INTRODUCTION
WAVE OFFERINGS
THE WAVE SHEAF OFFERING: A MISNOMER
Some have made the claim that these verses in Leviticus in no
way tie this "Wave Sheaf Offering" directly to the Days
of Unleavened Bread, but simply to a weekly Sabbath. However,
the chronological sequence of the Holy Days of Lev 23:4-44 makes
it clear that the Wave Sheaf Offering is referenced to the specific
weekly Sabbath of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:11). Dt 16:1-12, 13-15
also presents the sacred calendar in chronological order. Moreover,
both the Sadducees (who were composed primarily of priests and
Levites) and the Pharisees (made up largely of synagogue rabbis)
agreed that the count to Pentecost should begin from a point within
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, although the latter counted from
the day after the first Holy Day (i.e., Abib 16), which meant
that Pentecost could fall on any day of the week (but always Sivan
6 on the Jewish calendar. So why bother counting?). However, the
Hebrew for "Sabbath" in Lev 23:11 is the regular word
for the weekly Sabbath (shabbath, Strong's #7676), while
the special, annual Sabbaths carry the designation shabbathown
(#7677). Christ required three days and three nights in the grave
as a sign of His Messiahship (Mt 12:40; 16:4), making invalid
the claim for an Abib 16 Wave Sheaf Offering day from the Abib
14 evening Passover (Christ was resurrected in the late afternoon
of Abib 17). Even the traditional Christian world from the earliest
times has accepted the weekly Sabbath as the reference point,
and with it the notion of having to count, with Pentecost still
falling on a Sunday in the Christian calendar. The count to Pentecost
only begins with the first Holy Day of Unleavened Bread if that
day is a Sunday, and thus also the day of the offering of the
Wave Sheaf. We will clarify this further later on.
The Wave Sheaf was of the green ears of barley, the first
sheaf of grain cut from the very first gathering of the spring
barley harvest. Nothing could be harvested until that first "sheaf"
had been waved before and accepted by God. This Wave Sheaf Offering
initiated the first of the firstfruits' harvests and was accompanied
by a meal offering of grain mixed with oil and a drink offering
of wine.
This is how the entire ceremony seems to have taken place at the
time of Jesus Christ:
Although the day is not sanctified by God (it is not even included
in Numbers 28-29, in the listing of the daily, monthly, Sabbath
and Holy Day offerings to be made; yet some keep what they call
the "Wave Sheaf Feast Day"), either as a commanded assembly
or a Holy Day (the offering was prepared and made during a normal
work day; the waving had to take place at the time of the morning
sacrifice), the ceremony was obviously of great importance in
ancient Israel-a commanded observance (v 14: "it shall be
a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings")-and
so should also be of importance for us today. It is the only means
for counting to the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost). Dt 16:9-without
fanfare-therefore reiterates, in the only other place in the Scriptures
to do so, the command to count off the seven weeks from
the day of the Wave Sheaf Offering:
Unless this offering was successfully carried out, no spring grain
could be harvested. The command to count from this day onwards
also gave it a pivotal role in the sacred calendar.
Yet our repentance, acceptance of Christ and baptism are empowering
only if Christ's sacrifice is accepted by His Father, and the
Holy Spirit then becomes available. The Wave Sheaf Offering therefore
symbolises the active beginning of our spiritual journey, one
that, for us, is also consummated at the time of Pentecost, which
also the climax of the accepted sacrifice of the Son of God. The
first of the firstfruits is thus tied to the remainder of the
firstfruits.
It is for this reason also that the Wave Sheaf Offering Sunday
must always occur during the Days of Unleavened Bread, and not
outside the period, to preserve the link between the Passover
and Pentecost seasons. It depicts additional aspects of Christ's
Passover sacrifice, as we will go on to show. Christ was crucified
at the time as the Passover lambs and, three days afterwards,
at the time of the cutting and offering of the Wave Sheaf, still
during the Days of Unleavened Bread, He was resurrected and shortly
afterwards accepted by His Father, making possible the advent
of the Spirit and the empowerment of the Church at Pentecost fifty
days later. Moreover, the symbolism of the chronology of events
of the season must be retained: the Christian accepts the sacrifice
of the Passover Lamb of God, is reconciled to God (Ro 5:10), and
begins putting sin out of his life. However, the process cannot
possibly succeed, let alone be completed (pictured by the final
Day of Unleavened Bread) unless the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
is accepted by God and the promised Holy Spirit made available
to the believer-which is pictured by the offering of the Wave
Sheaf! The ceremony is inextricably tied to the period.
It is not uncommon for the Abib 15 Passover to fall on a weekly
Sabbath, and if this is the case, as it was in 1998, the following
Sunday will be the Day of the Wave Sheaf Offering, since the day
following the next weekly Sabbath falls outside of the Unleavened
Bread period. This seems to have been the case in Jos 5:11, when
Israel made the Wave Sheaf Offering so that they could eat of
the green ears "on the morrow after the Passover", that
Passover falling on a weekly Sabbath.
THE FIRSTFRUITS OF GOD
CHRIST'S ACCEPTANCE BY THE FATHER
So just as the new grain could not be eaten until the wave sheaf
was offered, neither could those called by God and reconciled
to Him fully partake of Jesus Christ and, through His sacrifice,
begin the process of salvation until He had ascended to be accepted
by God for all them and all humanity. Hence Christ's words to
Mary in Jn 20:17:
There has been speculation among some Holy Day observers that
in this encounter described by the apostle John, Mary may have
mistaken the risen Christ for the gardener (Jn 20:15) because
He is pictured as possibly carrying this very sheaf of grain which
He, as our High Priest, is then presumed to have waved and offered
to God along with Himself. However, not only is there no proof
of this in John's gospel, but this scenario fails to take into
account that, in conformity with the meal offerings set down in
the Law, it was not the sheaf itself that was waved, but rather
the grain extracted from it, as has been explained. Furthermore,
the notion of Christ, as it were, both cutting, preparing and
making an offering that pictured Himself is nonsensical and without
scriptural precedent. True, Christ is described in the Book of
Hebrews as entering the Holy of Holies "with His own blood"
(Heb 9:12), but this imagery is the fulfillment of the
animal sacrifices of old, offered by the Aaronic high priest (as
all sacrifices and offerings were), as well as of the Wave Sheaf
Offering which, as we have shown, enshrined Christ as our High
Priest.
RE-INVESTESTED WITH AUTHORITY
Since Christ has already received all authority to rule, the vision
of Daniel may have already been fulfilled by Christ's acceptance
by His Father. Alternatively, an investiture is to come of a type
similar to the ceremony of acceptance pictured by the Wave Sheaf
Offering:
Let us then go on to consider more fully the symbolism of the
Wave Sheaf Offering for the Church.
THE REST OF THE FIRSTFRUITS
Purity of the seed is important. The seed wheat (or other cereal
seeds) must be true to its particular variety and as free as possible
from foreign seeds. Seeds are frequently cleaned to avoid contamination
by other seed crops.
THE DEDICATED PRIESTHOOD OF GOD
Let us notice another element of this final high-priestly prayer
of Christ:
Let us note another one of the characteristics of the firstfruits:
It is our belief that an understanding of the ceremony of the
day of the "Wave Sheaf Offering" (Lev 23:9-14) as set
down in the sacred calendar of God is vital in order to comprehend
the wider implications of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God as
it pertains to Christians today. The timing of this ceremony establishes
the date for the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost). In addition, it carries
with it an abundance of spiritual symbolism whose meaning is important
for every son and daughter of God. The purpose of this paper is
to examine this ceremony and its relevance for us today.
Before we even consider the Wave Sheaf Offering itself, let us
examine some of the specific wave offerings set down in the Old
Testament.
Ex 29:22-26 "Also you shall take the fat of the ram
[the second ram, the ram of ordination], the fat tail, the fat
that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver,
the two kidneys and the fat on them, the right thigh (for it is
a ram of consecration), 23 one loaf of bread, one cake made with
oil, and one wafer from the basket of the unleavened bread that
is before the LORD; 24 and you shall put all these in the hands
of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and you shall wave them
as a wave offering before the LORD. 25 You shall receive them
back from their hands and burn them on the altar as a burnt offering,
as a sweet aroma before the LORD. It is an offering made by fire
to the LORD. 26 Then you shall take the breast of the ram of
Aaron's consecration and wave it as a wave offering before the
LORD; and it shall be your portion."
Let us notice, however, what was first done with the blood of
this ram:
Ex 29:19-21 "You shall also take the other ram, and
Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram.
20 Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood and
put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tip of
the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand and
on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood all
around on the altar. 21 And you shall take some of the blood
that is on the altar, and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle
it on Aaron and on his garments, on his sons and on the garments
of his sons with him; and he and his garments shall be hallowed,
and his sons and his sons' garments with him."
This symbolised the complete consecration of the priesthood to
God (see also Lev 8:22-31).
Nu 8:11,21 "and Aaron shall offer the Levites before
the LORD, as a wave offering from the children of Israel, that
they may perform the work of the LORD."
Let us note here that:
21 And the Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes;
then Aaron presented them, as a wave offering before the LORD,
and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.
So even before we come to the Wave Sheaf Offering, we can note
some of the symbolism inherent in an offering-either of an animal
or of grain-that was "waved" before God:
THE FIRSTFRUITS IN THE HARVESTS OF ISRAEL
God's feasts were and are tied to the harvest times of Israel.
Barley was harvested in spring from March-April to May; wheat
in late spring-early summer from May through to June-July; and
the summer fruits from August to September. The average harvesting
period was set at a period of seven weeks (Lev. 23:15; Dt. 16:9)
and the year's harvest was mostly gathered in before the autumnal
equinox.
The agricultural cycle of Palestine, with its two harvests-the
smaller spring harvest and the greater autumn harvest-pictures
the two major stages of the spiritual harvest of souls, the harvest
of human beings into the Kingdom of God.
An integral part of the cycle of harvests was the notion of "firstfruits"
of the land. The Israelites had very early been introduced to
this concept: that a small first offering, representative of the
entire harvest, was due to God as a token of thanksgiving for
all that He had given them:
Ex 23:19 "The first [choicest] of the firstfruits
of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God
(Ex 34:26)."
The barley harvest began in March-April. Passover and Unleavened
Bread were observed when green ears of barley appeared. Pentecost,
the Feast of Weeks (or the Feast of Harvest, or the Feast of the
firstfruits of the harvest [Ex 23:16; 34:22]), took place at the
culmination of the wheat harvest, which began in May-June, in
late spring-early summer, after the barley harvest. It
was the even larger harvest suggested by this firstfruit harvest
of barley. The firstfruits harvest was, if you like, extended
to the wheat.
The Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering (Ex 34:22) coincided with
the conclusion of the later, general harvest, especially of grapes,
olives, dates and figs, which had continued throughout the summer,
and pictured the greater harvest period to be fulfilled during
the millennial age and beyond.
However, before any grain could be harvested in the spring, the
firstfruits' harvest, the Israelites were to participate in a
ceremony of presentation of the first grain of the harvest in
the presence of God to inaugurate the spring harvest season:
Lev 23:9-14 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 "Speak
to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into
the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall
bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.
11 'He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on
your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave
it. 12 And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf,
a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering
to the LORD. 13 Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an
ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to
the LORD, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of
wine, one-fourth of a hin.'"
Josephus (Antiq. 3,10) verifies that no harvesting of barley could
commence until the wavesheaf was offered, as verse 14 stipulated:
14 'You shall eat neither bread nor parched [roasted] grain nor
fresh grain [the Hebrew means "full green ears",
incidentally] until the same day that you have brought an
offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout
your generations in all your dwellings.'
Only after this ceremony had been carried out were they at liberty
to make use of the harvest, of barley initially, but later also
of wheat and spelt.
There is some confusion when the various bible translations describe
this offering as a sheaf being waved because a sheaf,
in its usual sense of a stalk of grain, is not what was waved
here. In fact, the Bible does not actually refer to this ceremony
as "the Wave Sheaf Offering". The Hebrew word "omer"
that is translated "sheaf" was a measure, about two
quarts, and actually means a "measure of things dry".
The very first of the firstfruits' crop offered as a "wave
sheaf " offering in the Temple was two quarts of barley grain
that had been parched (roasted), thrashed and sieved into fine
flour. So this grain offering was of a similar format to other
grain offerings that were waved before God; God is very consistent!
The Jewish Encyclopaedia (article entitled "Omer") declares
that a handful of it was burned on the altar, and the rest was
eaten by the priest, in accord with the traditional wave offerings
previously described.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WAVE SHEAF OFFERING
It should be noted that, unlike the stipulations for the rest
of the Sabbaths and Holy Days of Leviticus 23, verses 9-10 commanded
that this offering be made "When you come into the land
which I give to you ["wherever you live" in the land
(v 14)], and reap its harvest". During the years of the Exodus,
and even in the final year of the Exodus, these instructions could
not be observed as no crops were raised in the wilderness. This
offering, a thanksgiving for the firstfruits of the harvest, was
therefore, like so many other offerings-physically at least-tied
to the land, through first the Tabernacle and later the Temple.
Dt 16:9 "You shall count seven weeks for yourself;
begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put
the sickle to the grain."
The historical evidence appears to indicate that the early New
Testament Church recognised the importance of the Wave Sheaf Sunday;
this understanding was, however, eventually displaced to focus
both on Sunday observance and Easter Sunday as commemorative of
the resurrection of the Son of God.
Because of the connection between Wavesheaf Sunday, day one of
the count to Pentecost, and Pentecost itself, it has also become
common in some quarters to confuse terms and refer to Wavesheaf
Sunday as the "Feast of Firstfruits", the Old Testament
term for what we call Pentecost. Pentecost is indeed called the
"Day [the Hebrew can also mean age, or season;
the same word is used in "day of the LORD" (e.g., Zech
14:1)] of Firstfruits" in Nu 28:26:
Nu 28:26 'Also on the day of the firstfruits, when you
bring a new grain offering to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks,
you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work.'
Or
Therefore, the title "Feast of Firstfruits" is not an
inappropriate one. However, the Scriptures nowhere indicate that
this Wavesheaf Sunday also carries that title "Feast of Firstfruits";
to also assign the title to this day this would be to confuse
already-defined biblical terms. This helps to explain why the
description "Wave Sheaf Offering" is commonly used today,
the Bible conferring no specific title upon the ceremony. The
Jews, to this day, simply call it "firstfruits", even
though the ritual is no longer observed by them.
Some scholars read in the rendering of the Greek by Luke in his
description of the coming of the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1
a reference to the completion of this fifty-day-count from the
day of the Wave Sheaf Offering during the Passover season:
Acts 2:1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully [Gk:
"filled up, been completed"] come [in the sense of being
completed], they were all with one accord in one place.
THE COUNT TO PENTECOST
In the sacred calendar of God, the date of the Feast of Firstfruits
alone is set by counting fifty days-seven Sabbaths plus one day-from
the day of the Wave Sheaf Offering:
Lev 23:15-16 'And you shall count for yourselves from
the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf
of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. 16 Count
fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall
offer a new grain offering to the LORD.'
Jewish tradition teaches that Pentecost is the culmination of
the Passover season, the two being connected by this "counting
of the omer". The count of fifty ties together the Passover-Unleavened
Bread season and the Feast of Pentecost. This fifty-day period
incorporated the deliverance of ancient Israel from the slavery
of Egypt through their baptism in the Red Sea (see 1Co 10:1-2)
to their arrival at Mount Sinai where the First Covenant was ratified,
and the marriage to the Son of God consummated. The parallel for
us seems obvious. The period between Passover and Pentecost pictures
in part our Christian life. Pentecost also pictures the realisation
of the firstfruits.
Furthermore, consider the symbolism of fifty. The fiftieth-year
Jubilee restored all to its original state (Lev 25). It was the
time of redemption, of liberty (Lev 25:10; Eze 46:17). Similarly,
the completion of the fifty-day count at Pentecost pictures "the
glorious liberty of the children of God" (Ro 8:21), attained
by the firstfruits at the resurrection, our total freedom from
the captivity of sin and of the world, the completion of the redemptive
work of the Son of God begun at Passover, which began our deliverance
from sin.
For the firstfruits of God, the Passover sacrifice of Christ is
completed at the resurrection, (suggested by the Pentecost wave
offering [Lev 23:17]), in two stages: the birth of the New Testament
Church on the Day of Pentecost in 30 AD, with the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit; and the glorification of the elect in the resurrection,
the completed fulfillment of the meaning of the festival of Firstfruits,
when all the firstfruits have been fully gathered.
Similarly, Passover 2001 falls on Sunday, April 8, and Passover
2004 on Sunday, April 4, which are also the days of the Wave Sheaf
Offering, for the same reason: the first day of the week following
would fall outside the Unleavened Bread season, which it must
not.
Let us again notice the reason for the Wave Sheaf Offering:
Lev 23:10-11 (NRSV) Speak to the people of Israel and
say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and
you reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits
of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall raise the sheaf before
the LORD, that you [Israel] may find acceptance;
on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall raise it.
Through this ancient ceremony, the nation of Israel was to find
acceptance (Heb: "delight, favour" before God).
Israel-the Church-is the firstfruits of (the harvest of) God:
Jer 2:3 (NIV) "Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits
of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster
overtook them," declares the LORD.
The firstfruits' harvests of both barley, the first crop of firstfruits,
and the wheat which came later, symbolise all the elect of God,
the firstfruits of the age of the Church, both Old and New Testament
saints, prior to Christ's Second Coming. The wheat harvest is
the consummation of the firstfruits, of this early harvest of
souls. The firstfruits harvest was fully gathered at Pentecost,
where the ceremony at which the two loaves representing the firstfruits
(Lev 23:16-17) were also waved before God was both parallel to,
and the fulfillment of the Wave Sheaf Offering.
The Pentecost Holy Day pictures not only the age of the Church,
but also its glorification at the resurrection. Grain is used
to picture the resurrection of the dead:
1Co 15:35-38 (NIV) But someone may ask, "How are
the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?"
36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it
dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be,
but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But
God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of
seed he gives its own body.
However, the resurrected saints of God's great spiritual harvest,
both former and latter, who will together make up the Body of
Christ will be composed of all types of people (grain), as attested
to by the description of the Promised Land, symbolising the Kingdom
of God, as:
Dt 8:8 a land of wheat and barley [the firstfruits'
harvest], of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land
of olive oil and honey [the latter harvest]
So Christ's sacrifice, likened to the "dying" of a grain
of wheat, is directly linked to a future harvest picturing the
salvation of all of mankind:
Jn 12:23-24 But Jesus answered them, saying, "The
hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the
ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces
much grain."
CHRIST THE WAVE SHEAF OFFERING
The unblemished male lamb offered as a burnt offering along with
the flour of the wave sheaf (Lev 23:12) represented Jesus Christ,
the oil mixed into the fine flour (Lev 23:13) represented the
Holy Spirit, given to Christ without measure (Jn 3:34), while
the drink offering of wine which accompanied the offering (Lev
23:14) symbolised the shed blood of the Son of God (Mt 26:27-28),
which cleanses us from sin (1Jn 1:7).
Likewise, the designation of "firstfruits is first of all
applied to Christ Himself, the firstfruit of the harvest
of God, for He is "the Head of the Church" (Eph 5:23),
"which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in
all" (Eph 1:22-23):
1Co 15:20-23 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and
has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep [Not
just by His resurrection, as we will see] 21 For since by
man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made
alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits,
afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.
Moreover, Christ is also referred to prophetically as Israel:
Isa 49:3 "And He said to me, 'You are My servant,
O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.'" (cp. verses 5-6).
Let us therefore consider in some detail how Christ is pictured
in the Wave Sheaf Offering.
Dt 16:9 (NRSV) You shall count seven weeks; begin to count
the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing
grain.
The sheaf of grain, even though of green ears, had to be standing
when the wave sheaf was cut loose from the ground at sunset after
the weekly Sabbath. The picture is of Christ, resurrected from
the dead, standing, awaiting His ascension to the Father. Yet
the resurrection of the Son of God is not, we believe, the main
emphasis of the ceremony.
Christ, the first of the firstfruits, the first to rise from the
dead (Acts 26:23), dedicated to and accepted by God, is the token
of the remainder of the spiritual harvest:
Ro 8:29 ….that He might be the firstborn among many
brethren.
The barley grain of the Wave Sheaf, chosen in advance, even as
the Lamb of God was (before the foundation of the world: 1Pe 1:20),
also beautifully pictures Jesus Christ, who was:
Col 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who
is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead [Col 1:15 (NRSV):
"the firstborn of all creation"], that in all things
He may have the preeminence.
Heb 2:18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted,
He is able to aid those who are tempted.
Heb 5:8-9 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience
by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected,
He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
Barley, the coarsest of grains, was used by the poor to bake bread.
Can we see further symbolism in this?
2Co 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that
you through His poverty might become rich.
It is interesting in this context to note that an omer of grain
was also all that was required of the very poor as a sin offering
(Lev 5:11).
Php 2:7-8 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the
form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And
being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became
obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Notice what was included in Christ's high-priestly prayer to His
Father before His crucifixion:
Jn 17:5 "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with
Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world
was."
On that early Sunday morning, Christ, though resurrected, had
yet to be exalted to God's right hand:
Eph 1:20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him
from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly
places.
Until this was done, the promised Holy Spirit could not be made
available:
Acts 5:31 "Him God has exalted to His right hand
to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness
of sins."
Acts 2:33 "Therefore being exalted to the right hand
of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the
Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear."
The Holy Spirit-the Spirit that sanctifies-became available
to the New Testament Church at the same time as the sheaf was
waved.
Jn 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them,
and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."-anticipating
the receipt of the Spirit by the Church on the Day of Pentecost
fifty days later.
Nor could Christ assume His role as our High Priest and Intercessor
until He was "exalted":
Ro 8:34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died,
and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also makes intercession for us.
And this is most important. Let us notice Col 1:22:
Heb 8:1 Now this is the main point of the things we are
saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right
hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens (Heb 4:14).
Col 1:22 (NIV) But now he has reconciled you by Christ's
physical body through death to present you holy in his sight,
without blemish and free from accusation.
Just as the Jealousy Offering which was waved before the altar
sought to reconcile a woman to her suspicious husband (Nu 5:15,18,25),
so is Christ, the Wave Sheaf Offering, our offering of reconciliation.
Jesus Christ's sacrifice reconciles us to God-justifies us by
taking away our sins (after the fruits of our repentance are judged
by God) and delivers us from God's wrath (Jn 1:29; Ro 5:9). However,
one more step is essential in this process of salvation:
Ro 5:10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled
to God through the death of His Son, much more, having
been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
The life and faith of the Son of God in us (Gal 2:20), as part
of His ministry as our High Priest, is our path to salvation.
The acceptance by the Father of Christ as the Wave Sheaf consecrated
Him as our High Priest, just as we saw with the wave offering
that consecrated the Aaronic priesthood (Ex 29:19-21). And, just
as the waving of the breast and the right thigh pictured the offering
accepted by God but then given back by Him to the priests and
their families, so has Christ, our High Priest in heaven who intercedes
for us (Ro 8:34; Heb 7:25), been given back in service to the
saints, those who are becoming priests of God.
Jn 20:17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me [the
Greek means "attach yourself to Me"], for I have not
yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them,
'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and
your God.'"
It was when the sacrifice of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world (Rev 13:3) was accepted, as foreknown by God, that
salvation became possible.
Since it was still dark (Jn 20:1) and, taking into consideration
her emotional state after not being able to locate the body of
the Lord, Mary's confusion is understandable.
Let us consider in what other ways the Wave Sheaf Offering depicted
Jesus Christ.
Shortly before His crucifixion, Christ prayed for the glory that
had been promised to Him; part of this was the "authority
over all flesh":
Jn 17:1-2 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes
to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify
Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given
Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life
to as many as You have given Him."
Christ had originally been sent directly only to the "lost
sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt 15:24), among whom for
the most part He exercised His authority (Jn 5:27). His acceptance
as the Wave Sheaf Offering, however, meant that Christ was now
invested fully with the authority He had been promised and which
He had often spoken about as having already (Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22;
Jn 3:35; 5:22).
The sure knowledge that He was to be re-invested with this total
authority was the basis for Christ's act of washing the feet of
His disciples at the Last Supper; the Master once again revealed
His nature as that of God's Servant:
Jn 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things
into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to
God….
So after His resurrection, ascension and return to His disciples
He could say:
Mt 28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them [the disciples],
saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and
on earth."
The authority of the Devil as the ruler of this world (Lk 4:6)
had been truly displaced!
Da 7:13-14 I was watching in the night visions, and behold,
One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He
came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before
Him. 14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.
Because Christ's authority was now absolute and world-wide, the
open door of salvation was now likewise so:
Mt 28:19-20 "Go therefore and make disciples of
all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe
all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age."
Christ had been officially accepted by God as the Saviour of mankind!
While, in 1Co 15:23, the term "firstfruits" is used
of Christ, it is also used to refer to Christians:
Jas 1:18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word
of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits [the Greek can
also be translated as "some firstfruits"] of
His creatures.
Is it significant that barley-perhaps also depicting the Church
in its infancy-is the crop to symbolise not only Jesus Christ
but the elect of God as well?
The path to the Kingdom for the firstfruits saints of God is strewn
with many trials and tribulations (Jn 16:33; 1Th 3:4; 2Ti 3:12),
which build godly character (Ro 5:3-4)-often in a short space
of time-in a world that is set against us. In contrast to this
present evil age (Gal 1:4) in which the firstfruits live, the
latter harvest will be fully reaped when the world is God's.
We remember also that it was barley, the earliest firstfruits'
harvest, that Ruth, a type of the Church, first gleaned in the
field of Boaz, who typified Christ. It was the poor who gleaned
(Lev 19:9).
Jas 2:5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen
the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom
which He promised to those who love Him?
These firstfruits of the Spirit promise even greater things:
Ro 8:23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits
[gifts, offerings] of the Spirit [which promise even
greater blessings to come], even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of
our body.
The wheat, the second firstfruits' crop, could be taken as being
symbolic of the end-time age of the Church, when the Second Coming
is nearer at hand:
Mt 13:30 'Let both grow together until the harvest, and
at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First
gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them,
but gather the wheat into my barn.'"
Note the comparison made between wheat-servants of Christ-and
tares-servants of the Evil One.
Darnel (poison ryegrass, or tare) often is infected with a poisonous
fungus besides containing a poisonous narcotic in its seeds; both
substances are dangerous to grazing animals. Modern winnowing
techniques now separate the seed from rye seed, but in earlier
times contaminated rye flour was a health hazard. (Encyclopaedia
Britannica; article "Ryegrass")
Likewise, the firstfruits of God are to be uncontaminated by the
world:
Jn 17:16 "They are not of the world, just as I am
not of the world."
More of the world's farmland is devoted to wheat than to any other
food crop (Encyclopaedia Britannica; article "Wheat");
who knows, perhaps the post-apostolic age will indeed yield a
greater crop?
1Jn 2:15-16 Do not love the world or the things in the
world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not
in him. 16 For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father
but is of the world.
Christ is the primary firstfruits' gift of the Spirit; the specimen
sheaf cut and its grain brought and waved before God was the evidence
of a whole field of such sheaves waiting to be harvested.
Ro 11:16 For if the firstfruit is holy,
the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Paul, although he had in mind the patriarchs with this verse,
was referring back to Numbers 15:17-21, and here summarised the
law of the firstfruits: if the first of the harvested grain offered
to and accepted by God was thereby consecrated, so also was the
entire crop. The first loaf consecrated the whole batch.
So we are reminded that we-the rest of the firstfruits-must be
like Christ (Ro 8:29; 2Pe 1:4) to be acceptable to God, that we
must be likewise dedicated to and consecrated by Him.
Jn 17:19 (NIV) "For them I sanctify [Gk: hagiazo -
"make holy, consecrate for sacred use"] Myself, that
they too may be truly sanctified [Gk: hagiazo]."
The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, uses
this same verb when it describes the consecration of the Aaronic
priesthood (Ex 28:41) and the consecrated sacrifices (Nu 18:9,
referring also to the wave offerings).
Christ was already sanctified by God when He was sent into the
world (Jn 10:36). He has always been consecrated (the Wave Sheaf
was offered on a normal working day!) and His holiness was further
testified to by His resurrection from the dead (Ro 1:4). Here,
He is speaking of again setting Himself apart for the service
of God, this time through His death, an act that-through His subsequent
resurrection and acceptance by His Father-would extend this sanctification
to those who followed Him. He was accepted by God for us.
Jn 17:17 "Sanctify [Gk: hagiazo] them by Your truth.
Your word is truth."
The Wave Sheaf Offering therefore also pictures, in similar fashion,
the consecration of the Church, the Body of Christ, to become
the prophesied nation of priests (1Pe 2:5,9; Rev 5:10), through
the receipt of the promised Holy Spirit, beginning with its outpouring
on the Day of Pentecost in 30 AD (Acts 2). The imagery is one
of the Church, the firstfruits of God, being accepted by Him through
the sacrifice of His Son. As the persons and the garments of the
Aaronic priests were sanctified by the blood (and the anointing
oil) of the ram wave offering, so also are the elect of God portrayed
as holy to God (Col 3:12; Heb 3:1; 1Pe 1:15-16; 2Pe 3:11), and
their clothing as the holy garments of righteousness (Rev 3:4,18;
6:11; 7:9,13; also implied in Mt 22:11-12 and Rev 16:15).
Rev 14:4 These [the 144,000 (v1), symbolising the Israel
of God] 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 firstfruits
to God and to the Lamb.
The elect firstfruits of God are dedicated to Him, and
to His Son, just as the Levites of old, once purified, were dedicated
to God, to do His work (Nu 8:11,13-16, 21). As Christ was "dedicated"
to God through His acceptance by His Father, so our lives are
likewise to be dedicated to the service of God, as living sacrifices:
Ro 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Through Jesus Christ, we too are to be presented to God to be
accepted by Him. However, we must first be cleansed, just as the
diseased individual was through the blood of the wave offering
(Lev 14:12-18,21-29).
2Co 4:14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord
Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present
us with you in his presence.
Like the breast and right thigh presented as a wave offering before
the altar (Lev 7:28-34), our human members are likewise to be
dedicated to God as instruments of righteousness:
Col 1:28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone
with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect
in Christ.
Ro 6:13 And do not present your members as instruments
of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being
alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
to God.
CONCLUSION
The importance of this Day of the offering of the Wave Sheaf has
for too long been ignored. Let us consider what we can do towards
the greater acknowledgement of this day and in the contemplation
of its wonderful imagery so pertinent to our salvation.