Leviticus 23:15-21
15 You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD. 17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the LORD. 18 And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 19 And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21 And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.
This passage describes a special festival that God instructed His people, the Israelites, to celebrate called the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot. It was a time to thank God for the wheat harvest and worship Him with offerings.
But there’s something even bigger going on here. These feasts weren’t just about crops or sacrifices—they were like a map pointing to Jesus and God’s plan to build His Church (Hebrews 10:1).
God’s feasts and rules in the Old Testament, like Shavuot (The Feast of Weeks), were shadows pointing to the real thing—Jesus Christ. They showed God’s people what He would do through His Son.
The Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot, happened 50 days after Passover. In the New Testament, this is called the Day of Pentecost.
On Pentecost, after Jesus rose from the dead, God poured out His Holy Spirit on His followers. That was the birth of the Church!
For hundreds of years, God’s people, the Israelites, celebrated Shavuot, not realizing it was a shadow of the Holy Spirit coming to live in us and unite us as God’s family.
The two loaves in Leviticus, offered during Shavuot, can remind us of how Jesus brings all people—Jews and non-Jews, or what is called gentiles—together through His love and the gift of the Holy Spirit. God’s plan was always to make us one family, forgiven and filled with His Spirit.
Sometimes, God’s plans aren’t always clear to us. Sometimes, it isn’t even fulfilled in our lifetimes. Even though we may not always know God’s plans, we can know one thing, His plans are for our good and not to harm us, but to give us a hope and a future. So, follow the plan of the LORD, even if you’re not quite sure where He’s leading you.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Join His Plan.