Here in the early spring, God commanded two festivals that teach us about His plan for mankind.

The first festival consists of the Passover—the same day on which Jesus Christ was put to death as a sacrifice for our sins.

The second festival immediately follows; the Days of Unleavened Bread which demonstrates Jesus Christ’s role in removing sin from our lives. It reminds us by using the symbols of leaven and bread to illustrate sin and our mortal bodies and how we must take an active part to keep sin out of our lives and be a new person. (1 Corinthians 5:7) Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:

We generally understand that Jesus Christ died and was placed in a tomb just before sundown (Luke 23:50-56)—immediately before the beginning of the annual “high day” (John 19:31) which begins the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Three days and three nights later—near sundown on the afternoon of the weekly Sabbath (Saturday)—Jesus was resurrected. His resurrection actually occurred near or at sunset the as the weekly Sabbath day was ending.

The next day—on the first day of the week (Sunday)—He appeared to just before He ascended to the throne of the Father in heaven.

That morning Jesus ascended to the Father to be accepted formally as the first to be raised from the dead in God’s spiritual harvest of humanity. In doing so He opened the way for all of us to have the opportunity for eternal life.

(John 20:1 NIV)  "Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance."

Before sunrise came that Sunday morning, Jesus had already been resurrected!

(John 20:2 NIV)  "So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!""

(John 20:3 NIV)  "So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb."

(John 20:4 NIV)  "Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first."

(John 20:5 NIV)  "He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in."

(John 20:6 NIV)  "Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,"

(John 20:7 NIV)  "as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen."

(John 20:8 NIV)  "Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed."

(John 20:9 NIV)  "(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)"

(John 20:10 NIV)  "Then the disciples went back to their homes,"

(John 20:11 NIV)  "but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb"

(John 20:12 NIV)  "and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot."

(John 20:13 NIV)  "They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him.""

(John 20:14 NIV)  "At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus."

(John 20:15 NIV)  ""Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.""

(John 20:16 NIV)  "Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher)."

(John 20:17 NIV)  "Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'""

At the very time Jesus was ascending to the Father in Heaven a unique ceremony, called the wavesheaf offering, was also being carried out in the temple. It was a ceremony that God had instituted when the children of Israel were dwelling in the wilderness.

The explicit purpose of the wavesheaf offering was to symbolize the importance of our savior Jesus Christ’s presentation of Himself to the Father.

The wavesheaf offering was being carried out at the exact same time, on the exact same day that Jesus Christ was being accepted in heaven as the first of the “firstfruits”. Jesus was the first human being to be resurrected from the death to eternal spiritual life.

Occurring just one day each year, the wavesheaf offering is not designated to be a holy day by God. It only occurs once a year; during the feast of Unleavened Bread.

The meaning of the wavesheaf ceremony is essential to everyone’s salvation.

The wavesheaf offering is important because it memorializes the most significant spiritual event that has yet taken place on earth: the resurrection and ascension of our Savior Jesus Christ to heaven!

The festivals of God are kept during the agricultural harvests in the spring and fall. In the New Testament, these agricultural harvests become representative of God's spiritual harvests of souls into His Kingdom.

In the Levitical ceremony the priest would take a sheaf of the early barley harvest, cut it, and waved it before God for God’s acceptance. Only then could the spring harvest season begin. In like manner, Jesus Christ had to be “harvested” first and be accepted by God the Father before the rest of mankind could be harvested.

Let us examine Leviticus 23 where we find the scriptures summarizing God's holy days and festivals and dig deeper into the ceremony and meaning.

 (Leviticus 23:4 NIV) ‘'These are the Lord's appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times:"

(Leviticus 23:5 NIV)  "The Lord's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month."

(Leviticus 23:6 NIV)  "On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord's Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast."

(Leviticus 23:7 NIV)  "On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work."

(Leviticus 23:8 NIV)  "For seven days present an offering made to the LORD by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.'""

(Leviticus 23:9 NIV)  "The LORD said to Moses,"

(Leviticus 23:10 NIV)  ""Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest." This passage describes the same offering that was being waved before God in the Jewish temple at the same hour on the same Sunday that Jesus ascended to the Father. Christ’s presentation of Himself to the Father as the real “wave sheaf” that had been planned long before as a vital aspect of God’s plan of salvation.

(Leviticus 23:11 NIV)  "He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath." The phrase “on your behalf” is unusual in regard to what the wave-sheaf offering symbolized when it was lifted up and waved before God by Israel’s high priest. It represented Jesus Christ, offered up on our behalf.

The Father accepted Jesus as our perfect Sacrifice, declaring Him “the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). As our resurrected High Priest, He ascended to the Father to present Himself on our behalf, the perfect and unblemished Sacrifice for our sins.

The particular “day after the Sabbath” referred to here is the Sunday that fell during the Days of Unleavened Bread and can even be the first day of unleavened bread.

(Leviticus 23:12 NIV)  "On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect,"

That burnt offering was a complete offering, body and blood, everything offered. We have a connection to Jesus Christ and his death.

(1 Peter1:18-19 NIV)  For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

(1 Peter1:20 NIV)  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. (We could say on our behalf)

(1 Peter1:21 NIV)  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

(Ephesians 1:7 NIV)  "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace"

(Romans 4:25 NIV)  "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification."

Those that are Christ’s are justified; they are judged innocent of their sins and made free.

Imagine you committed a crime and you were unquestionably guilty of that crime with lots of evidence available to convict you of that crime. You have the expectation to serve time in prison or even be subject to the death penalty. You then find out that someone else confessed for the crime and took the penalty you were subject to.

You know you committed the crime but you are judged innocent, set free and the other person who confessed to your crime continues to say you were blameless.

There is an age-less purpose in God's plan that stated the Savior of all mankind would be resurrected. It is the life of Jesus Christ which allows us to be saved.

(Romans 5:10 NIV)  "For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled (our fragmented law breaking lives came to peace, harmony and agreement) to God the father through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, (brought to a life full of peace, harmony and agreement) shall we be saved through his life!"

(Romans 5:17 NIV)  "For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace (unmerited pardon and favor) and of the gift of righteousness (acting in harmony with divine and moral law) reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ."

(Romans 5:18 NIV)  "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness (acting in harmony with divine and moral law) was justification (being judged innocent) that brings life for all men."

(Leviticus 23:13 NIV)  "together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil--an offering made to the LORD by fire, a pleasing aroma--and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine."

There was also the meal offering with connections to bread; Jesus being the bread of life. (John 6:35 NIV)  "Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

The drink offering connects to the wine at Passover and the blood of Jesus.

(Leviticus 23:14 NIV)  "You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live."

This official acceptance of Jesus Christ as the first sheaf of the harvest, as the Captain or Author of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10), was necessary before the rest of the spiritual harvest could begin, just as in the physical parallel.

The wavesheaf consisted of an two-tenths of an ephah of barley, still on the stalk, cut at the beginning of the spring harvest. An two-tenths of an ephah is a dry weight measure of just over a half gallon, 2.2 liters.

All of the symbolism of the physical wave-sheaf offering was fulfilled in reality by Jesus “that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).

This sheaf of the first fruits has a connection and represents the firstborn.

(Colossians 1:10 NIV)  "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,"

(Colossians 1:11 NIV)  "being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully"

(Colossians 1:12 NIV)  "giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."

(Colossians 1:13 NIV)  "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,"

(Colossians 1:14 NIV)  "in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

(Colossians 1:15 NIV)  "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation."

First fruits are holy to God. Israel understood the first fruits belonged to God.

(James 1:18 NIV)  "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."

It is interesting a sheaf in the Bible can be representative of a person.

There is a spiritual connection to a sheaf in the story of Joseph and the dream he had in Genesis 37.

(Genesis 37:5 NIV)  "Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more."

(Genesis 37:6 NIV)  "He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had:"

(Genesis 37:7 NIV)  "We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.""

(Genesis 37:8 NIV)  "His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said."

We see there is a connection in that story of Joseph and his dream; one sheaf represented Joseph like the wavesheaf represented Jesus. The other sheaves represented his older brothers who were responsible for Joseph ending up in the sin of Egypt.

Joseph would become a type of savior for mankind, saving his family and the known world from staving during the famine. He saved the then known world from a devastating death from starvation.

The time came for Joseph to reveal himself to his brothers and provide a reassuring reason and forgiveness for their actions.

(Genesis 45:3 NIV)  "Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still living?" But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence."

(Genesis 45:4 NIV)  "Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt!"

(Genesis 45:5 NIV)  "And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you."

(Genesis 45:6 NIV)  "For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping."

(Genesis 45:7 NIV)  "But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance."

The wave sheaf is representative of Jesus Christ. There are connections to the firstborn and to people as sheaves. But most specifically, this single sheaf not only represents Jesus Christ, but more importantly the ceremony and offering were fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

Like Joseph in Egypt who was sent there years ahead of his family to save them;

God sent Jesus ahead of us to preserve us as a remnant on earth and to save our lives by a great deliverance too!

If we turn over to 1 Corinthians 15, we can see this connection to this firstfruit, the wave sheaf and Jesus Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians 15:20. 

(1 Corinthians 15:20 NIV)  "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."

(1 Corinthians 15:21 NIV)  "For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man."

(1 Corinthians 15:22 NIV)  "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."

(1 Corinthians 15:23 NIV)  "But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him."

We see finally see in the last portions of scripture in Leviticus 23 about the wavesheaf a requirement to count of time. We see a connection to the Feast of Weeks also known as Pentecost which was the beginning of the New Testament church when God’s spirit began to be poured out. There was a symbolic offering of new grain to God which spiritually was the fresh converted lives of those saved by Jesus Christ’s life.

(Leviticus 23:15 NIV)  ""'From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks."

(Leviticus 23:16 NIV)  "Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD."

The Sunday on which the wave-sheaf offering was made is the day on which a count of seven full weeks is to begin. This count of 50 days brings us to another biblical festival, this one in late spring—the feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), which means “fiftieth” in the Greek language. One of the Hebrew names for this festival means the Feast of Weeks because it occurs after a full count of seven weeks, at the time when “the firstfruits of wheat harvest” gets fully underway (Exodus 34:22).

His people that are called by God will be in that early harvest. His people that are called by God are responsive to God. His people that are called by God have been given His Holy Spirit and will follow in this first harvest, but it could not happen before Jesus assented to heaven.

We have the opportunity to be the first to seek first the Kingdom of God. That’s a wonderful honor. But it’s also a big huge responsibility. It takes action on our part.

We must be people of integrity.

We must be people of our word.

We must be people that represent the highest moral standards.

We have the responsibility when we are called and converted to be the first ones to come out of this world.

We must be the first not to compromise, not to give in.

We are to maintain with love, especially that first love of the truth so that we not only know the truth, but we live the truth, and we exercise and practice the truth.

We are the first to do battle against human nature like Jesus Christ.

We are the ones following in His footsteps and His examples.

SUMMARY    Jesus Christ was crucified.

Three days and three nights later—near sundown on the afternoon of the weekly Sabbath (Saturday)—Jesus was resurrected.

The next day—on the on the day after the Sabbath,  the first day of the week (Sunday)

He appeared to Mary just before He ascended to the throne of the Father in heaven. (John 20:17 NIV)  "Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'""

Soon after this conversation with Mary, Jesus ascended to the Father in Heaven.

He was placed on his throne in heaven while the wavesheaf ceremony was being observed by the Jews at the temple in Jerusalem.

Jesus Christ represented that sheaf of grain being waved and offered to God.

The priest would wave the sheaf before the LORD so it would be accepted on behalf of Israel.

The revealed -purpose was to symbolize the Christ’s presentation of Himself to the Father in heaven.

All of the symbolism of the physical wave-sheaf offering was fulfilled in reality by Jesus “that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” 

It is clearly stated in (1 Corinthians 6:14 NIV) "By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also."