The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Journey of Israel, #3

Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. (Leviticus 23:16)

The feast of Pentecost comes fifty days after the Passover.

Fifty days after the first Passover the Jews came to Mount Sinai. Therefore the feast of Pentecost is associated in Jewish thinking with the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai.

Not only has God given us the Passover Lamb, He also has poured out on us His Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus no longer is on the earth and so He has given us "another Comforter."

The purpose of the Law, the Torah , was to warn people of God's judgment on specific behaviors. The Law was given to control sin until Christ came.

Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. (Galatians 3:19)

The new covenant deals with sin in a manner different from the Law of Moses. First of all the new believer must obey the writings of the Apostles. The Apostles in their epistles issued many commandments that Christians are to obey, such as the commandment to present our body to God as a living sacrifice. We are to put away sin by the grace that God gives us.

The purest form of the law of the new covenant, however, is the Holy Spirit Himself. As we make the effort to obey the commandments given by the Apostles we find that the Holy Spirit is entering our life to an increasing extent. The Holy Spirit begins to guide and empower us so we are able to gain the upper hand over sin.

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

The Holy Spirit is the Law of the new covenant and corresponds to Mount Sinai of the old covenant.

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. (II Corinthians 3:6)

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:13)

The spiritual reality foreshadowed by the Passover provides the saving blood of the Lamb and the spiritual reality foreshadowed by the Law from Sinai provides the wisdom and power to escape the death of sin and to enter the eternal life of the Spirit of God.

After the Law was given on Sinai the Lord issued the commandment to build the Tabernacle of the Congregation.

And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)

The Tabernacle of the Congregation symbolizes the Body of Christ, the Christian Church.

The Christian Church has put its faith in the blood of the Lamb throughout the Christian Era. Then toward the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century the Lord poured out His Spirit on His churches. The result was the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit. The power of Pentecost has been restored to the Church in the twenty-first century.

To be continued.