POURING,
PASSOVER AND PENTECOST
In my own recent personal Bible study, I have been trying to prepare and
to look forward to this Feast of
Pentecost; but I kept feeling that I was repeatedly being dragged back—that my thoughts, my mind and my
studies kept getting pulled back to
the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and to their strong,
inseparable links with the Feast of Pentecost.
Each Christian might think of different relationships between the early-spring
feasts and this late-spring feast of Pentecost; but the links that kept coming
to me concerned these two words: "Pouring Out"
The purpose of this sermon is to serve as a Bible study to go through
this subject of pouring as it applies to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the
Passover and, more specifically, how they both link to the Feast of Pentecost.
The pouring out of Jesus’ life
Going back to the Passover, the first thing we notice is that our
Saviour, Jesus Christ, willingly allowed His precious human life and His
physically essential bodily fluids to be poured out:
Luke 22:20:
Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new
testament in my blood, which is shed [Greek: ekcheo: poured out] for you.
It cannot be a mere coincidence that this pouring out of Jesus’ life, tears,
blood, gall, etc. was repeatedly prophesied hundreds of years before it
actually happened:
Job
For my sighing comes before I eat, and my
roarings [Hebrew: sheagah: cries of distress] are
poured out like the waters.
Jesus did, of course, pour out cries of distress during His last night
and day as a human being.
Job
Have you not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
Many of Jesus’ essential bodily fluids were drained out of His body
during His torture and murderous execution.
Job 16:20:
My friends scorn me; my eyes pour
out tears to God.
Of course, this was Job speaking here in these verses; but in the books
of Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and others, we read the
authors’ prophetic words as though it was actually Jesus Christ speaking.
Earlier in this same sixteenth chapter of Job, we read of some of the
things that God the Father, in His own agony, found it necessary to have
inflicted upon His perfect Son:
Job 16:11, 13:
God has delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands
of the wicked… His archers compass me
round about, He cleaves my reins asunder, and does not spare; He pours out my gall upon the ground.
As Jesus hung helplessly on the stake, a soldier came up to Him and,
with his spear, cruelly thrust it into His side. As a result, Jesus'
blood and other essential bodily fluids poured out:
John 19:34:
But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
This verse contains what are possibly two of the greatest
understatements in all of the history of the world. Just as the word
“pierced” (Greek: nusso) is an understatement
when describing the large wound that was inflicted upon Jesus, so the term
“came out” (Greek: exerchomai) is probably an
understatement when referring to the flow of water, blood and gall from His
side. Even the words “poured out” are insufficient to get the actual
meaning across. The Message translation of the Bible uses the term
“gushed out” and the
As well as Jesus’ gall, the prophet Jeremiah even indicates that Jesus’
liver—the organ which produces the body’s gall and other types of bile—may have
been expelled through this awful gash:
Lamentations 2:11:
My eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are
troubled, my liver is poured upon the
earth…
It is not too much of a stretch of our reasoning to allow that Jesus’
liver may have been disgorged when we remember that the spear wound was large
enough to admit Thomas’ hand:
John 20:27:
Then said He to Thomas, reach hither your finger, and behold my hands;
and reach hither your hand, and thrust it into my side…
So the wound must have been enormous. It was a huge gash!
And the blood, gall and water did surge out!
Back again to the Old Testament pouring prophecies:
Job 30:16:
And now my soul [Jesus’ physical life] is poured out because of my plight; the
days of affliction take hold of me.
Psalm 22:14:
I am poured
out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it
is melted in the midst of my bowels.
This appears to be an amazingly accurate description. The human
heart is enveloped and supported by a membrane called the Pericardium which
contains lymph or serous fluid, the volume of which increases under stressful
conditions. When punctured by the soldier’s spear, this membrane in
Jesus’ body released its liquid contents and the heart lost its support and
firmness.
Isaiah 53:12:
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the
great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul unto death: and he
was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors.
Symbolic pourings in the Old Testament era
Centuries before the time arrived for Jesus to pour out His life and His
life blood; He had pre-arranged associated, symbolic events to occur.
If we search all the way back into the books of Exodus, Leviticus and
Deuteronomy, we will find that there were symbolic pourings at every feast,
including Pentecost and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I will give just
one example of each:
I.
Blood:
Leviticus 4:7:
And the priest shall put some of the blood upon
the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the
tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour
all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt
offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
The blood of the sacrificial animals was to be poured out at the base of
the burnt offering altar, perhaps symbolizing the pouring out of Jesus’ blood
into the soil of
II.
Drink offerings of wine:
Numbers 28:7:
And the drink offering thereof shall be the
fourth part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shall you cause the
strong wine to be poured unto the
Lord for a drink offering.
This drink offering of 1.5 litres of fortified wine—probably quite
valuable like the highest quality brandy, port, sherry or Muscatel wine – was
to be poured out unto God. It
is likely that, along with the wine of Jesus’ 31AD Passover service, these
drink offerings symbolized the precious blood of Jesus Christ:
Matthew 26:27-29:
And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink
you all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed [poured
out] for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink
henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with
you in my Father’s kingdom.
III. Oil:
Leviticus 2:1, 6:
And when any will offer a meat offering unto
the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense
thereon… You shall part it in pieces, and pour
oil thereon: it is a meat offering.
Oil was poured out upon these meat offerings (more accurately termed
“meal offerings” or “grain offerings”), likely symbolizing the pouring of an
unlimited supply of God’s Holy Spirit upon Jesus. Perhaps the addition of
the precious, high quality and fragrant frankincense (anciently used for
embalming) pre-figured Jesus’ pre-crucifixion anointings, the discussion of
which we will come to later.
IV.
Ashes:
Leviticus 4:12:
Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth
outside the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are
poured out shall he be burnt.
Included in His details for the sacrificial offerings, God even gave
specific instructions as to where the offerings were to be burnt and where the ashes
of the burnt offerings were to be poured, outside the camp. This
prefigured the locations for Jesus’ crucifixion and burial—the pouring out of
His life and the disposal of His physical human remains:
Hebrews 13:11-12:
For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is
brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the
camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
V.
Water:
I Samuel 7:6:
And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew
water, and poured it out before the
Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.”
And Samuel judged the children of
In this later event which appears to have been a voluntary fast, these
Israelites drew water (assumedly from a well), then poured it out before
God. Perhaps the purpose of this little ritual was to declare to God that
they would not even drink any water on that day—that it was a fast day totally
dedicated to Him. On this verse, Adam Clark comments:
It is not easy to know what is meant by this; it is true that pouring
out water in the way of libation was a religious ordinance among the Hebrews…
Some examples of water libations (pouring offerings and rituals) were:
Pouring vessels
Because of the precious symbolism of the pouring out of wine, oil, blood
and water during the offering and other temple ceremonies, God had skilled
artisans craft special pouring vessels from the purest gold:
Exodus 25:29:
And you shall make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers
thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shall you make them.
Exodus 37:16:
And he made the vessels which were upon the table, his dishes, and his
spoons, and his bowls, and his covers to cover withal, of pure gold.
Even earlier symbolic pourings
Even before these temple sacrifices and symbols—hundreds of years before
God gave the Israelites these sacrifices and symbols—liquid offerings were
being poured out. We read of specific, symbolic pourings of oil of and
drink offerings as early as the time of Jacob:
Genesis 28:18:
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had
put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
Genesis 35:14:
And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a
pillar of stone: and he poured a drink
offering thereon, and he poured oil
thereon.
Perhaps such pourings were common at an even earlier date. Where
did Jacob learn about them?
In a later, well-known event, God caused the Egyptian water to be turned
into blood when it was poured out:
Exodus 4:9:
…and it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs,
neither hearken unto your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river,
and pour it upon the dry land: and
the water which you take out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.
As well as being the first plague upon Egypt, perhaps this miracle
looked forward to the time when Jesus would change the water into wine at the
Cana wedding feast (John 2:1-11). In turn, this water and wine of the
Pre-crucifixion pourings
Returning to 31AD, shortly before the Passover, we read of another
symbolic example of pouring:
Matthew 26:6-7, 10, 12:
Now when Jesus was in
In his parallel account, Mark writes that the expensive ointment was
made from the fragrant, aromatic Himalayan spikenard plant.
Some time before this, a similar—but different—anointing had taken
place:
Luke 7:36-38:
And one of the Pharisees desired him that He would eat with him. And He went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat
down to meat. And, behold, a woman in
the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the
Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at His feet
behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them
with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the
ointment.
Why were there two similar anointings? We know that Jesus said
that the
It is my speculation that perhaps one of the anointings was for Jesus’
position as High Priest over His New Covenant priesthood, and that the other
was for His position as King of kings. Let us briefly examine these
possibilities.
Was one of these outpourings of precious ointment an anti-type of the
extra-special anointing oil reserved for the Aaronic priesthood? What was
this special anointing oil?
Exodus 30:32:
Upon man’s flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall you make any other
like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto
you.
This special, holy anointing oil was not to be poured on man’s
flesh.
Exodus 29:1, 7:
And this is the thing that you shall do unto
them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest’s office: take one young
bullock, and two rams without blemish… Then shall you take the anointing oil,
and pour it upon his head, and anoint
him.
It was specially prepared and reserved for the anointing of the high
priest and other priests, and of the temple furnishings and vessels:
Leviticus 8:12:
And he poured
of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.
Leviticus 21:10:
And he that is the high priest among his
brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not
uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;
Here we see that the special anointing oil was poured out on the head of
the high priest. Once again, this appears to be symbolic of the unlimited
supply of the Holy Spirit poured out upon our New Covenant High Priest, Jesus
Christ. Also, that it is to be poured out on us: we lower-ranked priests
of Jesus’ New Covenant priesthood. He is the High Priest and we, his
brethren, are the lower-ranked “regular” priests under His leadership.
This was foreshadowed by the anointing of the Israelite kings, the first
one being Saul:
I Samuel 10:1:
Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him,
and said, is it not because the Lord has anointed you to be captain over his
inheritance?
Here we see more rich symbolism. Is not Jesus the Captain of our
salvation and of our inheritance (Hebrews
II Kings 9:3, 6:
Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, thus says
the Lord, I have anointed you king over
Back again to 31AD. On the last evening of Jesus' physical
life, at the Passover service itself, we see that Jesus had pre-arranged for
yet another symbolic pouring to take place:
John 13:5:
After that, He poured water
into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the
towel with which He was girded.
Here we see Jesus pouring out water—both clean and cleansing—and we know
that water is symbolic of God's Holy Spirit. All through that Passover
service there occurred symbol after symbol, each one
related to:
As we have seen, one of these anti-types was that He would pour out His
essential bodily fluids and His human life. Another was that seven weeks
after His reunification with His Father, He would begin to liberally pour out
His Holy Spirit.
Pentecost pourings
So now, at long last, we have arrived at the Feast of Pentecost.
In 31AD, on that first Pentecost of the New Testament era, God began to
pour out His Holy Spirit upon His chosen people.
God would not have been able to pour out His Holy Spirit upon His
people—it would not have been possible—if Jesus Christ would not first have
been willing, on the Passover day of that year, to pour out His human
life. Jesus repeatedly stressed this fact to His disciples:
John 16:4-7:
But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, you may
remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at
the beginning, because I was with you. But
now I go my way to Him that sent me; and none of you asks me, where are you
going? But because I have said these
things unto you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is
expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not
come unto you; but if I depart, I will send it unto you.
Here is the big link between the two spring feast seasons. In
order for His Holy Spirit to be poured out, Jesus first had to pour out his
blood on Passover day. He then briefly returned to His Father’s throne
room in heaven on the Wave Sheaf Offering day and there He presented the
offering of His blood to His Father.
Let me repeat this important fact once more. Jesus had to pour out
His blood before we could receive and enjoy the benefits of the Holy Spirit
being poured out upon us.
It is true that God gave His Spirit to a few people in Old Testament
times. But, on this Feast of Pentecost in 31AD, He began to more
liberally pour out His Spirit upon the members of His brand-new, fledgling
church. He began on this day by converting devout Israelites to
Christianity through the gift of His Spirit. But, within a very short
time, He also began to call and convert Gentiles:
Acts
And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as
came with
But, even these great events—these great first pourings out of His
Spirit—foreshadowed an even greater event which is still yet to occur:
Acts 2:16-18:
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall come
to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour
out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream
dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and
they shall prophesy:
Here we see that, in the end times, there will be a great pouring out of
God's Holy Spirit. This does not mean that God's Holy Spirit had not been
poured out upon the early church, or on later eras, or that it is not being
poured out on the church today. But, the implication here is that there
is to be a remarkable increase in the flow of God’s Spirit in those last days.
Pouring out of God’s Spirit prophesied in the Old Testament
When
Proverbs 1:23:
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make
known my words unto you.
There are two things we can learn here:
First, the pouring out of God’s
Spirit on us is conditional upon us “turning at His reproof.” Is this turning
– this repentance – not exactly what
Acts
Then
Second, through the gift of His Spirit, God will help us to know and
understand His words. Continuing with another Old Testament prophecy of
God sending His Holy Spirit:
Isaiah 32:15:
Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful
field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
A reading of the context of this verse reveals that this is another
prophecy of God’s Spirit being richly poured out upon mankind in the last days
and in the World Tomorrow. Here are some more:
Isaiah 44:3:
For I will pour
water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon your seed, and my
blessing upon your offspring.
This is not to be a mere trickle. Not just a gentle pouring like a
person pouring milk out of a jug into a cup of tea. This will be a great
outpouring. A great gushing.
Comparatively, this will be more like the blast of a powerful fire hose!
Ezekiel 39:29:
Neither will I hide my face any more from them:
for I shall have poured out my Spirit
upon the house of
With regards to God’s Holy Spirit, do you think that what you see is
what you get? Do you think that the level of the Holy Spirit evident
today is all there is? And all there will be? Brethren, I sincerely
believe that, when it comes to the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit, You
ain’t seen nothing yet!
Zechariah 12:10:
And I will pour
upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit
of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have
pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and
shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
We have come full circle. Here we see a link back the other way,
from the “Pentecost pouring”—from the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit—back to
the “Passover pouring.” Here is a reminder of that super-important
event which is never, ever to be forgotten—even after the coming of the Holy
Spirit: the piercing of the body of Jesus Christ and the pouring out of His
life.
Pouring out our lives
Why did Jesus Christ pour out His life for us? And why does
He continue to pour out His Spirit upon us? There are quite a few
reasons; but one of the main ones is because He loves us. And He loves us
with two different kinds of love. One is His love for us as His
affianced Bride, and the other is His love for us as His brothers and
sisters.
God’s Holy Spirit is like that special anointing oil mixture we looked
at earlier, the recipe, ingredients and other details of which we can find in
Exodus 30:22-33. Like that oil and its ingredients, God’s Spirit contains
all of the ingredients (or seeds) of its fruits (Galatians
Romans 5:5:
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit which was given to us.
One natural result of this love that we possess through the indwelling
of His Holy Spirit is this: Because Jesus was willing to pour out His
life and His blood for you and me, we know that we too
must be willing to pour out our lives. We all hope, of course, that we
will not be called upon to die violently in God's service. But, on a
regular, daily basis we need to be pouring out our lives in loving service to
God and to His people. One of the best known verses in the whole of God’s
Word is this one:
John 15:13:
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his
friends.
Jesus did just this for you and me and, as we are His siblings who are
trying to emulate Him, we are to do the same for each other:
I John 3:16:
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for
us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Paul did:
Yes, and if I am being poured out
as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and
rejoice with you all.
Like Jesus, Paul was also called upon to die a violent death in God’s
service. To lay down his life. To pour out his life. He lived and died for God and
for his service to God’s people. His whole life was poured out—like the
drink offerings mentioned earlier—in dedication to God’s service.
We too need to strive to do the same thing. We too must emulate
Paul as he emulated Christ (I Corinthians 11:1). We too must be willing—as
God tells us in I John 3:16—to pour out our lives as offerings to God and his
people.
There is so much more to this subject of pouring than I have had the
time to cover today. I have only been able to scratch the surface of this
topic. But, the main point I wanted to get across to you is that there is
much rich symbolism on this subject of pouring when examined in the light of
Passover and the Feast of Pentecost; also that the links between the two are
undeniable.
The requirement for the temple rituals and their associated pourings has
been suspended for our era, but they apparently will be reintroduced during the
Millennium for the benefit of the humans of that age (Zechariah
Although God poured out His Spirit mightily upon each of His Old Testament
servants individually, when combined, it was a mere trickle in comparison with
that which He has poured out, is pouring out, and will pour out upon His New
Testament people.
So as we remember the words of the prophet Joel as repeated by the
apostle Peter:
Joel 2:28-29:
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see
visions. And also upon the servants and
upon the handmaids in those days will I pour
out my Spirit.
These words prophesy of the surety of the huge out-pouring of God’s Holy
Spirit that is still ahead of us… hopefully in the near future…
When it comes to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit… comparatively,
brethren…
We ain’t seen nothing
yet!