This week’s Sabbath Thought was written by my friend Dan Dowd and is shared with permission.

 Sabbath Thought – Wave Sheaf of Pentecost

(Happy day fourteen in our count to Pentecost!)

The upcoming Feast of Pentecost is tied to the Days of Unleavened Bread directly through the Wave Sheaf offering giving during that first annual Holy Day week. The Wave Sheaf represented the resurrected Christ, ascending to be accepted by His Father as the very first human to be born of God. There is another interesting aspect of the Wave Sheaf offering to cover. Along with the Wave Sheaf offering, there was to be a burnt offering, a grain offering and a drink offering made. The grain offering was to be of the same grain as the Wave Sheaf, ground and beaten out fine (Leviticus 23:11-13). Since this Wave Sheaf offering was to be done during the Days of Unleavened Bread, this grain offering was to be unleavened bread (simply grain and oil mixed together – verse 13) “baked” in the fire of the burnt offering. We see in this the perfect, sinless sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins.

As Leviticus 23 continues, we find a connection between the Days of Unleavened Bread and the Day of Pentecost (verse 15) in that we count toward Pentecost beginning on this day the Wave Sheaf was offered. But once the Day of Pentecost was at hand, another wave sheaf offering was to be made – but it was different from the offering made during the Days of Unleavened Bread. The first-fruits offering made at this Holy Day was most likely wheat (compared to barley during Unleavened Bread). Additionally, this wave offering was to be leavened (verse 17) and offered with a burnt and drink offering. After the first part of this offering, a sin and a peace offering (verse 18-19) were offered as well.

As Christ is represented in the Wave Sheaf offering during the Days of Unleavened Bread, the first-fruits (those called now by God) are represented in the wave sheaf offering of Pentecost. The fact that the wave sheaf offering at Pentecost has leaven is interesting. We are accepted before God – in spite of our sins – because God first accepted Christ’s sinless sacrifice in our stead. We stand before God (as the leavened wave sheaf offering) as the first-fruit harvest of mankind. We will never be sinless in this lifetime, but we promised (covenanted) before God at baptism to now live with Christ (the sinless, perfect sin sacrifice) living in us and through us. We renewed that vow at Passover, symbolically representing sustaining our spiritual lives by eating unleavened bread (Christ’s body) and drinking the wine (His blood/life). We are not “off the hook” regarding our sins even though Christ paid for them with His blood. Notice that there was also a sin offering to be made on Pentecost – we are to continue in a repentant heart (Isaiah 57:15) for our sins, changing from our carnal nature to have Godly character (Romans 8:6-11) and to have the mind of Christ in all of our thinking (Philippians 2:5-11). As we do this, we can come before God knowing that our sins are paid for – being reconciled to God (Romans 5:10, 2 Corinthians 5:18) in peace (pictured in the peace offering portion on Pentecost).

God’s Holy Day plan is a wonderful reminder and instruction in His plan of salvation. How much peace can we have knowing Christ paid for our sin, died in our stead, and that God accepted Christ’s sin payment for us? We now stand before God as part of His first-fruits in peace. Let’s never take for granted the sacrifice and payment the Father and Son provided for us to be part of their family!

Have a meaningful and joyous Sabbath,

Dan Dowd

18 April, 2026

Joe Greene 

Pastor for Richmond and Roanoke, Va

(434) 808-2146