Count Fifty Days To Pentecost – Updated for 2023
The Day of Pentecost will be here soon, real soon! So now is the time to have some fun counting the days to Pentecost. (Click here if you need more information on God’s Holy Days.)
Pentecost In God’s Word
Leviticus 23 outlines God’s Holy Days. In verse 1-2 we read, And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.’” Did you catch that? These feasts are God’s, not the Jews’ holy days.
Verses 15-16 explain the formula. ‘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. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.’
So instead of giving us an actual date to celebrate Pentecost, we have to actually calculate when to keep it. Also called the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Firstfruits, Pentecost in Greek means fiftieth day.
Rules For Calculating Pentecost
I attended Foundation Institute in 2017-2018, and I want to share my notes on the rules for calculating when to celebrate Pentecost:
- The Wave Sheaf is to be offered on the day after the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:11). That Sabbath is the weekly Sabbath inside the Days of Unleavened Bread (verses 4-8), not an annual Sabbath.
- That makes the day after the weekly Sabbath a Sunday. This Sunday must be during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
- The Wave Sheaf had to be offered before anything of the harvest could be eaten (verse 14).
- Begin counting on the day of the Wave Sheaf Offering (verse 15). That Sunday is day 1. Go forward another 49 days, or 7 weeks, and you will come to the 50th day, the Day of Pentecost.
For those years where the First Day of Unleavened Bread falls on a Sunday, we use the example in Joshua 5. Verse 10 states the children of Israel “kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight.” And then in verse 11, the day after the Passover, they ate “unleavened bread and parched grain.” That means the Passover was on the Sabbath because next day was the Wave Sheaf Offering which is always on Sunday. Since they ate the produce, they must have performed the Offering on that very day, the First Day of Unleavened Bread.
Using the above rules, lets walk through 2023’s calculations. The Passover was on Tuesday, April 4, beginning at twilight. The First Day of Unleavened Bread began Wednesday, April 5 at sunset. If we start counting on the Sunday during the Days of Unleavened Bread, Day 1 = April 9, Day 2 = April 10, and so forth, making Day 50 = Sunday, May 28, 2023.
Make A Pentecost Chain
Who makes Feast chains? I do, I do! Well, my kids loved the excitement of making their own Feast chains, pulling off one link each day until there was nothing left which meant it was time to leave for the Feast. YIPPEE!!! But a Pentecost chain takes the opposite approach, it counts up to the Day of Pentecost. It starts with a chain on the first day, and adding a chain every day until it reaches 50 – then we know it is the Day of Pentecost. BTW, a good friend came up with this idea, and I love that she writes a scripture on each link. Here is the list of scriptures she uses. Choose colorful printer paper, or construction paper. You can use this Pentecost Chain Scriptures Template for scriptures to print and cut out.
Create A Pentecost Calendar
Making a calendar for counting Pentecost gives a visual of the timeline. This year includes the months of April, May, and June. Start out by identifying Passover, First Day of Unleavened Bread, Wave Sheaf Offering, Last Day of Unleavened Bread, then finally Pentecost. Whether you count up or down, use your imagination to check off the days. You could use fun stickers, color coding, colored markers, fancy numbers, or anything else that comes to mind.
How About Fruit Of The Spirit Magnets
Before the days of Pinterest and Google, we had to come up with our own arts and crafts. My kids actually enjoyed making refrigerator magnets that resembled fruit. Okay, they were pretty young. We cut out fruit shapes on construction paper, glued them to cardboard of the same shape, wrote a fruit of the spirit on each one, then stuck a magnet on the back. Galatians 5:22-23 includes the entire list: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These lovely magnets may last for years – they did at my house!
Identify Firstfruits In Nature
So many ideas can spring from the concept of firstfruits. If you garden, involve your children in the miracle of seedlings. Watch your seeds sprout, grow, bloom, and eventually bear fruit. Likewise, as God’s firstfruits, we are called, baptized, and mature as Christians. God expects us to bear fruit through His Holy Spirit – spiritual fruits such as love, joy, peace, etc. Explain to your children how God provided for the Levites who didn’t have their own gardens and lived off the firstfruits and tithes of the other 11 tribes. If you don’t garden, take a walk in the woods, and notice the little plants that shoot up in the Spring. And then look up at the towering tall trees that started out as teeny tiny seeds. Help your children see and feel the awesome wonder and greatness of God.
Yearly Spiritual Reminder
In my opinion, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost may be one of the most exciting stories in the Bible. It describes the dramatic and undeniable launch of the Church of God, the very Church we strive to emulate today. Be sure to rehearse as many fine details as possible with your kids as you go through the countdown to Pentecost and work on your fun projects. You’ll find excellent lessons about obedience, patience, faith, miracles, and unity, to name a few. Children love a great story and enjoy expressing their own insights as they begin to understand God’s truths. You can almost see the little light bulbs going off in their minds as their eyes light up! Treasure these precious moments and keep them in your heart – like tiny seeds, then young plants and trees, they grow up before your very eyes!
More Resources to Explore
EEI has lots of great info such as their Lesson on Pentecost: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/learning-center/youth-development/the-word-of-god/feast-of-pentecost/
Calendar for Pentecost 2021: https://s3.amazonaws.com/lht/downloads/EEI-AdditionalResources-Counting50-2022.pdf
Infographic for Pentecost: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/learning-center/youth-development/additional-resources/infographic-pentecost/
EEI Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/EEIParentingManual