Harvest, Spiritual

Like Christ, we too are firstfruits, represented by the leavened loaves picturing our acceptance by the Father.

I used to work with a man named Bill. He was a good salesman and, as I recall, a good pilot as well. He liked to sell, and he seemed pretty well-adjusted ...

The Jews of Christ's day were weary and discouraged because of the burdensome yoke their leaders placed on them through the tradition of the elders.

Christ empowers His disciples to preach and heal. He is saying there will be an incomplete work of healing and preaching in the run-up to His return.

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!

Most know very little about the wavesheaf offering, even though it represents one of the most significant acts: the resurrection and ascension of Christ!

How does one count to Pentecost when Passover is on a weekly Sabbath, making the Last Day of Unleavened Bread the only other available Sabbath to begin the count?

The Parable of the Sower and the Seed exemplifies a number things that can happen to prevent us from having a place in God's spiritual harvest.

The leavening indicates that the wave loaves speak to this life rather than the resurrection. It is accepted by God only because of the other sacrifices.

Jesus teaches the difference between works that cause burdens (work that profanes the Sabbath) and works that relieve burdens. The Father and Son never stop working.

John Ritenbaugh focuses upon the encounter of Jesus with the woman of Samaria, perhaps an exemplification of the entire unconverted world, but also symbolic of a church, initially hardened, self-willed and skeptical when called out of the world, but afterw. . .

The ability to do miracles does not identify a speaker as a representative of God, especially if the signs entice one to depart from the Word of God. Jesus warns that if we ask God for protection from demonic influence, we cannot sit back passively; Satan . . .

Jabez is a significant place marker in the lineage of David, and may be David himself. Jabez is an emblem of Christ's restoring the relationship between God and man.

Richard Ritenbaugh, focuses again on Book Two, aligned with Exodus, Ruth, and Pentecost, emphasizing the wave loaves made of beaten down flour with leavening and baked with intense heat—loaves which symbolize us and our preparation for the Kingdom of. . .

Martin Collins, contrasting the world's mega-churches with the church that Christ is building, focuses on the body analogy (I Corinthians 12), illustrating the interconnectedness of all members to Christ and to each other. In considering the differing func. . .

We should not expect brethren to be perfect; we all sin. God has not given His People the prerogative to judge another member as a tare.

Both Tabernacles and Unleavened Bread keep us off balance so that we remain humble, seek stability, and trust in God's providence for our ultimate destiny.