Feast of Weeks
The Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), the second of the three great pilgrimage feasts of Israel celebrated fifty days after the wave-sheaf offering (Lev. 23:15-21), is identified by Jones and Warnock as a type of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2). This feast stands at the center of Jones’ schema of three feasts: fulfilled at the first coming of Christ, yet only a firstfruits harvest in comparison with the fullness typified by the Feast of Tabernacles. Warnock describes the Feast of Weeks as the type of the “former rain” — a partial outpouring that is the type of the end-time “latter rain.”
Biblical Anchoring
| Reference | Context |
|---|---|
| Lev. 23:15-21 | Institution of the Feast of Weeks: fifty days after the wave-sheaf; loaves as firstfruits |
| Num. 28:26 | ”On the day of firstfruits” — alternative designation for the Feast of Weeks |
| Acts 2:1-4 | Outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost — fulfillment of the type |
| Acts 2:16-17 | Peter quotes Joel 2: “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel” — explicit fulfillment claim |
| Joel 2:23 | ”He will give you the former rain and the latter rain in the first month” — type of partial and full outpouring |
Typological Treatment by Author
Jones
Jones places the Feast of Weeks at the center of his schema of three feast days that structure salvation history. The three spring feasts — Passover, Feast of Firstfruits, and Feast of Weeks — were all fulfilled at the first coming of Christ:
“Even as Passover, the firstfruits sheaf, and Pentecost were fulfilled at the first coming of Christ, so also the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles prophesy of events surrounding the second coming of Christ.”1
The Feast of Weeks as the type of Pentecost is for Jones only the second step in a threefold redemption scheme. Each feast types an aspect of the full redemption:
“There are three primary feast days in Israel: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. All three feasts are required to perfect a man with the fullness of the Spirit. Each feast is an aspect of redemption for the threefold nature of man: spirit, soul, and body (1Thess. 5:23).”2
Warnock
Warnock describes the Feast of Weeks as the type of the firstfruits harvest of the Church — magnificent, but only a foretaste of what the Feast of Tabernacles typifies:
“Pentecost signifies a great harvest, that is true. But compared to the coming glory, it is really but a harvest of firstfruits… Pentecost is wonderful… But wonderful as it is, Pentecost is but the firstfruits of great and mighty things awaiting the Church of Jesus Christ in the Feast of Tabernacles.”3
Warnock’s typological structure positions the Feast of Weeks as the type of the “former rain” — the first outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost — while the “latter rain” is the end-time antitype:
“God has promised to do something most unusual; for He would give, not only the former rain which belongs to that month, but He would give the former rain and the latter rain combined!”4
Related Types
- Connected: feast-of-firstfruits (Feast of Firstfruits immediately precedes the Feast of Weeks in the fifty-day counting cycle)
- Connected: feast-of-tabernacles (Feast of Tabernacles as the completion of the harvest of which the Feast of Weeks provides the firstfruits)
- Via number symbolism: 50 (Fifty as the number of Pentecost, Jubilee, and the outpouring of the Spirit)
Footnotes
Footnotes
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Jones, The Laws of the Second Coming, ch. 1 — Spring feasts fulfilled at first coming; fall feasts prophesy the second coming. ↩
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Jones, The Laws of the Second Coming, ch. 2 — Three feast days as types of threefold redemption; spirit/soul/body. ↩
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Warnock, The Feast of Tabernacles, ch. 5 — Pentecost as firstfruits harvest; Feast of Tabernacles as the fullness. ↩
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Warnock, The Feast of Tabernacles, ch. 10 — Former and latter rain (Joel 2:23) as type of Pentecost and end-time outpouring. ↩