SHALOM!

The period of Counting the Omer is a time of deep preparation spiritually for the fresh in-filling of RUACH HA KODESH and baptism by immersion!

 

Zechariah 14:4 Tree of Life Version (TLV)

⁴ In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which lies to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a huge valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north and half of it toward the south.

 

Ezekiel 44:1-3 New King James Version (NKJV)

The East Gate and the Prince

44 Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. ² And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. ³ As for the prince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.”

 

The Book of Acts chapter 2 starts off describing the SHAVU’OT event. It describes the location (not in great detail) as well as what was happening at the location. Note that it was on Holy Day/ Holy Feast of SHAVU’OT that this took place.

 

YAHUSHUA HA MASHIACH’S disciples met in the upper room after the ascension, but ten days elapsed between the ascension and the events described in Acts 2. The story does not indicate that they were still in that upper room in Acts 2.  Rather it says, “in one place.” More likely, the believers assembled in one of the courts of the Temple.

Deuteronomy 16:16 Tree of Life Version (TLV)

¹⁶ Three times a year all your males are to appear before Adonai your God in the place He chooses—at the Feast of Matzot, the Feast of Shavuot, and the Feast of Sukkot. No one should appear before Adonaiempty-handed—

 

Deuteronomy 16:16 enjoins all men of Israel to present themselves before the LORD YAHUVEH (at the Temple) on the day of Shavu’ot. Since YAHUSHUA’S disciples were in YAHrushalayim/Jerusalem, they could not fail to go up to the Temple.

Luke 24:52-53 Tree of Life Version (TLV)

⁵² After worshiping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. ⁵³ And they were continually in the Temple, praising God.

 

The disciples met every day in the Temple where they worshipped YAH continuously (Luke 24:52-53). If they did so on ordinary days, how much more so would they have been in the Temple on a Holy Day. Even though Luke does not explicitly state that the events of Acts 2 took place in the Temple courts, the story infers that location.

Acts 3:1 Tree of Life Version (TLV)

A Lame Beggar Walks

3 Now Peter and John were going up to the Temple at the ninth hour,^[a]the time of prayer.

The outpouring at Shavu’ot occurred at the time of SHACHARIT (a.k.a Morning Sacrifice and Prayer). According to Acts 3, Simon Peter and John kept the times of prayer in the Temple courts.

YAHUSHUA HA MASHIACH instructed HIS disciples to remain in YAHrushalayim/Jerusalem until they received the RUACH HA KODESH. Men and women anticipating Divine Revelation would logically congregate in the House of YAH. Simon Peter preached to a vast multitude of Jews from all over the world. Only in the Temple courts would such a diverse throng assemble on the day of Shavu’ot. Three thousand people immersed themselves in response to his message. The Temple had pools to accommodate mass immersions.

 

The last ten, seven and three days of the Omer Counting are very crucial as they are so close to the day of meeting with YAH Almighty in a special way.

 

During this time in the days of old after YAHUSHUA HA MASHIACH had ascended to the Heavens, it is most likely that HIS disciples left the Mount of Olives and went to the Temple in Jerusalem where they stayed praying and waiting on the receipt of RUACH HA KODESH! YAHUSHUA’S disciples knew that within 10 days after that ascension, the Feast of SHAVU’OT would come about. They must have had an idea of when YAHUSHUA’S ABBA YAHUVEH would send the promised special gift from above.

 

The Feast of SHAVU’OT is the second most important feast in the YAH’S yearly cycle of life/cycle of feasts.

 

YAHUVEH GOD had commanded the Children of Israel from the days of Moses that they were to meet with YAH in a very special way as a congregation. It was customary for the Children of Israel to go to YAHrushalayim/Jerusalem to meet at the Temple as commanded by YAH Almighty plus make offerings on:

• PESACH/PASSOVER
• SHAVU’OT/WEEKS/PENTECOST

and

• SUKKOT/BOOTHS/TABERNACLES (a.k.a IN-GATHERING)

 

Therefore, the Children of Israel were most likely in the Second Temple praying and waiting to receive RUACH HA KODESH. The crowd mention in Acts that Apostle Peter addresses would most likely have gathered at the Temple courts. Since it was SHAVUOT, many people had gathered to honour YAHUVEH’S mitzvah/commandment. Note that about 4,000 to 5,000 men accepted YAH’S SALVATION! Such a number of people would not be outside someone’s house but rather at the temple.

The apostles and early disciples of Yeshua had gathered for the festival of Shavu’ot (Pentecost) when the sound of a rushing wind “filled the whole house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2). We know that “they were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1), but what was that one place, and where is the house in which they were sitting? The Bible provides important clues to help us piece the story together by telling us that the believers congregated in the Temple every day: “They were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico” (Act 5:12).

 

On Pentecost morning, some 120 disciples of the Nazarene congregated on the Temple Mount together under the cedar roof of Solomon’s colonnade to welcome the morning of the holy day with prayer. The colonnaded courtyard consisted of a portico of monolithic, white, marble pillars covered over with cedar beams. The portico ran along the eastern wall of the Temple mount, opposite the Mount of Olives. When the Hasmoneans and Herod the Great expanded the Temple Mount, the Kidron valley prevented expansion to the east, so the colonnade that faced the Mount of Olives marked the line of the original Temple Mount from the time of King Solomon. Perhaps for that reason, the people called the portico on that side “Solomon’s colonnade” or “Solomon’s Portico.”

The apostolic community anticipated the returning Messiah would enter the Temple from the east and they wanted to be the first to greet Him. The great eastern gate and main entrance of the Temple opened into that colonnade. Today’s eastern gate, popularly known as “the Golden Gate,” may preserve the location of the Second Temple’s eastern gate.

The prophet Zechariah predicted that the Messiah will arrive on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4). His entrance into the Temple will be through the eastern gate. Ezekiel saw a vision in which the divine presence of God returned to the Temple through that same gate (Ezekiel 43:1-4). When Muslims walled up the two portals of the eastern gate in the ninth century, Christians took note of the prophecy in Ezekiel 44:1-2: “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.”

After the outpouring in Acts 2, the Jerusalem disciples used Solomon’s Colonnade as their regular place of assembly.

https://torahportions.ffoz.org/disciples/acts/pentecost-solomons-portico-and.html

 

 

As a Christian/Messianic Jew, it would be good to have Special Night Vigils on these days either individually or as a group of brethren with the same beliefs or both.

This can be done in someone’s home, synagogue, church hall or community hall or even a retreat centre.

 

Acts 2 Tree of Life Version (TLV)

The Ruach Fills the Disciples

2 When the day of Shavuot^[a] had come, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ And tongues like fire spreading out appeared to them and settled on each one of them. ⁴ They were all filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and began to speak in other tongues as the Ruach enabled them to speak out.

⁵ Now Jewish people were staying in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And when this sound came, the crowd gathered. They were bewildered, because each was hearing them speaking in his own language. ⁷ And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “All these who are speaking—aren’t they Galileans? ⁸ How is it that we each hear our own birth language? ⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those living in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ^[b]10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya toward Cyrene, and visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jewish people and proselytes), Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring in our own tongues the mighty deeds of God!” ¹² And they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to each other, “What does this mean?”

¹³ Others, poking fun, were saying, “They are full of sweet new wine!”

Peter Speaks to the Shavuot Crowd

¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: “Fellow Judeans and all who are staying in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words. ¹⁵ These men are not drunk, as you suppose—for it’s only the third hour of the day! ^[c] 16 But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷ ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ says God,
    ‘that I will pour out My Ruach on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even on My slaves, male and female,
    I will pour out My Ruach in those days,
    and they shall prophesy.
¹⁹ And I will give wonders in the sky above
    and signs on the earth beneath—
    blood, and fire, and smoky vapor.
²⁰ The sun shall be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the great and glorious Day of Adonai comes.
²¹ And it shall be that everyone who calls
    on the name of Adonai shall be saved.’^[d]

²² “Men of Israel, hear these words! Yeshua ha-Natzrati—a Man authenticated to you by God with mighty deeds and wonders and signs God performed through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know—²³ this Yeshua, given over by God’s predetermined plan and foreknowledge, nailed to the cross by the hand of lawless men, you killed. ²⁴ But God raised Him up, releasing Him from the pains of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held by it. ²⁵ For David says about Him,

‘I saw Adonai always before me,
for He is at my right hand so that I might not be shaken.
²⁶ Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced;
    moreover, my body also will live in hope,
²⁷ because You will not abandon my soul to Sheol
    or let Your Holy One see decay.
²⁸ You have made known to me the paths of life;
    You will fill me with joy in Your presence.’^[e]

²⁹ “Brothers, I can confidently tell you that the patriarch David died and was buried—his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰ So because he was a prophet and knew God had sworn with an oath to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne, ^[f] 31 David saw beforehand and spoke of Messiah’s resurrection—that He was not abandoned to Sheol, and His body did not see decay.^[g]

³² “This Yeshua God raised up—we all are witnesses! ³³ Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God and receiving from the Father the promise of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, He poured out this—what you now see and hear. ³⁴ For David did not ascend into the heavens; yet he himself says,

‘Adonai said to my Lord,
    “Sit at my right hand,
³⁵ until I make Your enemies a footstool
    for Your feet.”’^[h]

³⁶ “Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him—this Yeshua whom you had crucified—both Lord and Messiah!”

Teshuvah—Thousands Immersed

³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the emissaries, “Fellow brethren, what shall we do?”

³⁸ Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be immersed in the name of Messiah Yeshua for the removal of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach ha-Kodesh. ³⁹ For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away—as many as Adonai our God calls to Himself.”

⁴⁰ With many other words he warned them and kept urging them, saying, “Save yourselves from this twisted generation!” ^[i] 41 So those who received his message were immersed, and that day about three thousand souls were added.

New Covenant Community Begins

⁴² They were devoting themselves to the teaching of the emissaries and to fellowship, to breaking bread and to prayers. ⁴³ Fear lay upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were happening through the emissaries. ⁴⁴ And all who believed were together, having everything in common. ⁴⁵ They began selling their property and possessions and sharing them with all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ Day by day they continued with one mind, spending time at the Temple and breaking bread from house to house. They were sharing meals with gladness and sincerity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord was adding to their number^[j] those being saved.