When was the wave sheaf offering

Wave Sheaf. 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. 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! 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 wave-sheaf offering was offered to God by Israel's high priest on behalf of the people. 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. The early harvest is completed in late May or early June at the time of Pentecost. 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 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. The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; …the harvest is the end of the world. Then, at the end of the millennium, there will be a much larger resurrection of those from the great white throne judgment period Revelation We, too, will be resurrected to eternal life as firstfruits.

The wave-loaves of Pentecost picture this. They are the "firstfruits of the Spirit" that God is calling to salvation Romans 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.

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. Grain from the previous year's harvest.

As the 15th day of that month was also the first of the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it is recorded that they also ate unleavened bread that day.

In verse 12, on the following day the 16th , the manna ceased and they began to eat of the fresh grain, ie the new year's harvest. This example illustrates that the children of Israel ate parched grain, which had been grown in the Promised Land, on the day after the 14th Passover, ie on the 15th of the first month. Keeping in mind the requirement of Lev , it becomes apparent the first wave sheaf ceremony had taken place on the 15th.

Hence, they could not go into the fields and begin to harvest the crop until the following day, the 16th. With the start of the new year's harvest, the manna ceased. Paul and some other disciples went ahead and travelled to Troas where they stayed the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. However, the writer and others departed after the 1st day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and took 4 days! They had travelled for 4 days and arrived prior to what would have been the 5th day of travel.

This meant they spent the 6th and 7th days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Troas. The writer and his companions had planned their trip to spend these 6th and 7th days in Troas because they were both sabbath days!

The 7th day being the 21st of the month, the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, was an annual sabbath day Lev As this 7th day was also described as the 'first of the sabbaths', the day prior the 6th day was the weekly Sabbath.

The following day, the 22nd, they all departed from Troas. The article shows that, just as there were two periods of physical harvesting in ancient Israel, so there would be two periods of spiritual harvesting in God's great plan for the salvation of humanity. This astounding truth is shown through the symbolism of the Feast of Pentecost.

Pentecost has several meanings, each significant in its own right. The word Pentecost means "fiftieth day. It was also called the Feast of Harvest or Firstfruits Exodus Exodus And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labors out of the field.

The word firstfruits suggests an initial harvest that will be followed by another harvest. The firstfruits of the wheat harvest are preceded by the wave-sheaf offering of the earlier-ripening barley harvest.

The wave sheaf is symbolic of Jesus Christ. Pentecost is an annual reminder of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the Church Acts Acts [1] And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Pentecost deals directly with our salvation, our ability to follow Christ's example through the power of God's Holy Spirit and our capacity for understanding God's spiritual truth through His Spirit 1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians [10] But God has revealed them to us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

None of this understanding is possible without the fulfillment of the wave-sheaf offering: Jesus Christ's acceptance by God the Father. The wave-sheaf offering was the forerunner of an additional offering brought later, on the Feast of Pentecost. On Pentecost, two loaves of bread, "the firstfruits to the LORD," were offered Leviticus Leviticus [16] Even to the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall you number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meat offering to the LORD.

As the wave-sheaf offering represented Jesus Christ, so did these loaves represent God's spiritual firstfruits, those who are called and faithfully obey God in this life Romans Romans For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? As the wave-sheaf offering was the necessary forerunner of the Pentecost offering, so was Jesus Christ the necessary forerunner of God's people, who are His spiritual firstfruits.

These symbols demonstrate how God's Holy Days relate to each other and are designed to convey the interdependence of the events in God's plan for humanity. God's plan for the salvation of mankind is built upon the death of Jesus Christ our Passover 1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened.

Christians cannot attain to everlasting life without Christ's sacrifice, which reconciles us to God. The wave sheaf, offered during the Feast of Unleavened Bread Leviticus Leviticus [6] And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the LORD: seven days you must eat unleavened bread. Without the prior sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of Pentecost-the calling and salvation of the firstfruits, those in God's Church-could not occur.

The Israelites' harvest season could not begin until the wave-sheaf offering was made to and accepted by God. In like manner, the Holy Spirit was not poured out on humanity until after Jesus returned to the Father Acts Acts [1] The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, [2] Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen: [3] To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: [4] And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, you have heard of me.

Jesus Christ Himself had told His followers that He had to leave before the Holy Spirit could come to them John John [5] But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asks me, Where go you? Only after Jesus had risen to the Father and returned to them again were they allowed to touch Him John John 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 middle, and said to them, Peace be to you.

Notice the apostle Paul's depiction of Christ, our resurrected wave-sheaf offering: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory" Colossians Colossians [1] If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God.

Paul reveals that our Savior occupies a place for us in the very presence of our Father and that we are accepted by Him through Christ Jesus. In addition to the wave-sheaf offering, the other sacrifices and offerings commanded by God at the time of this ceremony also pointed forward to Jesus Christ. Jesus was represented by a male lamb without blemish Leviticus Leviticus And you shall offer that day when you wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering to the LORD.