Redemption and Pentecost: Why ‘Counting the Omer’ is Important for Christians

JERUSALEM, Israel – After Passover, the Bible tells the Jewish people to count 49 days until Shavuot. This special period is also significant for Christians.

It’s known as "Counting the Omer" found in Leviticus 23:15CloseLeviticus 23:15 "From the day after the Sabbath—the day you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted up as a special offering—count off seven full weeks. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) where it says:

"From the day after the Sabbath (Passover), the day you brought the sheaf (omer) of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath"

Boaz Michael, Founder and Director of the First Fruits of Zion in Jerusalem told CBN News this important period of counting is a "link" that connects the miracle of Passover to Shavuot. 

"It teaches us that salvation is both redemption – what took place at Passover – but it's also the indwelling of God's Spirit empowering us to walk out that salvation," Michael said. 

The Bible says that on Shavuot, known as the "Feast of Weeks," or "Pentecost," the Holy Spirit was poured out. Jewish people celebrate this day as the day when God gave the law to Moses.

"What takes place at Shavuot, at Pentecost? The Spirit comes down, the nations are represented and the message was that God's salvation is not just for the Jewish people, but it's for all nations. And that's what took place in Acts Chapter Two was a fulfillment in many ways of this prayer that the Jewish people have prayed and continue to pray that all nations, all people will know God and his instructions and his ways," explained Michael.

An ‘Omer’ was a unit of measure used for grain in Bible times.

"The Omer is counted every night after the evening prayers of Mariv, we will say the Omer together. We'll say the day and the week and the time and we'll acknowledge that and then we'll read a text from Psalm Chapter 67," Michael explained.

Michael says the Omer would have been counted this way in the time of Jesus. And his disciples would have prayed the traditional reading of Psalm 67 prophetically. It says: “That your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations…and all the nations of the earth shall fear him.”

"By counting the Omer, we're thinking about, we're reflecting upon not only what took place at Passover just a few weeks ago, but we're leading up to a time in which God gave us his Torah, his instructions, his will and his wisdom in order that we may be that saved, redeemed people that he set us free to be," Michael said.