SLIDE 1: Title
Welcome everyone. Today we are celebrating a weekly Holy Day, the Sabbath, looking forward to tomorrow's annual Holy Day, the Feast of Weeks — also called
Pentecost in the New Testament.
I want to spend several minutes looking at something that may be puzzling when reading Leviticus 23. We are going to look at two section headings that many
Bibles place in that chapter and ask whether they are telling us the whole story.
[Pause — invite congregation to open Bibles to Leviticus 23]
[The document you are receiving is a supplement for you to review on your own time]
SLIDE 2: A Heading That Raises a Question
Now that you are viewing Leviticus 23, notice the section headings. These headings are not part of Scripture — they were added by editors to help readers find topics. Most of the time they are helpful. But two headings in this chapter may be giving some readers the wrong idea.
Most printed and digital Bibles place a heading before verse 9 that reads something like "The Feast of Firstfruits," then another heading before verse 15 that reads "The Feast of Weeks." That makes it look as if there are two separate feasts here. But is that what the Bible is really saying?
[Transition: Before we answer that, we need to establish the test God Himself gives us for what defines an annual Holy Day.]
SLIDE 3: Three Things Every Holy Day Has
Leviticus 23 is sometimes called the Holy Day chapter.
When we read it carefully, we find that every single annual Holy Day shares the same three things:
REST FROM WORK. Every Holy Day includes a command to stop normal work.
A HOLY ASSEMBLY. God's people are called to gather together as a congregation.
A SPECIAL OFFERING. A prescribed sacrifice or offering is brought before God.
That's seven annual Holy Days — and every one of them has all three of those markers.
Now let's check Passover and the passage in verses 9-14, often headed "Feast of Firstfruits," against that same list.
SLIDE 4: The 7+7 Structure
This table is also in your handout if you want to explore it further later.
Here you can see two lists side by side. Seven annual Holy Days — each one meeting all three criteria. And seven broader Festivals and Memorials in which the calendar year is organized.
Notice that Passover and the wave sheaf are not in the left column. That's exactly the point we're about to demonstrate.
[Note: this table appears in full detail in the reference
handout, with footnotes covering each observance.]
SLIDE 5: The Criteria Table
Look at this table carefully. Both Passover and the wave sheaf offering meet only ONE of the three criteria. They have an offering — but no commanded rest from sunset to sunset and no commanded assembly.
PASSOVER (Leviticus 23:5) was a family observance, not a congregation-wide assembly. There was no command to rest from work, and while a lamb was
sacrificed (Exodus 12; Numbers 9), there was no holy convocation called. It meets one of the three criteria, not all three.
VERSES 9-14 (the wave sheaf passage) describe a specific offering — the priest waves a sheaf of the first barley of the harvest before God. But God gives no
command to rest from work and no command to gather as a congregation. It meets one of the three criteria, not all three.
So, neither Passover nor the wave sheaf offering qualifies as a Holy Day by God's own definition. They are holy or sacred events — but not Holy Days.
SLIDE 6: What the Wave Sheaf Passage Actually Says
Let's take note of verses 10-11:
“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.
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.’”
That's a priestly action — the priest waves the offering. God's people are not told to rest, to gather, or to do anything beyond allowing that offering to be made on
their behalf.
Because of the heading inserted before this passage, some might assume the Sunday after the weekly Sabbath within the Days of Unleavened Bread is itself
a feast day. The Bible does not say that. And such a conclusion raises a fair question: why would a separate feast exist inside of another feast?
SLIDE 7: The 50-Day Count
The wave sheaf was the firstfruits of the barley harvest (Leviticus 23:10). Pentecost is the firstfruits of the wheat harvest (Exodus 34:22). They are not two
separate feasts — they are the beginning and end of one 50-day harvest season, with Pentecost as the Holy Day that closes it.
The wave sheaf day is the starting point of the count. Pentecost is the destination — the only Holy Day in this sequence.
SLIDE 8: The Feast of Firstfruits Is the Feast of Weeks
Tonight, at sunset, we begin the Feast of Weeks — also called the Feast of Harvest, the Day of Firstfruits, and Pentecost, a Greek word meaning "fiftieth," a new name given in the New Testament. You may hear it called the Feast of Firstfruits as well. Where does that name come from? Two scriptures make it clear:
Exodus 34:22 — "And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest."
Numbers 28:26 — "Also on the day of the firstfruits... at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation."
SLIDE 9: Numbers 28:26
Notice what Numbers 28:26 does: it calls Pentecost "the day of the firstfruits" and gives it all three Holy Day markers in a single verse:
- A holy convocation [ASSEMBLY]
- No customary work [REST]
- A new grain offering [OFFERING]
The "firstfruits" connection belongs to Pentecost, not to the wave sheaf day in Leviticus 23:9-14.
SLIDE 10: Why Not?
Why No New Covenant Observance for the Wave Sheaf Day?
This is worth thinking about. If we observe Passover as a memorial of Jesus' death, why isn't there something to observe on the wave sheaf day — the day Jesus ascended to the Father?
We know Jesus ascended on the morning of the first day of the week, before He appeared to most of the disciples (John 20:17). We know He was with His disciples for 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3).
During that time, He could have given instructions for an observance. He did not. We can look through every page of the New Testament and find nothing — not one instruction, not one example — of the apostles or the early church setting aside the wave sheaf Sunday to perform a special event.
The reason fits the pattern: His death is the foundation of the Gospel — it had to happen for any of us to be saved, so you and I participate in it as a witness every
time we keep Passover. His ascension, by contrast, was the return of God to His own domain. No human being will ever repeat it, and the one who is coming
back is the same one who left. That is enough.
So, Passover was also fulfilled once-for-all, but the conclusion of that act does not finish until the fulfillment of the entirety of God's plan for mankind's
salvation. Therefore, we rehearse it annually to introduce God's festivals.
SLIDE 11
NOTE: Turn to 1 Corinthians 11:24-25
Here is what Jesus did say about Passover, which we
do observe:
“…and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,
‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’
In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new
covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’”
Jesus told us exactly how to remember His death. He gave us no similar instruction for His ascension. God is interested in us worshiping, gathering, and
resting around how He is building us to become His delivered children. That is what the Holy Days are for — and why we observe the Passover as the holy event it is.
SLIDE 12: Christ the Firstfruits
Paul explicitly identifies the resurrected Christ as "the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep," using the same firstfruits terminology that echoes the wave
sheaf offering.
This is precisely why there is no ongoing observance for the wave sheaf day — its fulfillment was once for all, in Christ's ascension and presentation to the Father on that first Sunday morning.
The wave sheaf pointed to Him. He fulfilled it. The count then runs to Pentecost, where we will be — this evening at sunset.
SLIDE 13: Handout Reference
If you would like to explore any of the topics we covered today in more depth, there is a reference document available for your personal study time.
It is the result of a conversation I had with Claude.AI. On the first page and first paragraph of the second page is the question, with clear boundaries I provided,
that sets up the information provided to explore the purpose of the wave sheaf offering.
It covers the Hebrew terminology behind the Holy Day criteria reviewed today, the historical debate over the omer count, and the New Covenant fulfillment of the wave sheaf — with full scripture citations and footnotes throughout.
SLIDE 14: Closing
So let's be clear about what we are celebrating tomorrow:
- It is Pentecost — the fiftieth day.
- It is the Feast of Weeks — seven complete weeks from the wave sheaf.
- It is the Feast of Harvest — the close of the spring grain season.
- And yes, it is the Feast of Firstfruits — the day of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, especially meaningful to the Christian calling, it having already been witnessed in Jesus: the very first, firstborn of all creation, firstborn from the dead, and the firstfruits of the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:20, 23
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
Tomorrow we will rest from our regular work. We will gather together as God's congregation. We will bring our offering of praise and worship and study of His
word. All three of the Holy Day markers — right there, just as God designed.
May God bless our holy assembly.
