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Why Do We Keep Pentecost?
01:04:14
Rod McNair | Recorded April 15, 2026
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Sa. Well, greetings to everyone on this day of Pentecost. It's a pleasure to be with you in this way on this holy day. It's a real wonderful day to be keeping the feast, one of the feasts of God. They teach us so much. They're so refreshing and they are so encouraging as we are reminded of God's awesome plan for all of us. So why are we doing what we're doing? Why are we gathered on this day, Sunday, of course, of all days, to worship God as his people around the globe? I remember Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong at the feast when I was growing up, as a teenager, he would ask the question in his last great day sermon that we. We saw beamed around the world, around the country, in the United States. And he would give the last great day sermon the afternoon. And he would often ask that question, why are we here? And it's important to keep coming back to that question. Mr. Weston often reminds us of that, Dr. Whannale as well. And the reason is, if we don't know why we're doing something, if we're only doing it because of custom or tradition, there may come a time when we forget about it, we forget why we're doing it, and it just sort of fades away. So it's important to ask that question. So I'd like to ask that question today in a sermon today for the Feast of Pentecost. If we are keeping Pentecost today, why? Why do we keep Pentecost? If you want a title, that's simply my title. Why do we keep Pentecost? Let's discuss several reasons today in this sermon. Number one. Number one, why do we keep Pentecost? Number one, it was kept by the New Testament Church. Now, you might argue this is not the one to start with, but I want to, because even some of our young people might sometimes feel like, well, we're a church that always focuses on the Old Testament. Well, we do focus on the entire Bible. We've got the Hebrew scriptures and then we have the New Testament Scriptures. It's all unified. But it's still important from time to time to be reminded that we are the church that Christ built under the new covenant, cleansed by his shed blood, under grace, pardoned from the penalty of our sins. He is our Savior and He is the head of the church. So with that in mind, let's see what the New Testament church did. Because whatever they did, that's what we should do. And that's pretty reasonable. Acts, chapter 2 and verse 1. Acts 2. 1 We read here. Acts two. One, when the day of Pentecost had fully come. Now, let's stop right there just for a moment and talk about that. That's an interesting phrase. It's sometimes in somewhat an ambiguous phrase. What exactly does that mean? Mr. Peter Nathan brought this out some years ago that it may mean that when the fulfillment of the day of Pentecost had come about. And clearly when you look at the day, you look at the account here in the Book of Acts and realize that the New Testament church began on that day. The Holy Spirit was poured out on that day. The empowering of the church on that day. You could make the case that this was the fulfillment in that sense of the day of Pentecost. So the day of Pentecost had fully come. There's another possible meaning. We'll come to that later, but let's look at what happened next. Acts chapter 2 and verse 1. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord, in one place. In other words, there was unity among the disciples. And that unity and that number would expand rapidly through the events of that day. And verse two, suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind, and. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them verse three, divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now, they were not in the upper room as sometimes, you see, assumed. They were probably in a portion of the temple complex, such as Solomon's Porch, that's mentioned later in the Book of Acts. And they were observing the day of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit was poured out on them. You know, it's pretty remarkable for mainstream Christians today to forsake God's holy days. When the New Testament church itself began on one of the those holy days in the New Testament era, in the first century, it was on the day of Pentecost. If they had not been keeping this day, then would they have received God's Spirit? Clearly, this day of Pentecost was not done away with at Christ's death. It was a profound part of the beginning of the New Testament church. And certainly we see the holy days are still part of that church, which is why we keep them today. The Holy Spirit was given in a miraculous way. There was fire, there was the wind, there was power, clearly dramatic, miraculous manifestation. And all these visitors and strangers heard Christ's servants speaking in foreign Languages that they could understand themselves. Those people who were there, notice in verse seven, then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born? Not ecstatic utterance, but real languages, as a sign even that Christ was going to take that message to the whole world. And this was just the beginning of it. Quite a miracle. Pretty astounding. And then you read the rest of the account of all that happened. Peter's sermon, how those who were in the crowd were challenged, perhaps included Israelites outside of the Jews. Outside of the Jews. Excuse me, because in verse 36, he said, Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God had made this Jesus, has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Pretty bold statement. Remember the context. Just a number of days earlier, their teacher had been crucified for this same message. And now he and the other disciples were pushing forward with that same message. And so it was a pretty bold thing that they were doing. Many of the men in the crowd responded, repented, were baptized, and the church grew dramatically. About 3,000 baptized on that day. So, brethren, why do we keep the day of Pentecost? Why do we keep this ancient Old Testament holy day? Well, to follow the example of the New Testament Church. That's why we're here. It's interesting that there are a couple of more specific references to Pentecost later in Acts 1st Corinthians 16, 8 says, but I will tarry. This is speaking of Paul in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. This was around 55 AD when Paul said this. And this was recorded in his letter there to the Corinthians. It was about 25 years after the beginning of the church in 31 A.D. so why would Paul use Pentecost as a marker of time, you know, over two decades later, if the holy days had no meaning or significance to New Testament Christians? It doesn't make any sense if they were not keeping those holy days at that time. Leave another example in Acts 20:16, for Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. So a lot of biblical evidence that the New Testament Church kept the holy days in these two specific instances, the day of Pentecost. So, brethren, why are we Keeping the day of Pentecost today simply because, number one, the New Testament Church kept it. And that's the church that we are a part of. We're following their example. What's another reason? Number two, it is commanded in the Bible. We could easily have made this the first point if it's commanded. That's extremely important. But I wanted to go through those New Testament examples so that we see that clearly we are a New Testament church. I mean, we are a part of the New Covenant Church that Christ built, that he is the head of. But certainly it is commanded. No less important. Why? If the New Testament Church was keeping it, why were they keeping it? Well, they were following the command found here back in the Hebrew Scriptures. And we can look In Deuteronomy chapter 16:16 for an example of that. Deuteronomy 16. We often read this at the times when we are taking up an offering. It says, three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses. Well, that's a pretty strong word, isn't it? Shall appear whenever the word shall shows up. That's not a suggestion, that's a command from God. And notice what he says then in the place in which he chooses. At the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty handed. So we understand this as the three seasons of the holy days. There actually are seven annual feast days, but in three general seasons. And of course what we're observing right now is the second season, the time of Pentecost. And here it's referred to as the feast of weeks. You know, it's interesting again, Pentecost is unique in that it has different names. It's the feast with four names. Mr. Frank explains that in a sermon. The feast with four names. I think it's also in a living ed class online course as well and the Pentecost online course as one of the resources for living education. Again, one of the names of this day is the feast of weeks. Leviticus 23 is a summary of all the feast days. Let's go, go there. Leviticus 23. One. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations. Holy convocations. These are my feasts. You know, it's interesting that in these two verses there are several powerful statements that show ownership of the feasts by God. Twice he identifies his ownership. They belong to Him. They are feasts of the Lord. Just like Jesus said he was the Lord of the Sabbath, it belongs to Him. He is the Lord of these feasts. They belong to Him. They are his feasts. And, you know, he repeats it there so that we don't miss the emphasis. And then it says, they shall be proclaimed to be a holy convocation. A convocation is a calling of an assembly. But it's not just any assembly. It's a holy assembly, an assembly with God's presence. It has to do with us being set apart, us becoming holy, because we're in God's presence. And so it's pretty important. So at the feast of Tabernacles, we are reminded that in the future the whole world will be keeping the feast of Tabernacles. And those nations that don't have it will have plagues and no rain. I think we can see that it's indisputable. This day of Pentecost, as well as all the holy days is commanded. It's commanded, so we keep it. What's another reason? Number three. It gives us an understanding of the plan of salvation. And we talk about this a lot. Psalm 111:10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, a good understanding. Have all those who do his commanded. So. His commandments. Sorry, so it is commanded. We keep it because it's commanded, even if it's not in the Ten Commandments. Certainly it's not in the literal Ten Commandments, but it is commanded as we just saw it. And the principle, when we keep God's commandments, we gain understanding by keeping them. That's a powerful principle. You know, God doesn't give us spiritual understanding until we step out on faith, until we step out and take action and start doing what he says. Yes, he will. He will guide us. He will draw us. He will give us a little bit of understanding, but we have to act on it. And then we gain more as we respond to him through His Spirit. He gives us more understanding, and then we continue to act on it, and we go forward. I think all of us who keep his commandments in these days, as well as all the commandments, I think we can see this in our lives. You know, the more you live God's way, the more you understand it. The more you live God's way, the deeper it becomes. And that's why every year, as we keep the holy days, we can walk away thinking, wow, I've learned things that I did not see before. Even though the material is the same, the writings are the same, the text that we read from is the same, and that we're taught from is the same. And yet, wow, what I learned this year, because God's word is living. Of course, Pentecost alone doesn't give us the entire plan of salvation. It's part of the whole picture. But together, all of the holy days give us this beautiful picture of what God is doing with all of mankind, bringing many sons to glory. Let's turn over to Exodus, chapter 23, Exodus 23:14, Exodus 23:14. Three times you shall. There it is again. That word shall keep a feast to me in the year. You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days as I commanded you at the time appointed in the month Abib, etc. Verse 16. And the Feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field, and the feast of ingathering at the end of the year when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field. So we are feasting with God. We are not just keeping the feast with each other, we are keeping the feast to him this time of year as the other times, as the other feasts come around. Now, when we think of what this symbolizes, this is nothing new to us who have kept these days before, but maybe there always are new people and younger people who are keeping these feasts. So let me explain a little bit. In ancient Israel, there were essentially three harvest times. The barley harvest happened in the spring. That was during the time of Passover and unleavened bread. The wheat harvest was in early summer, which would begin now and then the end of the summer harvest. The rest of the crops, the olives, the figs, other produce of the land that would be typified by the feast of Tabernacles. The feast season corresponds to this. So why is this important? Well, because God is in working out a plan of harvesting mankind. But it's not all happening at once. You know, in mainstream Christianity, the thinking is that you've got to be saved now or else that God is trying to get everybody into his kingdom, get everybody into heaven right now. And that's just not biblical. That is certainly not what the Bible says. Ultimately, God is, it is his will that all who want to will be in his kingdom. But it's not yet the time of many. God is working out the plan of salvation, but it happens in stages. When Jesus Christ was resurrected, he was the first one harvested, so to speak, into glory. We read that in First Corinthians, chapter 15, First Corinthians, chapter 15 and verse 20, First Corinthians 15:20. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. He was resurrected. He now sits at the right hand of the Father. And because he was resurrected, we can have hope in the resurrection. And that is wonderful. Notice in verse 21. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive, but each one in his own order. Christ the first fruits after word, those who are Christ's at his coming. And of course we know that it doesn't end there. It doesn't end with the resurrection of the saints at Christ's coming. Each year during the Feast of Tabernacles, we're reminded that God will make his spirit available to all mankind around the globe. During the millennial age, when Christ reigns on this earth, all will learn his way. All will have the opportunity to be converted. And that will be wonderful. And in Revelation 20:12, we read of all the dead, small and great, standing before God in the great white throne judgment, when that great mass of humanity will have their opportunity. So it doesn't stop with us. We are part of this phase in the plan. But. But there's much more to come. But for the sake of our discussion today, Christ is the first of the firstfruits. And then we are the firstfruits of the rest of humanity. Notice over in Revelation chapter 14. Revelation, chapter 14. Let's read there. Let's turn there quickly. Revelation 14. 1. Then I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion. And with him 144,000 having his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. And they sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb. So brethren, what a fantastic opportunity it is for us to be here and us to be a part of the early harvest, the early summer harvest. Those who are called now in this age and have the opportunity to respond and repent and be forgiven of our sins and to be granted, to be begotten by God's Spirit, ultimately to have salvation. And just what an incredible opportunity that is. So the feast days give us an understanding of God's plan to harvest mankind to eternal life. And Pentecost specifically gives us an understanding of where we are in the process, as far as the Church is concerned. It also gives us an understanding of the elect, that who are the elect? You know, the elect are not favorites of God. They are those he has chosen for now, chosen for this time. Not that he will let the rest burn forever. That's not the way God thinks. He is no respecter of persons. There is no partiality with God. He will give everyone an equal chance. It's just that those who are elect have their chance now, have their opportunity now. And what an opportunity that is to know God's way and be a part of his will and be able to respond to his will, even in an evil age. That's a tremendous opportunity. So let's move on to another reason why we keep Pentecost number four. It teaches us to respond to church government. The New Testament Church was founded in 31 AD and that church that was founded formed the basis of a spiritual nation, a holy people. First Peter, chapter two and verse nine. First Peter, chapter two and Verse nine. 1 Peter 2:9. But you are a chosen generation again. Not that everyone else is left out forever. A chosen generation means chosen now. Picked now. To be given our chance now doesn't mean that the others won't have their chance in the future. A royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. That holy nation, the royal priesthood, is a body, and we're part of that body. And the head of that body is Christ. Colossians 1:18 says, and he is the head of the body, the church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence and brethren. If we are the church that Christ founded, then Christ is the head of this church. Christ is leading this church. And that's profound and supremely important. This is not just a physical group of people, but a spiritual organism that we are a part of. And Christ has placed his servants in positions of responsibility and service in that church. Notice in Ephesians, chapter 4, Ephesians 4, 4, 11. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. It says, Christ gave us the ministry. He is directly involved. Verse 13. Till we all come to the unity of the faith. And we'll stop there for the moment. Now, why is this important? You know, it seems that no other feast comes close to Pentecost in terms of the contention and confusion that has surrounded it, especially in terms of counting Pentecost. I suppose counting Passover and the timing of Passover could be similar in some of the confusion and contention that sometimes comes about. But Pentecost certainly has its own confusion associated with it among some. And maybe God allowed it to test us and to teach us to respond to his government. Mr. Gerald Weston brings this out in an article in the LCN of May, June 2021, entitled A lesson in Counting Pentecost. And I'd like to read from it. He says determining the correct date of Pentecost has historically created controversy in the Church of God. It did so for decades in what was known as the Radio Church of God, which later became the Worldwide Church of God. And it continues to be controversial to some even to this day. God used Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong to restore observance of the biblical festivals and holy days which he and his wife Loma kept by themselves for seven years before others joined with them. It's important to note that he obeyed first. Understanding the profound meaning of these days came later as he studied into and observed them. We talked about that before. A good understanding have those who obey his commandments going on. Mr. Weston writes, unlike the Feast of Pentecost, the other holy days are on specific dates. For example, the Feast of Trumpets is on the first day of Tishri, the seventh month. And the first day of unleavened bread is on the 15th of the month of Abib. Pentecost, however, must be counted from a set time that is not the same calendar date every year. And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Keep count. Fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. And he's quoting Leviticus 23, verses 15 and 16. On the surface that sounds simple enough. So what is controversial about it? Well, let's go to Leviticus chapter 23, verse 4, and look at one of the things that he refers to, Leviticus, chapter 23 and verse 4. And I have some slides here to show in a few moments. Hopefully they come across okay in the recording and in the screen, but the slides are hopefully to illustrate some of the issues and hopefully make it a little bit more clear what the Bible says. Let's actually read in verse 9, in Leviticus, chapter 23, it says, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land which I give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, just a small bunch, a bundle of the barley. And then in verse 11, he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. So this was about two quarts of barley cut that represented Christ, and then on the day after the Sabbath, the priest waved it before the Lord, and that represented his coming before and being accepted by the Father. As we read in John 2017, I'll just quote it from the King James version. Jesus saith unto her, touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. So this was on the first day of the week, Sunday, and Jesus had not yet ascended to the Father. Other Scriptures show he did later that day, Matthew 28:9 says, so they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him, and yet earlier he told them not to touch him. So going back to Leviticus 23:15, and you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave, offering, Seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, verse 21, and you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. So where does the controversy come in? And what was the issue Mr. Weston was referring to? Well, again, perhaps a few slides can help to illustrate it. One of the issues was when we read Leviticus 23:15, when it says, count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, does that mean you are starting the count from the end of the day after the Sabbath? Well, in that case, as in the diagram that hopefully you can see in front of you, you'd start counting with the beginning of Monday. Now, this diagram is for this year, 2026, with Friday being April 3, Saturday being April 4, and then Sunday, the day after the Sabbath being April 5. If you count from the day after the Sabbath, mean. If the count from the day after the Sabbath means excluding Sunday, you start the count on Monday. And this is the common usage of the word from in English. If you're measuring from this lectern, for example, out 10ft, you don't include the lectern. You start at the end of the lectern and you go out 10ft. And that's how Mr. Armstrong understood Leviticus 23:15 for many years. And that's why the Church kept a Monday, Pentecost. Let's go to another slide here. So if you count 50 days from the end of Sunday, April 5th, in other words, start counting with Monday, April 6th, count 50 days, and our count would end up with a Monday Pentecost on May 25th. And this is how the Church counted Pentecost for many years. You can even pause the tape or the video and count the days, if you like. Check my work. From Monday, April 6th through the end of April through all the way to May 25th would be 50 days. Of course, that's not how we count Pentecost today, because we don't keep Pentecost on Monday. After 1974, it changed, and you can see it on this slide. If we start counting 50 days from the beginning of Sunday, April 5, Then we start counting with Sunday, April 5th. We count 50 days, and we come to a Sunday, Pentecost, May 24th, and that's 50 days. So essentially, in 1974, certain men in the church brought it to Mr. Armstrong that the Hebrew word translated from did not mean count from the end of the table, so to speak. It meant start counting inclusive of the table. If we use the example of measuring from a table or this lectern, Mr. Armstrong confirmed this with the Jewish experts that he was able to contact, and the change was made. So what's the lesson? Well, remember, we're talking about responding to church government. Mr. Weston goes on in the article, God used Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong to teach his people near the end of this age the need to keep the annual festivals and holy days spelled out clearly in the Bible. Yet for four decades, Mr. Armstrong's count was off by a day. What are we to make of this? There were individuals during those 40 years who saw that Mr. Armstrong was in error. Some saw the big picture that it was not up to each individual to determine for himself the church's practice in this controversial matter. But some left the church over this or sought to cause division. Now, to us, it may seem like what's the big deal? But this was a major source of contention back in 1974, and some didn't handle it well. Mr. Weston continues. Jesus tells us to judge leaders by their fruits. Matthew 7:16. When. When we look back on the work that God accomplished through Mr. Armstrong, we see God blessing it immensely, even during those 40 years. On the other hand, what became of those who left over what was a sincere error in Mr. Armstrong's understanding? Where are they now? What were the fruits of their labors? Did they preach the gospel to the world? Did they warn the world of what is coming? I think we know the answer. Nothing became of any of them. Where Mr. Armstrong was in error was that he did not understand the difference in English and Hebrew usage when using the word from, and as a result, he made a wrong judgment. The error was not whether to keep Pentecost, but when. And once he understood his error, he did not put it to a vote. He made a judgment for the whole church that thenceforth we would observe Pentecost on Sunday. It is clear from history and from the fruits of Mr. Armstrong's labor compared to that of those who opposed him, that God backed his chosen servant even while he was making this sincere mistake. I think this is such a powerful example of God working through his church and understanding church government, that God works through his church leadership even when they make mistakes, and he will correct those mistakes in his time. The question is, how do we handle it? And that's a big question. Matthew 16:18. Let's turn over there for a moment. Matthew 16 and verse 18, Jesus says, and I also say to you, that you are Peter, in other words, a little stone, and on this rock himself, this large cliff, massive cliff. I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This is not a Pope, Peter. This is not a man presuming to have authority to change God's laws or to directly contradict God's word. But it's an acknowledgment that God has given authority to his church leadership to make decisions to determine these judgment calls, and he backs them up. I find it very encouraging when you look at the example of Pentecost, at how God backed up Mr. Armstrong even when he was wrong on a technical point, and he blessed the church and in his time, in God's time, God brought it to Mr. Armstrong's attention and it was corrected. That's such a huge object lesson, brethren, for us, having to do with the timing and counting of Pentecost. There are other technical elements of Pentecost that can sometimes be confusing for some, and they take judgment as well. Let's look at another example going back to Leviticus 23:11. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. So the question is, what day is this Sabbath? Is it a weekly Sabbath, or is it the annual Sabbath, the first day of unleavened bread? The Jews today, by and large, believe this meant the first day of unleavened bread. And following the example of the Pharisees. But let's look at it again to the slides. If the day after the Sabbath of Leviticus 23:11 refers to the day after the first day of unleavened bread, then the first fruit sheaf was waved while Christ was still in the grave. Now think about that. That's significant. If, on the other hand, If the day after The Sabbath, Leviticus 23:11, refers to the day after the weekly Sabbath, then the first of the firstfruits, the wave sheaf, was waved on the same day that Christ ascended to his Father. I think that alone should give us a pretty good indication of, of what's the right timing. Christ was the perfect fulfillment of this first sheaf of barley being weighed by the High Priest when he ascended to the Father on Sunday, he rose from the grave at the end of the Sabbath, the previous evening at the end of the daylight portion of Saturday. But he ascended to the Father on Sunday, the day after the weekly Sabbath. And he fulfilled that type absolutely perfectly. Frankly, looking back at the way the Jews observe it, which, again, this is showing on the screen right now, it's really no surprise that they would believe the sheaf would be waved on a day other than Sunday. Again, this is. You're looking at the way the Jews from the tradition of the Pharisees see the timing of the wave sheaf the day after the first day of unleavened bread while Jesus was still in the grave. You know, if they accurately recognized that it should be waved after the weekly Sabbath, they might have had to acknowledge that the one they killed was their Messiah ascending to the Father, at the same time. Also, if the day after the Sabbath refers to the first day of unleavened bread, then according to the fixed Jewish calendar today, Pentecost always falls on Sivan 6 and there's no need to count it at all. And yet, as Mr. Wesson explains, we are told to count, but there's another reason. We know it's the weekly Sabbath, and we find it in the account of Joshua chapter 5. Joshua chapter 5 is very instructive in a number of ways. Let's turn there and read starting in verse 10. In verse 10, it reads, now, the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover. Unleavened bread and parched grain on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land. And the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. So the command back in Leviticus was very specific. When they were to go into the land, they were not to eat bread, nor parched grain, nor fresh grain until the first fruit sheaf was waved. And by the way, sometimes new grain was parched or roasted in order to dry it faster. That seems to be one of the elements here. So how did this work? Let's see what we can find out about this Passover and this progression of timing in the book of Joshua. Again, what's interesting is that the requirements of Joshua 5 and Leviticus 23 can only fit in one scenario. And so let's find out what that scenario is for Leviticus 23 and Joshua 5. To line up correctly, there are three items to consider. Number one, the sheaf was waved on the day after the Sabbath. That's shown in yellow here. That's Leviticus 23:11. Number two, they were not allowed to eat bread nor parched grain or fresh grain until the sheaf was waved. That's in Leviticus 23:14. And number three, the children of Israel ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover. That's In Joshua chapter 5, verse 11, what we just read. So let's line it up with how the days fell last year in 2025, with Passover being Friday night. Let's see if this fits all three of these conditions. So they kept the Passover at sunset at the beginning of the 14th. Of course, all the daylight portion of Saturday, the 14th of Nisan was considered the Passover. And so let's go through these elements on the right side of the slide one by one. First of all, we know the sheaf was waved on the day after the Sabbath. In this scenario, we can see the Sabbath clearly is Saturday. So the sheaf would be waved on Sunday, the morrow after the Sabbath. So let's move it over to the column under Sunday. We'll put the the sheaf was waved on the day after the Sabbath on Sunday. And we'll also add on the chart on Sunday, under 15th of Nisan, the first day of unleavened bread, the words and sheaf waved for clarity. So we remember that as we. Okay, now let's put in yellow, the second element. That is, they were not allowed to eat bread or parched grain or fresh grain until the sheaf was waived. Let's put that on our graph on Sunday under the last element we talked about. Okay, so far, so good. Now here is the clincher. This is our third element. The children of Israel ate of the produce of the land the day after the Passover. Now, would that fit to put that on the graphic on Sunday? Well, let's think about it. The children of Israel ate of the produce of the land, which they were not allowed to do until the sheaf was waved, but the sheaf had been waved on that day because it was the day after the Sabbath. So that fits. But before we put it there, let's ask one more question. Would it fit that the children of Israel ate of the produce of the land the day after the Passover? Well, again, the Passover that year fell on Friday night, which includes the daylight portion of Saturday. And again, remember, Passover is the 14th. First day of unleavened bread is the 15th. So if the children of Israel ate the produce of the land on Sunday and Passover was the 14th of Nisan, which included the daylight portion of Saturday, that the whole daylight portion of Saturday would still be the 14th. Then yes, they ate the fruit of the lamb the day after the Passover. And you can easily see that on the chart. Again, that last item is the important one. Why is that? Well, because the children of Israel could not eat of the produce of the land until the sheaf was waved. And yet they ate on the day, the day after the Passover. So that means the sheaf had to have been waved, but the sheaf could only be waved after the Sabbath, which was only possible if that Sabbath was a Saturday, not any other day of the week. Now, we aren't going to go through the exercise of trying to make it fit on other days for sake of time. You can do that if you wish. Just for fun. You can plot it out on a piece of paper and see if Leviticus 23:11, Leviticus 23:14, and Joshua 5:11 all fit together. If the sheaf is waived after the first holy day, it doesn't work. It simply doesn't fit. It has to be the weekly Sabbath. And this account of Joshua 5 is a remarkable proof that it can only be the weekly Sabbath, because that year, the way it fell, there's no other way the events could have lined up differently. So this is really straightforward. But again, from time to time, some people get hung up on some of the technical details. But the conclusion has to be, look, the Bible wasn't written like a science textbook. And you have to look at the most reasonable explanation, the most obvious. And the Church has to make a judgment. As Mr. Weston explains going on, he says, there are personal decisions each of us need to make every day, but there are judgments that must be made by the Church when it comes to collective worship. We read, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Perhaps in this, God provided an example for those to those for whom this matter would be controversial in the future. We see that individuals were not left to decide for them, not left to themselves to decide when and where to observe the day for Pentecost had fully come, and they were all with one accord in one place. So maybe God even allowed the timing of Pentecost to require some judgment to test those. And so we all could learn to respond to church government. Again, going back to Ephesians, let's go back there and let's pick up the rest of the passage in Ephesians 4, Ephesians 4 and verse 13. Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working, by which every man every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. So maybe even this counting gives us an opportunity to participate in responding to church government. What's the last reason why we keep the day of Pentecost? Number five. It gives us understanding of our mission and our role today. Let's go back to Leviticus chapter 23. So in Leviticus chapter 23 and start again in verse 15. And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, which is we saw a weekly Sabbath. From the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwellings, two wave loaves of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour. They shall be baked with leaven. They are the first fruits to the Lord. As our living ed online unit explains, this represents us. This represents the church, the church in the Old Testament and those saints that God called during that period and the New Testament church. Two loaves it's leavened because we're still flesh. We still sin, but we repent and we are forgiven and we are accepted as holy. But these two loaves represent the church. Notice in James chapter one, James chapter one and verse 17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning of his own will. He brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So we are firstfruits. But brethren, what are firstfruits supposed to do? I remember when I was a college student and the Worldwide Church of God was falling apart, going into apostasy. A very, very discouraging time. And the church was changing. I had grown up in the church. They were beginning to teach the Trinity and a very discouraging time. And I ran across an old recording by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, and it was called. The sermon was entitled why the First Fruits? And it was from May 26, 1985. You can do a Google search today and find it. And it was so refreshing at that time in my life as a college student, as a young person, discouraged because the church was changing major doctrines around me right under my feet. It was so encouraging to be and refreshing to be reminded that, that we are not here just to love Christ. A false Christ, ultimately, is what they presented. We're not just here to be good people and then wait to go to heaven. We actually have a job to do. And that's what Mr. Armstrong talked about in this sermon. And if we understand that there's a plan and there's a purpose and we actually have a part to play, not just to get ourselves saved, but in helping others come along as well. And that's the role of the church today. It was such an encouraging message for me at a crisis point in my life. And it was one of the things that really helped me make it through a very, very dark time in the church, knowing that the work is not over. And Mr. Armstrong proclaimed that very powerfully in that message. Proverbs, chapter 24. Proverbs 24. Mr. Meredith, when he was still alive, would turn to this verse describing our role, that we're not here just to serve ourselves. We're not here just to learn and to grow and to be saved ourselves. We're here for a purpose. We have a job to do in helping those who will come along. Remember we talked about the elect have a role. It's not just so they can feel special. It's so they actually can be a part of the work of preparing the way for those who will come later. Proverbs 24:11. Deliver those who are drawn toward death and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, surely we did not know this, does not he who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does he not know it? And will he not render to each man according to his deeds? And this world is stumbling to the slaughter. We have an opportunity not to just be in it for ourselves, but actually be a beacon of light to the world, to those who are looking for it now, and also even to be a witness that can ring in their ears those who respond later, at another time, even if they don't get it right now. Matthew, chapter 5 and verse 14, Matthew, chapter 5. Brethren, this is our role. This is what we're here for. This is why we're keeping this day. This is the one of the reasons why we keep the day of Pentecost. That the New Testament church was even built by Christ to do a job, to do a work. Matthew 5:14. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand. And it gives light to all who are in the house. And let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. It's not just so that we can be a good example that is important, but it's also about actively being involved in the work of God. And that shows the world the way. It illuminates their path ultimately, when they respond. And not all will respond, now, that's okay. But they will eventually. And along the way, we are preparing to help them in the future. Isaiah 30:20. Notice Isaiah, chapter 30:20. We read this at the Feast of Tabernacles, but it's certainly appropriate to read it in the context of this day. Isaiah 30:20 and though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore. But your eyes shall see your teachers, and your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way. Walk in it whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left. We're not here just to finish our race. We're striving to finish our race so we can help others finish their race. And that's why we're keeping the Feast of Pentecost, brethren. That's why we've been called first. Not because we're better, but because God has given us a job to do, a mission to finish. So as we keep this day, as we keep this inspiring and meaningful and exciting day, let's remember why we're keeping it. Let's understand that it's not just a tradition. It's not just, well, we've always done this. There are very, very important reasons why we keep the Feast of Pentecost. Let's remember those reasons, and let's be about our Father's business to finish his work.