Jesus in the Old Testament 034: The Feast of Shavuot

 Jesus in the Old Testament 034: 

The Feast of Shavuot

Exodus 19-20; Acts 2

Thesis: God’s invitation to the Jew and the Gentile has always been an open doorway called “obedience.” This invitation was given at Sinai and received in part, but the “obedience” was left up to the power of the people. In Acts 2, the invitation is given again, but this time it is dependent upon the completed obedience of Christ. 

Shavuot: 

1. Exodus 19

1. Timing: They leave Egypt on the 15th day of Nissan (the first month) and they arrive at Sinai on the first day of Sivan, about 40 days later. 

2. An invitation to intimacy accepted  (vs 4-9)

1. Predicated upon God’s rescue of them from Egypt. 

2. Dependent upon their obedience.

3. A promise: 

1. Treasured possession

2. A kingdom of priests, not a kingdom with priests

3. A holy nation, completely redeemed. 

4. The people respond that they will do as requested.  Reliance upon their own goodness.  

5. God says, “Good.  I’m coming over.  See you soon.” 

3. The guarding of holiness (vs 10-20)

1. People are to keep back off of the mountain for three days of consecration.  

2. Then, on day 3, God will speak to them so that they can hear, and then they may come up the mountain. Vs 13. Permissive imperfect. 

3. God plans on demonstrating his holiness with various manifestations of his glory, including smoke, lightning, thunder, fire, and “voices.” 

1. Thunder: “voices” 550 times in OT.  Here, without a clear speaker, the English has assigned it as the noise or voice of the lightning, which would be thunder, but that isn’t dictated by the text. 

2. At least four other words used in the OT to reference thunder, but this specifically looks at a voice.  

4. When God shows up, he repeatedly reinforces the boundary. Only Moses and Aaron (and Joshua?) are allowed on the mountain for the recitation of the law. 

2. Exodus 20 The terms of the covenant and the creation of distance. 

1. With Moses and Aaron (and maybe Joshua) on the mountain and all the people around the base, God recites the 10 commandments (vs 1-17). 

2. When the people were set to be admitted into the presence of God after the recitation of the law on day 3, they instead chose distance (vs 18-21). 

3. Exodus 24: Confirmation of the covenant. 

1. After receiving many verbal laws with Moses closer to the theophany than the people dared to go, Moses ceremonially binds them with blood to the rules of the covenant.  

2. Again, the people commit to doing all that God requires on their own strength. Vs 7

3. Vs 9.  The intimacy that was offered to the people of Israel was experienced only by a few representatives Vs 9-11

4. Moses and Joshua head up the mountain to get the tablets of stone (vs 12-18), but they spend seven days waiting to enter the cloud while more glory is on display.  

5. They enter the cloud 10 days after arriving at the base of the mountain (vs 16). 

6. Moses enters the cloud 50 days after leaving Egypt. This is why Shavuot is commemorating the giving of the law. 

4. Keeping the law on their own didn’t work, and the relationship is broken

1. Ex 31:18-32:6. Immediate failure

2. 32:7-10. God threatens to break the relationship completely.  

3. 32:11-29 Moses Intercedes and punishes the people.  Levites are ordained for service as priests.  The kingdom of priests is forfeit. 

4. 32:30-33:6, God humbles the people. 

5. Eventually (Ex 34), The tablets and the covenant are restored, but there is no more talk of a holy national priesthood. 

6. The people cannot obey on their own.  The relationship is marred and incomplete. 

5. Jeremiah 31:31-34. 

1. There is a need for a “Greater Shavuot.”

2. God will make a new covenant with them that is unlike what happened at Sinai. 

1. Law is written on their hearts, not on stone. 

2. Universal intimacy.  Not representational. 

3. Forgiven sin, not rolled back. 

4. The power to obey, not just the mandate. 

6. Fulfilled in Acts 2:1-4

1. On the day of Pentecost, the Greek name for this holiday, meaning “50.”  50 days after the Sabbath included in Passover. 

2. Don’t read that too quickly.  They were gathered in one place because, 10 days earlier, Jesus had ascended and told them to wait, but also because, being good Jews, they were in Jerusalem for Shavuot. 

3. The instructions had been delivered at Sinai, but the people rejected the intimacy with God that would have empowered its living. Here, the Spirit-filled believers and equipped them to live a life of Godliness. 

4. Parallels: 

1. Both events happened on a mountain that is called the “Mountain of God.”  Exodus 24:13 & Isaiah 2:3

2. Both events happened to newly-redeemed people. 

3. Both events happened on the same day. 

5. At Sinai, the law is given, written on tablets of stone.  In Acts, the law of God is written on the hearts of men. 

6. At Sinai, the people said that they would obey on their own strength, now Christ allows us to walk in his perfect obedience and righteousness. 

7. At Sinai, the people arrived at the mountain after 40 days.  Moses went alone into the cloud on day 50. Jesus ascended on day 40, and the Holy Spirit entered into all believers on day 50. 

8. At Sinai, the fire was high and away on the top of the mountain.  God is great and mighty.  Powerful and distant.  In Acts, the fire is divided and upon each Apostle. God is still mighty and powerful, but intimate and close by. 

9. At Sinai, the voices are described as thunder, abstract power.  In Acts, the voices come from the Apostles and declare the mighty works of God. 

10. At Sinai, the covenant was broken and 3,000 people died. In Acts, the covenant is renewed and 3,000 people are given new life. 

7. 1 Peter 2:9.  God has restored his plan for a holy nation of priests, but it is not limited only to one ethnic group.  The church carries the fulfillment of that plan in the modern age. 

8. Application

1. We, NT Gentiles, are not bound to celebrate the details of the law, and observing Shavuot is not a command we carry.  However, we are enriched when we understand the length to which God has gone to prepare for himself a holy nation of priests through whom He can bless the world. 

2. Don’t live like Sinai Jews, who desired to obey but immediately demonstrated that they can’t.  Live in the power of the Holy Spirit in the wake of Christ’s fulfillment of the law. You are free and powerful.  Do you live this way? 

Jesus in the Old Testament #33: Jesus' Coronation

Jesus in the Old Testament 033: 

Jesus’ Coronation

Psalm 2

Thesis: This song is an allegory for the mediatorial role of King Jesus between the rebellion of sinful man, here personified as gentile kings, and the righteous and wrathful judgment of Almighty God.  Apart from the sheltering of Christ and the resultant worship of those submitted to Him, destruction is the only outcome for mankind. 

1. Nutshell:

1. Did anybody get wet last night in the rain? Did you have to sleep on the lawn? No? Why not? 

2. What does it mean to have shelter? 

3. Last night, you were sheltered from the rain.  Everything outside got wet.  

4. In the same way, Psalm 2 talks quite a bit about the judgment of God, which will fall on everyone, like rain, unless they are sheltered by Jesus.  

5. Go build a fort in the basement to represent the shelter Jesus provides while I talk to your parents.  We’ll come to see it when we’re done. 

2. Deeper:

1. Background. 

1. Probably at one point unified as one Psalm with Psalm 1.  

1. There is an inclusio of beatitude between Ps 1:1 and Ps 2:12. 

2. There are several words that are repeated between Ps 1 and 2 that are used in contrasting settings, eg “Meditate.” 

3. The Psalter was reorganized after the return from the Babylonian captivity by Ezra the scribe, and it is likely at this time that it was split into two Psalms, dividing the portion that called for our meditation on the word of God (Ps 1) from the portion which calls us to submit to the Lordship of God (Ps 2).  

4. By the time the N.T. was written, it was known as the second psalm (Acts 13:33). 

2. Attested to universally, and in the N.T. as a writing of David (Acts 4:25-26). 

3. Frequently called the Coronation Hymn of the Davidic King, but David is not its subject. 

1. David was Anointed at Hebron, not Zion. 

2. No nation which David ever subdued rebelled in the way described in vs 1-3. 

3. Nations went to war with David, but in an attempt to enslave Israel, not in an attempt to throw off their own slavery. 

4. No Davidic King’s empire ever expands to the uttermost parts of the earth. 

5. To the greater-Davidic Heir, God promises a Father-Son relationship, but David never claims, himself, to be the Son of God. 

6. David, the author, would never have written Vs 11-12 of himself. 

4. The Conclusion, therefore, is that David’s kingship serves as a substrate to a purely prophetic passage about his greater heir, The Messiah. 

2. The voice of sinful mankind (vs 1-3). 

1. The assumed backstory of this psalm is that mankind is aware that they are under the thumb of God.  They are in bondage under God’s judgment. 

2. The kings are not the sources of the rebellion.  They are representatives of “the nations,” all mankind. 

3. Establishment: The kings of the earth “set themselves.”  They are working on establishing their freedom on their own terms.  Human efforts to deal with evading God’s judgment for their sin are always fruitless. 

4. Testimony: The kings of the earth “speak together.”  

1. The phrase here means to quietly mutter to yourself.  

2. Same underlying word as “meditate” in Ps 1:2. 

3. They aren’t openly declaring these plans to God.  They are working out a plan amongst themselves. 

5. Breaking: The kings think that their salvation lies in breaking God’s yoke off of them.  Do away with his judgment by removing him from office or negating his sentence. 

1. Atheism

2. Moral relativism

3. Postmodernism

6. The personified representatives here are Kings and rulers, the same categories of actors who literally conspired together to crucify Jesus. 

1. Kings: Herod & Pilot

2. Rulers: Sanhedrin 

3. Peter interprets it this way as well: Acts 4:23-28

7. Parallel: Luke 19:11-14. 

1. The Davidic King in the psalm is facing a rebellion by subjugated rulers. 

2. The king in Jesus’ parable is facing a rebellion by his future subjects. 

3. In both cases, the King being rejected is Jesus. 

3. The voice of the Father (vs 4-6). 

1. The Father is not concerned in any way.  

1. He does not even “stir himself to action,” as He does in other psalms or prophetic passages.  

2. He is seated in heaven, laughing. 

2. The rebellion of mankind does not alter the plan of God at all.  God has a purpose and a plan (His own glory), and he will carry it out.  He does not negotiate with rebels!

3. Testimony: The nations muttered to each other.  God declares in his wrath and derisive laughter. 

1. God’s words are irrevocable and powerful. 

2. Gen 1:3

3. Ps 33:9

4. Breaking: God’s words have the effect of instilling terror and fear in the kings. 

1. Fear and trembling: stirred up, shaken, broken peace--shalom. 

2. “Panic” used 18 times in the ESV, always points to God weaponizing fear as a judgment against those who have rejected the righteous fear of God. 

3. The same underlying principle is at play here, even though the ESV did not use “panic” in this case. 

5. Establishment: The Lord answers the plan of rebellious kings to establish themselves by restating his plan to establish his Messiah as King forever over all of creation. 

1. 2Sam 7:8-16. 

2. Zech 9:10

3. The establishment of this King is to be centered in “Zion,” originally a Canaanite city conquered by David, then the name for the mountain on which the temple was built, and eventually a figurative name for Jerusalem or even all of Israel. 

4. Zion is used as a metaphor for the church in Heb 12:22-24

6. Parallel: The king receives the kingdom he sought, even over the objection of the delegation who argued against it (Luke 19:15)

4. The Voice of the Son (vs 7-9)

1. Testimony: Jesus receives the Kingdom promised by His Father, clearly referencing the Davidic covenant’s sonship language. 

1. You are My Son: eternal relationship (John 1:1; Matt 3:17; 17:5)

2. Today I have begotten you: recognition of the Son’s coming into His kingdom. 

1. Paul saw this as the moment of his resurrection: Acts 13:32-33

2. So did the author of Hebrews: (Heb 1:3-5; 5:5)

2. Establishment:  The Father has given the Son EVERYTHING! 

1. The nations are his inheritance. Everything initially belongs to the Father, but he has placed all things under the Son’s feet. 

1. Gen 22:18

2. Isa 53:12

3. Col 1:18

4. Eph 1:22

5. 1 Cor 15:27

2. The ends of the earth: Never realized by David or any of his mortal heirs.  Only true of Christ’s future kingdom. 

3. Breaking: A rod of iron, smashed to pieces. 

1. Something thought of us unbreakable vs something easily destroyed and discarded. 

2. Commanded in the law to break earthenware that was unclean (Lev 6:28; 11:33-35; 15:12). 

3. Some historical reference to Pharoah having clay vases in his throne room from every region of his kingdom.  If one rebelled or failed to pay tribute, he would break it to signal his intention to go to war or bring punishment to that region. 

4. This image carried into the eschaton: (Rev 2:27; 12:5; 19:5)

4. Parallel: In the parable of the minas, Those who reject Christ’s rule are killed before him. (Luke 19:27)

5. The voice of the Spirit (vs 10-12)

1. Testimony: The job of the Holy Spirit is to direct people toward Christ (John 15:26).  He does so in this last stanza.  Be wise.  Be warned.  Kiss the Son. 

2. Establishment: The rule of the Son is inevitable.  Serve with fear and rejoice with trembling. 

1. Those who reject the righteous fear of the Lord are given panic as a judgment of God. 

2. Here, the Holy Spirit invites the leaders of mankind to embrace and rejoice in the righteous fear of God--The submission to God’s rule and right to change our lives. 

3. Celebrate the established rule of God’s King, the Messiah. 

3. Kiss the Son.  

1. In Aramaic, which is odd. Aramaic was not the common language or the region at the time of David. 

2. Possibly, using a word that the gentile nations would have known. 

3. Perhaps a later scribal error. 

4. Has led to a diversity of interpretations.  Kiss the feet, etc. 

5. Variety of “kisses” in scripture: 

1. Certainly, not of passionate lovers. 

2. Not the kiss of Judas’ betrayal. 

3. Kiss of reconciliation (Gen 33:4; 45:14-15)

4. Kiss of submission (Ex 18:7; 1Sam 10:1)

5. Kiss of fellowship (2Sam 20:9; Rom 16:16)

4. Breaking: If you don’t submit to the son, you will be destroyed. 

1.  His wrath is quickly kindled. 

2. We don’t often think of the wrath of the Son, but is real and consuming! 

1. Job 4:9

2. 2Thes 2:8

3. Rev 6:16

5. Conclusion: We would expect that the conclusion of this psalm of warning and judgment would be a final statement of wrath and destruction of God’s enemies.  It isn’t! It’s one of hope. 

1. If even the enemies will repent, they will be sheltered by the Son. 

2. Salvation for God’s enemies is part of His nature and the main thrust of the work of the Son in the gospel. 

3. Gal 1:23

4. Rom 5:10

Discussion Questions:

1. Individually, and as a family, are you part of the people represented by rebelling kings or by those found in Jesus’ protection? 

2. On what is your life established? The word of God or what you want? 

3. How do the various voices in this Psalm inform how we are to talk to our unsaved neighbors and friends?

4. What does God need to break in order to draw you closer to himself?