Hello friend, united in the Holy Spirit with me to manifest the glory of God in the world!

We are in the annual season between Passover - when Jesus died and rose - and Pentecost, or “Shavuot” in Hebrew, signifying “Weeks” - the 7 weeks (49 days) the Israelites would count after Passover until they reached the 50th day which is known to us as Pentecost - the “Pente” in Greek signifying 50. But it was originally a Jewish/Israeli feast!

If you are not aware, special things happen in the New Testament on the ancient feast days of Leviticus. At Passover we clearly see Jesus becoming the ultimate Passover Lamb who spares our lives and passes over us when we put His blood over our lives. And then there is pretty good evidence for Jesus rising from the dead as the “first fruits” from the grave on the feast of First Fruits (also from Leviticus 23) which in that year I believe occured the 3 days and nights after Passover, where He is risen on Sunday as the women discovered.

Well, after First Fruits is the 50 day wait til Pentecost, that is famously known for what?

For the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

And this Spirit can be none other than the Spirit of the Almighty Father Creator and by extension, the Spirit of His only begotten son Yeshua (Jesus in original Hebrew), as Jesus is merely the physical extension of the Invisible Father - the “Image of the Invisible God”, as Colossians puts it.

So we are going to do a deep dive looking at this Spirit, and how it (or He) has interacted with man since the beginning of Creation.

The VERY FIRST TIME the Spirit was given was at Creation - God breathed His Spirit (Ruach - literally “breath”) into man and man became a living being, connected with God intrinsically because NOW, PART OF GOD had been extended to and given to dwell in mankind, yet man’s will had to permit that the Father living in them could work out His righteousness (via their obedience to Him and following and cleaving to Him).

Nothing comes from nothing - everything comes out from God, the source of all existence, and the highest extension that comes out from Him is Him Himself in the form of each unique portion of His Spirit that he allots to live in each human being!

So when disobedience/sin happened, I believe, as God said, Adam and Eve’s SPIRITS intrinsically died - which means cut off and separated from the life that is in God’s Spirit. They had the living Spirit of God within them, but when one goes against the will of God, that action is no longer flowing out of what His Spirit does - (righteousness) - and thus “spiritual death” enters - which is basically lack of life - because the person has TRESPASSED - gone OUTSIDE the righteous living flow and WILL of the MASTER SPIRIT that in some form flows through all life, and thus can literally no longer flow in that person who has gone outside the Spirit of Life's will.

Yet, as I always make this analogy - when sin happens, it’s like unplugging a phone from an electrical outlet - so the life is no longer flowing into the phone, but the phone does not immediately shut off - some of the charge it had from before remains in it and slowly wanes until the phone completely dies and shuts off. So we lost the spiritual flow of life the instant we sinned and stepped outside the righteous perfect flow of life - yet some of that life we were given was allowed to stay in us physically - first for hundreds of years even, after the fall, but later, as we had become so corrupt, God only allowed this smoldering life to remain in us for 120 years.

And the next big question is… could mankind be reconnected to the Spirit of Life that never dies even in the “Old Testament” before our sin had been fully dealt with at the cross of calvary with Jesus taking it all on Himself so we could receive His righteousness (via His Spirit)?

This can be debated… Because God said He is the God of the LIVING - He said I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - not WAS their God, but IS - the God of the living, not the dead! And of course Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were before Jesus had opened the way to eternal life, supposedly. And of course Moses and Elijah are alive and kicking 😉 when they appear to Yeshua at the mount of transfiguration.

My thoughts? First off, IN SOME WAY the Scripture says Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world - so as God (and Jesus) are the ALPHA (Hebrew Alef) and OMEGA (Tav) - the beginning and end - it seems all existence spanning all time are wrapped within God and Jesus’ existence - (in other words - they supercede time) - and thus, the sacrifice of Jesus which occurred in the “fullness of time” was perhaps already considered done outside of time and thus could apply to those who lived before Jesus’ first coming to earth.

Nevertheless when Jesus rose from the dead we see many Old testament Saints rise from the grave and walk around jerusalem. So something new must have happened when Jesus actually fleshed out his sacrifice for the sin of the world. The point is, God made a way for us to be reconnected to the spirit of life via him taking our sin and US receiving his righteousness via His Spirit ALIVE AGAIN in our hearts! - I'm not sure how all of that gets worked out pre-cross and postcross and sometimes it's okay to leave things untouched like that a little bit when the answer is not crystal clear…

Jesus said “let the dead bury the dead” - it makes one think people were generally spiritually dead before the cross, but then again, before He died, He CALLED His disciples to follow after Him, THE LIFE. So perhaps if an “old testament saint” desired God's life, Yeshua's provision on the cross flowed backwards as well to give life to that person, and when their physical body died as well. Alas, the scriptures can be applied in various ways. I invite your thoughts if you want to comment on the blog version of this article at the end of the email. And I do hope the scriptures I mention at least stimulate you to further revelation as the Father permits.

Getting back to the theme of Pentecost (Shavuot).... After Passover when Jesus died and then rose again 3 days later on the feast of First Fruits supposedly, the disciples waited the 50 given days until the day of Pentecost when we know that the Holy Spirit was poured out in a strong new way.

It's like after Jesus physically gave his life somehow this allowed the Holy Spirit to be poured out in a greater measure and yes, even for sure dwell in our hearts permanently now as we are unified with God via his Spirit living in US, our sin nailed to the cross. Peter spoke on the day of Pentecost and declared that the prophecy from Joel 2:28-29 was being fulfilled:

“28 And afterward,
I 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.
29 Even on my servants,
both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”

So in the Will of the Father, after Jesus accomplished salvation for us, it was now the time to release the Spirit on all people. The living streams of mercy could flow with the risen Son of God interceding for the world.

Imagine a blob representing wherever the Spirit is - God the Father in heaven is represented by a Big blob and Jesus is the physical extension of that at His right hand extending the “blob”, and the Holy Spirit is also a great extension of that blob extending the presence of the Father and thus of Jesus as well (they are ONE) - and the blob extends into all of the hearts of believers connecting us all like to one big blob/Wi-Fi network. And I believe if we are in tune with the Spirit's guidings, we will work together and accomplish God's will in the earth and form that spiritual temple the scripture speaks of, made of living stones.

So as we count the “Shavuot” - the 7 weeks (49 days) up until Pentecost, let us seek after His presence more so as to make the 50th day of Pentecost not just a remembrance but a living reality of walking in the Spirit.

And it's not just all about the ooey gooey feelings although those are great!! Walking in the Spirit means worshipping the Lord to the point of dying to the flesh and letting His peaceful fruit of righteousness dwell in us as a result of receiving the loving disciplining care of His rod and staff. It is so great, the rod and staff (of Psalm 23) which guide and discipline us actually COMFORT us, because they assure us God will not leave us in our sinful ways, but will guide us on into further joyful holiness. Some might dread His discipline, but it is a huge BLESSING, that we may share in His holiness.

HalleluYah HalleluYah HalleluYah - Praise Him. I feel His touch on my Spirit as I write the HalleluYahs - the infinite incomprehensible God who dwells in unapproachable light cares for and comforts US!

May you be blessed as you count up to Pentecost, hopefully growing in the Spirit a little each day. I know that is my prayer.

Shalom - Peace, and Chesed - Mercy - from Yeshua the LIVING IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, our loving shepherd and bridegroom, and yes, the soon to come Judge of all humanity.

May you Go with the flow of His Spirit, unto eternal life forever in His wonderful presence!

In Him (and battling that flesh as well),
-Greg Wilson