50 Reasons Pentecost is on Sivan 6, Not Sunday! (Part 3)
This is the third part of a 4-part miniseries on the Biblical date of Pentecost.
Section 4: The Wave Sheaf
Most Sunday Pentecosters seem to base their doctrine on a symbolic interpretation. They argue that Jesus Christ fulfilled the wave sheaf offering by either, A) ascending to His Father on Sunday morning after His resurrection, or B) rising from the dead on Sunday. This proves, they say, that the wave sheaf was always offered on Sunday. Such reasoning is flawed, as we’ll see in a moment.
But any study of Pentecost would be incomplete without analyzing the wave sheaf, since the count began on the day the wave sheaf was offered. So let’s take a look at the wave sheaf and see what it really shows about the timing of Pentecost.
Reason 19: No Calendar Link Between Christ’s Resurrection and the Wave Sheaf
On the Hebrew calendar, there’s no connection between the wave sheaf and Jesus’ death or resurrection. This remains true regardless of which version of the calendar one uses, whether calculated, sighted, or any other version. Here’s what I mean.
Jesus died on Nisan 14, “the Preparation Day of the Passover” (John 19:14), and rose three days and three nights later (Mat. 12:40). The 14th can fall on a different weekday from year to year. The anniversary of Jesus’ resurrection is three full days later on Nisan 17, and it, too, can fall on a different weekday from year to year.
But a Sunday during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when many suppose the wave sheaf was offered, can fall on Nisan 15, Nisan 16, Nisan 18, or Nisan 20. That’s one day, two days, four days, or six days after Christ’s death, not three. In fact, a Sunday wave sheaf lines up with a Sunday resurrection or ascension less than 30% of the time!
So placing the wave sheaf on Sunday doesn’t line it up with Christ’s resurrection or ascension. If the wave sheaf pointed to either event, why would it be offered on some other day? If we kept Passover on Wednesday every year, we wouldn’t truly honor Jesus’ death, would we? It would seldom line up with the actual date of His death. The wave sheaf is no different.
Reason 20: The Bible Never Describes Christ as the Wave Sheaf
Another fact often gets overlooked, and it’s a simple one: the Bible never says Jesus’ resurrection or ascension fulfilled the wave sheaf! The New Testament never even mentions the wave sheaf, nor does it identify any wave sheaf regulations that Christ fulfilled.
Contrast that with the Passover lambs. The Bible calls Jesus Christ our Passover Lamb: “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). The apostle John referenced a regulation for the Passover lambs — “not one of His bones shall be broken” (Ex. 12:46) — and told us Jesus fulfilled it (John 19:36). With that Scriptural guidance, we can also find many other regulations for the Passover sacrifice that Christ fulfilled. So the Bible tells us that Christ is our Passover Lamb, but says nothing similar about the wave sheaf.
The closest anyone can get to Scriptural support for identifying Christ as the wave sheaf is the fact that Paul twice described Him as the firstfruits from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20, 23). Essentially, he likened Christ’s rising from the grave to the first stalk of grain springing from the ground.
But notice that Paul didn’t mention any firstfruits offerings here, or any offerings at all! He didn’t mention the wave sheaf offering of barley firstfruits, nor the wave loaves of wheat firstfruits, nor the offering of firstfruits of new wine and oil. That wasn’t even his topic. He simply painted a picture of new crops springing out of the ground to illustrate the resurrection.
So let’s not suppose that Paul was making some broader point about the meaning of a specific firstfruits offering that he didn’t mention — such as the wave sheaf — or pinpointing the day it was offered. Such conclusions go far beyond the text.
Reason 21: Jesus Was Offered Only Once
Was Jesus Christ offered as our Passover Lamb, as John 19:36 and 1 Cor. 5:7 describe, and then, a few days later, also offered up as the wave sheaf? No, He wasn’t! God tells us He was offered once, and that one time was His crucifixion. He died as our Passover Lamb; He wasn’t offered again in any other capacity!
Here’s Heb. 10:12-14: “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
Jesus’ one offering cleanses us of sin and reconciles us to God the Father; He didn’t need to make any other! “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (Col. 1:21-22).
Again, we read in Heb. 9:27-28, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” It’s enlightening to look at the Greek text here. “Offered” is prospherō (Strong's G4374), which means “to bring or lead to.” It applies to any offering or gift. For example, when the wise men presented gifts to Jesus after His birth, this same Greek word is used (Mat. 2:11).
The Greek Septuagint, too, used prospherō for offering any type of gift, offering, or sacrifice. It applies to grain offerings in Leviticus 2, and also to animal sacrifices in Leviticus 1. Interestingly, it also appears throughout Lev. 23:14-17 in connection with the wave sheaf. That’s because the wave sheaf was an offering, a gift to God!
God called the wave sheaf an offering. In Lev. 23:14, He told Israel, “You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.”
So when the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ offered one sacrifice forever, that He has perfected us by one offering, and that His one offering or sacrifice was His death, that quite simply means He didn’t offer another! He was offered once for all when He died as the Passover Lamb; He wasn’t offered again as the wave sheaf a few days later.
Reason 22: Jesus Rose on the Sabbath, Not Sunday
Now, let’s look at how it’s said by many that Christ fulfilled the wave sheaf. First, the idea that He fulfilled it by rising from the dead on Sunday is flawed because He didn’t rise on Sunday. He rose on the weekly Sabbath, as both Kyle Bacher and I have written previously.
Jesus died on Nisan 14, a Wednesday. He was buried moments before sunset; spent three days and three nights — three full days — in the tomb; and rose near the end of the third full day, the weekly Sabbath. This was about 72 hours after His burial, and it was also the third day of Unleavened Bread. The next morning before sunrise (John 20:1), on Sunday, His disciples discovered His empty tomb.
That’s the only scenario that aligns with both three full days of entombment and also a third-day resurrection. If Christ was crucified on any other day, then He didn’t spend three full days in the tomb. If He rose on any day but the weekly Sabbath, then He neither spent three full days in the tomb, nor rose on the third day. That’s just basic arithmetic!
There are spiritual reasons for this. The Sabbath pictures God’s Kingdom (Heb. 4:1-11; Col. 2:16-17); Sunday does not. Sunday is the first day of the week; the Sabbath is the seventh and last. Sunday is the opposite of the Sabbath, 180 degrees away. It’s the starting point of our spiritual journey, which is this world/Babylon; the Sabbath is our goal, which is God's Kingdom.
Jesus Christ was the first to enter God’s Kingdom (the Sabbath) as a spirit being, and He did so on the Sabbath. When God’s people are resurrected into His Kingdom, I firmly believe that it will again be on the Sabbath. It isn’t Sunday, but the Sabbath, that’s a day of resurrection.
Reason 23: There’s No Evidence That Jesus Ascended on Sunday
Most Churches of God agree that Jesus Christ rose on the Sabbath and not Sunday. So in place of a Sunday resurrection, they say Christ fulfilled the wave sheaf by ascending to His Father and then returning to earth on Sunday. But where does the Bible say any of that? Nowhere does the Bible say He ascended on that day, or describe that ascension, or explain its purpose.
The only Scripture cited for this idea is John 20:17, where Jesus told Mary Magdalene, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God’” (NASB). Did He mean that He was ascending right then, on that very morning? He didn’t say so.
In John 13:1, on the eve of Christ’s death, we read, “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father…” Again, during the last supper, Jesus said, “But now I go away to Him who sent Me…’” (John 16:5). And John recorded similar statements throughout the last supper. But did Jesus return to the Father at that time or on that night? Of course not.
Now, it’s claimed that Jesus told Mary not to touch Him so He wouldn’t be defiled before ascending to His Father, and that He later allowed His disciples to touch Him because He had ascended and returned. It’s said that this proves He ascended on Sunday. But none of that is found in Scripture!
Jesus didn’t tell Mary (or anyone else) not to touch Him after His resurrection. He told her, as we read, “Stop clinging to Me.” This word “clinging” is translated from the Greek aptomai (Strong’s # G680), which Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines as “to fasten to, make adhere to, to fasten oneself to, cling to.” Also, the Greek verb form here describes an ongoing action: “stop clinging,” “do not continue clinging,” etc. That’s why the NASB translated it as “Stop clinging to Me.”
In fact, “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary” (Mat. 28:1) had already seized hold of Him, as Matthew informs us. “And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, ‘Rejoice!’ So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him” (Mat. 28:9). Jesus wasn’t telling the two Marys not to touch Him; they were already touching Him! Clinging to Him, even! So He said, “Stop clinging to Me.” At the same time, He reminded them that He would be returning to His Father, not staying here on earth.
Reason 24: Jesus Ascended Only Once
Jesus’ only recorded ascension is vividly detailed in Acts 1. After remaining on earth with His disciples for 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3), He ascended from the Mount of Olives and returned to His Father (Acts 1:9-12). This event, like the other important events of His ministry, happened in the presence of His disciples, before the eyes of many witnesses.
Scripture never describes any other ascension; Acts speaks only of “the day” He ascended (Acts 1:2, 22), which indicates a one-time event. Heb. 9:12 says He entered the heavenly temple once: “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place…” (KJV). Mark 16 describes only one ascension, and adds that, after ascending, He sat down at His Father’s right hand (v. 19). The same is true of Luke 24.
Every New Testament verse that speaks of Jesus’ ascension speaks of His return to heaven, with the expectation that He will come back in the future. This is when, “to those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time” (Heb. 9:28). He ascended once, an ascension which the Bible vividly describes, and He will return. That will be His second coming, not His third!
Reason 25: A Wave Offering is a Gift
Now, what was the purpose of the wave sheaf? As explained in another blog post, all wave offerings, including firstfruits offerings, were simply gifts to God. We can see this, for example, in Prov. 3:9: “Honor the LORD with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase.”
Is Jesus Christ the firstfruits of our increase? Is He a gift to God the Father from us? Of course not! It would be ludicrous to describe Him that way.
Reason 26: The Wave Sheaf Was Many Grains, Not Just One
It should be obvious now that the wave sheaf didn’t picture Jesus’ resurrection or ascension. There’s no connection between them on the calendar; the Bible never calls Christ the wave sheaf; He was offered once, not twice; He rose on the Sabbath, not Sunday; He didn’t ascend to the Father on Sunday after His resurrection; He ascended only once, 40 days after rising from the dead; and He was neither the firstfruits of our increase nor a gift to the Father from us.
Therefore, neither Jesus’ resurrection or ascension prove a Sunday wave sheaf. So what did the wave sheaf picture?
In John 12:24, Jesus likened Himself to a grain of wheat, saying, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” Like other verses such as Mat. 13:18-30, this shows that grains of wheat (or other grain) symbolize people. One grain symbolizes a person; in this case, Jesus Christ.
But the wave sheaf was an offering of many grains, not just one. This implies the offering or presentation of many people, not just one. And that brings us to the next point.
Reason 27: We Are the Firstfruits Offered to God
Notice again what Jesus said in John 12:24: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” Jesus died so that we might live. He redeemed us, bought us with His own blood, and we rightfully belong to Him. We are the firstfruits of His increase.
If you look up the word “firstfruits” in the Bible, you’ll quickly see that it usually refers to God’s people, not the Messiah. That's true in both Old and New Testaments. Take, for instance, Jer. 2:3: “Israel was holiness to the LORD, the firstfruits of His increase.” In the New Testament, the word “firstfruits” appears 7 times, and 5 of them refer to God’s people, not to the Messiah. For example, in Rom. 8:23, Paul declared that we “have the firstfruits of the Spirit.” And Rev. 14:4 describes those in the first resurrection as “firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.”
It is we, God’s people, who are offered or presented to Him. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God” (Rom. 12:1). We are the many grains of the wave sheaf. And when we offer ourselves to God, we are accepted by the blood of Jesus Christ, just as the wave sheaf was presented to God with the blood of a yearling, unblemished male lamb (Lev. 23:12).
Therefore, the wave sheaf is tied to Jesus’ death. It is through His Passover sacrifice that we are presented to God and accepted. This is why the wave sheaf must connect to Passover! Not to whichever Sunday happens to fall during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but to “the day after the Passover” (Josh. 5:11), which, in this case, is the second day of Unleavened Bread.
Reason 28: The Purification of the Wave Sheaf
As detailed in another blog post and described in Lev. 2:1-3, 12-16, offering the wave sheaf required much preparation. A sheaf of green grain was cut, enough for about half a gallon of grain. This green grain was roasted with fire to dry it out, and the grain beaten from the heads. Then, it was winnowed to remove the chaff, ground into flour, sifted to remove any impurities, and ground and sifted some more until it was fine flour. Finally, it was salted, anointed with oil and frankincense, and brought to the priest.
In short, it had to be purified before being offered. Roasting with fire, winnowing, and sifting removed impurities. Did Jesus Christ need to be purified? No, He was already perfect! He was the Lamb of God, without spot or blemish (1 Pet. 1:19). It is we who must be purified.
But parts of the process point to Christ’s sacrifice. He endured a fiery trial on our behalf, and whenever we also do, we “partake of Christ’s sufferings” (1 Pet 4:12-13). He was beaten for our sins, “and by His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). We are purified by His sacrifice. By His Passover sacrifice, our offering of ourselves to God is accepted. So once again, the wave sheaf is tied to Passover, on “the day after the Passover,” and not any other day!
Section 5: More Scriptural Symbolism
Besides the wave sheaf, many other facets of the Day of Pentecost point to a Passover link, too, and to a Sivan 6th Pentecost rather than a Sunday Pentecost. Let’s look at some of these.
Reason 29: Both Passover and Pentecost Linked to God’s Covenant
Pentecost is a day of covenants. As we’ve seen elsewhere, Scripture links five covenants to the Feast of Pentecost:
God’s covenant with Noah (Gen. 8:14-9:17)
God’s covenant with Israel on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19-24)
Samuel the prophet reminds the people of their covenant with God (1 Sam. 12)
King Asa and Judah make a covenant with God (2 Chron. 15)
God pours out the Holy Spirit, sealing the New Covenant (Acts 2)
All these happened at the time of Pentecost, in the third month, at the time of wheat harvest.
But Passover also pictures God’s covenant. God made a covenant with Abraham at Passover, for Israel came out of Egypt at Passover (Ex. 12), exactly 430 years after God’s covenant with Abraham (Ex. 12:40-41; Gal. 3:16-17), “on that very same day” (Ex. 12:41).
Most importantly, Jesus Christ, on the eve of His death, declared that His blood was about to be shed for the New Covenant, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke, 22:20). With His death as our Passover Lamb on the afternoon of Nisan 14, He initiated the New Covenant: “For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives” (Heb. 9:17).
Now, if both Passover and Pentecost are linked to God’s covenant, it stands to reason that they are linked to each other. But a Sunday Pentecost ranges from 49 to 56 days after Passover, so there’s no link between Passover and a Sunday Pentecost! A Sivan 6th Pentecost, however, is linked to Passover, always being 50 days from “the day after the Passover.”
Reason 30: The Blood of the Covenant
Not only are Passover and Pentecost tied to God’s covenant, but Scripture links both to the blood of the covenant, for without the blood, there is no covenant. In Ex. 24:8, when Israel accepted God’s covenant at Mt. Sinai, “Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.’” This happened at the time of Pentecost, on the day after God had spoken the ten commandments (Ex. 24:4).
Now remember, Jesus initiated the New Covenant through shedding His blood as our Passover Lamb: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke, 22:20). The Book of Hebrews, too, describes His blood as “the blood of the covenant” (Heb. 10:29).
Again, if Scripture ties both Passover and Pentecost to the blood of the covenant — and it does — then they must be tied to each other. Pentecost must link directly to Passover, because that’s when the blood of the covenant was spilled! Without the blood at Passover, there is no covenant at Pentecost.
Reason 31: Jesus’ Inauguration as High Priest
Under the Old Covenant, when a new high priest assumed office, he stayed in the sanctuary day and night for seven days (Ex. 29:30, 35; Lev. 8:35). On the eighth day, he began his service (Lev. 9:1). When Aaron, the first high priest, began his service on the morning of the eighth day, God’s glory appeared in the tabernacle “and fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar” (Lev. 9:24).
So what about Jesus Christ, the High Priest of the New Covenant? Remember that the earthly tabernacle and priesthood were a “copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (Heb. 8:5). Every copy and shadow must resemble the original, or else it isn’t a copy or shadow!
Let’s follow the timeline to see Jesus’ inauguration as High Priest. He rose from the dead on Nisan 17 near the end of the Sabbath, three full days after His death and burial on Nisan 14. He appeared to His disciples the next day on Nisan 18, and remained on earth with them 40 days (Acts 1:3). Then, He ascended from the Mount of Olives and returned to heaven (Acts 1:9-12) on the 27th day of the second month, Iyar 27, the 40th day after His resurrection.
Jesus spent seven full days (Iyar 28-Sivan 5) in the heavenly sanctuary and began His service on the eighth day, Sivan 6. That day was Pentecost. And that morning, just as God’s glory had appeared as fire when Aaron was inaugurated, so now God’s Spirit appeared as fire and filled His disciples (Acts 2:1-4, 15). Just as Aaron the high priest had blessed the people on the morning of the eighth day (Lev. 9:23), so now Jesus Christ blessed His people with the Holy Spirit on the morning of the eighth day.
But Jesus’ inauguration as High Priest only fits a Sivan 6th Pentecost, which fell on a Friday that year. There’s no scenario in which it fits a Sunday Pentecost. If Christ became High Priest according to God’s law, fulfilling the copy and shadow, then Pentecost can only be on Sivan 6.
Reason 32: Deuteronomy 16 and the Sanctification of Man
Just like several other verses, Deut. 16:3 tells us to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. Then, v. 7 tells the people to return to their tents on the morning of the First Day, the Holy Day. Finally, v. 8 says, “Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work on it.”
Why does v. 3 tell us to eat unleavened bread for seven days, while v. 8 tells us to eat it for six days? Are we not also commanded to eat unleavened bread on the Seventh Day of the Feast?
Context is key. The command to eat unleavened bread for six days follows the instructions for the First Day. In other words, one continues eating unleavened bread for six days after the First Day. The Seventh Day of the Feast, like the First, is a Holy Day, a sacred assembly.
But wouldn’t it have been easier to say, as before, “Eat unleavened bread for seven days”? Why is there a distinction between eating unleavened bread on the First Day and eating it for the next six, ending on the Seventh Day of the Feast?
The wave sheaf holds the answer. On the First Day, one ate unleavened bread made of grain from last year’s harvest. Or, as Israel did in Joshua 5, manna. But on the second day, the wave sheaf was offered, permitting fresh grain to be eaten, as Israel did in Josh. 5:11. From that day on, for six days, one ate unleavened bread made with fresh grain.
So God’s people ate unleavened bread for seven days in all, just as we still do today. But after the First Day, they ate unleavened bread of fresh grain from the barley harvest for six days.
There’s spiritual significance in this. The bread eaten on the First Day pictures Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb, for He is the bread of life (John 6:35, 48, 51). The bread of barley firstfruits, eaten for the next six days, pictures His people, who have been given life, cleansed of sin, and made unleavened (1 Cor. 5:7) through His sacrifice.
The numbers, too, point to the same thing. The number 7 pictures completeness, sanctification, and covenant. The number 1 represents unity with God; it points to God’s way and to Christ’s one sacrifice. The number 6 represents man. Man is sanctified and made whole through Jesus Christ, and enters into a covenant with Him by His blood. That’s what the Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about!
Reason 33: Man Created on the 6th Day of the Week
Speaking of the number 6, it was on the sixth day of the week, the day we call Friday, that God created man. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7).
As we saw moments ago, God sent the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the sixth day of the week. The breath of life entered His people, for Christ had “breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22). Just as Adam received the breath of life on the sixth day of the week, so God’s people received the breath of life on Pentecost, the sixth day of the week.
Reason 34: The Dates of the Holy Days
The two passages that list all seven Holy Days in order, Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28-29, give dates for just four of them. The First Day of Unleavened Bread is the 15th day of the 1st month, Abib/Nisan. The Day of Trumpets is the 1st day of the 7th month, Tishri. Atonement is on Tishri 10, and the First Day of Tabernacles is Tishri 15. The dates of the other Holy Days — the Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and the Eighth Day — are found by counting.
The Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread is the 7th day from the First, which makes it Nisan 21. Pentecost is the 50th day from the second day of Unleavened Bread: Sivan 6. And the Eighth Day is the 8th day from the First Day of Tabernacles: Tishri 22.
Now, God designed everything mathematically, from the human body to the stars and planets. He uses numbers and mathematics throughout His Word and His plan for mankind. These all have meaning. There’s no filler in God’s Word; everything in it is important!
If we add up the dates of all the Holy Days — 15, 21, 6, 1, 10, 15, and 22 — they add up to 90. Unlike English, Hebrew doesn’t have a special set of numerals; instead, letters of the alphabet represent numbers. In Hebrew, “90” is the letter tsade, or tsadik, as it’s sometimes also called. Tsadik (Strong’s # H6662) is also a word, meaning “righteous” or “just.”
In Isa. 28:17, God said, “Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet.” A plummet, or plumb bob, is the weight at the end of a plumbline that holds it straight. Since ancient times, builders have used a plumbline as a guide to build straight and true. If the foundation is level and the walls are built on it true to the plumbline, they will be perpendicular, forming a 90-degree angle.
Likewise, a righteous person is one “who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart” (Psa. 15:2). Like that building, a righteous person is straight and true. Upright. Perpendicular, at 90 degrees, to God’s path on which he walks.
Jesus Christ is the foundation: “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). The Holy Days picture God’s plan for mankind. They’re a blueprint, so to speak. But without the foundation, without Jesus’ sacrifice, none of it would matter. We would still be dead in our sins, without hope.
So God’s plan is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. The Holy Days stand on the foundation of His Passover sacrifice. First came the Passover sacrifice, on Nisan 14, and then the Holy Days. You cannot have a building without a foundation! Every Holy Day is therefore built on the foundation of Passover, and is anchored to it. The dates of those Holy Days, being built straight and true upon Christ’s Passover sacrifice, add up to 90.
But that only fits a Sivan 6th Pentecost! A Sivan 6th Pentecost is anchored to the Rock, to the foundation of Jesus Christ and His Passover sacrifice. A Sivan 6th Pentecost is counted from Passover. And only with a Sivan 6th Pentecost do the Holy Days add up to 90.
Symbolically speaking, a Sunday Pentecost isn’t built on the foundation. It’s disconnected both from Passover and from the whole building. It drifts here and there, anywhere from Sivan 5 to 10. With a Sunday Pentecost, the Holy Days can add up to 89, 90, 91, or 94. That building is neither stable nor straight and true. A tempest would blow it over!
Additional Reading: “The Plumb Line and the Seventieth Week,” by Richard Gray
Reason 35: The 65th Day of the Year
Many fascinating numbers relate to Pentecost, but we’ll look at just a few more. On the Hebrew calendar, the first month, Nisan, has 30 days. The second month, Iyar, has 29. And Pentecost is on the 6th day of the third month, Sivan 6, making it the 65th day of the year.
The Day of Pentecost commemorates, among other things, the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. This 65th day of the year pictures us, having received the breath of life (God’s Spirit), walking with God in newness of life. “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Rom. 8:9).
There’s a parallel in Genesis. “Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters” (Gen. 5:21-22). Enoch turned 65, and walked with God for the next 300 years. The 65th day of the year pictures us beginning to walk with God. It’s a beautiful pattern. But again, this numerical pattern only fits a Sivan 6th Pentecost!
Reason 36: 3rd Month, 6th Day
Let’s look at one more set of numbers. As noted, Sivan 6 is the sixth day of the third month.
Six is man’s number. The number 3 signifies, as we’ve seen before, man’s relationship with God. Our collective destiny, as Christ’s Bride, is to be one with God. Christ prayed to His Father concerning His people “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21). That’s the goal of God’s plan, and that’s the true trinity: God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Bride.
So 3 and 6 point to man’s destiny as the third member of the Godhead. To man becoming one with the Father and the Son. It is through God’s covenant that we become one with Him, being sealed with His Spirit (Eph. 1:13; 4:30). And that’s what the Day of Pentecost is all about!
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