Jesus Christ, the First of the First Fruits

Welcome to the seventh day of Unleavened Bread. Thank you for accepting God's invitation to worship Him on the day that He has set apart to be honored and revered. We observe this day in celebration of Jesus Christ through the bread of life, who died for us and who desires to live within us through the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the past, many have tended to believe that a void exists between the ending of the days of Unleavened Bread and the next festival in God's cycle that was originally known as Feast of Weeks that we tend to call Pentecost, as if somehow there's a disconnection between those two feasts together.

What I'd like to talk about today is, anciently, God intended for this entire period of time, from sunset today and when this feast ends, the entire period of time between now and the day of Pentecost, He expected and intended the entire time to be a time of celebration because it was a time of harvest. God has a distinct message for you and I during this period of time, of approximately 50 days, but before we talk about what that message is, what God wants us to be doing, I think it's important for us to review biblical history from both the Old Testament and the New Testament regarding this period of time.

And by doing that, I think we can understand what the Father wants us to learn. You can begin by going to Leviticus chapter 23 and we will go ahead and pick it up in verse 6. God's religious feasts are associated with agricultural harvest in Palestine. There were two harvest seasons each year. The first small harvest commenced in the springtime and was celebrated beginning with the spring holy days.

Now, months later, a larger fall harvest occurred with fruits and late-season crops and that was celebrated through the fall holy days. But in the area of the world that we now call Palestine, the spring harvest season lasted approximately seven weeks, beginning with the barley harvest right after the Passover and continuing all the way through seven weeks until the wheat ripened and itself was harvested. Barley was the first yearly grain harvested in that area of the world. And seven weeks later, at the end of the wheat harvest, there was another festival that, anciently, was referred to as the Feast of Weeks or Shavot.

And that term is used in Exodus chapter 34 and verse 22. Again, today we call that Pentecost because it's a word that means Count 50 and we get that directly from the New Testament. So how do we know that the barley harvest was first before there was a wheat harvest? Great question! Exodus, you don't need to turn there, but Exodus chapter 9 verse 31, the plague of hail, here's what it says. Now the flax and barley were struck, for the barley was in the head and the flax was in bud, meaning they were swelling up and ready to be harvested.

Verse 32, but the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are late crops. So that's how we knew and that's how we know and understand that the very first harvest that began that seven-week cycle was barley. That was the first type of grain that came into fruition and could be harvested.

So let's take a look now at Leviticus chapter 23 and we'll pick it up in verse 6. On the 15th day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. And that's exactly what we did culminating with the celebration of the seventh day. Verse 7, on the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it, but you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation. That's what we're doing today. You shall do no customary work on it.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say unto them, When you come unto the land that I give you... Now, it turns out that this would be about 40 years after this is written, because, as Mr. Miller emphasized, Israel was not very obedient.

They didn't do what God asked them to do. And so they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, as some people say, probably because Moses being a man was too proud to ask for directions. That's what some people say. But nonetheless, this would not occur for decades and decades, what God tells them to do as an instruction.

When you come into the land that I give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. And this obviously would have been barley. This was the earliest crop that would be part of reaping. Verse 11, And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted to you, or accepted on your behalf, on the day after the Sabbath. We use the Gregorian Roman calendar, so that's the day that we call Sunday today, the day after the Sabbath. The priest shall wave it. 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.

The grain offering shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord, or a sweet aroma. And its drink offering shall be of wine, one fourth of a hen. You shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor fresh grain, until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all of your dwellings. So you weren't to harvest anything until this very special ceremony was conducted. First, in the tabernacle, and later in the temple of God, after they came into the Promised Land that God had given them.

This was a very special temple ceremony. It was simple. It wasn't a holy convocation. It wasn't a day in which there was a convocation. It was the day after the weekly Sabbath, when in essence they would bring a bundle, the first bundle of a harvested crop to the priest. He would take that bundle and he would have a very special offering to God to consecrate the rest of the harvest.

Only after the priest offered that could the actual harvest begin. Now, the interesting thing about this, of course, is that this wave-sheaf offering pointed to Jesus Christ and Him ascending to the Father and being accepted from the Father, being accepted by the Father, as the Son of God who saved humanity because He shed His blood and died for us, and was resurrected once again to ascend to the Father and become the ultimate fulfillment of this wave-sheaf offering.

From that time, the small spiritual harvest would begin and God would consecrate His first fruits, that's you and I, and we would be consecrated because Jesus Christ, the righteous, the sinless, had died in our place and had reconciled us to the Father and had ascended to the Father and been accepted as the ultimate wave-sheaf offering.

I want you to notice everything that's mentioned regarding this wave-sheaf that was offered with this wave-sheaf, the symbolic of Jesus Christ. It says there's a male lamb. Well, of course, Jesus is the Lamb of God. It says there was a grain offering with flour. Jesus Christ is the bread of life. It says there was oil mixed with the grain offering. That's the fact that Jesus Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit.

There was wine that was part of the drink offering along with this sacrifice, according to the Scriptures, and of course that represents the very shed blood of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. So everything that was offered along with this wave-sheaf offering definitely reflected Jesus Christ Himself. So during the days of Unleavened Bread, a special ceremony would occur on the day after the weekly Sabbath, and this very first bundle of harvested barley grain was brought to the priest.

This fresh harvest was presented to God as a wave-sheaf offering along with the other offerings. The Israelites were not to take anything out of the field and harvest the barley until this special offering was made on the day after the Sabbath. That was the official start of the harvest season. The entire harvest was consecrated because of this first bundle being offered to God in thanksgiving.

And again, this was a very simple ceremony performed in the tabernacle or later on in the temple itself. Verse 15, 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. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and you shall have a new grain offering. So the scripture is giving us an indication of how to count towards the holy day that again we tend to call Pentecost today because of the influence of the New Testament.

So after seven full weeks again on the morning after a Sabbath, another grain offering was made to God during the festival day that originally was called the Feast of Weeks and now that we call Pentecost. This day, called the Feast of Weeks, and again we get that phrase from Exodus chapter 34 verse 22, was due to the fact that it occurred seven weeks after the barley offering. That later grain offering was wheat after the seven weeks had completed, and it was made of wheat and it occurred in what again we call today Pentecost.

So to the Israelites, these days were not isolated events. From my culture, I've always tended to think that the days of unleavened bread and well that's kind of nice, and nothing happens until Pentecost. Almost like they are isolated holy days. And part of that again is my culture.

I grew up in the city. I grew up thinking that chocolate milk comes from brown cows. I've no ideas of the agricultural community. When I think of agriculture, I think of the mega-agricultural complex where gentlemen are driving, gentlemen are ladies are driving these huge combines with an air-conditioned cab. You see these video clips of all of this wheat flying out of this chute into these huge trucks that are driving up being filled in ten seconds and another one replacing it.

But that isn't the case here. This was a very important harvest season for these folks. These holy days, between the seventh day of unleavened bread and the feast of weeks, were not isolated events. Harvest time was critical. If you could not harvest and store enough grain, you might starve to death. So this was an entire season. All of these seven weeks were a period of hard work, but also a period of rejoicing and excitement because you were gathering and you were storing food away. So the Israelites celebrated the entire seven weeks with joy as they gathered the entire spring and summer harvest that the land produced, beginning with barley and leading into wheat.

I want to highlight the fact that in Exodus chapter 34 and verse 22 it's called not the feast of a few days, it's called the feast of weeks. That's plural. In other words, it was a festival in which people, though there were only a convocation on the first day and the last day of unleavened bread and on Pentecost, yet it was a period in which people were rejoicing, were celebrating another year of harvest where food would be gathered and where food would be stored.

That was essential to them. It was a seven-week harvest and a time of celebration and a time of thankfulness. And I think it's easy for those of us in our Western culture to lose sight of that seven-week period because the way that we get food and the fact that most of us here are not intimately involved in the agricultural community, we can easily begin to think that a holy day ends and that there's a huge gap of time and then suddenly there springs out this feast in the summertime called Pentecost.

But the Scriptures tell us anciently that these were intimately connected together all with the beginning of the early harvest of barley and then that sacrifice on Pentecost made of wheat, the gathering of the wheat, and that was part of the end of that harvest celebration. So from this original history of feast and harvesting in Leviticus 23, let's now go to the same time period that occurred in 31 AD.

And we'll look at the example of Jesus Christ in the year our Lord was crucified and resurrected as outlined in the New Testament. So if you go to John chapter 19, we'll begin there in the New Testament, 31 AD. Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday afternoon. He was dead for a complete three days and three nights as he predicted he arose on late Saturday afternoon. Now let's pick up the story here in John chapter 19 and verse 30.

John chapter 19 and verse 30. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said it is finished, and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit, and therefore, because it was the preparation day that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day. So the very next day is not the weekly Sabbath, the very next day is a high day.

Because of that, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be taken away. The Jews didn't want to start the first day of unleavened bread with people hanging on crosses, with people who had been tortured, which is what crucifixion is, and it would defile their joyful observance of the first day of unleavened bread if these bodies were still hanging on these implements of cruelty, these crosses, so they asked that their legs would be broken. Again, this was, the next day would be the very first day of unleavened bread.

So again, just to recap what we read here in John 19, it was now afternoon and nearing the evening of the first day of unleavened bread, called a high day here, or a special Sabbath. In 31 A.D., the first day of unleavened bread was a Thursday. Remember that Jesus instituted the New Covenant Passover on the evening before, so that as the Lamb of God, He would die around the same time that the lambs were being slaughtered in the temple. Many Jews observed the Passover on the eve of the first day of unleavened bread, just like most Jews do today. And they wanted the bodies taken down from the cross and buried before sunset when the Holy Day began.

So Jesus, indeed, was taken down. His legs did not need to be broken. He was already dead. And He was placed in the tomb. Now, John 20, verse 1. Let's connect this together with what we read in Leviticus 23. Now, on the first day of the week, again, we use the Gregorian or Roman calendar. Today we call that Sunday. On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark. Now, she had brought some spices to anoint the body.

Perhaps she felt more secure if it was dark and no one would see her prowling around in the daylight. We don't know her exact motive for going there while it was still dark, but it's before sunrise. While it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb, and she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved.

That happens to be John, who is very humble here and doesn't make it about himself. Whom Jesus loved and said to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid Him. Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, which is John, and we're going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. He stooped down and looked in, saw the linen clothes lying there, yet he did not go in. So he's frozen. John runs there first.

He looks in it. He's kind of frozen in the moment. He's awestruck. He's sitting there, looking into the tomb. And then here comes Peter. Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb. Typical of Peter's personality. He was impetuous. Peter was more of the aggressive in-your-face type person. So he literally goes inside of the tomb, and he saw linen clothes lying there. And the handkerchief that had been put around his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but folded together in a place by itself.

Now why was this? What does this tell us? Well, this tells us that the body had not been stolen. If you were going to steal a body out of the tomb at dark, you wouldn't casually take the handkerchief off the corpse's head and fold it neatly and put it in its place. No, everything in there would have looked helter-skelter. When you're going to steal something in the dark and you're interpreting every sound as someone's watching you and someone's out there seeing what you're doing, you're doing things in a hurry.

You're not methodically taking apron off of your forehead as Jesus did and gently folding it together neatly and placing it aside. So again, this was proof, this was an indication that the body had not been stolen, that indeed Jesus had been resurrected and methodically folded that handkerchief and placed it to the side. Verse 8, then the other disciple who came to the tomb first went in also, and he saw and believed for as yet they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead.

Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. So a little recap here. On early Sunday morning, before sunrise, Mary went to the tomb and found it empty, and she ran and told Peter and John and the two disciples went to the tomb and found it empty except for the neatly folded burial cloth the men went away to their homes, confused and unafraid. Now just a quick sidebar. I'm just going to step away from the commentary for one minute because folks have asked me about a scripture, Mark 16, verse 9, that says Jesus was resurrected on Sunday morning.

Well, most Bibles will tell you this, and yours perhaps may, is that after verse 8, that the oldest versions of the Bible do not include verse 9 onward. In other words, it was added by a scribe later on. The oldest translations we have in the New Testament do not include verse 9 forward. They obviously were added with someone who had an agenda to support an Easter resurrection, who wanted to come and contradict what it said in John and wanted to imply that Jesus was resurrected on Sunday morning.

So I only mention that because people have asked me and brought that to my attention, that apparent contradiction between the Scriptures. Now let's go to John chapter 20, verse 11.

And she said to them, because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him, until assuming that he may be dead. Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? And she, supposing him to be a gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me, where you have laid him, I will take him away. So recap of these verses here. Peter and John left. Mary stayed at the tomb weeping. And she re-entered the tomb, and she sees two angels who speak to her. Then Jesus appears and speaks to her, but at first she doesn't recognize him.

Now we don't know for sure why she doesn't recognize him. Perhaps he was disfigured with scars. Later on that same day, he tells his disciples, look, feel the scars on the side of my body. Touch them, feel them. And it's known throughout Roman history that sometimes if you had a very cruel executioner when you would be scourged, that he would also try to hit your face and your head with those little pieces of broken bone on those leather straps that would strike your body.

So it's perhaps because he was a bit disfigured with scars. It may be because it was still dark, and she just couldn't recognize his facial features. She assumes that he's a gardener because he's there so early. The Greek word is kapouros, and it means a garden keeper or a warden, someone who keeps watch over a cemetery, over tombs. Initially to her, the man doesn't look like Jesus, but as he continues to speak, she recognizes his voice as the voice of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps that's happened to you. It's happened to me. Someone calls me, I pick up the phone, and as soon as they say, hello, Greg, by the tone and timbre of their voice, I immediately know who that person is. Even though she didn't recognize him physically, again, perhaps because he was scarred, perhaps it was just too dark for her to make out who it was, as soon as he opened his mouth and said her name, that was what helped her to understand that this is the Savior.

Verse 16, Jesus said to her, Mary. And she turned and said to him, Rabboni, that is to say, Teacher. And Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me. Now, the word cling here is from a Greek word, haptomatih, and it means, according to context, don't touch me. Or it may mean, in some context, don't grasp, don't hold on to me, or don't literally touch me. He says to her, Do not, in this translation from the New King James Version, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, but I go, 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.

So he tells Mary, go to the disciples and say that Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah, is ascending to the Father and ascending to our God. Verse 18, Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her. So to recap what we just read here in her excitement, she is ready to embrace him, but he stops her. And why would he stop her from doing that?

Well, remember what we read in Leviticus 23. It's the day after the weekly Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread. We read about what happened with the wave sheaf offering in Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 11. It's near the time when the wave sheaf offering was being prepared in the temple. And on this very morning, the priest in the temple was preparing to present the first barley wave sheaf offering to begin the seven-week spring to summer harvest season.

Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of the wave sheaf offering, prophesied and written about in Leviticus chapter 23. He was going to ascend to his father's throne and be accepted as the first of the first fruits, the first of a spiritual harvest that would begin. That's continuing to this very day. You are the result of that spiritual harvest. Those who come after us until the kingdom of God before the return of Jesus Christ, those who come after us will also be part of this smaller spiritual harvest.

And that's very important for us to appreciate and to love about God. So Jesus Christ said he was going to ascend to his father's throne and be accepted as the first of the new fruits, the first fruits, the firstborn of many brethren. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 20, But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, or of those who were faithful and died. So beginning with Christ, the first fruits, or the smaller harvest of God's children, would begin.

And this entire harvest has been consecrated to God, to the Father, because of the righteous of the first fruits, Jesus Christ himself, who not only died, but has risen and has sanctified the rest of the harvest and ascended up to the Father to be the ultimate fulfillment of that wave sheaf offering. Let's take a look at John chapter 20 and verse 19. John chapter 20 and verse 19. God the Father is calling an elect few to prepare for servicing the kingdom of God, and when the kingdom of God is established, a greater and later harvest will take place.

I might also add that not only, according to Scripture, not only was Jesus Christ the first of the first fruits, literally, but there were also some who came out of their graves at that time. Some human beings who had been resurrected, not many, but a few who were recorded in Scripture who were resurrected at that time and lived out the rest of their physical lives before they died again. Again, symbolizing Jesus as the first of the first fruits, and that harvest continues to this very day. Alright, John chapter 20 and verse 19. Then the same day at evening, so Mary saw him in the morning, this is the very same day, what we would call Sunday, according to the Roman calendar, being the first day of the week when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst of them and said to them, peace be with you, and when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side, again the scars, it was proof that he had been crucified.

Then his disciples were glad when they saw the Lord, so Jesus said to them again, peace to you, as the Father has sent me, I also send you. So in the very same day that he spoke unto Mary and was ascended to the Father to be the ultimate fulfillment of the wave sheaf offering, he returns to earth. And that very day, he meets with the disciples. Now, what we may not pick up very well from this particular translation, in Luke's account, in Luke 24, verse 39, says they were startled. Why are they startled? Because they're in a closed room, and suddenly, without the door opening, Jesus appears.

That would startle you, too. It would certainly startle me. So the door is closed because of the fear of the Jews, and boom! There's Jesus Christ standing there saying, peace to all of you. So obviously, they were quite startled. In Luke's account, he also says, handle me and see! Touch my scars! And also in Luke's account, he eats fish. So after he had refused to allow Mary to cling to him earlier in the day, he traveled to the Father's throne. He was accepted as the ultimate complete wave-sheaf offering and fulfilled that role to begin a spiritual harvest before returning to speak to the disciples in a closed room.

So even though Christ suddenly materializes in a room, and this is the miraculous part, he suddenly materializes in a room, but he's also tangible. You can touch him, and you feel something. He can eat, so he has that ability to materialize suddenly out of seemingly nowhere, and yet he can be touched, and he can eat, and he can do other things in a material way. So with that background of looking at Leviticus 23 and God's original instructions on the wave-sheaf offering, and how Jesus Christ fulfilled those instructions in 31 AD with his life, the next question is, what did Jesus Christ do during the days between his resurrection and his ascension to heaven before the day of Pentecost?

We could call that his second ascension since he ascended to the Father that Sunday to be accepted as the wave-sheaf offering. But ultimately, he also went up and was ascended into heaven after spending 40 days on earth, and became our great High Priest who sits at the right-hand side of the Father. Let's go to Acts chapter 1 and verse 1. Luke is writing here. He's going to give us an idea. It's for us to understand how we can approach the upcoming weeks until Pentecost.

Because again, I want to emphasize, unlike what I've thought most of my life, they aren't isolated. Holy days. There actually was a seven-week cycle of rejoicing as a harvest was coming in through that entire period of time. And yes, there were few days of actual convocation as far as high days, and there was the weekly Sabbath. Yet, in spite of that, it was a time of great rejoicing because a harvest, survival, the future was being provided during that entire seven-week period.

Acts chapter 1 and verse 1. The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day that he was taken up after he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles, whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen of them during the forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

So I want you to notice what he's doing here. He's re-emphasizing the kingdom of God. That continues to be his message. Now, Paul understood that the message was magnified because now we understand that Jesus is the Christ. He is the king of that kingdom. He's the one that makes that kingdom possible because of his sacrifice and the forgiveness of our sins. Yet, Jesus is talking and speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Verse 4. And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me. For John truly baptized you with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Alluding to the metaphor of that Old Testament, the end of that seven-week harvest, the Feast of Weeks, now called Pentecost, when they would receive the Holy Spirit.

Verse 6. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come to you. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

Now, when he had spoken these things, while they watched, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. So, brethren, after his ascension, for the remaining ten days until Pentecost, these 120 disciples gathered together in fellowship and in prayer and in fasting. Did they get it? Do you think they understood that it just wasn't all over now? That there was something else going on? Something symbolized by the only scriptures they had, which were the Old Testament? Do you think they understood that? Well, they obviously planned on continuing the work of proclaiming the Gospel, because in Acts 1 and verse 26, they chose Matthias to replace Judas as an apostle.

So, they obviously planned on continuing the mission that Jesus Christ gave them. They understood their mission. There was a harvest to be gathered as a result of making disciples. They must also have recalled a statement Jesus made earlier in his ministry. And I think it can help us to understand the approach and mindset we should have between now and the day of Pentecost. John chapter 4 will read about this statement that Jesus said earlier in the book of John.

This is what kept Jesus Christ going. And frankly, brethren, this is what should keep the Church of God going. John chapter 4 and verse 31. They must have noticed that Jesus wasn't eating very much. He was so engrossed and so involved in his ministry doing what he needed to do. It says, in the meantime, his disciples urged him, saying, Rabbi, eat! But he said to them, I have food to eat of which you do not know.

So they think of this like human beings would. Therefore, the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him anything to eat? You've been sneaking snicker bars to Jesus? So they talked to one another.

They don't get what he's saying. Verse 34, then Jesus said to them, my food, what keeps me going, what energizes me, my purpose, my greatest fulfillment, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest?

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields. Have some vision, he tells them. Look out there and have some vision. Think of those people with empty lives. Think of the billions without a purpose. Think of the billions of human beings who have given up all hope for a better tomorrow, for a living and fulfilling life.

Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest. They're in full fruition, ready to be harvested right now, Jesus tells them. Verse 36, And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. Again, a harvest is a season of joy.

It's an ongoing festival of thanksgiving and appreciation that you're continuing to gather a crop and is continuing to be stored away for a very important purpose. Verse 37, For in this the saying is true, one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap for that which you have not labored. Others have labored and you have entered into their labors. I'm going to read 36 here from the new century version. Here's what it says, Already the one who harvests is being paid and is gathering crops for eternal life. And that's what we're doing when we're making disciples, when someone shows up at our church for the first time. And we give them some attention and we talk to them and we show them that we have a genuine concern for them.

We are gathering crops for eternal life. They may accept God's calling, they may accept the Father's will, and may become part of the faith because of your example. Because you are the one doing the harvesting by your example, by caring for them, by nurturing for them, by loving them. So the one who plants and one who harvests celebrate at the same time. Here is the saying is true. One person plants and another harvests. Verse 38, I sent you to harvest a crop you did not work on. Others did the work and you get to finish up their work. So, brethren, with this background, allow me to get back to my original question or statement earlier in this sermon.

In the past, we've tended to behave as if there's a void that exists between the end of today, the seventh day of Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost. We've not typically connected these two feasts together like we could or like we should. The seven weeks in between, the end of this holy day and Pentecost, were a time of glad harvesting. I hope that we can see that God originally intended this period of time to be a season of rejoicing rather than just celebrating a few isolated holy days.

God has a distinct message for us during this period of approximately 50 days until Pentecost. That message is that you have been blessed to be part of an ongoing harvest, that small early spiritual harvest that began when Jesus Christ ascended to the Father and was accepted by the Father as the ultimate fulfillment of that wave-sheaf offering.

We have the privilege to be part of that ongoing harvest. I hope we're excited about that. Matthew 9, verse 36. Matthew 9, verse 36. Matthew was inspired to write, but when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep, having no shepherd. It's like most people are in this world today.

They're hurting. They feel an emptiness inside because they don't have a relationship with God. They feel like they have no purpose. Perhaps they're just the biological luck of the draw evolution tells them. You're here today, and when you die, you're gone for eternity. And this was just a brief moment in time, your existence. And your existence was probably difficult and meaningless, purposeless, and filled with pain. That's the message that the world receives from our media and from our science and from a lot of moral lecturers, philosophers in our world today. Verse 37. Then he said to his disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Now, this just isn't talking about a few ministers doing this. This is talking about all hands on deck, everyone in the Church of God, providing a wonderful example in our homes, in our communities, in the workplace. A sterling example in Sabbath services when visitors arise and show up.

This is talking about our lifestyle. This is talking about us doing what we can to support the Church of God financially, so that we can spread those seeds out there through media and other efforts. And then also, being a harvester of good things in our own local congregations and in our own communities. Again, I want to emphasize, in ancient Palestine, a continuous spring grain harvest season occurred from now, all the way to the day of Pentecost. They celebrated the physical blessings of God from the land, and in a similar way, Christ was our spiritual wave-sheaf offering.

And that small but continuous spring spiritual harvest continues and has continued ever since. We are part of that harvest, due to others that went before us. Sometimes, when I give the offering, I relate to the brethren. In preparation for a Holy Day offering, I tell them that I first discovered the Church in the 1960s, trying to listen to rock music on a Cleveland station called Wixey 1260.

And about eight o'clock, this guy came on, who would talk about God and the Bible. And at first, I was rather put off. I would get up and I would turn the channel, because I wanted to hear the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and the easy beats and all the great sounds of the 60s. I found the man, frankly, rather annoying, and I was perturbed that they were interrupting my rock music while I was supposed to be doing my homework. But he came out night after night. And in time, I just kind of got too lazy to get up and turn the channel.

So subconsciously, I'm beginning to listen to this man. And then, after a while, he would just say certain things that would grab my attention. Oh, yeah! That's true. I remember him saying specifically, one time, Jesus said, Speaking of a spiritual office, call no man your father, for only one is your father in heaven. I thought, wow! Wonderful! All my Catholic friends who called the priest's father know about it. So he would say things that would grab my attention. Again, we're talking about someone who's 14, 15 years old. And why was that possible? Why was that on the radio? It's because the people who were alive in that generation, sadly, most of them departed, now waiting for the return of Jesus Christ, they made the sacrifice so that I could hear that message.

So that my life could be changed. Not just my physical life, but my destiny, my eternity could be changed because they were the ones sowing and harvesting the crops in the late 60s and early 70s. And now it's our turn. Because we are still engaged in a spiritual harvest. We've been given a great commission to preach the Gospel and to make disciples, and that has not ended. It will never end until Jesus Christ returns.

So as I begin to sum up the sermon today, are we committed to this harvest? Because it's only going to happen if we remain unified and if we pull together as a team, all hands on deck, to get the job done. Are we ready for this great task? It's a great commission that's going to require many laborers working together to help get the job done.

The original disciples in 31 AD pondered this tremendous task ahead of them before leading right up to the Day of Pentecost, when God gave them something very special to add to their desire and their commitment to preach the Gospel. He gave them the gift of His Holy Spirit, which we've already been given. And they planned to be effective witnesses for the Kingdom. They looked to the future with excitement and purpose. Do we? We should, brethren. What a wonderful opportunity to be part of this harvest. And we should be filled with joy and an attitude of celebration, not just today, but during the weeks leading up to the Day of Pentecost.

Stephen Covey said something once that was very biblical that I would just like to mention. He said that everything is created twice. It's first created in the mind. And then it is created physically. Look at this beautiful facility we're in. You think this was created in the day the contractors came in here and started putting up the walls and pouring concrete.

Nope, sorry. Before that happened, this was created in the mind of someone we call an architect, who took it from his or her mind and put it down in blueprints. That was the first creation. And secondarily, it was created when the construction workers came in here and built this beautiful facility. The same is true of the Kingdom of God.

Brethren, we have to first have it in our minds. You know what we call that from a religious sense? We use terms like faith. We use terms like belief. That's the first creation. That has to be up here. And then when we have that up here, the rest will happen. So we have to be a faithful people, a dedicated people, not just today, but during these weeks leading up to Pentecost and beyond.

So I'd like to give a recap of what we've been celebrating and doing the last number of days and what we can look forward to a little bit in the future. Just a short recap as we begin to conclude the sermon today. During this time, leading up to today, we examined ourselves and we rededicated ourselves to Jesus Christ during the Passover. We made a recommitment to our original baptism, and we were reminded of our need for a Savior.

And that's very important. During these days of unleavened bread, we removed leaven from our homes, and we ate unleavened bread. And this represented getting sin out of our lives and replacing it with Jesus Christ, the bread of life. Jesus is not only the Passover Lamb of God, but he is also the first of the firstfruits as pictured by that ancient wave-sheaf ceremony. Let's go. This is our final scripture today, Romans 5 and verse 10. I would like you to turn here, because I don't want any confusion. Romans chapter 5 and verse 10.

Again, Jesus is not only the Passover Lamb of God, but he is also the first of the firstfruits as pictured by that ancient wave-sheaf offering. Paul wrote in Romans chapter 5 and verse 10, For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, that's his Son being our Passover, the Lamb of God, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. You see, if Jesus hadn't come out of that grave, if he hadn't been accepted to the Father as the ultimate wave-sheaf offering, yes, through his death we would have been reconciled. We would have been very righteous corpses for all eternity. But what good is that? As Paul says, we shall be saved by his life. There's a harvest occurring. It began with the first of the firstfruits, Jesus Christ himself. For the next seven weeks, rather than allowing an emotional or mental void between this festival and the day of Pentecost, let's remember it was a seven-week long harvest season. It was originally intended to be a season of rejoicing. As Jesus said, and we read earlier, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray that the Lord and the harvest send out laborers into his harvest. This entire harvest is consecrated. It has been since 31 A.D. because the righteous first of the firstfruits has risen, and he sanctifies the rest of that early spiritual harvest. Finally, let's use the next seven weeks to continue on our road of spiritual renewal and personal growth. If we discovered some things in ourselves, we need to change. The ending to the day doesn't mean, I'm glad I got that behind me. Now I can go back to be the same sinful self I always was. That's not the idea of the Holy Day. If we've seen during this period of time there are things that we need to change about ourselves, then let's continue doing that. Behavioral scientists tell us that a valuable new habit can be established for 30 days. Pretty well if you do something consistently for 30 days, you create enough near connections from your brain, almost like a cord with many threads all corded together, and after 30 days you're pretty well going to do that. As a matter of fact, after 30 days if you don't do it for a day you'll feel weird, like something's missing. That's how strong habits are. And they also say a bad habit if it can be broken or avoided for 30 whole days, that you pretty well have broke that pattern and you can go on the bigger and better things. We are Christ's spiritual brothers and sisters and we need to become more like Him in every way. So let's be on today, let's continue to celebrate this season of rejoicing. Rejoicing the fact that God called us and He's given us the gift of His Holy Spirit. And we are laborers, each and every one of us, called to be part of that continuing spiritual harvest. Let's believe that God is going to have a big spiritual harvest before Jesus Christ returns. Let's accept that, let's believe that, let's have faith in that, let's act that way and believe the Gospel and believe what Jesus said about the fields being white and ready to be harvested. I hope and pray that we can all view the next number of weeks until Pentecost with maybe a little different viewpoint than we've had in the past. Reflect on what Jesus Christ has done in your life, how He expects us to serve Him and His serve, and of course serve His church today. Commit yourself to be the one Christ spoke about in John chapter 4 that we read earlier. He said, He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life. Let's be that kind of laborer. I wish all of you a wonderful Holy Day.