SABBATH THOUGHT 2026-05-23—PENTECOST – THE DAY OF PEACE

May God bless you on His Sabbath day!

The Sabbath Thought on 2026-05-02 (Pentecost – The Day of Good Works) discussed the unique Second Festival Season. The Second Festival Season is distinctive because it is the only Festival Season that has a single holyday—Pentecost—a Greek name that is not a transliteration of the Hebrew. In addition, there are the three Hebrew names Festival of Weeks, Day of Firstfruits, and Festival of Harvest of Firstfruits. It is obvious from the names there is a focus on counting the days to its observance and the small harvest of late spring firstfruits of the wheat crop. Firstfruits are the initial or first ripe produce harvested from a crop and, in the context of God’s plan of salvation for mankind, it represents the first of the children of God born into His Kingdom. This harvest is the only one in which the seeds for the harvest are ‘sown’ by the ekklesia, which is analogous to spreading the Gospel message, so Good Works are an essential part of Pentecost.

The Second Festival Season is also unique in another very important aspect—Pentecost is the only holyday that requires a Peace Offering and it is holy to God:

LEVITICUS 23:15-20 ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. 16 ‘Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD. 17 ‘You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the LORD. 18 ‘And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the LORD. 19 ‘Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering. 20 ‘The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy [set apart] to the LORD for the priest.’

Two Leavened Wave Loaves, made from the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, are combined with two male lambs for the Peace Offering and all are waved before God by the priest to be accepted by Him. Waving the Two Leavened Wave Loaves portrays God accepting the spiritual Firstfruits of mankind into His Kingdom! The Two Leavened Wave Loaves, therefore, represent the ekklesia who are “holy [set apart] unto God and for the priest [Jesus Christ].” It is quite likely that Peter had a vision of the Pentecost Peace Offering in mind when he wrote that the ekklesia are a spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God:

1 PETER 2:5 you also [the ekklesia], as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Like the Peace Offering, the ekklesia is holy and acceptable to God. Paul, too, described the ekklesia with similar words, also suggesting a connection with the Peace Offering:

ROMANS 12:1-2 I [Paul] beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Note the emphasis of both Peter and Paul on being holy and acceptable to God, an inescapable inference to the Peace Offering on Pentecost. But there is more. The Two Leavened Wave Loaves are “for the priest,” which portrays the children of the ekklesia as belonging to Christ[1]:

COLOSSIANS 3:12, 23 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; … 23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

GALATIANS 5:24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

The Peace Offering is a critical part of the Second Festival Harvest because mankind rejected peace with God from the beginning with the rebellion of Adam. Now, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, peace with God is finally possible. That is why there is a heavy emphasis on peace with God in the New Testament:

ROMANS 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

COLOSSIANS 1:20 and by Him [Jesus Christ] to reconcile all things to Himself [God the Father], by Him [Jesus Christ], whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Of the 21 epistles (excludes the Four Gospels, Acts, and Revelation) in the New Testament, 19 of them begin with the author offering a blessing of peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ upon the reader[2]. The emphasis of peace on Pentecost is underappreciated even though it is the principle outcome of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and a significant part of the Gospel message. Simply put, peace with God is not possible aside from God offering up His Son as the Passover Lamb. Just prior to His sacrifice, Jesus Christ spoke of a peace that was utterly unique from the peace of the world:

JOHN 14:27 “Peace I [Jesus Christ] leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

JOHN 16:33 “These things I [Jesus Christ] have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

The meaning here can be easily missed. Just as agape love of God is much deeper than all human love (phileo, storge, and eros in the Greek[3]), the peace of mankind is but a shadow of the peace with God through Jesus Christ:

PHILIPPIANS 4:7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Paul said the peace of Jesus Christ is beyond understanding. Quite a statement! How God views the normal, human mind provides a sense of the deep peace through Jesus Christ:

ROMANS 8:7 Because the carnal [fleshly] mind is enmity [hostility, opposition] against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

EPHESIANS 2:14-16 For He [Jesus Christ] Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity [hostility, opposition], that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two [Jew and Gentile], thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity [hostility, opposition].

Peace from Jesus Christ is, in large part, rooted in a relationship that mirrors the oneness between God and Christ:

JOHN 17:20-23 “I [Jesus Christ] do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

Flesh and blood cannot truly grasp the oneness of God the Father and Jesus Christ—it is much deeper than simple unity between them. The peace of their oneness is what Jesus Christ desires for the ekklesia who prayed five times that we would be one with each other just as They are one.[4] It should come as no surprise, then, that peace is a primary characteristic of the true ekklesia whose lives are being transformed into agape love:

ROMANS 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

COLOSSIANS 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body [of Christ[; and be thankful.

2 PETER 3:14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him [God the Father] in peace, without spot and blameless;

The peace with God that comes from Jesus Christ is literally the foundation of the Kingdom, which is why the Gospel is a message of peace:

ROMANS 14:17-18 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

ROMANS 10:15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!—[Isaiah 52:7]”

EPHESIANS 6:15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

The peace of Jesus Christ in each begotten child of God, like agape love, must be a defining characteristic of the ekklesia and the basis of their relationships with each other as well as people of the world:

MARK 9:50 “Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”

MATTHEW 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

MATTHEW 10:13 “If the household is worthy, let your peace [from Jesus Christ] come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

Peace is from Jesus Christ because it, like agape love, is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, it is a fruit that is intended to be extended to others for their benefit[5]:

GALATIANS 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

The Second Festival Season requires a Peace Offering on Pentecost in which the priest presents the Two Leavened Wave Loaves before God. This is a beautiful portrayal of the peace with God that is the result of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So, it is appropriate that Jesus Christ, who is the eternal High Priest, presents the ekklesia to His Father for approval and why His title is King of Peace forever:

HEBREWS 6:20, 7:1-2, 24-25… Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. … 7:1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” … 24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession [establishing peace] for them [the children of God].

As mentioned in the beginning, the small, late spring harvest of the Second Festival Season on the day of Pentecost is the result of the ekklesia sowing the seeds of the Gospel message. Like the spreading of the Gospel, the work of the children of God, in all regards, includes sowing the seeds of PEACE!

May God’s grace and peace be upon you!

Steven Greene

https://sabbathreflections.org

sabbathreflections@gmail.com