Be Very Thankful For The Opportunity To Be Among God's First Fruits
A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE WAVE SHEAF OFFERING AND PENTECOST
The wave sheaf offering is the focal point of the count down to fifty or Pentecost and the real meaning of the Holy Day. Pentecost is more accurately called the Feast of First Fruits to God.
Leviticus 23:9-12 NKJV 9 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.
All the Holy Days of God are built around and about Jesus our Messiah. The Sabbath within the Days of Unleavened Bread is tied to the sacrifice of Jesus the Lamb of God (the real Passover). The Days of Unleavened Bread follow right after the Lamb's blood that protected the people of Israel during the first Passover. Note also they were to use a perfect Lamb.
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.
Ezekiel 45:21 NKJV 21 "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
The procedure at the Temple was as follows: As soon as this Sabbath ended, a torch led procession went from the Temple to a nearby prepared field. They would find the sheaf prepared for this ceremony and cut it. This is also close to the time when Jesus awake from the dead. This sheaf would be cut and taken and processed to remove chaff and then cooked in a pan. The final barley product would be taken the next morning to be presented by the high priest to God as the first of the first fruits. This is the wave-sheaf ceremony. Jesus upon his resurrection performed the real and final wave-sheaf offering of himself to God the Father in heaven.
John 20:17 NKJV 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling 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.'"
Jesus could not be touched until he presented himself to the Father at real Temple in heaven. He was the actual wave-sheaf offering. After this service of the wave-sheaf offering the people could now eat of this barley harvest. All this was considered work and this why it was done after the Sabbath. Who was the first of the first fruits? Jesus Christ is the obvious answer as he is the first one to be resurrected from death.
Revelation 1:5 NKJV 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood
The wave-sheaf offering is also the trigger for the countdown of seven weeks. This feast is also called the feast of weeks.
WHY IS PENTECOST ALSO CALLED THE FEAST OF WEEKS
Following the wave-sheaf offering seven Sabbaths or weeks were to be counted and then the next day would bring them to a count of fifty. This is the Jubilee number and also fifty in the Greek means Pentecost. During the Jubilee years every fifty years the people gained total release from all debts.
Deuteronomy 16:10 NKJV 10 "Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you
Pentecost is labeled as the feast of weeks in several areas of the Bible but we will just focus on this one area in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 16:16 NKJV 16 "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.
Pentecost is one of the three Holy Day seasons of God listed in the Bible. The other Holy Days in the Fall and Spring all have calendar dates. Pentecost does not have a calendar date but it is tethered to the wave-sheaf offering which is linked to the death of Jesus. The calculations are as follows; the seven weeks or forty nine days plus one, the wave-sheaf offering, and you arrive at fifty days. All of this is linked to the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore Pentecost is the feast of seven weeks or Sabbaths plus the wave-sheaf offering. Seven is the number of completeness in the Bible.
PENTECOST IS ALL ABOUT BELIEVERS, WE ARE THE FIRST-FRUITS
Jesus is the first of the first-fruits and we his disciples are the first-fruits to God. Therefore the Holy Day triggered by the wave-sheaf offering is all about us. It is clear in both the OT and the NT note what the Apostle James states:
James 1:17-19 NKJV 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. 19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
Wow! Believers who remain faithful to the end will be 'His creatures'. We will be in the God Family. We have so great a reward as God's first fruits. The Apostle Paul shares some similar encouragement. We can share in something so wonderful and holy that it is awesome and unbelievable.
Hebrews 12:9-10 NKJV 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
God will work with and develop believers to partake of His holiness. Wow!
1 Corinthians 15:21-23 NKJV 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.
The second coming of Jesus will be the moment when we become full members of his family and the first fruit of God. This is the true meaning of Pentecost. The birth date of the NT church was the first New Covenant Pentecost. See Acts chapter two and note that they converted thousands on this date and empowered the church of God.
Acts 2:1-4 NKJV 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance
The words fully come means the countdown of seven weeks plus one had finally arrived. All 120 followers of Jesus were empowered by the spiritual power of God and the church began with a tremendous bang.
Acts 2:40-42 NKJV 40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
The church at the end of this age will also be the first fruits to God and be special in various ways and probably be led and many converted by the two witnesses in some way.
Revelation 14:1-4 NKJV 1 Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their foreheads.... 3 They sang as it were a new song before the throne,...one hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth. 4 These are the ones who were not defiled .... 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 Feast of First Fruits is all about us believers and for us.
