Study No. 5

THE CEREMONIAL HARVEST
and its Significance

Introduction

This study reveals that the subject of the judgment is taught not only in the writings of the prophets and the parables of Jesus, but also in types and symbols of the earthly sanctuary.

Prayer Thought: 1Cor. 10:11; AA 14.1

“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” {1Cor. 10:11}

“The whole system of types and symbols was a compacted prophecy of the gospel, a presentation in which were bound up the promises of redemption.” {AA14.1}

1.  Read Lev. 23: 10, 11, 14-17, 39

23:10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

23:11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

23:14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: [it shall be] a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

23:16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

23:17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; [they are] the firstfruits unto the LORD.

23:39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day [shall be] a sabbath, and on the eighth day [shall be] a sabbath.



Observe that three harvest rites are mentioned.

• The ceremony of the “wave-sheaf” at the beginning of the first harvest.

• The ceremony of the “wave-loaf” at the close of the first harvest.

• The “feast of tabernacles” at the close of the second harvest.

Being typical, these two grain harvests with their three literal sacraments, accordingly foreshadow two soul harvests with three spiritual rites, the first of which is the First Fruits with Wave-Sheaf and Wave-Loaves.

2. First Fruits with Wave-Sheaf and Wave-Loaves.

The wave-sheaf was to be offered "on the morrow after the Sabbath" -- that is, on the first day of the week, now commonly called Sunday. This offering was to be presented, not on a special day of the month, but rather on a special day of the week, before the sickle was put to the grain and gathered into sheaves (Lev. 23:11, 14). Being of cut stalks of grain, the wave-sheaf signified fruits to be harvested. It pointed forward to a spiritual harvest of first fruits to be gathered.

On Pentecost fifty days after the typical sheaf was offered, all Israel were to offer "a new meat offering unto the Lord…[two wave-loaves "baken with leaven"] the first-fruits unto the Lord." Lev. 23:16, 17.

Being a finished product, the wave-loaves signified fruits previously gathered.

Both the wave-sheaf and the wave-loaves were thank offerings for the first fruits. One was dedicated at the beginning of the harvest; the other at the completion of it. Coming just at the right time, in the season of the first fruits, the Passover week was the period in which the wave-sheaf was usually offered before the Lord, its ritual prophetically projecting

3. Christ, The Antitype Of The Wave-Sheaf.

For more than a thousand years the annual waving of the sheaf pointed forward to its antitypical event, the resurrection of Christ. –

DA 785, 786 “He was the antitype of the wave-sheaf, and His resurrection took place on the very day when the wave-sheaf was to be presented before the Lord.” {DA 785.4}

Matt. 27: 50-53

27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

27:51And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 27:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

EW 184 “When Jesus, as He hung upon the cross, cried out, "It is finished," the rocks rent, the earth shook, and some of the graves were opened. When He arose a victor over death and the grave, while the earth was reeling and the glory of heaven shone around the sacred spot, many of the righteous dead, obedient to His call, came forth as witnesses that He had risen. Those favored, risen saints came forth glorified. They were chosen and holy ones of every age, from creation down even to the days of Christ. Thus while the Jewish leaders were seeking to conceal the fact of Christ's resurrection, God chose to bring up a company from their graves to testify that Jesus had risen, and to declare His glory. {EW 184.1}

DA 834, 834 “All heaven was waiting to welcome the Saviour to the celestial courts. As He ascended, He led the way, and the multitude of captives set free at His resurrection followed…. He enters into the presence of His Father. He points to His wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet; He lifts His hands, bearing the print of nails. He points to the tokens of His triumph; He presents to God the wave sheaf, those raised with Him as representatives of that great multitude who shall come forth from the grave at His second coming.”

Christ, the first fruits, and those who with Him at His resurrection came forth from the grave, raised to everlasting life, were the antitypical wave-sheaf of the dead.

Since the wave-sheaf of grain pointed forward to the ingathering of the first fruits of the field, just so those who arose with Christ, being first fruits of the dead, pointed forward to the ingathering of the gospel's first fruits -- the 120 disciples. The Holy Spirit fell upon the 120 disciples (Acts 2: 1-4) on the very day the wave-loaves were to be presented before the Lord. Hence the wave-loaves were a figure of the 120 Spirit-filled disciples who were the full complement of first fruits of the dead, and who were gathered in after the resurrection. The apostolic Pentecost was accordingly the prototype of the ceremonial Pentecost (the day the wave-loaves were offered).

As those who arose with Christ ascended with Him as trophies of His victory over death and the grave, they thereby became a living type, and thus the Wave-Sheaf Of The Living.

4. The Wave-Sheaf Of The Living.

From these facts it can more clearly be seen that those whom Christ took with Him were the living wave-sheaf and the only one that has been offered in the heavenly sanctuary; and that as ones raised from the dead, they are the first fruits of the dead, whereas as ones everliving before the Father, they are the living wave-sheaf of the first fruits of the living, the 144,000 servants of God, who sequentially precede the Second Fruits And The Feast Of Tabernacles.

5. The Second Fruits And The Feast Of Tabernacles.

Thus wave-sheaf and the wave-loaves must have a double application, each to the dead and to the living, together comprising the total fruits of the antitypical harvest.

The 120 disciples on the day of Pentecost being the gospel's first fruits of the dead, it follows that the great multitude added to the church daily thereafter (Acts 2: 40-47), naturally were the gospel's second fruits of the dead.

As the Pentecost after the resurrection was for the ingathering of those who were to die, there must, correspondingly, be a Pentecost for the ingathering of those who are to be translated -- the 144,000 and the "great multitude," -- all the saints who are to be translated.

As in the type the feast of Tabernacles was to be celebrated at the close of the final ingathering of the year's harvest, then correspondingly in the antitype it must be celebrated at the close of the final ingathering of earth's harvest. So the time consumed in producing and in offering the wave-sheaf and the wave-loaves, also in observing the Feast of Tabernacles, is representative of the entire spiritual harvest time of the living and of the dead. Bearing out this fact the Spirit of Prophecy says:

PP 541 “The Feast of Tabernacles was not only commemorative, but typical It celebrated the ingathering of the fruits of the earth, and pointed forward to the great day of final ingathering, when the Lord of the harvest shall send forth His reapers to gather the tares together in bundles for the fire, and to gather the wheat into His garner. At that time the wicked will all be destroyed.” {PP 541.2}

EW 282, 282 “I saw the saints," says the servant of the Lord in describing this celebration, "leaving the cities and villages, and associating together in companies, and living in the most solitary places. Angels provided them food and water, while the wicked were suffering from hunger and thirst.” {EW 282.2}

Thus the righteous (the 144,000 and Great Multitude) will celebrate their deliverance from sin (their wilderness wandering) and their completion of the gospel work – gathering in the fruits of the land Lev. 23: 39. This celebration will be in the Kingdom near the close of probation. See

Zech. 14: 16-19.

14:16 And it shall come to pass, [that] every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

14:17 And it shall be, [that] whoso will not come up of [all] the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 14:18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that [have] no [rain]; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

14:19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.