The Two Marriage Covenants of Shavuot (“Pentecost“)

On the first Pentecost, the Jewish people made a covenant with God at Mount Sinai. On that day, they agreed to keep all of God’s commandments. In the Old Testament, this day is called the Feast of Weeks. The Jews call it “Shavuot.”

The Jews remember the day of Pentecost as the day they made a marriage covenant with God. Just as a bride says to her husband, “I do”, the Jewish people said to God, “We do”.

"And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do." - Exodus 24:3

God also recognizes the day of Pentecost as the day He made a marriage covenant with the Jewish people. In Jeremiah 31:31-34, God refers to Himself as their husband. He also tells them He is going to make a new covenant with them.

"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:" - Jeremiah 31:31-32

God told them of a new and better covenant, a marriage covenant of mercy. God said, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

In this new covenant there would be a closer relationship between God and His people. Because He was forgiving their iniquity, they could receive the infilling of His Spirit. This is how we can know Him.

"But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." - Jeremiah 31:33-34

There is one problem, however. How could the Jewish people be released from their marriage covenant of the Law that they entered into at Sinai?

Paul reveals the answer to this question in Romans 7:1-6.

"Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband." - Romans 7:1-2  [the law applies only while a person is living. If the husband is dead, the laws of marriage no longer apply to the woman.]

"So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man." - Romans 7:3 [But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.]

The only way that the Jewish people could be released from their marriage covenant of the Law with God, was for God to die. God is Spirit, and CANNOT die, for He is eternal. Therefore, to accomplish His will and to fulfill the requirements of His law, God robed Himself in flesh and blood. God fills the universe, and at the same time was within His temple of a body of flesh prepared to shed His blood and hang on a cross fashioned from a tree.

By the death of God’s flesh, the Jewish people were set free from their Sinai marriage covenant with God, the covenant of the Law.

On the third day, the Spirit of God raised His flesh from the grave. After appearing before many eye witnesses, God’s resurrected flesh ascended in power to His throne as Messiah of the seed of David, to reign in mercy and justice.

The Jew releases God from covenant when he dies with Christ the Messiah by repentance and baptism in Jesus name.

"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." - Romans 7:4 [The Jew becomes dead to the law and his first marriage covenant with God by repentance and burial with Christ in baptism. He then becomes the Bride of Christ who is risen from the dead, bringing fruit unto God by good works through His Spirit.]

"For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." - Romans 7:5 [controlled by our old nature, sinful desires aroused by the law were at work within us, producing fruit of sinful deeds resulting in death.]

"But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." - Romans 7:6 [released from the law, for we died to it, no longer captive to its power, we serve the new way of living in the Spirit, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the Law]

"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." - Romans 6:3-4 [The glory of His Spirit]

On the day of Pentecost, Peter gave the message of the New Covenant that set the Jews free from the Law to become the Bride of Christ. (John 3:29, 2Corinthians 11:2)

In the New Covenant, we promise to God we will keep His new covenant commandments.
"If ye love me, keep my commandments." - John 14:15

We obey Jesus’ gospel by repentance, baptism in Jesus name for the remission of sins, and receiving the gift of His Holy Ghost. We apply the blood Jesus shed by baptism in Jesus name. It is by the name of Jesus and His blood at baptism that we enter into a covenant with Him.

"For this is my blood of the new testament [covenant], which is shed for many for the remission of sins." - Matthew 26:28

When we enter this New Covenant with Him, we become the bride of Christ and He becomes our husband.

John the Baptist spoke of Jesus as the bridegroom. John the Baptist considered himself as the friend of the bridegroom.

"He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled." - John 3:29

Paul spoke as Jesus being the husband and having given the church in Corinth to Him as a pure bride.

"For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." - 2 Corinthians 11:2

On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached the New Covenant message:

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." - Acts 2:38-39

That day, the Day of Pentecost, there were added into the New Covenant and the Bride of Christ about three thousand Jewish souls.

"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." - Acts 2:41