This is a study of the dates mentioned in the Bible and whether they have any prophetic significance for today.

 

 

The Wave Sheaf

About forty years before the Israelites entered the promised land to reap their first harvest, they were given a ritual which is recorded in Leviticus 23:9-11.

Leviticus 23

9   And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

10   Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

11   And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

The Sabbath mentioned is the weekly Sabbath occurring during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Galatians 3:24 states that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. In this case 'the law' means the rituals of the Levitical priesthood.

Christ said not one title of the law would pass away until all things prophesied about him were fulfilled.

We will find that in this case the schoolmaster's teaching was prophesy, in fact prophesy, while fulfilled by Jesus, might not yet be fully fulfilled.

The wave sheaf of firstfruits was waved toward heaven to symbolize a presentation to God for its acceptance. This is explained in  Paul's Passover letter. Paul is explaining the meaning of Passover and the Days of Unleavened bread.

1 Corinthians 15

20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

Christ is the first to be resurrected, the rest of us at a later time. Fifty days after the wave sheaf offering came Pentecost.

 

Leviticus 23

15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.

19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
 

Here are two loaves which were prepared with leaven. At Pentecost these loaves were Waved toward the heavens to be presented to God for his acceptance.

The loves were made from wheat. Wheat represents Christians. Leaven represents sin.

The wave sheaf represented Christ.

The two loves represent the Christians in the first resurrection.

The fulfillment of the wave sheaf ritual came to pass and is recorded in John 20.

John 20

1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. (We would call this Monday morning. Why? On a Moses solar calendar the day starts at High Noon. So Monday actually starts at noon on what we call Sunday. And since it was dark that leads to what we call Monday morning. Have you noticed that many businesses work a half a day on Saturday and on Sunday afternoon, after church, people like to engage in some recreational activity? That is because, by nature we are trying to keep the real Sabbath. The Sabbath of the Jews is Friday sunset to sunset. The Sabbath of the Judeo-Christian churches is Saturday midnight to Sunday midnight. Moses Sabbath was Saturday noon to Sunday noon. This is all covered in a related article titled The Two Calendars of the Bible. This Monday is the morrow after the sabbath)

Compare the benefits.

Jewish Lunar Sabbath

Today's Churches

Solar Sabbath

24 hour rest. Friday evening and most of Saturday.

Work all day Friday.

Rest Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

When the Sabbath is over on Saturday it is dark and too late to do much of anything.

 Might as well try to get the Christian Blue Laws voided so we can open shop on Sunday.

24 Hour rest on Sunday.

Work on Saturday. Go to church Sunday morning.

Go shopping Sunday afternoon.

 Back to work Monday.

36 hours of rest and recreation. Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday. 24 rest. 12 Recreation.

Half day of work on  Saturday. Rest Saturday afternoon and evening. Take off all day Sunday.

 (Let's boycott the Sunday merchants.)

Back to work Monday.

Mary runs to tell Peter and John

2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the LORD out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.

4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

Peter and John inspect the seplcuhre

5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,

7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.

9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

Peter and John leave. Mary stays.

11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my LORD, and I know not where they have laid him.

14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

Notice in verse 17 above Jesus said, "Touch me not". But in verse 27 below Thomas touched him. The explanations is in Leviticus 23:11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: Jesus fulfilled the wave sheaf between verse 17 and verse 27. On 'the morrow after the Sabbath' Jesus ascended to his Father to be accepted and returned to speak with Thomas

18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the LORD, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the LORD.

21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

The prophesy concerning the two loves has not yet been fulfilled. We read about the future event in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17,

1 Thessalonians 4

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Will this future fulfillment be on Pentecost or during the days of unleavened bread?

One thing to notice, only those Christians observing Pentecost in 29 A.D. received the Holy Spirit in cloven tongues of fire.

Only those Israelites observing the Passover in 1462 B.C. were safe from the death angel.

Therefore, only those Christians observing God's holidays will be caught up in the air at Christ's return.

Are these the two Pentecost loaves:?1. and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

2. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up

Those not watching, that is not observing the feast days and not 'caught up' could possibly be described in Matthew 24:50-51, 'The Lord of the servant shall come in a (feast?) day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of."

With reference to what Christ knew was about to transpire on the Passover of 29 A.D. he said, "the hour is come" John 17:1, "And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Likewise, in 1464 B.C. when God passed over and slew all of Egypt's firstborn, there was weeping and gnashing of teeth for all not observing the Passover.

The Two Loves

Leviticus23

15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; (fulfilled by Jesus Christ in John 20) seven sabbaths shall be complete:

16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. (The two groups of Christians at Jesus coming. (1) The dead in Christ and (2) those alive at his coming.)

18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.

19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

I Thessalonians 4 starts , "but I would not have you to be ignorant."

Could it be, that those not understanding and not observing these holidays are therefore, ignorant? Would the wicked want to persuade us that these days were 'Jewish' and done away. Would they try to replace a true holiday with a false holiday? Easter in place of Passover. Halloween in place of Atonement and so on? 

Suggested next subject:

Book of Revelation

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Bible Holidays are statutes under the law Thou shalt keep holy the Sabbath day.