/Pentecost as the giving of the Torah but do not believe the New Covenant has been given yet. Christianity teaches that the Church is something different than Israel and many times teaches that the Church is an entity that has replaced Israel in God’s plans and that the New Covenant has done away with YAHWEH’s Torah. Christianity does this by cobbling together what I have found to be vague out of context random New Testament scriptures or using manmade doctrines. But to me, the Scriptures themselves present a consistent connecting message. The stories of Eden, the Flood, Exodus, wilderness, The Covenant, are not just historical background stories. These are the foundational context for everything Jesus did and everything that happens with the Church. The New Testament plugs into, not replaces or does away with, the story line that began in the Torah and Prophets. The Torah and the Prophets is the Bible of Jesus and the Apostles. They had no other Scriptures. They did not see themselves replacing it. They revered it, honored it, trusted it, followed it. They were raised on it, praying and singing and memorizing from a young age. I experience and understand God in a much more powerful beautiful compelling way, when I see myself plugged into the story line from the Torah and Prophets and take the time to understand Jesus’ and the Apostle’s Bible.
NOTES
When I read the scriptures in their original language, I can sometimes see what translations have unintentionally hidden from my view and sometimes have forced an interpretation on me that was not originally intended. In the scriptures below I have consistently interpreted “Ekklesia” as “Church” in the Old and New Testament. As stated before “Assembly” would be a better choice but western history has bypassed that so I will stick with “Church”. It takes context to know when it is talking about a people chosen by God and are His people or just a more general assembly. I have capitalized where I think the context clearly means God’s People.
Ekklēsía/CHURCH in the Greek New Testament
"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my CHURCH and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Mat 16:18
"If he doesn't pay attention to them, tell the CHURCH. If he doesn't pay attention even to the CHURCH, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you. Mat 18:17
Then great fear came on the whole CHURCH and on all who heard these things. Act 5:11
"He is the one who was in the CHURCH in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors. He received living oracles to give to us. Act 7:38
The church. was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. Act 19:32
If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal church. Act 19:39
After he had said this, he dismissed the church Act 19:41
He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the CHURCH, I will sing your praises." Heb 2:12 (Psa 22:22)
Ekklēsía/CHURCH in the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX)
YAHWEH gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which YAHWEH had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the CHURCH. Deu 9:10
"No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the CHURCH of YAHWEH; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the CHURCH of YAHWEH Deu 23:3
"The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the CHURCH of YAHWEH. Deu 23:8
Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the CHURCH of Israel the words of this song, until they were complete: Deu 31:30
Then King David rose to his feet and said, "Listen to me, CHURCH; I had intended to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant of YAHWEH and for the footstool of our God. So I had made preparations to build it. 1Ch 28:2
I also shook the folds of my robe and said, "May God likewise shake from his house and property everyone who doesn't keep this promise. May he be shaken out and have nothing! " The whole CHURCH said, "Amen," and they praised YAHWEH. Then the people did as they had promised. Neh 5:13
The whole CHURCH that had returned from exile made shelters and lived in them. The Israelites had not celebrated like this from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. And there was tremendous joy. Neh 8:17
At that time the book of Moses was read publicly to the people. The command was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the CHURCH of God, Neh 13:1
I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters; I will praise you in the CHURCH. Psa 22:22
I will give praise in the great CHURCH because of you; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear you. Psa 22:25
I hate a church of evildoers, and I do not sit with the wicked. Psa 26:5
My foot stands on level ground; I will bless YAHWEH in the CHURCH. Psa 26:12
I will praise you in the great CHURCH; I will exalt you among many people. Psa 35:18
I proclaim righteousness in the great CHURCH; see, I do not keep my mouth closed -- as you know, YAHWEH. Psa 40:9
YAHWEH, the heavens praise your wonders -- your faithfulness also -- in the CHURCH of the holy ones. Psa 89:5
Hallelujah! Sing to YAHWEH a new song, his praise in the CHURCH of the faithful. Psa 149:1
The adversary has seized all her precious belongings. She has even seen the nations enter her sanctuary -- those you had forbidden to enter your CHURCH. Lam 1:10
Gather the people; sanctify the CHURCH; assemble the aged; gather the infants, even babies nursing at the breast. Let the groom leave his bedroom, and the bride her honeymoon chamber. Joel 2:16
Therefore, there will be no one in the CHURCH of YAHWEH to divide the land by casting lots. Mic 2:5
'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel." So, Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which YAHWEH had commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, "All that YAHWEH has spoken we will do!" And Moses brought back the words of the people to YAHWEH. Exo 19:5-8
Then Moses came and reported to the people all the words of YAHWEH and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words which YAHWEH has spoken we will do!" Exo 24:3
And I will make you into a great nation (גּוֹי gôwy, Strongs H1471- nation, usually of Non-Hebrew people) , And I will bless you, And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Gen 12:3
No longer shall you be named Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations[H1471]. "I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations[H1471] of you, and kings will come from you. Gen 17:5-6
Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. Exo 12:38
But if a stranger resides with you and celebrates the Passover to YAHWEH, all of his males are to be circumcised, and then he shall come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised male may eat it. "The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who resides among you Exo 12:49
Praise YAHWEH, all Gentiles/Nations ; Sing His praises, all peoples! Psa 117:1
When YAHWEH has compassion on Jacob and again chooses Israel, and settles them on their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. Isa 14:1
Don't let foreigners who commit themselves to YAHWEH say, YAHWEH will never let me be part of his people. And don't let the eunuchs say, 'I'm a dried-up tree with no children and no future.' For this is what YAHWEH says: “I will bless those eunuchs who keep my Sabbath days holy and who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me. Also, the foreigners who join themselves to YAHWEH, To attend to His service and to love the NAME of YAHWEH, To be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath so as not to profane it, And holds firmly to My covenant Even those I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples." YAHWEH GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, "I will yet gather others to them, to those already gathered. Isa 56:3- 8
Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man (G444- All Humanity), and not man for the Sabbath. Mark 2:27 (Jesus did not say Sabbath made for only Jews but for All Humanity)
Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ..So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household. Eph 2:12,19
For he is not a Jew (of Judah) who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from people, but from God. Rom 2:29
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, Rom 11:17
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 1Co 3:16
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Rom 8:9
YAHWEH manifested Himself in various times and situations but sometimes He would specify a place that He had placed His name there, meaning His presence was there.
YAHWEH says "But you shall seek YAHWEH at the place which YAHWEH your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His Name there for His dwelling, and you shall come there. Then it shall come about that the place in which YAHWEH your God will choose for His Name to dwell, there you shall bring everything that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice vowed offerings which you will vow to YAHWEH.” Deut 12:5,11
YAHWEH sometimes moves where His name is to dwell.
1. The Garden of Eden
3. The Tabernacle
4. The Temple
5. Jesus/Yahshua (Emmanuel)
6. Where 2 or 3 are gathered (now)
7. The New Jerusalem (future)
The glory of YAHWEH dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. Exo 24:16
You shall sacrifice the Passover to YAHWEH your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where YAHWEH chooses to establish His NAME. But only at the place where YAHWEH your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt . You shall rejoice before YAHWEH your God, you, your son and your daughter, and your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger, the orphan, and the widow who are in your midst, at the place where YAHWEH your God chooses to establish His NAME. Deut 16:2,6,11
you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that YAHWEH your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where YAHWEH your God chooses to establish His NAME. Deut 26:2
Go and tell David My servant, 'This is what YAHWEH says: "You shall not build a house for Me to dwell in; for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel to this day, but I have gone from tent to tent and from one dwelling place to another. "In all places where I have walked with all Israel, have I spoken a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, 'Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?' 1Ch 17:4-6
But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My Name dwell at the beginning, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. Jer 7:12
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, andyet You will raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking about the temple of His body. John 2:19-21
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. Mat 18:20
Or what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL AMONG THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. 2Co 6:16
So, then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in YAHWEH, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. Eph 2:19- 22
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, I saw no temple in it, for YAHWEH God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Rev 21:2,3,22 (finally back to the Garden)
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