Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When ye come into the land that I give unto you, and ye reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest.
The command looks ahead to a day Israel had not yet seen. They would live in the land, cut the first grain, and bring the first sheaf to the priest before touching any of it. Commentators read this small ceremony as a picture of Christ raised from the dead, and of the acceptance His people have in Him.
The verse looks to a future arrival. Israel could not make this offering in Egypt or in the desert. It came from what the land produced. One writer shows how God's claim on the first portion kept Israel thankful:
All of this required being in Canaan and reaping the produce of the land. Only then could Israel offer the firstfruits to Jehovah. He had pledged Himself to Moses in Exodus 3 not only to deliver them from slavery in Egypt, but to bring them "to a land flowing with milk and honey."... Whether grain, fruit, or any produce of the land they had just been given, He who gave it was to have the firstfruits. This should always keep their hearts conscious of the Divine Giver, and thankful toward Him.
Israel cut one sheaf only and lifted it before God. Writers tie that single sheaf, and the day it was waved, to the resurrection:
The Passover feast foreshadows the death of Christ. The waving of the sheaf of the firstfruits is the blessed type of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was just one sheaf waved before Jehovah, the pledge of the harvest that was to follow. "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20)... The grain of wheat had fallen into the ground and died. But He lives; the full ear of the sheaf waved before Jehovah pictures the abundant fruit which He brings to God. And it was waved before Jehovah on the day after the Sabbath. The day after the Sabbath is the first day of the week, the glorious resurrection morning.
The harvest belonged to Israel, yet God received its first portion. One writer weighs how much God gains from what the sheaf pictures:
What then is the Wave Sheaf? Christ, risen and accepted before God for us — it could not be anything else... The full harvest was coming on, but God gets the firstfruits of it. God gets a great deal more out of the death and resurrection of Christ than we do. We get a great deal, but God has infinitely more.
The sheaf was raw grain, waved just as it grew. At the next feast in the same chapter, the loaves contained leaven. One writer reads the contrast:
In the sheaf of firstfruits waved before Jehovah (Lev. 23:10-11) we have the definite character of Christ without sin, for in the ears of grain there could be no leaven. But when the church is offered, leaven is to be used (Lev. 23:17).
Verse 14 forbids eating any of the crop until Israel brings this offering. Everything else in the field depended on the one sheaf.
The Feast of the Firstfruits took place at the early barley harvest, on the day after the Passover. They picked enough early ears to make a sheaf, and this was the sheaf of the firstfruits. It was brought before Jehovah, presented to Him, and waved before Him. Israel offered Him this sample of the harvest from the land He had given them. Then, by the act of waving, they received it back from Him as a returned gift. By virtue of the wave sheaf, the harvest could be gathered in; without it, the harvest could not be touched (Lev. 23:14). The firstfruits were holy, and so the whole was holy.
The sheaf was waved so that the people would be accepted. Their standing rested on the offering, not on themselves. One writer follows that through to the believer today:
How blessed it is to see the type of the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits fulfilled in the resurrection of our Lord! It is the proof that God accepts our Lord as the One who satisfied Him about the question of sin at the cross. And by that act God pledges Himself that the whole harvest of precious souls — every believer on the Lord Jesus Christ — shall be raised on the day of His coming. If they fail to be accepted, it must be because He failed to be accepted. But we know He was accepted, and we, believers, are accepted in the Beloved.
- Land first. Israel could only bring this offering in the land God gave them, from what the land produced.
- Sheaf next. One sheaf, cut and waved before God, pictures Christ risen. The day named is the first day of the week.
- Sinless grain. No leaven could be in the ears of grain; leaven appears only later, when the loaves picture His people.
- Accepted for you. The sheaf was waved for the people's acceptance. So the believer's standing rests on God's acceptance of the risen Christ.
- Then the harvest. Without the sheaf, no one could touch the crop. With it, the whole field was holy — and the whole harvest of believers is pledged.
And he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah, to be accepted for you; on the next day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
The wave sheaf comes between the Passover and the harvest that follows. It is one bundle of the first-cut grain, lifted before God by the priest. Two details carry the weight of this verse: the day it had to fall on, and the purpose behind it — that the people may be accepted.
The days of this ceremony line up with the days of the week in which the Lord died and rose.
In fact the priest waved the sheaf on the first day of the week that followed the Passover. So the Lord was crucified on Friday, lay in the grave on the sabbath or last day of the week, and rose on the first day. He was raised from the dead on the very day the priest waved that sheaf before Jehovah. Little did the priest who waved it realise the power and character of the truth set out in the first-fruits he was presenting before the God of Israel. So the type of the wave sheaf begins a new order of things, as fits Him who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead. The church depends on Christ's resurrection.
The Sabbath closed the week. This ceremony waited for the day after it.
The day after the Sabbath speaks of life out of death. It speaks of a vast harvest for God out of death itself. For Christ is the Firstfruits, and afterwards those who are Christ's at His coming. It is the beginning of a new creation, and all who believe the good news have their part in it. In that new creation they begin with rest and peace they could never have won by their own work.
The sheaf was not waved for its own sake. Someone else gained by it. Writers tie that to where the believer stands today. (Older versions read "to be accepted for you," and the quotes below use that wording.)
The sheaf was waved "to be accepted for you," as verse 11 says. In keeping with this, Jesus our Lord was delivered up for our trespasses and "raised for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). The believer today stands before God in the acceptance of the risen Christ; and indeed for any saint at any time no other acceptance is possible.
The same words answer a question that the cross alone leaves open.
Will that sacrifice be enough to take away our sins? Will that sacrifice be accepted before God? Yes, the Feast of Firstfruits answers these questions. The resurrection is the proof that God has accepted that sacrifice for sin. The resurrection is the receipt that proves that all my debt is paid, and that I am free.
One sheaf went up to God, but a whole field stood behind it.
How wonderful it is to see the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits fulfilled in the resurrection of our Lord! His resurrection proves that God accepts our Lord as the One who satisfied Him about the question of sin at the cross. And by that same act God pledges Himself that the whole harvest of precious souls — every believer on the Lord Jesus Christ — will be made alive in the day of His coming. If they fail to be accepted, it must be because He failed to be accepted. But we know He was accepted, and we believers are accepted in the Beloved. There can be no breakdown in this.
Later in the chapter a second firstfruits offering comes with a sin offering. This sheaf came with none.
You will see (v. 19) that with the first-fruits of the feast of weeks a sin offering was also offered, and a peace offering. But no such offering went with the sheaf of first-fruits. That sheaf pictures Christ's resurrection, on which the church and Jews rest for acceptance, as it is written (v. 11), "to be accepted for you."
The question is worth asking straight out. The answer shows how much God Himself gains.
What then is the wave sheaf? Christ, risen and accepted before God for us — it could not be anything else… The full harvest was coming on, but God gets the first-fruits of it. God gets a great deal more out of the death and resurrection of Christ than we do. We get a great deal, but God has infinitely more.
- One sheaf — the first-cut grain lifted before God pictures Christ risen. The priest who waved it had no idea what he was holding out.
- One day — the ceremony fell on the day after the Sabbath, the day the Lord rose. Rest now stands at the start of the week, not at the end of a week's work.
- One acceptance — the sheaf went up "for you." The believer stands before God in the acceptance of the risen Christ, and there is no other.
- One harvest — the sheaf pledged the whole field. Believers could only fail to be accepted if He had failed first.
- One portion — no sin offering went with this sheaf, and God gains more from the death and resurrection of Christ than we do.