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As I sit here and write today with a focus on Shavuot, I would like to say that every feast of the Lord is precious. We have come through Passover and look forward to Sukkot, but right now, we are approaching Shavuot – the Feast of Weeks/the Feast of Sevens.

Previously, I have written about Shavuot with more background and teaching in the following articles: (2021) – (2022) – (2023). However, today, I would like to share more of a blog about the season in which we find ourselves. (Click here for a short video summary.)

Shavuot / Feast of Weeks / Feast of Sevens, 11th-13^th June 2024

The Jewish world will celebrate Shavuot, and some believers who understand that the Lord moves significantly in the time of the feasts are also focusing on Shavuot.

Sometimes, the Gregorian calendar and the Hebrew calendar coincide, and the feasts come at approximately the same time, e.g. Shavuot/Pentecost.  However, this year, due to it being a leap year for us and a leap year for the Jewish calendar, the dates do not coincide, so the Christians have already celebrated Pentecost, while Shavuot will be celebrated in June.

The Jewish world will celebrate Shavuot, originally a harvest festival, but later declared by the Rabbis to be “The Giving of the Torah” in various ways:

• Resting
• Eating dairy foods like cheesecake
• Reading the book of Ruth
• Decorating with flowers and greenery

Seven Weeks of Seven Days

“You are to count seven weeks; you are to begin counting seven weeks from the time you first put your sickle to the standing grain.” ~ Deuteronomy 16:9 (CJB)

“Three times a year all your men are to appear in the presence of Adonai your God in the place which he will choose — at the festival of matzah, at the festival of Shavu‘ot and at the festival of Sukkot. They are not to show up before Adonai empty-handed.” ~ Deuteronomy 16:16 (CJB)

Being a Hebrew student and taking this literally, seven means –

Rest, cessation from work, wholeness, completeness, being ripe, order, stability, and holiness. The seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Zayin, also represents the number seven.

I am seeing COMPLETE, COMPLETE, COMPLETE, COMPLETE, COMPLETE, COMPLETE, COMPLETE.

Or

REST, WHOLENESS, COMPLETENESS, RIPENESS, ORDER, STABILITY, HOLINESS

Wow! A cessation of our own works.

Completeness and Perfection

And I am sure of this: that the One who began a good work among you will keep it growing until it is completed on the Day of the Messiah Yeshua. ~ Philippians 2:6 (CJB)

Just as the Lord has a good plan for each one of us and is bringing forth His plan in our lives, He also planned the universe and everything on planet Earth, events and cycles and is bringing forth His plan in what we might call the fullness of time.

As I meditate on the day of Pentecost/Shavuot – I see, “on earth as it is in Heaven”.  It is a divine moment when the 120 disciples were endued with power from on high.  When Peter preached, it was no longer the stumbling Peter, but a true apostle mantled with power and authority to minister the Good News of Yeshua.

After suffering the agony of losing Yeshua in death, the disciples also rejoiced at His resurrection and were perhaps a bit baffled at the ascension, however, they obeyed Yeshua and waited. We are currently in a waiting season with the Lord. Many of us are spending time to hear His voice. I personally believe that He is preparing us for the next season.

Recently, the Lord shared this with me:

It is the beginning of something new, something you have not experienced before.

You will see Me move with boldness.

My husband Kym and I were in Israel this year, 2024 in late March and early April. We had encounters with Jewish people.  One man was asking us questions about Yeshua, and we had coffee with him.  At other times, we were able to pray blessings on individuals and our blessing was well received.

Kym and I also worked here in Adelaide with Never Again is Now, together with others to bring about a rally on the Steps of Parliament House. As the Christians organised this event and stood in solidarity with the Jewish Community, our message was and is, “You are not alone”. Even in Israel, we were able to share this message, and many were encouraged to know that millions of evangelical Christians globally were praying for them and standing with them.

We are in a season where even in these difficult days, the Lord is doing a good work in many of us, bringing us closer to His heart.

Shavuot, I believe, not just this month but in this season, talks about the coming together — Jew and Gentile — into One New Man that is mentioned in the book of Ephesians. Some believe that the following scripture symbolises the coming together of Jews and Gentiles.

Bring two loaves of bread from wherever you live as a wave offering.
The loaves are to be made with yeast from four quarts of the finest flour as the firstfruits to Me.
~ Leviticus 23:17

This concept is also shared in the New Testament.

… having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.
~ Ephesians 2:15 (NKJV)

The Lord’s new work has begun —

I am doing something new;
it’s springing up — can’t you see it?
I am making a road in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland.
~ Isaiah 43:19 (CJB)

As we travel through life day after day, week after week, month after month, we know that we are living in troubled times.  The Hamas War is on our screens daily. The media is lying to us about many issues. Natural disasters are common in the world and in the news. However, our lives go on. Many are plodding through on a day-to-day basis, but also, many are not fully aware of the times in which we are living.

Something did shift on the 7th of October, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel on many fronts.

• The border fence was broken through in 60 places;
• In total, the attackers killed 1,139 people;
• Brutal murders, rapes, mutilations, beheadings occurred. Babies in ovens and old people killed. Atrocities that we have trouble comprehending;
• It was reported that in the pockets of the terrorists, drugs were found – Captagon.

We can see that these attacks were fuelled by drugs – it was a massacre of horror.

In two separate episodes lately, two people mentioned to me that they believe 7^th October was a sign that the days of the Gentiles are coming to an end. Israel is on the news daily. There is trouble within and trouble without. A desperate time for Father’s Beloved Chosen People.

Antisemitic Attacks have Increased

The year 2023 ended with a 235 per cent increase in antisemitic incidents worldwide, as compared to the previous year.

The shift in Israel also occurred when Yeshua ministered, preaching with authority as it says:

for he was not instructing them like their Torah-teachers but as one who had authority himself.
~ Matthew 7:29 (CJB)

The way forward was to walk in the teachings of Yeshua.  The disciples of Yeshua continued their apostolic work spreading the message that they had learnt from Yeshua. The world was changing.

But more than one man, more than one message – something shifted after the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua.

The disciples were told to wait until they were endued with “power from on high”. They waited for 10 days. There were 120 or so individuals, and then a sound like a mighty rushing wind came, tongues of fire – Whoah! What was happening? – a supernatural impartation came upon the disciples. They were empowered – they spoke in other tongues or languages. Those present from Israel and beyond said –

“How is it that we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great things God has done?”
~ Acts 2:11b (CJB)

Pentecost/Shavuot

The festival of Shavu‘ot arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place.

Suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them.

They were all filled with the Ruach HaKodesh and began to talk in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak. ~ Acts 2:2-4 (CJB)

Some call it the birth of the church. Some call this the enduement of power from on high. Change had indeed come. The previously timid Peter stood up and preached, and 3,000 were converted.

So those who accepted what he said were immersed,
and there were added to the group that day about three thousand people.
~ Acts 2:41 (CJB)

The shift that had started with the death, burial and resurrection of Yeshua was now manifesting in the earth realm. A new dynamic from heaven had been released into the earth realm. The disciples were doing the Kingdom work that Yeshua had asked them to do, but now in a new and different way from how they had operated previously.

This is the time I believe we are living in.

If something really did shift at the time of 7^th October, and I believe this Passover 2024 was also significant, what is the Lord doing during this time of Shavuot?

I do not wish to make specific predictions, but wish to alert us to the movings of the Spirit in our time so that we may be sensitive to what the Lord is doing in this season.

Yes, it is time to fast, to pray, to seek the Lord – to say “yes” to His assignments.  Many are being sent out at this time on their own divine assignments.

The Lord has prepared vessels for specific redemptive works that are unique to this time in history. So, if the Lord has called you to pray, to give, to go – now is the time to actively pursue what He has called you to do.

As we walk in the Holy Spirit and not according to our own strivings, we will fulfil His plan for our lives.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
~ Galatians 5:25

And on that day, we look forward to our dear Yeshua saying to us:

Well done, good and faithful servant.
~ Matthew 25:23 (NKJV)

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Image courtesy of Adobe.