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Wave Sheaf
By Warren Zehrung - April 23, 2011 |
The title of today’s sermon is: “Wave Sheaf” – as in a sheaf of grain, barley, or wheat.
There is an old hymn that was called: “Bringing in the Sheaves.” I was pretty old before I knew what a sheaf was.
Brethren, to the detriment of many, the occasion of the Wave Sheaf presentation that we find in the scriptures, is of little interest, is hardly understood, and is largely ignored
Leviticus 23 is our first source of information about the Wave Sheaf offering.
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, and He is the First of the Firstfruits. [Wave Sheaf is capitalized to help us recognize the significant meaning of this important ceremony. We will also see that the reaping of the Wave Sheaf marked the exact moment of Christ’s resurrection from tomb.]
The Wave Sheaf of grain is called the "firstfruits."
Leviticus 23:10 …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.
What are “firstfruits?” The firstfruits are the first produce of a harvest to mature and ripen. When presented, they take on another connotation, in that they are the best fruits, they are the most beautiful fruits, and they have the best shape, best form, and are the most mature of all of the produce.
The Wave Sheaf offering is the very First of the Firstfruits.
In the Old Testament, in the nation of Israel, it was the Wave Sheaf ritual that governed the earliest time at which the new produce could be eaten each year. That is a beautiful ceremony. Up until that time they were eating what they had stored from the year before.
So it was recognition that all good things come from God.
Can you imagine if, today, the entire nation waited for the go-ahead from God before we switched over to the new produce each year? When the Israelites reaped the Wave Sheaf they felt closer to God, and they looked to God as the one who sustained them and gave them all good things.
Leviticus 23:14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
The people of Israel were not allowed to eat any of the newly harvested grain until the Wave Sheaf omer had been offered up to God. This took place during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
I have always had this picture of these sheaves of grain, and it being the stalks with the head on it and so forth. Do not picture that, but picture a bowl, or a container, filled with the heads of grain. When the offering took place at the altar, the grain had been threshed and separated from the stalks.
God gave this ritual to Israel long before they were to put it into practice. The Wave Sheaf was for the Promised Land, and not before.
Leviticus 23:9-11 And the LORD spake 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 your behalf]: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
This is an important verse, and I want to show you a couple of things here that we need to touch on. First of all, the offering is going to be “accepted for you,” and we will key in on that verse. It was not just the sheave that pictured Jesus Christ that was presented, but Jesus was going to be accepted for us. When is this done? It is on the “morrow after the Sabbath.’’ Today we use the word ‘tomorrow.’ If today is Saturday, then tomorrow is Sunday. The Priest shall “wave it.” This word “wave” means exactly that. Some of the offerings were heaved, and others were waved. A heave offering was presented to God as though you were presenting something to someone on high. You would just move your arms out in a presentation way. But a wave offering was moved from side to side – waved to the right and then to the left and so forth. In that way, it was considered a wave offering.
There were the usual morning and evening sacrifices, and the special sacrifices that went along with the Days of Unleavened Bread. God has specific offerings for specific days.
You will notice that these instructions, here in Leviticus, are listed between the Days of Unleavened Bread on one side, and the Feast of Pentecost on the other side. We can see where this particular offering is to take place.
Leviticus 23:12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.
This is a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ, the Lamb without blemish. The products that we are about to see in verse 13 are unleavened. Unleavening pictures putting the sin out, and also points to Jesus Christ who was sinless.
Leviticus 23:13a And the meal offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil….
Key in on that, mingled with oil, this was a representation of God’s Holy Spirit. Other loaves that we will see will be mixed with yeast. We are sinful people, and the loaves that represent the people have leavening in them – representing man’s sinfulness. But the loaves that represent Jesus Christ do not have leavening in them, but they have oil within them. This is a fine distinction.
Leviticus 23:13b ….an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.
We see here the symbols of Unleavened Bread, and the wine, mentioned way back in the book of Leviticus.
Exodus 29:24-25 And thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons; and shalt wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. And thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savor before the LORD: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
The sheaf, as it is called, was only a small measure of shucked grain. I do not know if everybody is familiar with that term, ‘shucked.’ When I was young we used to shuck corn. The grain is shucked, which means that it has the husk taken off it. The priests in preparation of the Wave Sheaf offering would take the sheaves, and with a flail, beat out the grain from the straw utilizing fire to separate the kernels of grain from the straw.
Some translations say that the quantity was only a handful. It was an omer, which is a little over two quarts. So the Wave Sheaf grain would have filled a medium sized bowl – that was then waved by the Priest.
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 (Leviticus 23:11). The Priest was making this offering on behalf of the people, and it pictures Jesus Christ being offered to God the Father, and being accepted by God the Father,
on our behalf. That is an important distinction.
When God the Father formally accepted Jesus Christ, it became possible for us to become future sons and daughters of God. The world does not understand this, as their mind has not been opened to it.
If Jesus had not been resurrected from the dead, and accepted by His Father, we would have no-hope. Let us talk about the resurrections in the Plan of God for a moment – and then we will return to the subject of the Wave Sheaf.
God’s plan of salvation is demonstrated to us through all of the annual Holy Days, which are connected to the various harvest seasons.
“Three times [seasons] thou shalt keep a Feast unto me in the year.” (Exodus 23:14)
They are seasons of the year, like spring, summer, fall and winter. But three seasons we keep a Feast to God in a year.
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. He calls us a harvest. He raises us, and we grow to maturity, and He harvests us.
Jesus declared the parable of the end-time spiritual harvest to His disciples. What Jesus says in this parable is equated to a harvest. When He explains it, He is speaking about a spiritual harvest, as we shall see.
Matthew 13:24 Another parable put [Jesus] forth unto them, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Matthew 13:30 Let both [the wheat and the tares] grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Matthew 13:49 At the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.
We can see – in Jesus’ parable – the separations being made right up until the end of the world. Let’s back up to verse 36.
Matthew 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and His disciples came unto Him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
So Jesus had given the parable, but this is where the explanation begins.
Matthew 13:37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man.
Sowing means to spread forth the good word, spread forth the gospel. This is a reference to Jesus Christ. He brought the gospel of the good news of the coming Kingdom of God.
Matthew 13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one.
God’s Word is going to the entire world. But we see that there is good seed, that springs up and brings forth good fruit, but at any given time, there are tares among the good seed.
Matthew 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
There is a future time when it will all be sorted out. The reapers are the angels. There is a separation being made. One of these verses says that the angels will bring the good wheat, and then something else happens to the tares.
Matthew 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
These are very sobering terms. This is not a hell fire damnation kind of sermon, but these are the scriptures directly from the Word of God. That is how it is going to be at the end of the world.
Matthew 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father…
What a hopeful and beautiful verse. “The righteous shall shine forth as the sun.” How in the world do you and I shine forth as the sun? Well we do not do it in the world, but we do it in the Kingdom.
Matthew 13:43b …Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
How does this take place? We will see more about that as we look into this mystery of the Wave Sheaf. All the loose ends will be taken care of.
The early grain harvest in Palestine is mainly barley. Barley is not the best of grains, but its best attribute is that it produces early in the spring.
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, after the Feast of Tabernacles, as late as October and November. The winter grain lies dormant during the worst winter months, and it matures in the spring.
The fall planted barley crop ripens earliest in the spring, around the spring Holy days.
Jesus told His disciples near Passover time:
John 4:35 “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.”
This is the early barley harvest that Jesus is referring to.
The implication of Jesus’ words was that the disciples should begin immediately to gather the spiritual firstfruits of the harvest. Jesus was telling them not to say to themselves that they have plenty of time. Do not say, “The harvest is so far off; we have years to get it all done.”
The early wheat harvest is completed in late May and early June, at the time of Pentecost. The wheat comes in a little bit slower and later than the barley does.
Exodus 34:22 “You shall observe the Feast of Weeks of the firstfruits of wheat harvest [Pentecost], and the Feast of Ingathering [Feast of Tabernacles] at the year's end.”
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. Let us understand that with summer sunshine and summer rains the much larger grain harvest comes at summer’s end. That is when we have the Feast of Tabernacles and the other fall Feast days.
We can see the picture of the resurrections shaping up.
The Wave sheaf, which represented Jesus Christ, is in the early spring. Jesus Christ died at Passover, and was presented to His Father as the Wave sheaf.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ took place when the Wave Sheaf was cut. Jesus did not ascend to His Father until the Wave Sheaf was waved before the altar the next morning at about 9 o’clock.
In the June 1975 Good News article titled, "The Wave Sheaf Ritual – Proof of Christ and the Bible," Lawson C. Briggs wrote, "In the time of Jesus the wavesheaf was offered on the Sunday during Passover week. This is clear since the priests – who were mostly Sadducees – were in charge of the Temple and all the Temple ceremony (Acts 4:1-6; 5:17). The timing and symbolism of this ceremony would have been overwhelming to those who knew the events of Jesus' death and resurrection. The wave sheaf had been chosen in advance, as Christ was. It was tied in a bundle, symbolizing His captivity. It was cut loose from the ground just at sunset – just the time at which Christ rose from the dead after three days and three nights in the tomb. The cutting of the grain symbolized Christ's actual resurrection"
The Wave Sheaf was not an offering so that Jesus would be accepted by His Father, but instead that we the church brethren would be accepted –“accepted for you” (Leviticus 23:11). Our resurrection and ascension, pictured by the two loaves (made with yeast), comes some seven weeks later at Pentecost (Leviticus 23:17).
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Pentecost is the second season, and that is the resurrection that has to do with the Church brethren.
Then in the fall, we have the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day and so forth. That is the final resurrection that we are talking about. This will be the final big harvest.
In the same way that there was the Wave Sheaf gathering, representing the risen and accepted Jesus Christ, there were two main phases of physical harvesting in ancient Israel, so there will be two more occasions of spiritual harvesting in God's great plan for the salvation of man.
We can see the physical harvest, spring, summer and fall. But what we do not see so readily is Jesus Christ being offered to His Father, the Church being resurrected, and the great resurrection that represents all those that Jesus Christ has died for.
Again, 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 people.
Exodus 23:16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labors, [that is Pentecost], which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, [that is the Feast of Tabernacles] which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.
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 (Hebrews 11:35). The prophets had God’s Holy Spirit, and the words that were written by them were inspired by Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:21). They are going to be in the better resurrection. That resurrection is at the return of Jesus Christ to establish His Father’s Kingdom on this earth.
Revelation 5:10 And He has made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
That is the purpose of the resurrection, and it is the resurrection when Jesus Christ returns to establish His Father’s Kingdom on this earth.
There are two different resurrections.
Revelation 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.
At the end of the millennium there will be a much larger resurrection of those from the Great White Throne judgment period. It is all spelled out very orderly:
I Corinthians 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming.
The incredible truth is that those brethren of the Church of God are included, with Christ, among the firstfruits.
James 1:18 Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.
Jesus and His saints are considered to be the firstfruits. The great latter harvest of the world, are the latter fruits, or the late fruits, and they come at the end of the thousand years.
Jesus Christ presented Himself to God the Father as the Wave Sheaf offering, to be accepted as the very-First of the "Firstfruits" resurrected from the dead to eternal life.
Here we see another distinction. You have the firstfruits and you have the First of the Firstfruits.
We, too, the people of God, will be resurrected to eternal life as firstfruits
This is pictured by the wave loaves of Pentecost. We saw a few moments ago that Jesus Christ was the Wave Sheaf that was offered to God the Father on the morrow after the Sabbath.
Now let us look at verse 17:
Leviticus 23:17 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.
Do you notice the distinction here? We are sold unto sin, and we have to have our sins forgiven.
Jesus was the First of the Firstfruits. But we, represented by these two loaves, are firstfruits unto the Lord as well.
This harvest pictures those who are called and prepared for the Kingdom of God.
Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
Paul is talking about the fact that God created this world for the express purpose of creating those who would become the children of God; those who would be the firstfruits.
Romans 8:23 And not only [the whole creation], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
We have been given a token of God’s Holy Spirit. What God does – comes to fruition.
We are the "firstfruits of the Spirit" that God is calling to salvation.
Colossians 1:15b …[Jesus] Who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of every creature:
Nobody has been spiritually born, and raised from the dead, as Jesus was. He is the Firstborn of all creation.
Colossians 1:18 And [Jesus Christ] is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead….
We can derive some hope from the fact that Jesus Christ was dead, and that He was raised in exceeding power, and offered to the Father, and He was accepted.
Colossians 1:18b…that in all things He might have the preeminence.
He is always going to be head and shoulders above us. That is pictured by the Wave Sheaf. Jesus Christ was the First of the Firstfruits accepted by His Father on our behalf.
Colossians 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell;
That does not describe us, but it describes Jesus Christ. Notice the end of verse 27. Brethren, I would encourage you to read all of this section of Colossians.
Colossians 1:27 …which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Colossians 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
Notice the parallelism. Jesus Christ was presented to the Father as the Wave Sheaf, and we know that He was accepted. The same thing happens to us, and we go though the same process. “...that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus…” We are going to be presented to the Father just as Jesus was at the Wave Sheaf presentation. That is a beautiful picture.
We have been given a superb New Testament example of Jesus Christ as the Wave Sheaf offering.
We do not hear very much about the Wave Sheaf offering in the world, and not a great deal in the Church of God.
John, who wrote much later than all of the other apostles, realized that there needed to be something in the New Testament that pictured the Wave Sheaf offering. It is hard to pick out, but he gave us this beautiful example
This took place on the morrow after the weekly Sabbath, after Jesus had died on Passover.
What we are going to read about here, in John 20, happened during the Days of Unleavened Bread, exactly as the Wave Sheaf took place back in Leviticus 23.
It was very early on a Sunday morning – the first day of the week. Jesus had just been resurrected to life at sunset the previous evening after being dead in the grave for 72 hours.
But it was not an Easter sunrise service. Easter is a pagan practice that has crept in to so much of the world. John is going to make it very clear that He was not speaking about an Easter Sunrise Service
John 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.
Jesus had been raised to life by His Father the evening before.
Jesus had been given life by His Father, and He had come out of the tomb.
John 20:2 Then she runs, and comes to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved [John], and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid Him.
The apostles and disciples did not know that Jesus was going to be raised in that way. They had not put the Scriptures together (verse 9). Yet, Jesus had taught them for three and a half years. Jesus said that He was going to go away, but they did not understand this picture of the resurrection.
John 20:3-4 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher.
It is interesting that John divulges this personal point about himself. Why that verse has to be in the Scriptures I do not know. I think it is a guy thing J and John is saying, “I am faster than Peter, and I want it in the Holy Scriptures for all time that I beat him.” I do not know what else to get out of that verse. John had just pointed out in the previous verse his close relationship with Jesus – “whom Jesus loved.” So we see that John was a happy guy with a sense of humor.
John 20:5-8 And [John] stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw, and believed.
What did he believe? That Jesus Christ was risen from the dead.
John 20:9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
They were so sorrowful for the three days that Jesus had been dead.
John 20:10-12 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher, And saw two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
They were not there just a moment ago when Peter went inside of the sepulcher.
John 20:13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
She did not recognize Jesus, because the man did not look like Jesus. She knew Jesus very well.
John 20:15-17 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away. Jesus said unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and said unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not…
Why not touch Him? Notice what Jesus tells her. John gives us this. We do not have this incident recorded in the accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
John 20:17b … for I am not yet ascended to my Father…
Jesus clearly indicates that He is about to ascend to His Father momentarily. We see here the picture of the Wave Sheaf. Jesus is saying, “I have not yet gone up to my Father, I have not ascended to heaven.” This again is early on Sunday morning. This is the morrow after the Sabbath in the Days of Unleavened Bread
John 20:15c …but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
You see how Jesus is including us in the Wave Sheaf. At this point Mary turns around and she looks at Jesus and she does not recognize Him – – as well as she knew Him. Jesus had an indeterminate body – a dead body raised to life – with all the wounds and scars of His death – He was holy – a perfect presentation to His Father – but not yet. He did not have a fully glorified body. He was in a transitional state here. Somehow, He was more than human, and yet not yet glorified – – what is going on?
John 17:5 Now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Jesus was not far from the Temple. If you come out of the front door of the Temple, you are facing east, and you look through the gates towards the Mount of Olives, towards Golgotha. Jesus was not far from the Temple, where at 9 AM that morning, the Wave Sheaf was being offered. So the same time that this is going on over near the sepulcher, the Wave Sheaf is still being offered by the Priest over in the Temple! [This is not a coincidence!]
The Wave Sheaf would have been cut, and the grain gathered at the end of the Sabbath the evening before – the same time that Jesus was resurrected and restored to life, by His Father, in exceeding great power.
Ephesians 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
And while the Wave Sheaf was being offered in the Temple by the priests – at the same time – Jesus ascended to His Father in heaven.
It was a spiritual trip – it was instantaneous – no one saw it.
How do we know that for sure?
John 20:18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things unto her.
They were not putting the pieces together very well. But John makes it very clear that this was taking place on the morrow after the Sabbath in the days of Unleavened Bread. We call this day, Sunday – the first day of the week (Leviticus 23:11).
The deceived world cannot see this beautiful truth, because their eyes are closed – unless God calls them.
John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
At this time Jesus Christ had ascended to His Father. As the Wave Sheaf, Jesus had been accepted as the perfect sacrifice for mankind.
John 20:20 And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
If we could understand the language here, an apostle is “One Sent.” Jesus is telling them that He sends them. Jesus was giving them a commission.
John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit:
He did not mean then and there, but exactly fifty days later on Pentecost, when God sent the Holy Spirit. The Wave Sheaf offering is the day to count from to find out when Pentecost is kept. Pentecost must be counted. The Wave Sheaf offering is day number one.
John 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
Boy did he miss out. Later Jesus came back for Thomas’ sake – and notice - Jesus could be touched! Remember He told Mary not to touch Him early that morning – what was different?
John 20:27 Then saith He 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.
For the timing of this, we need to go back to Matthew 28. I want to show you that on this Wave Sheaf day, there was a time in the early morning, when it was yet dark, when Mary encountered Jesus Christ and He said: “Touch me not for I have not yet ascended to my Father.” Yet, later on that day He was able to be touched, because He had been accepted by His Father.
I would like you to read all of Matthew 28, because there are a lot of details that we do not have time to go into.
Matthew 28:1 In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.
So we see some details that John did not find it necessary to mention.
This is the day of the Wave Sheaf offering.
Matthew 28:9 And 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.
Why would they grab Him by the feet do you suppose? Only God is to be worshipped.
The Wave Sheaf, Jesus Himself, had been accepted by God the Father – now Jesus could be touched – ‘they held Him by the feet,’ as if to say – we thought that we had lost you. We have the saying, “Hanging on for dear life.” That is the way that they were holding on to His feet.
We know that Jesus ascended to His Father and that He was accepted, because later that same day He allowed Himself to be touched.
The fulfillment of the long celebrated Wave Sheaf offering had come to fruition.
The amazing thing is, that almost 1,500 years before, it had been prophesied that on the morrow after the Sabbath, Sunday morning, Jesus Christ would ascend to His Father. So it was predicted that Jesus Christ would do this, and be accepted by the Father.
So here we have Jesus doing this at the exact time that it was being done in the Temple by the Priests. They were waving the offering, and it was happening right under their noses and they did not see it. We are privileged to be able to see it.
Leviticus 23:11 And [the priest] shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you:
Jesus had ascended to His Father. 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.
I Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the Firstfruits of them that slept.
Christ was the First of the Firstfruits.
I Corinthians 15:21-22 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.
I Corinthians 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the Firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming.
Yes, we too, brethren, will be waved before God the Father. In the same way that Jesus Christ was. We will be presented to the Father.
There is not a lot of mention about the Wave Sheaf offering in the New Testament. We have to dig it out, and look for these things. You have to know that it was on the mind of Jesus Christ.
The night before Jesus Christ died, when He is praying to His Father, He understood perfectly the significance of the meaning of the Holy Days. He knew about the Wave Sheaf. He is the one that inspired those things to be written, and He gave those words to Moses as the God of the Old Testament.
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 of the Father. When we are presented to the Father, we can know that we will be accepted as well.
John 17:1 “These words spake 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.”
This glorification process is the acceptance process. This is when Jesus Christ is looking forward to being restored with the glory that He had with the Father before the creation of the universe, before the creation of the angels, before the creation of mankind. What a beautiful thing that He was looking forward to the night before His death. He cannot remember what it is like to be glorified, because He is in a human state.
What does it mean? “…..glorify thy Son…” This means to return Him to Eternal Spiritual Majestic God Life.
Jesus is the First of the Firstfruits to be resurrected from the dead, and accepted and glorified by His Father.
Here, brethren, is the importance of the Wave Sheaf to us. The picture is beautiful, and it tells us so much.
Colossians 3:4 “When Christ who is our life, shall appear…
That is when Jesus Christ comes back in exceeding great power over all of the earth.
Colossians 3:4b …then shall you also appear with Him in glory."
That is because we go through the same acceptance process. That is having been accepted by the Father – and glorified by the Father as
glorified Eternal Sons of God.
God the Father will accept us as a Wave Sheaf offering as well (The two wave loaves of Leviticus 23:17…they are the firstfruits unto the LORD).
Romans 8:29 “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.
Do you see how the scriptures tie us together with Jesus Christ? We, too, are to be glorified like Jesus Christ. We are to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. What does Jesus Christ look like right now? He is in His glorified state.
We, too, brethren are to be firstfruits. We are to be waved before God and accepted. This is not speaking about everybody on the earth, but it is speaking about those in the Church, and those who have had their sins forgiven them.
Revelation 14:4 “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.”
There are many symbols in the Bible, and there is much by way of parallelism.
The number seven pictures going on to perfection. During the seven days of Unleavened Bread we strive to put sin out perfectly. There are seven weeks after the Wave Sheaf offering until Pentecost. This pictures a time for us to grow with that token, with that firstfruit of the Spirit that we have. Pentecost is the time of the completion of the early grain harvest and that represents the firstfruits – and the time of their resurrection.
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. That word Sabbath has included in it this concept of a whole week of days, and seven weeks are to go by.
God’s counting method ties the resurrection of the firstfruits together with the Wave Sheaf offering. The Wave Sheaf offering and the Days of Unleavened Bread are tied together by these scriptures to Pentecost. We are part of the firstfruits – Jesus Christ being the first of the firstfruits.
The Wave Sheaf offering governs the timing of the Day of Pentecost.
Leviticus 23:15-16 “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; [Pentecost] and ye shall offer a new meal offering unto the Lord.
Leviticus 23:17 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.”
The Wave Sheaf ceremony shows us the completion of the perfect plan of God and our salvation in it. Jesus Christ came and lived His perfect sinless life. That is the bread with the oil. We have sins, unfortunately, so we have the bread that is represented as having leavening in it.
Let us remember each year to think about what this Wave Sheaf pictures to us. Jesus Christ was that Wave Sheaf, and He knew that He was the Wave Sheaf. He was presented to His Father, accepted and was glorified at that time.
We can look forward to the day of our resurrection, when we too will be raised. There are a number of things that are going to take place. There is the marriage of the bride and so forth. Perhaps it will be that we will be presented to the Father at that ceremony. We will be presented and accepted.
Jesus Christ is in a glorified state, and so He can only marry someone else that is in a glorified state.
As we saw in Colossians, we too shall be glorified.
What a fantastic picture God has given us. It is lost on the world with their Easter eggs, their chocolate bunny rabbits, and their Easter Sunrise Services. They just see Jesus rising and going away, and never coming back. It is foolish, empty and it is hollow.
The Wave Sheaf pictures exactly what is going to take place. Now we can have hope, and an expectation, that God the Father will accept us as well to glory, just as Jesus Christ was glorified during the Days of Unleavened Bread at the ceremony of the Wave Sheaf Offering.
WZ/pp/sl
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