In 2025, the alignment of Passover on the weekly Sabbath, which occurs on average once every decade, impacts the timing of the Pentecost count. This count begins the day after the Sabbath within Unleavened Bread, identified as Wavesheaf Day. This year, with the Sabbath being the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Wavesheaf Day falls just after the festival. The New Testament references to Wavesheaf Day are often obscured in translations from the Greek. In Mark 16:9, the phrase "mia sabbaton," translated as the first day of the week, actually indicates the first of the weeks, marking the start of the seven-week count to Pentecost. This phrase, found in all gospel accounts of Jesus Christ's post-resurrection appearance (Matthew 28:1; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19), should be understood as the first day of the weeks, designating Wavesheaf Day. On that Sunday following the Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Jesus appeared to His disciples and ascended to be accepted by the Father as the First of the Firstfruits, initiating the count to Pentecost.

Wavesheaf Day holds significant importance as the first day in the count to the Feast of Weeks, often referred to as mia sabbaton, meaning the first of the weeks. This day, always a Sunday, marks the beginning of the count to Pentecost and is linked to the resurrected Messiah, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. In Troas, during the nighttime portion of Wavesheaf Day, a notable event occurred while Paul preached: a young man named Eutychus fell asleep, fell from a third-story window, and perished, only to be restored to life by God, echoing the resurrection of Christ. Regarding the timing, a journey from Philippi to Troas took five days, arriving among the Days of Unleavened Bread, where Paul and his company stayed for seven days. They departed on Wavesheaf Day, the mia sabbaton, after the Sabbath, confirming it as the Sunday immediately following the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This placement of Wavesheaf Day outside the Feast of Unleavened Bread aligns with certain first-century practices and serves as a clear New Testament reference for the church to follow in observing the count to Pentecost.

The events in Joshua 5 concerning Wavesheaf Day are significant in understanding the timeline and adherence to God's commands. In Joshua 5:11, it is stated that the children of Israel ate the produce of the land on the day after Passover, which aligns with the beginning of the 15th of Abib during the Night To Be Much Observed. This timing indicates they were eating unleavened bread as the 15th began, in observance of a memorial of their exodus from Egypt exactly 40 years prior and the ratification of God's covenant with Abraham. There is no mention in Joshua 5 of a Wavesheaf offering occurring during the daylight of the 15th, which is the First Day of Unleavened Bread and an annual Sabbath. Such an offering is not recorded because it could not legally be made on a Sabbath, as Leviticus 23:11 specifies that the Wavesheaf must be waved on the day after a Sabbath. Additionally, the Israelites could not meet the requirements for the Wavesheaf offering since the grain had to be from seed they had planted, offered by a circumcised person under the covenant with God, and accompanied by an animal sacrifice, which Deuteronomy 12 forbids until peace was established in the land and the Tabernacle was in place. The Wavesheaf offering is not a part of the Days of Unleavened Bread but is associated with Pentecost, symbolizing a harvest, whereas the Days of Unleavened Bread focus on God's faithfulness and coming out of sin. The insistence on placing the Wavesheaf offering within the Days of Unleavened Bread is unsupported by the events in Joshua 5, as Joshua strictly followed God's law, and no scriptural basis exists for a Sabbath Passover or a Wavesheaf offering on the First Day of Unleavened Bread.

When the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert Armstrong changed the observance of Pentecost to Sunday in 1974, a new practice emerged concerning Wavesheaf Day. This practice insisted that Wavesheaf Day, rather than the Sabbath, had to fall within Unleavened Bread, even if it coincided with a holy day. Historically, during the time of Christ, Wavesheaf Day marked the beginning of the harvest, a critical workday for the Israelites, and was not observed on a holy day when no customary work was to be done, as instructed by God. The significance of Wavesheaf Day as the start of the harvest meant it involved labor, such as putting the sickle to the grain, which was the day to begin counting the seven weeks as commanded in Deuteronomy 16:9. This labor-intensive nature of the day contrasts with the sanctity of holy days, leading to the understanding that Wavesheaf Day should not fall on such a day. Examining the phrase "when you come into the land" from Leviticus 23:10, often associated with the Wavesheaf offering, reveals it as a general instruction for when Israel was settled in the land, not necessarily immediately upon crossing the Jordan. Other requirements modified this instruction, indicating that the Wavesheaf offering was not required in Joshua 5 on the First Day of Unleavened Bread. Additional instructions, such as those in Deuteronomy 26, show that possessing and dwelling in the land, and having a designated place for God's name, were conditions to be met over time. Further, in Numbers 15, a similar "when you come into the land" instruction for a heave offering involves significant labor like reaping, threshing, winnowing, and grinding. Assuming such work was done on a holy day for the Wavesheaf in Joshua 5 would imply a disregard for the sanctity of God's holy days. God's requirement that offerings must come from the Israelites' own labors, not from foreign hands, as seen in Exodus 23:16 and Leviticus 22:25, also suggests that the Wavesheaf could not have been offered in Joshua 5 with grain not sown by them. Thus, Joshua 5 does not support the idea that Wavesheaf Day and the beginning of the harvest could fall on a holy day. The holiness of God's annual Sabbaths remains paramount, affecting how offerings are made and ensuring they align with His sanctity and instructions.

Wavesheaf Day holds a crucial role in determining the observance of Pentecost, as the fifty-day count to Pentecost begins with this day. The Church of the Great God maintains that the count should always start on the day following the weekly Sabbath that falls within the Feast of Unleavened Bread, ensuring that Wavesheaf Day is consistently a Sunday. This rule is supported by the example of Jesus, the First of the Firstfruits, who was waved before the Father by ascending to heaven on the morning of the first day of the week after the weekly Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In years when Passover falls on a weekly Sabbath, causing the first day of Unleavened Bread to be a Sunday, the count begins the next day, potentially outside the Feast of Unleavened Bread, to maintain a fixed and consistent rule. Scripture does not mandate that Wavesheaf Day must occur within the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and historical records show that various Jewish groups never observed Wavesheaf Day on any type of Sabbath, always placing it on a common workday following a Sabbath. The connection between Wavesheaf Day and Pentecost is further emphasized by their shared harvest symbolism, with Wavesheaf Day marking the beginning of the harvest and Pentecost its conclusion.

There has been a subtle doctrinal shift in how the Church of God counts to Pentecost, like the cultural rebranding which switched the political colors of the two major political parties during the 2000 U.S. election. Leviticus 23 commands God's people to count to Pentecost "from the morrow after the Sabbath" culminating on the day after the after the seventh Sabbath. Historically, God's Church followed the Sadducean practice anchoring the count to the weekly Sabbath during Unleavened Bread, with the Days of Unleavened Bread, even if the offering occurred on a holy day or a high Sabbath. In 1974, the church surreptitiously aligned itself with the Karaite practice of always putting Wavesheaf day within Unleavened Bread. Proponents tried to link Christ's resurrection with Unleavened Bread, at the cost of overriding clear, well-established, biblical commands. Unlike the change of observing Pentecost from Monday to Sunday, this additional subtle change was never explained publicly. Herbert W. Armstrong never publicly spoke or wrote about this second change. God's called-out saints must return to the original method for 1.) Scriptural integrity-the Sabbath refers to a weekly Sabbath rather than a high day. 2.) Historical and Theological Consistency-The Sadducees, who controlled the Temple at this time, used this method. 3.) Practical Faithfulness-the Wave Sheaf signals a task reserved for a workday rather than a Holy Sabbath. 4.) Guarding against doctrinal drift—just as slight changes in tradition can obscure core truths, such as Sunday worship replacing God's Sabbath, and adding requirements not found in Scripture, risks the danger of making the commands of Almighty God "of no effect." The count to Pentecost in 2025 and every year thereafter, must begin on the Sunday after the weekly Sabbath during Unleavened Bread.