Spring Festivals, Pt 4: The Omer
Leviticus 23:15-16 15“ ‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. 16Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.
Deuteronomy 16:9-10 9Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the LORD your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you.
“The day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering” refers to the festival called Firstfruits. In Jewish tradition Firstfruits marks the gathering of the barley harvest (see previous blog) and in Messianic belief marks the resurrection of our Lord as He is the first fruit of our ultimate resurrection. Fifty days later is the Feast of Shavuot, which the Church calls Pentecost, and which traditionally is the anniversary of the giving of the Law (the 10 Commandments) by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. In between is a 50 day period of time called the Omer. The Hebrew word Omer is a unit of measure referring to the amount of manna apportioned to each person during the Exodus and in the current context refers to amount of grain offered to God on Firstfruits.
At first glance one might see the Omer as a sort of backwater festival with limited relevance to one’s worship of his King. Actually it has great relevance when one considers the meaning contained in the two Festivals bracketing it. At Jesus’ resurrection His people achieve salvation, the forgiving of their sins, and the promise of their own bodily resurrection at his return. At Shavuot (Pentecost), we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on believers so that through the Holy Spirit believers could further the Kingdom of God through extraordinary deeds such as healings, speaking in tongues, prophesying, and inspired preaching. So here we have a period of time which is begun by the resurrection of Jesus and is completed by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Consider what happens at Shavuot. 1500 years prior to the First Century, God gave the Law to His people as a way to teach them holiness and righteousness and by entering into covenant with them. During the time between testaments the Jewish people had begun to see Shavuot as a festival celebrating the renewal each year of that Covenant. So some theologians see Shavuot (Pentecost) as a covenant renewal festival, and so Shavuot can be seen as the fulfillment of a prophesy in Joel.
28I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:28-29)
So as we enter into this season approaching Shavuot, which is called the Omer, how to we prepare? If Shavuot is the celebration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, how do we come into alignment with God on this? Shavuot is a time of great blessings and expectations. The Holy Spirit came to empower the disciples to fulfill the Great Commission. And each year we have the opportunity to participate in similar blessings. True, it is unlikely tongues of fire will come to rest on our shoulders, but we believers do have the fire of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. So Omer is a time of increased expectancy as to what God will do in the coming season and how we can participate in it.
What is it that is on your heart for this season? Is there a burden you are carrying? Are you wanting to be closer to God but not sure how to get there? Is there some goal you are striving to reach? These are exactly the sorts of things God wants to nurture in you. Shavuot is all about the sufficiency of Jesus; He through the Holy Spirit comes to reside in our heart. So when we face struggles such as these, or even more difficult ones, Jesus is there to help us. “How can this possibly be?”, you ask. That’s what Omer is for. The first thing we need to do is to make Jesus first in our life.
I’ve heard of people who won’t make an everyday decision without hearing direction from God. This is an admirable desire, but an example of faulty thinking. God gave each of us a brain capable of analytic thought. Admittedly our brains are faulty and prone to sin, but at a basic level all of us are able to make reasonably well-informed decisions. This is not the sort of thing Omer is for. Omer is for the development of spiritual understanding related to issues in our lives. When I asked you those questions earlier, what popped into your mind? That was God pointing His finger at some issue on which He wants you to seek help. Everyday during the 50 days, pray to God about the issue. What is it you wish me to know here LORD? Give me some insight on this thing. What do you have to say? See, God is faithful. He won’t let you just exist like a fish out of water. He’ll answer your prayer. But you have to be paying attention. Lots of people think prayer has to be answered in miraculous ways: sort of ‘parting the Red Sea’ moments. But this is not the case. God often speaks to us through our senses, giving us revelations of His desire through intuitions and subjective indications that a certain path is to be followed.
The time of Omer, the time approaching Shavuot or Pentecost, is a time of consecration. It is a time dedicated to getting the profane out of one’s life and bringing the holy in. If a person is prone to bad language, he should seek God’s help in removing it. If a person is inappropriately free with his body he should pursue more righteous living. Striving for holiness and righteousness in our everyday living is pleasing to God. This is something we should do as an ordinary part of our live, but it should increase as we seek the blessings of Pentecost.
God has much to say about this. Here are just a few examples:
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written, “Be holy because I am holy”. (1Peter 1:15-16)
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12: 1-2)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1John 1:9)