Wave Sheaf

Related Material:
The Passover Service
A Servants Towel
The Wave Sheaf
Related Audio Material:
The Passover Service
A Servants Towel
The Wave Sheaf
Passover Music

"The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, when ye be come into the land 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."

Jesus Christ is the wave-sheaf offering – the first of the firstfruits – the firstborn from the dead (Revelation 1:5). When properly appreciated, the wave-sheaf offering brings a great message of hope and salvation to God’s people. To the detriment of many, the occasion of the wave-sheaf presentation is of little interest, hardly understood, and largely ignored. The wave-sheaf of grain is called the "firstfruits."

What are “firstfruits?” The firstfruits are the best of the first produce of a harvest to mature and ripen. The wave-sheaf offering is the very first of the firstfruits. 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 harvested and eaten. Just imagine if today – the entire nation waited for the go-ahead from God before switching over to the new agricultural produce each year. Think of the blessings that would accrue with the recognition that all good things come from God!

“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 new grain each year until the wave-sheaf omer had been offered up to God during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

God gave this 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) The “sheaf” as it is called was actually a bowl of shucked grain.

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. The wave-sheaf pictures Jesus Christ being offered to God the Father and accepted on our behalf. When God the Father formally accepted Jesus Christ, it became possible for us to become future sons and daughters of God – Children 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 – spring, summer, fall] thou shalt keep a Feast unto me in the year.” (Exodus 23:14) The first harvest of grain begins to ripen early in the spring, and it is from this crop that the wave-sheaf is gathered during the Days of Unleavened bread. The early harvest is completed in late May or early June at the time of Pentecost. The second and much larger harvest comes at summer’s end – the end of the year – corresponding to the Feast of Tabernacles. “You shall observe the feast of weeks of the firstfruits of wheat harvest [Pentecost], 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, Exodus 34:22)

In the same way that there were two main phases to the physical harvesting in ancient Israel, so there will be two occasions of spiritual harvesting in God's great plan for the salvation of man. Jesus and the Church brethren are firstfruits, represented by the first harvest that begins during the Days of Unleavened Bread and lasts until Pentecost. The first spiritual harvest will be relatively small compared to the much greater spiritual harvest at the end of the age.

Those faithful brethren in the Church of God today are a part of the early harvest. In the same way that the wave-sheaf offering represents Jesus Christ, the two wave-loaves of Pentecost (Leviticus 23:17) represent God's spiritual firstfruits of faithful men and women.

Just as crops were harvested in conjunction with the festival seasons, God's Holy Days show us how He will harvest different groups of people. Jesus declared the parable of the spiritual harvest to His disciples. “He answered and said unto them, He that soweth 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 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). Then, at the end of the millennium, there will be a much larger resurrection of those from the great white throne judgment period (Revelation 20:11). “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.” (1Corinthians 15:23)

The 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 for us as the first of the "firstfruits" resurrected from the dead to eternal life (Leviticus 23:11).

We, too, will be resurrected to eternal life as firstfruits. The wave-loaves of Pentecost picture this. “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 harvest of firstfruits pictures 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).

In the same way that Jesus, the wave-sheaf offering, was the perfect firstfruits presented to and accepted by the Father, we, too, are firstfruits to be presented and accepted by the Father. 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 fulness dwell… [Jesus] reconciled…, through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: …that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” (Colossians 1:15-28)

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 died on Passover. “The first day of the week 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)

Jesus was ceremonially clean – having paid for the sins of the world by His death. He 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 fully glorified. The wave-sheaf would have been being offered at about 9 AM in the temple that morning. The wave-sheaf grain would have been gathered at the end of the Sabbath, the evening before – at the same time that Jesus was restored to life – the perfect fulfillment of the Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth (1Corinthians 5:8). And while the wave-sheaf was being offered in the temple – at the same time – Jesus ascended to His Father in heaven. It was a spiritual trip – it was instantaneous – no man saw it.

We know that Jesus ascended to His Father and was accepted, because later that same day, having been glorified, He allowed Himself to be touched. John makes it very clear – it was the morrow after the Sabbath in the days of Unleavened Bread (John 20:19). The deceived world cannot see this beautiful truth – their eyes are closed – unless God calls them.

“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. After that, 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.” (1Corinthians 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. The acceptance of Jesus Christ as the wave-sheaf of the harvest was necessary before the rest of the spiritual harvest could begin. He prayed the night before He died looking forward to that acceptance. When we are presented to the Father, we can know that we, too, will be accepted as well. “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.” (John 17:1) The Children of God will also appear with Christ in glory. “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-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 goeth. 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. God’s counting method ties the resurrections of the firstfruits together. 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 given specific month – for example, the 14th of Abib, the 15th day of the 7th month, etc. Those who count from a fixed date, (this method is incorrect) 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. Pentecost must be “counted” each year.

The wave-sheaf always falls on a Sunday within the Days of Unleavened Bread. The subject of the timing 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.

The subject of Leviticus 23:10-11 is the wave-sheaf. 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 wave-sheaf].” 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. This would pose a serious dilemma.

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 wave-sheaf, which represents Jesus, who was restored to life during the Days of Unleavened Bread, would fall outside the Days of Unleavened Bread. The clear link between Unleavened Bread and Pentecost would be broken. This is clearly not the intent of these verses which tie the two Feasts of the Lord 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 (1Corinthians 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 understand 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 where God specifically directs them to harvest the grain. God knew 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). He can give it to whomsoever He will. 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 [The Israelites harvested the grain] unto the priest.” (Leviticus 23:10)

It did not matter who planted the grain. “Reap the harvest thereof,” God said. 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 to eat of the newly harvested barley, bread, parched corn, and 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 in God’s Church 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)

The only way they could have eaten unleavened cakes 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 expectation 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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