Two Covenants, One Mission

Day 50 – Shavuot

When Heaven Touched the Earth – Two Covenants, One Mission

The fiftieth day has arrived. After forty-nine days of introspection, purification, and spiritual growth, guided by the Counting of the Omer, we enter Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. Yet this day is not merely the conclusion of a cycle, but its pinnacle, the summit from which the entire journey can be seen in perspective. Shavuot is not just the end of a path; it marks the beginning of a renewed mission.

On this day, we celebrate the giving of the Divine Word at Sinai and the outpouring of the Spirit in Jerusalem. The same divine summons that shaped a nation in the wilderness also ignited hearts in the Holy City. Pentecost, as it is known in Greek, is not an exclusively Christian festival, nor is it disconnected from the Hebrew Scriptures. It is, in fact, the same biblical celebration known in Hebrew as Shavuot. Two words, two languages, one single feast.

Pentecost did not begin in the New Testament. It blossomed from the deep roots of the Torah, nourished by the story of Israel’s redemption and strengthened by the promises of the prophets. Pentecost is simply Shavuot with a Greek accent.

Shavuot means “weeks”. The feast occurs fifty days after the start of the barley harvest, during the Passover season. In Leviticus 23:15–21, commands the counting of seven complete weeks, beginning the day after the Sabbath of Passover, up to the fiftieth day. This is the day of a sacred assembly, the day of the Shavuot celebration.

“And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete. Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days.”

(Leviticus 23:15–16)

This count, known as Sefirat HaOmer, connects the physical liberation from Egypt to the spiritual revelation at Sinai. It also marks the transition from the barley harvest to the wheat harvest. Shavuot is therefore an agricultural feast, but also a covenantal one. In the biblical calendar, this is the day on which the Torah was given to the people of Israel.

Sinai was the theophany that shaped a nation. The book of Exodus recounts that fifty days after leaving Egypt, the children of Israel arrived at Mount Sinai. There, descended in fire, the mountain smoked, and the people trembled before the divine majesty. It was not a private experience. It was a collective encounter, a foundational event. spoke, and all heard — around 2.5 million people. This is unparalleled in human history. No other religion begins with the Divine manifesting before an entire nation.

“And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire.”

(Exodus 19:18)

It was at Sinai that Israel received the Torah, not merely as a moral code, but as a revelation of G-d’s character and a seal of the covenant with a people chosen to be a light to the nations. Thus, Shavuot became the spiritual birthday of Israel.

In the New Testament, the Pentecost event is not a break from this sacred story, but its continuation. Centuries later, the feast of Shavuot came to be called Pentēkostē by Greek-speaking Jews of the diaspora. When we read Acts 2 and see the disciples gathered “on the day of Pentecost”, we are not witnessing a new festival, but the same biblical celebration now clothed in prophetic fulfilment.

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”

(Acts 2:1)

On this day, something extraordinary happens. The Holy Spirit is poured out. Tongues like fire rest upon the disciples. A sound like a mighty wind fills the room. All are filled with the Spirit and begin to proclaim the wonders of in various languages. Heaven touches earth once more.

Two fires, one message.

The parallels between Sinai and Jerusalem are striking. At Sinai, descends in fire. In Jerusalem, tongues of fire descend upon the disciples. At Sinai, the people hear G-d’s voice amid thunder. In Jerusalem, a supernatural sound fills the place. At Sinai, a priestly nation is born. In Jerusalem, the Messianic community is birthed — composed mostly of Jews who longed for the fulfilment of G-d’s promises to Israel.

Jewish tradition says that at Sinai, G-d’s voice was divided into seventy languages. This reflects the divine intention that His Word should reach all nations. In Acts 2, diaspora Jews from many parts of the Roman Empire, many of whom no longer spoke fluent Hebrew, hear the message in their native tongues. The Spirit enables the disciples to communicate eternal truth in a way that touches every heart present.

These Jews were in Jerusalem out of faithfulness to the Torah. They had not broken away from Judaism, but lived it with Messianic hope. As they witnessed the signs of the Spirit and heard the message about Yeshua, many believed. Acts 2 records that three thousand were saved that day, a striking contrast to the three thousand who perished in Exodus 32 after the golden calf incident.

These Jewish believers returned to their cities throughout the Greco-Roman world carrying a living testimony that the promised Messiah had risen. They did not take a new religion with them, but a new revelation within the same faith.

The New Covenant Promised

The prophet Jeremiah had spoken of a new covenant in which the Torah would be written upon the heart:

“I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.”

(Jeremiah 31:33)

Shavuot becomes the visible fulfilment of this promise. The Spirit does not cancel the Torah — He inscribes it inwardly. Paul reaffirms this when he says:

“The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”

(2 Corinthians 3:6)

Yeshua and the Omer: The Precision of the Spiritual Harvest

The New Testament reveals that Yeshua rose on the Feast of First fruits — the first day of the Omer count. According to 1 Corinthians 15:20, He is “the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep”. His resurrection inaugurates the future harvest symbolised in Shavuot.

For forty days after His resurrection, Yeshua appears to the disciples, teaching about the Kingdom of G-d. In Acts 1:3 we read:

“He showed himself alive… being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of G‑d.”

After this period, He instructs them to remain in Jerusalem, awaiting the promise of the Father. They wait ten more days. On the fiftieth, during Shavuot, the Spirit is poured out.

First fruits of the Spirit and a Living Harvest

At Sinai, three thousand perished due to the sin of idolatry. In Jerusalem, three thousand are saved on the very day the Spirit is given. What was once a tragedy becomes redemption. Grace does not cancel justice, it elevates and transforms it.

Shavuot, which once marked the offering of the first agricultural fruits, now witnesses the giving of spiritual first fruits. The disciples become seeds scattered among the nations, bearers of the Kingdom.

One Mission, One Faith

Shavuot does not mark the birth of two peoples, but the unfolding of a single mission. formed Israel as a holy nation. In Jerusalem, He extends the invitation to the gentiles who believe in the Messiah. As Isaiah prophesied:

“I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”

(Isaiah 49:6)

The Messianic community does not replace Israel. It is grafted into the same olive tree, as Paul teaches in Romans 11:17. The covenant continues. The mission expands.

Why Have We Forgotten This Feast?

Despite its importance, Shavuot is often overlooked in the traditional Christian calendar. Feasts with pagan roots, like Christmas, are widely celebrated. Yet the giving of the Torah and the outpouring of the Spirit, central pillars of biblical faith, are frequently neglected.

This year, Shavuot will be celebrated from sundown on Sunday, 1 June, until nightfall on Tuesday, 3 June. It is a timely moment to return to our roots, to remember the covenant, to renew our faith, and to receive a fresh breath of life.

Shavuot and Pentecost are two faces of a single revelation. The Word and the Spirit walk together. Truth and power are inseparable. The same who spoke at Sinai is the One who breathed upon the disciples in Jerusalem. Today, He still speaks, still breathes, still sends.

To celebrate Shavuot with biblical understanding is to remember that faith in Yeshua is firmly rooted in the promises made to Israel. It is to recognise that the Spirit who dwells in us is the same who descended on the mountain and set hearts ablaze in Jerusalem.

The Word was given. The Spirit was poured out. Now it is your turn.

This Shavuot, may you become a living harvest. May your life reveal the presence of with clarity, courage, and holiness.

Adivalter Sfalsin

Let’s do it again next year.