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Wave Sheaf |
Dear Brethren,
To the detriment of many, the occasion
of the wave-sheaf presentation is of little interest, hardly
understood, and largely ignored. When properly appreciated, the
wave-sheaf offering brings a great message of hope and salvation
to God’s people. Jesus Christ is the wave-sheaf offering – the
first of the firstfruits. The wave-sheaf of grain is called the
"firstfruits."
What are “firstfruits?” The firstfruits are the first produce of
a harvest to mature and ripen. The wave-sheaf offering is the
very first of the firstfruits. Leviticus 23 is our first source
of information about the wave-sheaf offering. In the Old
Testament, it was the wave-sheaf ritual that governed the
earliest time at which the new produce of the year could be
eaten. “You shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor
green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought a
[wave-sheaf] offering unto your God.” (Leviticus 23:14) The
people of Israel were not allowed to eat any of the newly
harvested grain each year until the wave-sheaf omer had been
offered up to God during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
God gave this very special ritual to Israel long before they
were to implement it. The wave-sheaf was for the promised land,
and not before. “The Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak
unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When
ye be come into the land which I give unto you,
and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf
of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall
wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you:
on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.”
(Leviticus 23:9-11) (Compare Exodus 29:24-25.) The “sheaf” as it
is called was only a small measure of shucked grain – a handful
– more properly, an omer by volume.
The wave-sheaf offering was offered to God by Israel's High
Priest on behalf of the people. The phrase, “accepted for
you,” is most revealing. It pictures Jesus Christ, the true
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, being offered to God
the Father and accepted on our behalf. When God the
Father formally accepted the resurrected Jesus Christ, it became
possible for us to become future sons and daughters of God.
God’s plan of salvation is demonstrated to us through His annual
Holy Days that are connected to the various harvest seasons.
“Three times [seasons] thou shalt keep a Feast unto me in
the year.” (Exodus 23:14) Just as crops were harvested in
conjunction with the three festival seasons, God's Holy Days
show us how He will harvest differing groups of people for
eternal life into His Kingdom. Jesus declared the parable of the
end-time spiritual harvest to His disciples. “He answered and
said unto them, He that sows the good seed is the Son of man.
The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the
Kingdom; …the harvest is the end of the world.” (Matthew
13:37-40)
The early grain harvest is mainly barley. Barley originated in
the Middle East as a wild grass, and is believed to be the first
cereal grain crop to be widely cultivated. Winter grain is
planted after the fall harvest – as late as October and November
for maturation early in the spring. The fall-planted barley crop
ripens earlier in the spring. Jesus told His disciples near
Passover time, “Do not say there are yet four months, and
then cometh harvest, behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes,
and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”
(John 4:35)
The implication of Jesus’ words was that the disciples should
begin immediately to gather the spiritual firstfruits of the
harvest. The early wheat harvest is completed in late May and
early June at the time of Pentecost. “You shall observe the
feast of weeks of the firstfruits of wheat harvest [Pentecost],
and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.” (Exodus
34:22) Because of its early maturity, barley fits well into a
double-cropping system, allowing wheat time to grow to full
maturity in the second-half of the growing season. The much
larger grain harvest comes at summer’s end – the fall harvest in
the end of the year.
In the same way that there were two phases of physical
harvesting in ancient Israel, so there will be two occasions of
spiritual harvesting in God's great plan for the salvation of
man. These two resurrections are designated by the two
wave-loaves of Leviticus 23:17. Each wave-loaf, in its order,
must be offered and accepted by God. As the wave-sheaf offering
represents Jesus Christ, these wave-loaves represent God's
spiritual firstfruits from among faithful men. “And the
feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labors [Pentecost],
which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering,
[Feast of Tabernacles] which is in the end of the year, when
thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.” (Exodus
23:16)
The Church of God, including the prophets and the saints of the
Old Testament, are a part of the firstfruits, and will be in the
better resurrection. Then, at the end of the millennium there
will be a much larger resurrection of those from the Great White
Throne Judgment period. “But every man in his own order:
Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his
coming.” (1 Corinthians 15:23)
An incredible truth is that those of the Church of God are
included, with Christ, among the firstfruits. "Of His own
will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be
a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." (James 1:18) Jesus
Christ's presented Himself to God the Father as the wave-sheaf
offering to be accepted as the first of the "firstfruits"
resurrected from the dead to eternal life. We, too, will be
resurrected and accepted by the Father to eternal life as
firstfruits. This is pictured by the wave-loaves of Pentecost.
“You shall bring out of your habitations two wave-loaves of
two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be
baked with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.”
(Leviticus 23:17) The harvests picture those who are called and
prepared for the Kingdom of God. They are the "firstfruits of
the Spirit" that God is calling to salvation (Romans 8:23).
“Jesus is the firstborn of all creation. He is the head of
the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For
it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell…
that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”
(Colossians 1:15, 18, 19, 28)
We have been given a superb New Testament example of Jesus
Christ as the wave-sheaf offering. This took place on the
morrow after the weekly Sabbath, after Jesus had died on
Passover. “The first day of the week [Sunday] cometh Mary
Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and
saw the stone taken away from the sepulcher… And when she turned
herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was
Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not
yet ascended to my Father…my God, and your
God.” (John 20:1, 14, 17)
Tradition tells us that the wave-sheaf would have been being
offered at about 9 a.m. in the temple that morning. We know that
Jesus ascended to His Father and was accepted, because later
that very same day He allowed Himself to be touched. (Compare
Lev 23:11) “As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus
met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the
feet, and worshipped Him.” (Matthew 28:9) “Then saith
Jesus to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands;
and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side:
and be not faithless, but believing.” (John 20:27)
Jesus had ascended to His Father. Then He could be touched.
Jesus was the very first to be raised from the dead in God's
spiritual harvest of mankind. Jesus opened the way for all men
to have the opportunity for eternal life. “But now is Christ
risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that
slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)
Before He died, Jesus knew full well that He would be offered to
the Father and be received as an acceptable sacrifice. He prayed
that night, looking forward to that acceptance. When we are
presented to the Father, we can know that we will be accepted as
well. “These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to
heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son,
that thy Son also may glorify thee.” (John 17:1) “When
Christ who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also
appear with Him in glory." (Colossians 3:4)
Jesus is the first of the firstfruits to be resurrected from the
dead and accepted by His Father. God the Father will accept us
as a wave-sheaf offering as well. “For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
(Romans 8:29) We, too, are to be firstfruits. “These are they
which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These
are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. These were
redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to
the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:4)
The number seven pictures going on to perfection. In the same
way that there are seven days of Unleavened Bread after the
wave-sheaf offering, there are seven weeks after the wave-sheaf
offering until Pentecost. Pentecost is the time of the
completion of the early grain harvest – representing the
firstfruits.
The Sunday on which the wave-sheaf offering was made, is also
the day on which the count of seven weekly Sabbaths is to begin.
The wave-sheaf offering governs the timing of the day of
Pentecost. “You shall count unto you from the morrow after
the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave
offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow
after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye
shall offer a new meal offering unto the Lord. Ye shall bring
out of your habitations two wave-loaves of two tenth deals: they
shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they
are the firstfruits unto the Lord.” (Leviticus 23:15-17)
Pentecost must be counted – “You shall count
unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath.” Pentecost is
unique in its placement on the sacred calendar. All God’s other
Holy Days are on fixed days of a specific month – for example,
the 14th of Abib, the 15th day of the 7th month, etc. Those who
would count from a fixed date, (this is incorrect method of
counting) inevitably arrive at another (incorrect) fixed date.
Many Jews regard the First Day of Unleavened Bread on the 15th
of Abib to be the Sabbath just before the Wave Sheaf Day (16th
of Abib), so that when they count fifty, they always come out
with Pentecost being on the 6th of Sivan. If that were the
intent of God’s instruction – there would be no need to
count Pentecost.
The wave-sheaf always falls on a Sunday within the Days of
Unleavened Bread. The subject and focus of the counting time is,
"the wave-sheaf, the firstfruits of the harvest." “On
the morrow after the [weekly] Sabbath the priest shall wave it
[the firstfruits of your harvest].” (Leviticus 23:11) Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God was the Passover sacrifice. After that
He was represented by the wave-sheaf presented to the Father.
“In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the
Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is
the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must
eat unleavened bread.” (Leviticus 23:5-6) When the
fourteenth day of the first month (Passover) falls on a weekly
Sabbath, the morrow after the Sabbath is – in this case,
the First Day of Unleavened Bread – the day of the wave-sheaf
offering.
It is incorrect to make the weekly Sabbath the focus of this
verse by saying that the weekly Sabbath must fall within the
Days of Unleavened Bread, rather than the wave-sheaf offering.
“On the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it
[the firstfruits of your harvest].” If one assumes
(incorrectly) that when the Passover falls on a weekly
Sabbath, that Sabbath must be excluded as the Sabbath preceding
the morrow since it is not in the Days of Unleavened Bread, then
the only weekly Sabbath in the Days of Unleavened Bread will be
on the Last Day of Unleavened Bread. If that were the case,
which it is not, then, the "morrow after the Sabbath"
would fall outside of the Days of Unleavened
Bread. The clear link between Unleavened Bread and Pentecost
would be broken – and this is clearly not the intent of these
verses that tie the two Feasts of the Lord
inextricably together. It is the "morrow after the
Sabbath" that needs to be in the Days of Unleavened Bread,
because that is when the wave-sheaf is to be offered.
Jesus is the Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth (1
Corinthians 5:8). Jesus was crucified outside the gates of
Jerusalem, because the Jews believed His dead body would defile
them and their city (Hebrews 13:12). They did not know that
Jesus’ death reconciled us to God (Romans 5:10). Let us not make
the same mistake by taking Jesus Christ out of
the Days of Unleavened Bread. “Of how much sorer punishment,
suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under
foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done
despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29)
The Lord said, “When ye be come into the land which I give
unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof…” Let us not
reason away this instruction. God knew very well that there were
foreigners in the promised land and that they had their own
crops. He said, “I give you the land.” All the earth
belongs to the Lord (Psalms 24:1). God can give it to whomsoever
He will. King David recognized that God gave the heathen's
produce to Israel. "[The Lord] gave them the lands of the
heathen: and they inherited the labor of the
people." (Psalm 105:44) God’s specific instruction to the
children of Israel was that He would give them the promised
land, “then ye shall bring a sheaf of the
firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest.” (Leviticus
23:10) It does not matter who planted the grain. Reap the
harvest thereof, God says. At the time of the wave-sheaf in the
New Testament, we find these words of Jesus. “I sent you to
reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and
ye are entered into their labors.” (John 4:38)
Israel was told that they could eat of the newly harvested
barley, bread, parched corn, green ears, of the promised land on
the morrow after the Sabbath in the Days of Unleavened Bread
after they had brought a wave-sheaf offering unto God. God has
given us this perfect example to make sure that the families of
God are not divided over this point. “And the children of
Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the
fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
And they did eat of the produce of the land on the
morrow after the Passover, unleavened cakes, and
parched corn in the selfsame day.” (Joshua 5:10-11) (RSV,
AB, NKJV) (Exodus 12:8 would have required ‘old corn’ for the
unleavened bread that they ate with the Passover – since the
harvesting could not have yet commenced.)
The only way the Israelites could have eaten unleavened cakes
(pointing to Jesus Christ the true unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth) on the First Day of Unleavened Bread, the morrow
after the Passover, was to have first offered the wave-sheaf on
the 15th of the month. Therefore, Passover had to have been on a
weekly Sabbath that year. This is a clear Biblical example
showing that it is the wave-sheaf offering (not the preceding
Sabbath) that has to fall in the Days of Unleavened Bread.
The wave-sheaf ceremony shows us the completion of the perfect
plan of God and our salvation in it. We can now have hope
and full assurance that God the Father will accept us to glory,
just as Jesus Christ was glorified during the Days of Unleavened
Bread so many years ago.
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