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1. Many of the people in the world who have read the Bible are familiar with what happened at the beginning of the church. It is recorded for us in Acts 2. It occurred on the Day of Pentecost. But many may not realize part of the significance of God creating the feast of the Day of Pentecost.

God created the Feast of Weeks in Exodus 23:16 and later gave the word to keep the feast in Exodus 34:22 and Leviticus 23:15-16. In the Leviticus passage, we learn that this feast was to be held exactly 50 days after the Passover. This feast was to celebrate the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest. God had a reason for ordering this exact celebration.

By New Testament times, wheat had become the most desired grain in the Roman Empire. In fact, almost all of the wheat that was grown in Palestine was shipped to Italy for the Romans. Those in Palestine had to settle for barley for their food. There was nothing wrong with barley, but they would have preferred to have the wheat. Therefore, the wheat was the most highly prized grain for those in Palestine as well.

In Acts 2, we have the beginning of the new covenant. The new harvest is beginning and the old harvest is ending. The old covenant is no longer valid and that harvest is ended. Of course, we are talking about the spiritual harvest of souls. The picture we get is that the old covenant harvest was barley and the new covenant harvest is wheat.

God set up this wonderful picture of the beginning of the church hundreds of years before it ever took place. And he started the church on the exact day which he had set up those hundreds of years before.

There is so much you can learn by studying God's Word. Until next time, keep reading your Bible and get the wisdom of God.

In many parts of the world there are earthquakes. Sometimes the earthquakes are very severe. The earth will shake very hard. Sometimes the earth will get big cracks in it. Sometimes parts of mountains will slide off. Sometimes the earth will push up and create new hills. Sometimes the oceans will churn and large waves can be created by underwater earthquakes.

When these bad earthquakes happen it is easy to get scared. A person is not sure what is going to happen. Sometimes it is even hard to stand up. But God is with us if we are living according to his law. He will not leave us. We can get our strength from him.

In Psalm 46:1-3, we read, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof."

This passage tells us not to be afraid when there are earthquakes. It is possible that this is symbolic language. The earthquakes in this Psalm may represent the earthquakes of our spiritual lives. The rest of the Psalm speaks about God bringing up kingdoms and taking down kingdoms. We can know that no matter how bad things may look in our world, that God will be with us.

The government of our country may not treat us right. But if we are living according to God's word, he will give us strength to live. He is our refuge when spiritual earthquakes shake us.