While all of the coincidences pertaining to the crucifixion of Yeshua and the patterns found in the Passover rituals are quite amazing, none of it would have meant a thing if it were not for what happened three days later. The world would never have noticed if the story ended with the burial of a Jewish rabbi from the Galil in a tomb in Jerusalem. Only His most intimate family and friends would have given it much thought. As to the Jewish public in general, they had seen self-proclaimed messiahs come and go and would, no doubt, see more of them in the future. Somehow, those messiahs never seemed to pan out, and life went on as usual under the heel of the Romans.
      But this story did not end in that tomb. Rather, the gospels testify to a pivotal event in human history; when a man died, was buried and three days later rose up from His death sleep and appeared to many alive and well. Even more amazing was the fact that it was done according to a plan that was laid down by God Himself, a millennium and one-half before the event took place. The story is told in the rich hidden meanings of the Festivals of God. The resurrection and acceptance of Yeshua HaMashiach by His Father in heaven, were all played out in rehearsals year after year after year.
      This part of the story also begins back during the time of the Exodus. In Leviticus, chapter 23, God gave instructions concerning all of the festivals that the children of Israel were required to celebrate. Each festival and each ceremony contained a message about the great plan that God had devised to redeem fallen man. We have just seen the awesome symbolism that was hidden in the Passover sacrifice and the First Day of Unleavened Bread. For those who could not see, it was merely a reminder of the Egyptian experience of the forefathers of Israel. But to those with eyes to see and ears to hear, it was a grand prophecy about the redemption to be brought by the Mashiach, the Anointed One of God.

~ The Wave Sheaf Offering ~

      God commanded that a curiously unique ceremony be performed during the Days of Unleavened Bread once the children of Israel had come into the promised land. Many Believers have ignored this ceremony because it does not fall on a Holyday, and is seldom discussed in sermons. The ceremony is called the Wave Sheaf Offering. In is also know as Yom HaBikkurim (Yohm Hah-Beek-kooreem = Day of Firstfruits) and it begins a fifty day period called Sfiraf HaOmer (Sfee-raht Hah-Oh-mehr’ = The Counting of the Sheaf).

      “And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, ‘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 print. 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, 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. Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. 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 your dwellings.”’”
(Lev. 23:9-14)

      Just what constituted the Wave Sheaf Offering? A casual reading of the scriptures would seem to indicate that each farmer would cut a sheaf of grain, take it to the Temple, and the Priest would somehow wave it around in a ceremony, but that was not the way it was practiced. This is a prime example of where the Scriptures do not tell the entire story, rather only the essence of the ceremony is given as a directive of when and how it was to be done. The details of the manner in which this ceremony was to be performed must have been handed down through the oral traditions of the Priesthood from generation to generation.

* Disputed Day *

      First of all, there was an argument about when this ceremony was to be performed. The Saducees (the Priests and Levites) said that the Wave Sheaf ceremony was to be performed on the day following the weekly Sabbath that fell during the Days of Unleavened Bread. This would always place the Wave Sheaf Offering on the first day of the week. Meanwhile, the Pharisees said that the Wave Sheaf ceremony was to be performed on the day following the First Day of Unleavened Bread. They considered that day to be the Sabbath which was intended in verse 11. This would mean the Wave Sheaf Offering would always be held on Nisan 16.
      The controversy would not have been too serious except for the fact that the Wave Sheaf Offering becomes the basis for determining when the next Festival, Shavu’ot (Shaw-voo’oat’ = Pentecost) would fall. If one counts from the day following the weekly Sabbath, it causes Shavu’ot to always fall on a Sunday, fifty days later. If one counts from Nisan 16 it causes Shavu’ot to always fall on Sivan 6. An alternate method for counting from the day after the Sabbath brings some to a Pentecost celebration on a Monday.
      This is another of those scriptural stalemates. It is the firmly held opinion of this writer that the Saducees were correct in this case. They were the Priests and Levites and they knew what the ancient practice had been since at least the time of Ezra. More importantly, the Hebrew word Shabbat (Shah-baht) is only used for the weekly Sabbath. Another word, Shabbaton (Shah-bah-tone’) is used in the three cases where Holydays are referred to by the English word Sabbath.* All of the other references to Holydays are indicated by the Hebrew words: Chag (khag = festival), chagag (khah-gahg = to dance), moed (mow-ehd = appointed time) or Kodesh Mikrah (Koh-dehsh Meek-rah = Holy Convocation). [ *It is interesting to note that the Greek New Testament scriptures always use the transliterated Hebrew word Shabbaton,” which means a high day or Holyday. In turn, this Greek word has always been translated into English as ‘Sabbath.’ This makes for a less precise rendering of the word Sabbath’ in the Greek New Testament as it can mean either the weekly Sabbath or a Holyday. One must make the determination by the context of the passage in question. However, in Hebrew the word Shabbat always means the weekly Sabbath, while the word Shabbaton always means a high Holyday.]

      A further point involves the need to count the days to arrive at Shavu’ot. If God had intended Shavu’ot to always fall on Sivan 6 it seems that He would have named the day (Sivan 6) as He did with all of the ocher Holydays. By using the weekly Sabbath as the reference point it becomes absolutely necessary to count the days, since Shavu’ot can fall anytime from Sivan 6 to Sivan 12, but always on a Sunday.
      Once again, we must learn to accept the heart felt opinions of other brethren on this non-salvational is sue. After all, this controversy is well over two thousand years old and it has never been resolved. May the Messiah come quickly and lead us into all truth.

~ Timelines ~

      Before proceeding it is important to establish, what this writer believes to be the timelines involved in the events of the crucifixion/resurrection week. It was mentioned in the last article that Yeshua made His entry into Jerusalem on Nisan 10 as the perfect Passover Lamb. It is this writer’s firmly held belief that Nisan 10 was a Sabbath day that year. On Nisan 11-13 Yeshua spent His days at the Temple and His nights at Bethany, about two miles away. Nisan 13 brings us to the third day of the week (Tuesday), which is the day the disciples went to prepare for the Passover Seder. After sundown on Tuesday (it now being Nisan 14) Yeshua went, with the twelve to the upper room for the Seder. In all probability there were more people present than just Yeshua and the twelve. For one thing, Yeshua’s mother was in town. It would have been unthinkable for Him to hold a Passover Seder without inviting His widowed mother. In fact, it was not considered proper to hold a Passover Seder with just men, for women and children were supposed to be an integral part of the entire Passover experience. Parts of the Seder required the participation of children, for example, the asking of the four Questions. The only part women were excluded from was the actual slaying of the Passover lamb since they were not allowed to go into the Court of Israel. However, even the women and children could watch that event by standing in the balcony of the Court of the Women where they could see into the Court of Israel.
      If the Last Supper was held on Tuesday night, then Yeshua was crucified on Wednesday, Nisan 14, the same day the Passover lambs were slain at the Temple. By Wednesday night, when the Jews were sitting down to their Passover Seder meals, Yeshua was asleep in the grave. For three full days and three full nights He would remain there as a silent witness to the sinfulness of mankind.

      “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered saying, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.’
      “But He answered and said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’”
(Matt. 12:38-40)

      “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
(Jonah 1:17)

* Cutting the Wave Sheaf *

      Yeshua was laid in the tomb just prior to sunset on Wednesday. Three days and three nights later brings us to sunset at the end of the weekly Sabbath. Was there any important Festival ritual taking place at that precise time?
      YES! The Wave Sheaf was being cut. What does the Wave Sheaf represent?

      ”...the firstfruits of your harvest...”
(Lev. 23:10)

      “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of tho6e who have fallen asleep.”
(I Cor. 15:20)

      What wonderful rehearsals God has prepared for those that are able to hear them. Here is the First of the Firstfruits rising up out of His grave at the exact moment in time that the Wave Sheaf is being cut free from the earth.
      Alfred Edersheim was a Messianic Jew who lived during the nineteenth century. He wrote a book entitled The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. This work is considered a classic, because Edersheim knew well the history and customs of the Jewish people. He was one of the first men to bring the knowledge of our Hebrew Roots to the attention of the general Christian public. The following passage, concerning the cutting of the Wave Sheaf, is quoted from this book. Edersheim follows the custom of the Pharisees and places the cutting of the Wave Sheaf at the end of the first Holyday, the First Day of Unleavened Bread on Nisan 15. However, the principles involving Sabbath (holy time) are just as pertinent to the end of the weekly Sabbath as they would be to the end of a Holyday Sabbath.

      “It was probably about the same time, that a noisy throng prepared to follow delegates from the Sanhedrin to the ceremony of cutting the Passover-sheaf. ... This Passover-sheaf was reaped in public the evening before it was offered, and it was to witness this ceremony that the crowd had gathered around the elders. Already on the 14th Nisan the spot whence the first sheaf was to be reaped had been marked out, by tying together in bundles, while still standing, the barley that was to be cut down, according to custom, in the sheltered Ashes-Valley across Kidron. When the time for cutting the sheaf had arrived--that is, on the evening of the 15th Nisan (in our scenario it would be 17th Nisan), even though it were a Sabbath, just as the sun went down, three men, each with a sickle and basket, set to work. Clearly to bring out what was distinctive in the ceremony, they first asked of the bystanders three times each of these questions: ‘Has the sun gone down?’ ‘With this sickle?’ ‘Into this basket?’ ‘On this Sabbath?’ and lastly, ‘Shall I reap?’ Having each time been answered in the affirmative, they cut down barley to the amount of one ephah, ...“ (Vol. 2; Book IV, p. 619; underlining and parentheses added).

      Some explanation is necessary. All of the questions had to be answered in the affirmative. One of the questions is, “Has the sun gone down?” The answer is yes. Another question, “On this Sabbath?” The answer is yes. How can this be?
      The answer lies in an understanding of when the Sabbath day begins and when it ends. Today the Sabbath begins eighteen minutes before sundown when the Sabbath candles are lit to welcome the Sabbath day, known as the Bride or Queen Sabbath. In ancient practice the candles were lit just before the sun went down. Neither does the Sabbath day end precisely at sunset the following evening. In fact Sabbath does not end until a ceremony called Havdalah (Hahv-dah-lah’) is performed, and Havdalah cannot even begin until three stars are visible. It may be as much as an hour after sunset before three stars are visible in the night time sky, especially when the moon is hill. So, to the Hebrew, it can easily be well after sundown and still be the Sabbath day.* [ *It is often very difficult to determine exactly when the sun goes down. For example, buildings, trees, hills or clouds may block the clear view. However, one always knows when it is almost sundown just by looking outside, so the candles can be lit at an appropriate time, thus beginning the Sabbath day while it is still light outside. Likewise, not ending Shabbat until it is dark enough for three stars to be visible (whether there is cloud cover or not) is also quite easy to determine. God did not make this a complicated process that required a computer, or the daily newspaper and a wristwatch. The process is made easy for real people living in a real world.]

      Another question that has bothered some people is how the Priests could do this type of work while it was still the Sabbath day. The answer again is quite simple. This is the work of the Temple and it is perfectly legal that Temple service be performed on every Sabbath day. Yeshua pointed this out when He said:

      “‘Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?’”
(Matt. 12:5)

      It was perfectly legal, in fact commanded, that the Wave Sheaf be cut at the end of the Sabbath day because this was the precise time that the Messiah would rise up out of His grave and be cut free from the earth.

* Gospel Confirmation *

      But some will ask; “Do not the gospels say that Yeshua rose from the grave on the first day of the week?”
      No, they do not. What they say is that the tomb was found empty on the first day of the week, Yeshua having already departed from it. The problem lies in the way in which a key verse has been translated into the English language.

      “Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.”
(Matt. 28:1)

      The verse above is quoted from the New King James Version (NKJV). Other translations are similar. It appears to indicate that the two Mary’s (Miriam in Hebrew), went to the tomb on Sunday morning, at dawn, and found it empty. This is not what the verse actually says. First of all the word “day” is an added word. This is clear because it is in italics.
      A more literal translation can be found in the Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, by George Ricker Berry.

      “Now late on Sabbath, as it was getting dusk toward (the) first (day) of (the) week, came Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.”
(Matt. 28:1)

      YES! It was late on the Sabbath day when the two Mary’s came to the tomb and it was already empty. But can this be proven? YES! The key Greek word is; epiphosko (Strong’s #2020). It means; “to grow light, to dawn, to draw on.” This would seem to indicate a morning sunrise. However look at the only other place where this word is used:

      “The day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.”
(Luke 23:54)

      The two English words “drew near are rendered from this same Greek word epiphosko. Since the Sabbath day always begins at sunset, it is impossible for anyone to say this meant ‘morning dawn’ as we understand that word. No, just as the Sabbath ‘drew near’ in Luke 23:54, SO the first day of the week ‘drew near’ in Matt. 28:1. This is confirmed in another verse that records what was likely the same visit.

      “On the first (day [note added word]) of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.”
(John 20:1)

      It was not Sunday morning, it was still dark! It was what we would call Saturday night. The sun had already set and it was the very beginning hours of the new day and the new week, possibly about 8 or 9 p.m.

* Other Visits *

      It is quite true that the other two gospel accounts show a Sunday morning visit by a group of women. This cannot be denied, but this was a totally different visit than the one that took place on Saturday night by the two Mary’s, or possibly a separate visit by Mary Magdalene alone.
      It needs to be understood that the four Gospel accounts do not all speak of the same visit to the tomb of Yeshua. At least two, and possibly three different visits are recounted for us. The account in Matthew. is probably a very condensed version of two different visits. This technique is not unusual in Hebrew writing, and most scholars now agree that the original gospel accounts were probably written in either Hebrew or Aramaic, not in Greek. The Greek manuscripts that are used to translate the New Testament today are all translations themselves, so we are reading a translation of a translation. No wonder it gets confusing.
      It is this writer’s opinion that Yeshua HaMashiach was resurrected and walked out of His tomb on late Sabbath, probably just after the sun had set but before the three stars appeared. This occurred just as the Priests were putting the sickle to the barley in the cutting of the Wave Sheaf ceremony, and it was still considered to be Shabbat. This was also the exact instant when the earthquake took place which rolled the stone away from the entrance to the tomb, not so that Yeshua could exit, but so that the disciples and others could enter and see that He had risen from the dead.

~ Preparing the Offering ~

      Once the barley sheaf had been cut, it was necessary for it to be properly prepared for the offering which was to be made the next morning. During the night the newly cut grain went through a very demanding process. The grain was brought into the courtyard of the Temple. There it was thrashed with canes so that the grain would not be injured. Then it was put into a pan with small holes and ‘parched’ by passing it over a fire. Every piece of grain had to be touched by the fire. Then it was ground into meal and sifted through thirteen sieves, so that the resulting flour became very fine. It was said that one of the Gizbarim (Geetz-bahreem = treasurers) would plunge his hand into the flour. When his hand came out without any flour adhering to it, the offering was considered to be ready.

* The Offering Ceremony *

      The Wave Sheaf Offering was performed the morning following the cutting of the barley sheaf (on the first day of the week) during the morning Temple service.
      A tenth part of the flour was taken for the Wave Sheaf Offering. This amounted to an omer, (about five pints) that being a tenth part of the ephah that had been cut. It was prepared like any other Meal offering. Oil (a log = about three-fourths of a pint) and a handful of frankincense were poured over the flour. It was then ‘waved’ before YHVH, and a handful was taken and burned on the altar. The remainder of the offering was eaten by the Priests.

      According to the Jewish Encydopedia, the ‘waving’ was done as follows:

      “The offering was placed on the extended hands of the priest, who moved them backward and forward (to counteract the effects of injurious winds) and then upward and downward (to counteract the effects of injurious dews). As soon as the omer ceremony was completed the people of Jerusalem were permitted to eat of the newly harvested grain; people of towns far from Jerusalem might not do so until after noon, when it was certain that the ceremony at Jerusalem had been concluded.” (Vol. IX, p. 399).

      It was considered to be one of the most important ceremonies of the entire year. Some felt it was a repayment to God for the manna that their fathers had eaten in the wilderness. The Jewish Encyclopedia continues:

      “The virtue of the omer was so great that, according to the Rabbis, on its account God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham. The omer made peace between husband and wife, that is, the meal offering of jealousy did, which consisted of the tenth part of an ephah of barleymeal (cp. Num. v. 15). It was the omer that rescued the Israelites from the Midianites in the time of Gideon, from the Assyrians in the time of Hezekiah, from the Babylonians in the time of Ezekiel, and from the Amalekites in the time of Haman, these conclusions being inferred by the Rabbis from the word ‘barley’ mentioned in connection with each of these events.” (Vol. IX, p. 399).

      Once the Wave Sheaf Offering had been accepted by God, the general barley harvest could begin. About the time the barley harvest was completed the wheat harvest began, and when the wheat harvest ended the early fruit harvest began. All of three of these harvests met at the Festival of Shavu’ot, The Feast of Firstfruits. The fruit harvest then continued until the end of the yearly festival season which culminated in Succoth (The Feast of Tabernacles).

~ Meanwhile Back At the Tomb ~

      The sun had set and Havdalah* had been completed. Mary Magdalene (and possibly the other Mary) decided that she (they) wanted to visit the tomb where the body of Yeshua had been laid. By this time (about eight p.m.) the still nearly full moon was corning up, so that it was possible to see along the path to the tomb. Arriving at the tomb, she found it empty.
      [*Havdalah is an ancient ceremony that marks the end of the Sabbath. It involves lighting a multi-wick candle, and passing around a container of sweet smelling spices so that everyone can remember the sweetness of Shabbat. Then a cup placed in a saucer is filled to overflowing with wine. A Brachah is said, the wine is sampled and then the candle is extinguished in the wine that has spilled into the saucer. At this point the room is in complete darkness. Each person has a small candle. A single candle is lit, which is then used to light the next candle, and the next and so on until all the candles in the room are lit. This is what took place when the apostle Paul was visiting Troas:
      “Now on the first (day [note added word]) of the week, when the disciples came together so break bread, Paul, ready to do. part the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together.’ (Acts 20:7-8)

      The Hebrew idiom ‘there were many lamps’ plainly signifies that this was a Saturday night and they had celebrated Havdalah after the meal which ended Shabbat.]

      “On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.”
(John 20:1)

      “Now late on Sabbath, as it was getting dusk toward (the) first (day) of (the) week, came Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.”
(Matt. 28:1, Interlinear, Greek-English New Testament, literal translation).

      She (they?) went back and fetched Peter and John. If the other Mary had accompanied Mary Magdalene on the first trip, she apparently did not return to the tomb. Peter and John saw the empty tomb and left, not knowing what to think.

      “But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
      “Then they said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.’
      “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?’ She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, ‘Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.’
      “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ she turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say Teacher).
      “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.”’
      “Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.”
(John 20:11-18)

      They did not believe her.

~ Acceptance ~

      It was Saturday night and Yeshua had already been cut free from the earth. However, He had not yet gone to His Father in heaven for acceptance, for it was not yet time for the Wave Sheaf to be offered at the Temple. Once again, the symbolism and timing is astounding. Only the great Creator God could have orchestrated this event to correspond exactly with the Festival rehearsals that He had initiated so many centuries ago.
      An extremely interesting parallel is found in the Temple service which is recalled by the words Yeshua spoke to Mary in the garden. The King James Version renders verse 17 as follows:

      “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father...”
(John 20:17)

      A Priest could not go on duty at the Temple unless he was ritually clean. This was accomplished by each Priest being immersed (baptized) in a specially constructed Mikvah (Meek-vah) or immersion pool prior to going on duty for that day. When sacrifices were offered, part of the ritual usually involved the casting or sprinkling of blood on the altar. The Priest would catch the blood in a silver basin that was pointed on the bottom so that it could not be set down without the contents spilling out, for the blood had to be cast on the altar before it coagulated. During the time between when the Priest caught the blood and it was cast on the altar, the Priest was not allowed to be touched by another person. For if that other person were in some way ritually unclean, it would render the Priest, and therefore the blood of the sacrifice, also ritually unclean and thereby invalidate the sacrifice. Thus, if anyone came near the Priest while he was making his way to the altar he would say to them something like; “Do not touch me for I have not yet ascended to the altar.”
      Yeshua had not yet ascended to the altar in heaven to be accepted by the Father. It was for this reason that He used words similar to those of the Priest on his way to the altar. The blood of the perfect sacrifice needed to be brought to the Tabernacle in Heaven for acceptance as the First of the Firstfruits.
      Just as the Wave Sheaf was offered in the Temple during the morning service on the first day of the week during the Days of Unleavened Bread, so Yeshua offered Himself before the Father in the heavenly Tabernacle at the very same time. Once Yeshua’s offering had been accepted, He could be touched and handled.

      “Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, ‘Peace be unto you. (Shalom Aleichem)
      “But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.
      “And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.’”
(Luke 24:36-39)

      This occurred later the same day. By afternoon Yeshua had been accepted by the Father as the perfect sacrifice to remove all the sins of the world, and He was now back on earth and willing to be touched and handled.

* When Did Yeshua Spend The Night? *

      When first hearing this scenario, some have asked; “Where did Yeshua spend the night between the time He was resurrected and the formal acceptance in heaven the next morning?”
      There is a rather obscure scripture found in the first epistle of the apostle Peter.

      “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the lust for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water.”
(I Peter 3:18-19)

      A common Christian teaching is that while He was in the tomb, Christ went and preached to the fallen spirits who were in prison.
      This is a subject that cannot be given full attention in this article, however, let it be said that it is the opinion of this writer that this event took place during the night after Yeshua was resurrected, but before He went to be accepted by the Father. It could not have occurred while He was dead for:

“...the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward,
For the memory of them is forgotten.”
(Eccl. 9:5)

* The Firstfruits *

      Because Yeshua was the perfect sinless lamb without blemish, His sacrificial offering as the ‘First of the Firstfruits’ was accepted by God the Father.

      “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean dean, sanctities for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself with. out spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
      “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by men of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
(Heb. 9:11-15)

      “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
(Heb. 10:12-14)

      Now the harvest of the rest of the barley crop could begin, closely followed by the wheat harvest. The harvesting of these two grains were completed by Shavu’ot, the Festival of Pentecost. These early grain harvests represent the early harvest of Believers who are to be a part of the first resurrection. The greater harvest symbolized by Succoth comes at a later time when the second resurrection takes place.

      “And I saw thrones and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”
(Rev. 20:4-5)

~ Summary ~

      It is the fervent hope of this writer that the information contained in this article will provide a depth of understanding to the Believer that has not previously been available. If, by chance, the reader does not fully agree with the timelines set forth herein, please do not reject the great truths that the ancient ceremonies pictured, for God has given all of us limited understanding at this time.

      “For now we see through a glass, darkly but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
(I Cor. 13:12 KJV)

      The reason for this cloudiness of understanding is twofold; (1) So that each Believer will “Study to show thyself approved unto God...” (II Tim. 2:15a) to the best of their individual abilities. (2) To see if people will still love one another and accept one another as brethren in the body of Messiah even when they strongly disagree in detail.
      The tendency of carnal human nature is to write off another person when they do not agree with one s firmly held beliefs. However, we are told two very important things along this line:

      “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.”
(Rom. 14:1)

      “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”
(Rom. 12:18)

      It is very important that we do not let our own view of times and places obscure the wonderful mosaic that God has created for us through the Festival of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. When one considers how each detail in this festival was played out in its full significance through the life, death and resurrection of Yeshua, we can only stand in complete awe.

            DEW

~ Sources ~

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Goodman, Philip, The Passover Anthology, The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia/Jerusalem, 1993.
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