WHAT IS SHAVUOT?

Shavuot is a holiday celebrated to remember when the Torah was given, 50 days after
Passover, on the 6th day of Sivan. According to Jewish practices: “It is customary to
stay up the entire first night of Shavuot and study Torah, then pray as early as possible in
the morning.”[1] Also, “It is also known as the 'day of first fruits,' since its primary
purpose was to bring into the Temple the first fruits of the wheat harvest.” [2]
THE PARABLE OF THE WHEAT AND TARES

Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43 Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of
heaven is like a man (Son of Man or Christ) who sowed good seed (sons of the
kingdom) in his field (world). But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy (devil)
came and sowed weeds (sons of the evil one) among the wheat, and went away.
When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The
owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your
field? Where then did the weeds come from?' 'An enemy did this,' he replied. The
servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' 'No,' he answered,
'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest (end of the age). At that time I will tell the
harvesters (angels): First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned;
then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.' "

This parable is comparing God's servants to wheat and Satan's servants to weeds. God
chooses to wait to harvest the wheat until all his faithful servants are ready to be
Raptured. “Rapture” is a term signifying a future event in which God servants are
removed from Earth by God's angels. Some people believe the Rapture will occur
before the judgments listed in the Book of Revelation occur (pre-Tribulation Rapture).
Some believe the Rapture will occur midway through the Rapture (mid-Tribulation
Rapture), before the Mark of the Beast system is implemented. And some believe in a
post-Tribulation Rapture, during/after the battle of Armageddon. There's adequate
Biblical evidence for all three possibilities due to the uncertainty of the Bible timeline.

One thing that is certain . . . according to the Bible, the holiday of Shavuot is the
beginning of the wheat harvest and marks the ripening of the first fruits.

It is written in the Book of Revelation, before the judgments occur:

Revelation 7:2-4 “Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of
the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted
to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till
we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of
those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the
children of Israel were sealed”

These 144,000 servants, sealed with God's mark on their foreheads are:

Revelation 14:4 “These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are
virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were
redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb.”
A major theme throughout the Bible uses the analogy that sexual impurity equals
spiritual impurity. These 144,000 “virgins” may spiritually represent those who refuse
to commit idolatry, as written:

Exodus 20:3-5 “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto
thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow
down unto them, nor serve them.”[3]

Will Shavuot be the beginning of the harvest of the 144,000 sealed first fruits? This year
Shavuot begins sunset June 7, 2011, and ends nightfall June 9, 2011. Next year Shavuot
begins sunset on May 26, 2012, and ends nightfall May 28, 2012.

WHAT IS THE SEAL OF GOD?

Ezekiel 9:4 "Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of
those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it."

Here the word “mark” is translated as “taw,” the 22nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It
looks like two lines crossing, as an X or † or ‫ת‬
Also, I can see how the crossed lines could also represent the Ichthys fish symbol, as
over time the two lines connected. I heard early Christians (or Xians) would meet and
greet other Christians by quickly the drawing the mark into the sand then erasing it
before other non-Christians would see it.

See the X? So whether it's an X, †, or ‫ת‬, or fish symbol, they resonate the same
idea. Some say that “Xmas” takes Christ out of Christmas. But maybe it doesn't if X is
God's mark.
sources:
[1] http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayc.htm
[2] http://www.shalomnyc.org/feasts/shavous.htm
[3] http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Bible/Exodus20.html
[4] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bow