“One, two, skip a few, ninety-nine, one hundred!”
If you’ve ever worked with young children, you’ve probably heard this rhyme before. When I first was learning to count to one hundred, I wanted to prove to my three older siblings that I could count like they did. Like most kids who learn something catchy, I repeated it over and over and over until my family banned counting this way.
While counting to one hundred may not be commanded in Scripture, did you know that counting to fifty is?
In Leviticus 23, which outlines the seven biblical feasts of the Israelites, the Lord commands His people to commemorate Passover on the 14th day of the month of Nisan.[1] The Feast of Unleavened Bread[2] begins on the 15th of Nisan, lasting for seven days.[3]
The Feast of First Fruits is the next “appointed time” listed. However, this is where it gets complicated. Unlike all other biblical feasts, the Feast of First Fruits is not given a specific calendar date. Instead, the Lord commands Israel to celebrate it on the “day after the Sabbath.”[4] Most rabbis interpret that as meaning the 16th day of Nisan, or the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.[5]
For believers, this has huge implications. This is the day Yeshua (Jesus) rose from the dead. Paul uses the Feast of First Fruits as an illustration for Messiah’s resurrection.[6]
While the Feast of First Fruits is incredibly important, the Lord also gives a command to the Israelites to count fifty days from the Feast of First Fruits to calculate when to celebrate the next holiday,[7] Pentecost or Shavuot.[8] Today, Jewish people call this time of counting in between Passover and Pentecost the “Counting of the Omer.”[9] During this time, religious Jewish people will say a blessing each day; it is typically a time of reflection, solemnity, and semi-mourning, which originates from post-biblical rabbinical tradition.
So, why should believers care about Counting the Omer? For two reasons:
The Counting of the Omer has symbolic meaning. On Passover, Yeshua was sacrificed as our Passover lamb, and was resurrected on the Feast of First Fruits. Then on Pentecost, He sent the Holy Spirit!
Traditionally, Pentecost is recognized as the day the Lord gave the Old Covenant Law to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. He fulfilled the Feast nearly 1,500 years later by the giving of the Holy Spirit who enables us to live righteously under the New Covenant.[10]
Thus, each of the three springtime feasts received their fulfillment during the time they were being celebrated. Significantly, God refers to the holy days He was giving to Israel as “The LORD’s appointed times.”[11]
But what happened on those fifty days between the resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit? Scripture records Jesus appearing to individuals, His disciples, and great crowds for the first forty days . . . the first forty days of the Counting of the Omer. On the fortieth day, Yeshua ascended; ten days later He sent His Spirit to His followers.
So, the Counting of the Omer began a time of carefully counted days between the Feast of First Fruits (Messiah’s Resurrection) and the giving of the Torah (the giving of the Holy Spirit). This means that centuries before Messiah was to be born, the Lord had given a timeframe for His sacrifice, His resurrection, and the giving of His Spirit – the Counting of the Omer.
The Counting of the Omer has divinely historical meaning. Both Passover and Pentecost are “pilgrimage” feasts,[12] meaning it was commanded that any Jewish males who could travel to Jerusalem to celebrate these appointed times must do so. Many Jewish travelers from around the world would stay in the area for the days between the two festivals.
The disciples were no different. In fact, before His ascension Jesus commanded them to stay in Jerusalem until they received the power of the Holy Spirit.[13] During these fifty days, the resurrected Messiah was able to appear to people who would not normally be in the city. This also meant the disciples had an audience from three continents ready for the message on Pentecost!
Because of this divinely historic time, many Jewish people received the gospel in the city and then took this faith back to their homes throughout the Roman Empire. This gave the message of the risen Messiah the explosive power necessary to spread around the world in a single generation!
Written by Chase, LIFE Ministry Partner
“There is no substitute for being controlled by the Holy Spirit” is one of LIFE’s core value statements.
Yeshua promised “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
In God’s timing, He separates the three spring holidays from the fall festivals with a period of waiting. Many believers view this natural break as an indication of a break between the first and second coming of the Messiah – the period in which we are currently residing. So, whether you choose to number each day of the Omer or not, as we enter the “summer months” of the holidays, let’s remember the fulfillments of the fall festivals are coming!
Footnotes:
[1] Leviticus 23:5.
[2] Leviticus 23:6.
[3] Today many simply combine Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as one holiday, celebrating it as the eight days of Passover.
[4] Leviticus 23:11b.
[5] During New Testament times, the Pharisees interpreted the passage as referring to the 16th of Nisan, while the Sadducees believed the passage referred to the day after the weekly Sabbath (i.e., Sunday). Pharisaic interpretation persisted; however, during the year of Jesus’s crucifixion, they divinely fell on both the 16th of Nisan AND a Sunday – Resurrection Sunday.
[6] 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.
[7] Leviticus 23:15-16.
[8] Pentecost derives from the Greek word meaning “fifty”; Shavuot (pronounced “Shavuos” by Asheknazim) derives from the Hebrew word for “weeks.” Both “Pentecost” and “Shavuot” refer to the same holiday.
[9] “Omer” is a unit of measurement for dry goods (e.g., barley). Usually it is translated “sheaf” because the count begins on the Feast of First Fruits.
[10] Jeremiah 31:31-34; Romans 8:1-5.
[11] Leviticus 23:2. The Hebrew word for “appointed times” is moadim, the word still used to refer to these special days.
[12] The third pilgrimage feast God commanded be celebrated annually “at the place He will choose” (ultimately, Jerusalem) is Sukkot (Tabernacles), which is celebrated in the autumn. See Deuteronomy 16:16.
[13] Acts 1:4.