Messianic teacher Kevin Williams invites us to look deeper at the countdown to Pentecost.

Of all 613 of God’s instructions in the Hebrew Scriptures, Leviticus 23:15 has got to be one of the easiest and least inconvenient. No work to perform, no offerings for the layperson. Just words.

“You shall count from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed” (Leviticus 23:15).

Memorial Tablet and Omer Calendar by Baruch Zvi Ring (1904).
Image: Wikimedia Commons

It’s referred to as “Counting the Omer.” Immediately following Passover, observers count off the 49 days leading to Shavuot/Pentecost. Day 1, day 2 … day 49, Pentecost. Takes less than a minute per day. Again, this has to be among the easiest of the Most High’s instructions.

So what? What’s the big deal, who cares, and what’s the spiritual benefit for a Christian?

Benefit v. obedience is a good topic for a separate article, but let’s see how we can polish this biblical gem.

“My word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do” (Isaiah 55:11). For the Christian, that’s a healthy perspective, not just about Leviticus 23:15, but the entirety of the Bible.

Quick diversion to make a point. Jesus said, “Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven …” (Matthew 5:19). Counting the Omer is, as I mentioned, ridiculously easy to do—perhaps one of the “least commandments,” which ought to say something right there. But I digress, Jesus goes on to say, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’ but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).

Adultery, a weightier commandment, yes? Under the terms of the Law of Moses, pretty simple—don’t sleep around. But the Messiah brings it closer to home and lifts it out of the physical to reinforce the Torah and highlight its spiritual application. Just looking with lust renders you guilty, a transgressor of God’s instructions.

Ah, not so simple after all. In fact, everyone is guilty of breaking God’s instructions under this perspective. The commandment has gone from an act and something you do or do not do in the physical world and has been amplified into a much deeper, more profound application with spiritual consequences. Boy, this commandment really drives home how badly we need a Savior (see Galatians 3:24)!

So back to Counting the Omer. It’s easy to do. Incorporate it into daily devotions or some such and check off the box. Done.

Yea … but no. That would fulfill the physical act, but still misses the spiritual application.

God’s Word does not return to Him void. And in Matthew 5, Jesus shows example after example that the Torah—God’s instructions—are not merely a list of exercises. They have a point and yield spiritual consequences.

So what spiritual applications are there, might there be around the exercise of counting off 49 days?

Wheat sheaves
Image: Trish Steel/Wikimedia Commons

God instructs us to count the days—which should end all debate. God said it, that settles it. But humans have a natural disposition to resist being told to do anything, even when the Sovereign Most High, King of the Universe says, “This is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations” (Leviticus 23:21).

But sometimes our thinking is askew. Inside we want to know “What’s in it for me?” Spiritually, this is lustful thinking. Following God is never about what you get, but what glory God receives from you. It’s about surrender and abandon, not rewards and gratification.

Counting the Omer is a very simple means by which to demonstrate that God is in charge, not you, and that you are committed to living a faithful life. This glorifies Yahweh.

As long as it is approached as just a box to check off, there is little to no personal investment. To what does the Omer count? Pentecost (aka Shavuot), the birthday of the Church. They are 49 days of anticipation, looking forward to one of God’s moadim—appointed times that commemorates the giving of the Torah and the giving of the Holy Spirit—two monumental spiritual events! The days of Omer can be anticipatory, a daily escalation of joyful anticipation.

If God instructs us to count these days, and we do, we can rest assured that—as far as this activity is concerned—we are in harmony with God’s word and will, and that is no small matter. In a world driven to distract, staying the course can be an accomplishment in its own right.

Certainly, this is the least we can do for one of the least of the commandments. Can we give God our least? Is He worth at least that?

Speaking with us about his book, The Language of Heaven, pastor-scholar Sam Storms discusses the gift of tongues and the blessing it is to individuals and the local church.

Pneuma Review: At this point in church history speaking in tongues is still a controversial subject. What would you say to someone who refers to speaking in tongues as gibberish?

Sam Storms: If a person believes that all tongues speech both in Scripture and today is a known human language spoken somewhere in the world but previously not known by the speaker, then yes, it will come across to them as “gibberish.” It may also sound that way simply because the hearer is not familiar with the linguistic form of the tongues speech. Quite honestly, Mandarin and Swahili both sound like gibberish to me. If I had not been told they were legitimate human languages, I would probably conclude that they were non-sense utterances.

I suspect that some consider tongues speech to be “gibberish” because they fail to recognize that, although unintelligible apart from interpretation, all legitimate tongues speech today carries and expresses genuine, cognitive information. Paul makes this clear in 1 Cor. 14:2, 16, and elsewhere. It may not sound as such, but that doesn’t mean it is lacking sense or fails to communicate meaningful content in some form or other. It may also be that they think it to be “gibberish” because of a long-standing prejudice against contemporary expressions of tongues. Since most evangelicals are persuaded that in order to be of any benefit to anyone all utterances must be intelligible, they will understandably form negative opinions of “speech” patterns that they cannot decipher.

Pneuma Review: According to the Bible, are tongues always known languages? 

Sam Storms: No. They certainly were known languages, spoken somewhere in the world, in Acts 2. But there is no reason to conclude that all other instances of tongues speech must adhere to the pattern described in Acts 2. In neither of the other two occurrences in Acts of tongues speech, Acts 10 and 19, were people of different linguistic backgrounds present to hear them. In other words, if all tongues are known human languages designed by God to evangelize people of a different linguistic experience (and this is what many, if not most, evangelicals believe), why were there only believers present in Acts 10 and 19 when people spoke in tongues?

Pastor Mina did not come from a Christian home; she was raised in a Hindu family. She was a devout Hindu and every day she worshipped the gods of Nepal in search of peace. During this time she was also plagued with many sicknesses. The turning point in her life came about as a result of reading a gospel tract. Though she had been married for years, she did not have any children. The tract that she read spoke about Abram and Sarah. At the end of the tract there was a prayer to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and she prayed that prayer and gave her life to Christ. Subsequently the Lord blessed her with a child.

At the time that she came to the Lord Nepal did not have religious freedom. The country was largely Hindu and Christianity was not viewed in a positive light, it was seen as a Western religion. It was dangerous to carry a Bible in public and if the police saw a person with a Bible, that person would be in trouble with the authorities. Pastor Mina and a few other Christians used to worship the Lord in a dark underground room. The Lord gave her great strength at this time.

After coming to faith in Jesus she felt deep in her heart that that Lord was calling her to ministry. It was very difficult for her to do ministry in Nepal because she was a woman and also because the community that she lived in was for the most part Hindu. The members of her household were the only Christians in the community. She began her ministry by sharing her testimony and the gospel message. Her sharing resulted in the planting of a church, actually in the planting of several churches.

In Chitwan district, which is located in central Nepal, she started four churches. One of these churches now has more than 100 people who attend. After staring churches in the Chitwan district she felt that the Lord called her to start a church in a remote area of Nepal called the Makawanpur district. Working in this area at that time was challenging because Nepal was going through a civil war and the area was a central place for terrorist activities. Male pastors were not able to go to this area at that time, but the Lord spoke to Pastor Mina and told her to go there. The men pastors were surprised at all she was doing and were very supportive of her ministry.

While the Lord blessed Pastor Mina’s ministry it was not without its difficulties; she suffered persecution in a number of ways. False reports were spread about her and she had to go before the local authorities. Many times people threw stones and broke the windows of the church because they did not want her or the church in the community. People also chased her from the village because they were Hindus and did not appreciate what she was doing in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. One time a man came to her at night, a large crowd with him. He took a knife and put it to her throat and said that he was going to kill her. She told him that she was not afraid to die; the man then pushed her away. Pastor Mina gives the Lord the glory that she was saved from such attacks. In the midst of everything the Lord gave victory and the church was established in the community.

Pastor Mina’s ministry has been challenged by persecution but it has also been marked by power. In her ministry she has witnessed some of the same things that the early church in the book of Acts did, namely supernatural healing and deliverance. In fact, these supernatural works have contributed to the growth of her ministry. The following are examples of these supernatural works.

First there is the case of a twenty year old woman by the name of Janita who was paralyzed from birth. Her parents had taken her to most of the doctors in Nepal and had also offered sacrifices to the Hindu gods for her healing, all to no avail. Pastor Mina visited this young woman in her home, shared the gospel with her and prayed for her. The next week this young woman walked to church. This surprised all who knew her because she had been in bed for the past twenty years.

The second example concerns three girls named, Pramila, Rita and Sunita, who were in bondage to evil spirits and were unable to talk for three years. Pastor Mina heard about them and went to visit them in their village. She prayed for them and they were delivered. This resulted in the whole village coming to know Christ. This miracle has been a great testimony among all of the Hindus. These girls are now sharing their testimony and leading others to Christ.