TYPOLOGY PART TWO
CHRIST AS THE WAVE-SHEAF
AND FIRST-FRUITS
Continuing in the book called "Feasts of the Lord" by Robert
Thompson we shall now see what he writes concerning Jesus Christ
as the resurrected wave-sheaf and first of the first-fruits to
God the Father of all human beings born of women.
" Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits are one of the
major Bible types of the process of death, judgment, and
resurrection......It is very important for us to remember that
the prize towards which we are pressing is not ascension but
resurrection......What we are pursuing is the resurrection. We
are seeking after eternal life; and the route to eternal life is
through death and judgment......
The Lord Jesus Christ came onto the scene of history in
order that He might fulfil, in the kingdom-wide sense, the
Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits......There was a
period of three days and three nights, according to Jesus
(Matt.12:40), during which Jesus was in the heart of the
earth......If the Son of man had wavered in His faith and
obedience, all would have been lost......He had to bear the
judgment upon every man, for the Word of God had to be fulfilled.
Christ bore away our sins......The leaven had to be removed from
the camp, and it was removed in Christ.
If we read the prayer of Jonah, we may notice that the
prayer is a prophecy; it is the Spirit of Christ in Jonah
foretelling His sufferings in the heart of the earth.
' And I said, I cried by reason of my affliction unto
the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell
cried I, and you heard my voice. For you had cast me
into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods
compassed me about: all your billows and your waves
passed over me ' (Jonah 2:2,3).
.......This is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ in the heart
of the earth, dividing the waters of death from the waters of
life through means of Himself......But continuing in Jonah 2:
' Then I said, I am cast out of your sight; yet I will
look again toward your holy temple ' (Jonah 2:4).
And now we come to that part where Christ reached the climax
of His act of redemption, in bearing upon Himself the heavy load
of the leaven of sin of this world - your sins and mine, let us
never forget that!
' The waters (of judgment) compassed me about, even to
the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds
were wrapped about my head ' (Jonah 2:5).
What a picture of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane! He was
going down into the depths of the earth......The only assurance
He had of returning from that dread region was the promise of the
Father......
' I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the
earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet have you
brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God'
(Jonah 2:6).
It was written of Christ that He would not see corruption.
This was true even to the extent that His earthly flesh, which
was in repose in the cave of Joseph of arimathea, was preserved
against the day of resurrection and did not experience the
ordinary process of decay and death......
God was satisfied. The cup of judgment had been drunk.
Through His obedience, Christ had atoned for the disobedience of
Adam and of all men. The Father was satisfied. His great heart of
love and unbounded mercy cried out, 'It is finished! My Son has
wrought redemption in the earth.' ......In that supreme moment
Christ was changed from the most defeated of all men to the one
Person in the universe, under God, with all power and authority
in heaven and upon the earth......
Eternal life came into that flesh which had been so tired
trudging faithfully along the dusty paths of the land of promise,
and treated so shamefully by the Jews and the Romans......
Who did God pick to be the person who would be the first to
see the Master of the earth and sea and sky? MARY! Why Mary?
What a moment this was for Christ! What a moment this was for
Mary! Will there ever again be a similar event? In this scene is
contained the whole story of redemption. God did not choose one
of the apostles, delegated by the other apostles, to be the
first to see Christ, as we might have done, making it a an
ecclesiastical event. We might have picked Peter, or maybe John.
Why Mary?
Mary represents all of that for which Christ died. The story
of redemption is not one of ecclesiasticism, plans, programs,
theology, what have you. It is a LOVE STORY, a romance, if you
will (we are not speaking after the flesh, please understand).
The story of redemption is a song, a love song, a WINNING OF THE
BRIDE......
Isn't it great that God is this way? The story of Jesus
Christ is the greatest story ever told, it is a love
story......the first of the Firstfruits was fulfilled in the
Person of Christ. He is the firstborn from the dead, the
BEGINNING of the harvest of the earth......Many bodies of the
saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after the
resurrection of Jesus, and appeared to many people. These also
were a type of the firstfruits unto the Lord. We see then, that
in three glorious days and nights the Lord Jesus fulfilled in His
own Person the Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits......"
End of quote from Robert Thompson.
Jesus in His person was the WAVE SHEAF, the first of the
Firstfruits harvest of the Father. It is written in the book of
Hebrews that Jesus was our CAPTAIN of our salvation, the
one to lead the way. It is written that He had PRE-EMINENCE in
all things. He was the first in every way. And that wave sheaf
offering that was the first cut of the first harvest of the new
year in the land of promise, was fulfilled in Christ.
What has been hidden from many for these passed two thousand
years is the truth of when Jesus was placed in the tomb, and when
He was resurrected. His resurrection fulfilled the time of the
cutting of the wave sheaf. I have written and expounded in
detail in another two other studies concerning the truth of when
Jesus was placed in the tomb. The Gospel writers make it clear
that Joseph did not come to ask Pilate for the body of Jesus unto
"evening." The
NT is its own interpretation of the use of the word "evening."
And Luke was inspired to use a Greek word tense that has not been
correctly translated and shows that the Sabbath of the 15th
(the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread) HAD come and was
CONTINUING when Jesus was placed in the tomb by Joseph. The
Passover day of the 14th was over and it was the first hours of
the 15th Sabbath day when Jesus was put into the heart of the
earth. He was there for three days and three nights, for 72
hours, and then AFTER the weekly Sabbath was over, after
resting fully on the Sabbath day, within the first hours of the
first day of the week, a work day, God the Father went to work to
raise Christ Jesus from the dead.
Jesus was the first of the firstfruits harvest, hence it was
proper for Him to be raised within the first hours of the first
day of the week, what we today would call Saturday evening,
Jesus was the wave sheaf offering which according to the practice
and teaching of the Sadducees was cut from the first harvest (the
Barley harvest) of the new year, shortly AFTER the weekly
Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread, to be presented to
the Lord in the Temple by the High Priest on the morning of the
first day of the week.
We know from the Gospels that Jesus went to heaven to appear
before the Father on the morning of the first day of the week.
In the Person of Christ the "wave sheaf" offering was fully
fulfilled in all aspects.
The historic story of the cutting and presenting of the wave
sheaf has not been understood but by a few. It is here worthwhile
to present it to the reader. The Pharisees differed from the
Sadducees in how to count to Pentecost and hence differed in the
day they cut and presented the wave sheaf in the Temple. They
did it all around the Sabbath of the 15th of the first month, and
not the weekly Sabbath during the feast of Unleavened Bread. We
only have preserved for us the historic recordings of the
Pharisees' wave sheaf cutting and presenting, but it is enough
for us to see the clear type as then fulfilled in the Person of
Christ.
From the book "The Temple, Its Ministry and Services" by
Dr.Alfred Edersheim, we read:
" Already, on the 14th of Nisan, the spot whence the first
sheaf was to be reaped had been marked out by delegates from
the Sanhedrin, by tying together in bunches, while still
standing, the BARLEY THAT WAS TO BE CUT DOWN. Though, for
obvious reasons, it was customary to choose for this purpose
the sheltered Ashes-valley across Kidron, there was no
restriction on that point, provided the barley had grown in
an ordinary field - of course in Palestine itself - and not
in garden or orchard land, and that the soil had not
been manured nor yet artificially watered. When the time for
CUTTING the Sheaf (Omer) had arrived, that is, on the
evening of the 15th of Nisan (even though it were a
Sabbath), just as the SUN WENT DOWN, three men, each with a
sickle and basket, formally set to work. But in order
clearly to bring out all that was distinct in the ceremony,
they first asked of the bystanders three times each of these
questions: 'Has the sun gone down?' 'With this sickle?'
'Into this basket?' 'On this Sabbath?' - and lastly,
'Shall I reap?'
Having each time been answered in the affirmative, they CUT
DOWN BARLEY to the amount of ONE EPHAH, or ten omers, or
three seahs, which is equal to about three pecks
and three pints of our English measure.
The ears were brought into the COURT of the Temple, and
thrashed out with canes or stalks, so as not to injure the
corn (barley grain); then 'parched' on a pan perforated with
holes, so that each grain might be touched by the fire, and
finally exposed to the wind.
The corn (barley grain) thus prepared was ground in a
barley-mill, which left the hulls whole. According to some,
the flour was always successively passed through thirteen
sieves, each closer than the other. The statement of a RIVAL
AUTHORITY, however, seems more rational - that it was only
done till the four was sufficiently fine, which was
ascertained by one of the 'Gizbarim' (treasurers) plunging
his hands into it, the sifting process being continued so
long as any of the flour adhered to the hands. Though one
ephah, or ten Omers, of Barley was cut down, only ONE OMER
of flour, or about 5.1 pints of our measure, was OFFERED in
the Temple on the second Paschal, or 16th day of Nisan."
End of quote from Edersheim.
Please remember that the above from Alfred Edersheim was
concerning how the Pharisees practiced and taught the cutting and
offering of the Wave Sheaf, and on what days they had it
performed. The Sadducees though teaching very similar to the
Pharisees, performed the cutting just after sun-set of the weekly
Sabbath during the feast of Unleavened Bread, and offered the
barley sheaf on the morning of the first day of the week.
It may seem strange that there would be disunity in such
practices of theology and religion. But as some Jews themselves
say even to this day, "Ask three Jews a question and you
will get four answers." There has never been full and complete
unity of theology among the Jews since they returned from the
Babylonian captivity two and a half thousand years ago.
Certainly in the time of Christ there was no theological unity
among the Jews. The Sadducees were the priestly cast and sect
while the Pharisees were the common popular sect of the day. As
most of the religious Jews belonged to the popular Pharisee sect
and hence had the greater popular influence, the Sadducees felt
obliged to follow their Temple ceremony wishes, as well as
performing their own religious and Temple ceremonies and
practices within their theological beliefs.
Jesus of course in fulfilling the typology that was the
correct theology as given by God, would sometimes be in line with
one or the other of these two major Jewish sects (if they had
it correct) and at other times, in line with neither of them
(when they were both in error).
As the NT shows Jesus was placed in the tomb just after
sun-set, in the evening, and was then raised 72 hours later,
after the weekly Sabbath, and presented to the Father on the
morning of the first day of the week, He was in this case in line
with the Sadducee teaching of the cutting and presenting of the
wave sheaf, or it would be better to say, the Sadducees' teaching
of when to cut and present the wave sheaf was IN LINE WITH GOD'S
WAY AND TEACHING.
Jesus fulfilled then the wave sheaf offering. He was the
FIRST CUT of the FIRST harvest, ON THE FIRST DAY of the week, and
was also presented to the Father as the first of the first-fruits
on the morning of the first day of the week. All which
typologically fits with the saints of the first resurrection
through the Spirit, as the first fruit harvest to God,
celebrating the first-fruit harvest of Pentecost also on the
first day of the week, or on a Sunday.
We shall now continue quoting from the book "The Feasts of
the Lord" by Thompson, concerning more on the person of Jesus
being the FIRSTFRUITS.
" Jesus Christ Himself is the firstfruits of the entire
creation of God......He is the first in all things:
'Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of
every creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible.....who is
the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He
might have the preeminence' (Col.1:15-18).
The church is referred to as the 'church of the firstborn':
'To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are
written in heaven, and to God the judge of all.....' (Heb.12:23).
The Lord Jesus Christ is the first-begotten of the sons of
God" 'And again, when He bringeth in the first-begotten into the
world, He said, And let all the angels of God worship Him'
(Heb.1:6).
Jesus is the first-born of many brothers: 'For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren'
(Rom.8:29).
.......When Jesus Christ walked out of the borrowed tomb
belonging to Joseph of Arimathea and spoke eternal words to the
weeping Mary, He was the first Person in the making of all things
new. What Mary beheld was something which can never be witnessed
again in quite the same way: The Alpha of God's new universe. The
importance and significance of the resurrection of Christ cannot
be overestimated or overstated: 'But now is Christ risen from the
dead, and become the firstfruits of them who slept. For since by
man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits;
afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming'
(1 Cor.15:20-23).
The concept of the firstfruits is that if God will accept
the waving of the first sheaf of the barley harvest, or the two
loaves of Pentecost, then the entire balance of the harvest is
sanctified. The firstfruits represents the whole harvest. God
understands this, and by accepting the firstfruits He signifies
His acceptance of the whole. 'For if the firstfruits be holy, the
lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches'
(Rom.11:16).....
Our resurrection is tied to His. He arose, and we arose in
Him.....He is the firstfruits, and we are the balance of the
harvest. Christ fulfilled the Passover in His crucifixion. He
fulfilled the week of Unleavened Bread in bearing upon Himself
the sin of the world into the heart of the earth, thus removing
leaven from the lives of those who will accept Him.Then, the
mighty Son of God fulfilled the convocation of Firstfruits.....
It is interesting to note that on the third day of creation
the 'dry land' appeared. Christ is the first appearance of 'land'
in the new creation of God......
Also on the third day of creation, vegetation and fruit
trees appeared for the first time. We see in these the first
signs of life as in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the beginning of
life. He also is the tree of life, the eating of whom brings
eternal life to those who were dead in sin.
The third piece of the holy furnishings of the Tabernacle
was the table of showbread. The table of showbread portrays the
body and blood (there were cups of wine on the table) of Christ.
The body and blood of Christ enters into us as the beginning of
life. The 'dry land' of Christ appears in us, as the swirling
waters of the turbulence of our life part and the firm ground of
Christ appears in us.....He, the firstfruits of god's new work,
becomes the firstfruits of our new personality. 'If any man be in
Christ there is a new creation. Old things have passed away.
Behold, all things have become new, and all things are of God'
(see 2 Cor.5:17)......
There must be a cornerstone, an anchor, a standard, a fixed
point which is true and immovable; and then everything which is
built is referred back to that point which was set originally.
Otherwise, the builder can get into serious trouble in the whole
undertaking because there is a lack of alignment, unity, and
integrity in that which has been put together. It is subject
to collapse. Christ Himself is our cornerstone, our anchor, our
fixed point, our perfect standard. When we get in trouble we draw
back to our original position in Him......
God has founded all of His efforts upon Christ. Christ is
the beginning, the first-born of every creature, the Alpha. He is
also the ending, the Omega. All things originate in Him, refer
back to Him, and will conclude in Him.
God's restoration of the heavens and the earth rests solidly
upon Christ as upon a mountain of rock, an immovable foundation
established so firmly and securely that no power in heaven or
upon the earth can budge it in any manner whatever. He is
perfect, true, faithful, without sin, absolutely holy. The heart
of the Father abides in undisturbed contentment in His beloved
Son because the Son meets every requirement of the Father. No
other person could come close to meeting every requirement of the
Father. But Christ has done it, and always pleases the Father.
Therefore, Christ is our firstfruits, THE firstfruits of the
harvest of the earth.....He rose from the dead, the firstfruits
of the church and of all peoples upon the earth. From now on,
every person and thing in heaven and upon the earth must be
measured from Him. He is God's benchmark, God's standard. That
which is not measured from Christ will be shaken, removed,
and destroyed."
So we end the quote from Robert Thompson.
What wonderful typology we have seen as it pertains to the
Person and Work of Jesus Christ in the Passover, Wave Sheaf, and
feast of Unleavened bread.
In the next study we shall see the Person and Work of Christ
as it pertains to the great feast of Pentecost.
...........................
Written by Keith Hunt, April 2000
All articles and studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published,
e-mailed, and distributed as led by the Spirit. Mr.Hunt trusts
nothing will be changed (except for errors in spelling and
punctuation) without his consent.
|
