Wavesheaf Day

Richard Ritenbaugh, observing that pagan fertility rites and sun worship have nothing to do with the resurrection or ascension of Christ, asserts that Christmas, Easter, as well as the concepts of "amazing grace," and "unmerited pardon" are far cries from the Bible's definition of Christianity. Because he sought to avoid the appearance of endorsing the syrupy cheap grace advanced by Protestant thinkers, Herbert W. Armstrong de-emphasized the birth, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. As a result, the Church came to lose some valuable insights about those events. Neither Christmas or Easter appear in the Feasts of the Lord (Leviticus 23), but we find plenty of emphasis on the resurrection and ascension of Christ in the Holy Days. The wave-sheaf offering, for example, appearing between Unleavened Bread and Pentecost and symbolizing the Father's acceptance of Christ as First of the First Fruits, provides the means for our ultimate acceptance as First Fruits as well. Christ's ascension enables Christ to serve before the Father as our High Priest, mediating between man and God. It also facilitates 1.) His gifting the Church for equipping the saints, 2.) His pouring out the Holy Spirit on us, 3.) His aiding us when we are tempted, 4.) His healing us when we are sick, 5.) His guarding us from the evil one and 5) His preparing a place for us in God's Kingdom. Realizing that the apostles wrote frequently about Christ's resurrection and ascension, we must be willing to share their perspective.

Ted Bowling, reminding us that we are to personally count for ourselves the 50 days to Pentecost, cautions that we need to be thinking continually of the lessons these days teach us about our spiritual journey, culminating in the permanent installation of God's Law into our spiritual bodies as offspring of God. Breaking an old negative habit and replacing it with a positive habit can take us at least 50 days, unlearning the costly mistakes of our forebears on the Sinai from the pages of Scripture, learning to see beyond the temporary miracles to the permanence of the Miracle Worker, seeing God relentlessly at work in our lives. We need to realize the interconnectedness of the Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost, absorbing the lessons which will ensure our spiritual growth.

Richard Ritenbaugh, comparing the plain biblical account of Christ's resurrection occurring exactly three days and three nights after His burial with Christendom's miscalculation of one and one half days, claims the latter account did not derive from Scripture, but from rank paganism. This miscalculation results in Christendom's false teaching that Christ rose from the dead on Sunday morning, not at the last moments of the Sabbath, some twelve hours earlier. The world's churches have adopted the fertility symbols of chocolate Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, and the traditional Easter ham from pagan rituals pre-dating Christianity. The eating of pig-flesh supposedly honors Tammuz, the son-husband of the goddess Ishtar, who was killed by a wild boar. The Easter bonnet supposedly celebrates the cycle of fertility. If we honor Jesus Christ, the Firstborn of the dead, serving as our Mediator and High-Priest, the trappings of rank paganism have no appeal, but are decidedly repulsive.

Mark Schindler, focusing on the seventh day, the last great day of Jesus' final Feast of Tabernacles, admonishes us to look beyond the significance of our own calling, realizing that the sacrifice of Christ was intended for all men with the hope that they also would be added ultimately to the family of God. We need to allow our Heavenly Father to infuse us with big-picture thinking, realizing that God's work is much greater than our calling, but is in fact a work enabling all of mankind to have access to God the Father. God has purposely given us, as God's called ones, the position of "trainees" as a part of the First Fruits to expedite this marvelous project. The seventh day Sabbath has always served as God's signature, a key to understanding redemption and healing. The seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles contained a traditional water ceremony, which Jesus greatly magnified, prophesying that whoever drinks of the living water (symbolic of God's Holy Spirit) will manifest rivers of living water flowing from them. . Understanding the pattern of seven, the signature of God, gives us a deeper appreciation for the God we serve, enabling us to realize that the Great God has been working to complete His plan down to the tiniest detail. From the creation of the Sabbath and the annual Holy days, including the seven Sabbaths we count to Pentecost, we see how God is working to bring all mankind into His family in systematic stages, beginning with the First Fruits and ending with a great harvest of the rest of mankind in the White Throne Period, after which God will be all-in-all. The number seven is a kind of divine motif, God's signature, a signpost for His called-out ones to build faith, whether we consider the land Sabbath, counting seven Sabbaths to Pentecost,or the 49 years followed by the Jubilee, which typifies the eighth day, contemplating a grand expansion of the family of God.

Pat Higgins:  The Feast of Pentecost, the only holy day God instructs us to count, is just a few days away. For many years, the counting of Pentecost has been source of controversy ...

Correctly counting to Pentecost in years in which Passover falls on a weekly Sabbath is more than a matter of consistency. John Ritenbaugh explains that a far greater, more spiritual—and unfortunately, often overlooked—factor in the wavesheaf offering concerns a subject God considers highly important: holiness.

This year, 2008, is another one in which Passover falls on a weekly Sabbath, making the count to Pentecost more complex. John Ritenbaugh, however, argues that the count need not be done differently in these particular years. All we need to do is to apply God's command consistently.

In recent years, the count to Pentecost has become contentious, particularly in a year like 2005, in which the Sabbath within the Days of Unleavened Bread falls on the last holy day. John Ritenbaugh explains that, if we are consistent in our counting and honest with the instructions of Scripture, the solution is clear.

John Ritenbaugh, clearing up the needless confusion about the proper day to begin counting to Pentecost, examines the basic passages on it. Because Pentecost does not have a specific date, God commands us to count from the day after the weekly Sabbath falling within the Days of Unleavened Bread. When Passover occurs on a weekly Sabbath, the only weekly Sabbath occurring within Unleavened Bread is the last holy day. The wavesheaf offering occurs the next day - from which we begin the count. As the First of the Firstfruits, Jesus was waved Sunday morning after being resurrected Sabbath evening. The red-herring argument, focusing on Joshua 5:10-11, carelessly assuming that the wavesheaf was offered (with polluted, Canaanite grain), ignores the strict requirements of Exodus 23:14-16. No offerings of any kind could be made until specific conditions, outlined in Deuteronomy 12:1-13, were met, which did not happen until Joshua 18:1 (seven years after Joshua 5).

John Ritenbaugh links inextricably the time frame for the covenant with Abraham (the Selfsame Day), the events of the Passover, the Exodus, the Night to be Much Observed, and the events of Christ's Passover meal with his disciples leading to his crucifixion. Clear connections relating to the bread and wine symbols, the ratification of the covenant, and the sacrifices are convincingly drawn. The mistaken inference made by some about a wavesheaf offering in Joshua 5 ignores the prohibition against a foreigner's grain (Leviticus 22:25), a blemished offering (Leviticus 23:12) and against animal sacrifices until peace could be established (Deuteronomy 12:11). The wavesheaf offering (Leviticus 23:15) is reckoned from the weekly sabbath within the Days of Unleavened Bread and not immediately before when an annual sabbath follows immediately.

Focusing upon a deceitful proclivity of human nature to find a loose brick to nullify a doctrine, John Ritenbaugh rebuts red herring arguments that the events of Joshua 5 provide an exception to the rule or pattern established in Leviticus 23:11. The entire contents of Leviticus 23 provides a chronological listing of the sabbaths (weekly and annual), and nothing in the subsequent chapters of the Bible alters or changes the times or dates these sabbaths are to be observed. Along with the obvious observation that nothing in the entire 5th chapter of Joshua remotely mentions anything about a wave sheaf offering, if the children of Israel, newly occupying the land, had used a foreigner's grain, it would have been a flagrant violation of Leviticus 22:25. The conditions for a wave sheaf offering were not right until Joshua 22, seven years after the Joshua 5 incident. The other "loose brick" in Luke 6:1 " the second sabbath after the first" is established on a spurious scripture.

We in God's church generally know very little about the wavesheaf offering, even though it represents one of the most significant acts of God's Plan: the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ! John Ritenbaugh explains its relevance to us today.

Pentecost in 2001 is a little different than in other years. The Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread falls on the last day. How should we count to Pentecost on odd years like this? John Ritenbaugh explains the reasons for counting the same way as in all other years.

The late spring Feast of Pentecost shows the harvest of firstfruits, God's church. It is a continual reminder of our part in God's plan!

In this sermon on the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, Richard Ritenbaugh, using three consecutive Psalms (22-24), affirms that Jesus Christ was the antitype, perfectly fulfilling the Old Testament types, slain as the Lamb of God on Passover, Nisan 14, resurrected with the cutting of the wavesheaf at the conclusion of the Sabbath, and ascended to His Father at the time of the waving of the sheaf.