Thursday, 10 May 2018

Counting the Omer

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We are in the season known as the counting of the Omer, a Jewish observance of counting the days between the festivals of Passover and Shavu'ot. This observance is one of God's commandments found in Leviticus 23:15-16.

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 fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.

What was the significance of the Omer (sheaf) during temple times? In ancient times this was a symbol of prosperity and a measure of value much like gold is used today.

In Israel's history the 50 days were a time of excitement and preparation. That changed to a time of mourning after a plague claimed the lives of 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva, a rabbinic sage and it remains like this until today. Why is it that all too often, God gives a command and we take it and change it; a remaking of the wheel, a time of excitement and preparation to a time of mourning?

The Torah is a shadow of things to come, Yeshua is the first fruit, who rose from the dead on the third day, an offering in fulfillment of His words in John 2:19. He then walked among the people before His ascension, a time of excitement and preparation. It was on the fiftieth day, Shavu'ot (Pentecost) that the Holy Spirit fell on the apostles and all who were present. Here Peter quotes the words of the prophet Joel (2:28-32a), on a time yet to come.

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

It is our hope that Israel's eyes will be opened and Yeshua will reveal Himself to them; the living Word through the scriptures during this season of the counting of the Omer.

i>This is taken from the Harvest of Asher Facebook page.