We come now to the 23rd chapter of Leviticus. And in this section of Scripture, God commands the people that they are to hold several feasts, each of which celebrates some aspect of the goodness of God. Some of these we have already covered, so we will simply read the passage and move on. Others we will take a little more time to cover, since they find their fulfillment in either the first coming of Christ, or which will be fulfilled in His second. So, let’s go ahead and get started.
Leviticus 23:1-2—1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “2 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.’” Whose feasts are they? They are God’s feasts. What is their purpose? To remind the people that God is God; that He is the One who delivered them from Egypt; that He is the One who makes the crops grow; that He is the One who leads them and protects them and that if they do things His way He will bless them. Is God perfectly just and righteous in laying out certain regulations for the how these feasts are to be conducted? Absolutely. They are, after all, His feasts and if He says “Do things this way”—then we are to do things that way. Are they our feasts? No. Then we have no right to quibble with God and say, “Yeah, that sounds like it might be a good idea—but I’ve got this really cool idea that would get the people excited and would bring even more people into the camp of Israel!” God does not accept just any kind of worship. He does not want people worshiping Him because they think it’s the cool thing to do. He will not accept the worship of people who say, “Oh, God’s the cool thing to do! I think I’ll do that!” God is to be worshipped in reverence, and in holiness. 1st Chronicles 16:29—Give to the LORD the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!
And yet, just to continue the rant I started in the last chapter, what do we see so much today? We see churches dumbing things down, trying to make Jesus look “cool” in order to appeal to a people that would want nothing to do with Him otherwise. Giving people a “rocking good time” in order to satisfy their senses and tickle their ears. Preaching from (what they call) a pulpit whilst wearing t-shirts that say something like “Jesus is my DJ” or “Jesus is my Homeboy.” Scoot up to the screen and read carefully—Jesus is NOT your entertainer! Jesus is not your homeboy or your boyfriend or your BFF or any other nonsensical notion of Him that you or someone else may have invented. Jesus is LORD!!! And if He is not your Lord then He is nothing! You either worship Him as though He were verily in your presence—or you do not worship him at all. Can we enjoy Him, and can we laugh and cry and express our emotions about our God? Absolutely. He has given us emotions so that we can experience all that God is—our defender who saves us from the enemy; our comfort in times of need; our shelter from the storm; our bright and morning star; our hope, our refuge, our King. But when we fail to see Him even in the rain and in the storm and in the valleys and the contrary tides, and when we only want Him for what He can do for us—then we have truly forgotten the God that he is, and it is in those times when people’s true motives come out, and perhaps they only worshipped an idea about God, that He was supposed to protect us from those calamities and He wasn’t supposed to let us go through these things. But that is not God. He does allow us to go through valleys and deserts so that He may show us that He is God. 2nd Corinthians 12:10—Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. So let us partake of all the feasts of God, giving thanks in them for making us the people He wants us to be—not just in times of bounty, but in times of distress.
Leviticus 23:3—“‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.’” We have already talked at length about the sabbath, so we will move on to the next passage, Leviticus 23:4-8—“‘4 These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. 5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD's Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. 8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’” And we have also talked at length about the Passover, so we will move on to the next passage. And before we do, I want to make a distinction. Many times we read these feasts as being “feasts”. But it is more appropriate to call them “appointed times.” Because they are to take place at certain times of the year, and in fact on a certain date during the year. These days, we celebrate some days on a specific date (July 4th, January 1st), some on a certain day of a certain week in a certain month (4th Thursday in November, last Monday in May). And why do we set aside those particular days for those particular remembrances? Well, really, many of them are purely arbitrary. What is so significant about November 11th in our country’s history ? Well, that was the day the Armistice was signed ending World War I. What is so significant about the last Monday in May in our country’s history? Nothing, really. But it does give everybody an opportunity to remember those who have fallen in defense of this country. However, when God set aside certain “appointed times” he had a very particular purpose in mind, and we will see that more as we go along.
Leviticus 23:9-14—9 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “10 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD. 13 Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. 14 You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.’” This is what many call “The Feast of Firstfruits” or what was called, more appropriately, the “Day of Firstfruits” (Hebrewיֹמ הַבִּכּוּרִים (yom habikkurim)). That term is used interchangeably with the phrase רֵאשִׁית קָצִיר (Reshit Katzir), or “Beginning of the Harvest.” The word (reshit) meaning “beginning” as in the first Hebrew words in the Bible being בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים (reshit bara Elohim), or “In the beginning God created.” And when it says the sheaf was to be waved, don’t think it means what you probably think it means. They did not bring the actual stalks of barley. The word translated ‘sheaf’ is עֹמֶר (omer). They would pluck the heads from the stalk, gather the heads into baskets, and then bring an omer of barley (roughly a little less than a gallon) to the priest, who would wave it before YHVH.
Now, the timing of when this omer was waved is very significant. This is another one of those places where people show their ignorance by saying something like, “what good is it to study all that Old Testament Law anyway?” Because this is very important in understanding how Christ fulfilled that Old Testament Law. Specifically, the way He fulfilled it in His resurrection. And it is by seeing this fulfillment in His resurrection that we can correct some mistaken beliefs that we hold—beliefs which have been ingrained in us by hundreds of years of mistaken belief. What holiday do we celebrate during the spring? Hint: it falls on Sunday, and moves between March and April from one year to the next. Many people call it “Easter”. I prefer to call it “Resurrection Sunday.” Now, there is a certain day that comes just a couple days before Resurrection Sunday, and what day is that? “Good Friday.” And why do people remember Good Friday? Because, they say, Christ was crucified on Friday. And we are about to see why that is wrong.
A couple things to start with: What day of the week did Christ come out of the tomb? Sunday. Before the sun rose on Sunday morning, he was out of the tomb. Second, how many days did He say He would be in the ground? Matthew 12:38-40—38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The popular misconception that Christ died on Friday and rose on Sunday falls apart very quickly when we (1) reckon time properly, (2) take into account that the Old Testament appointed times pointed to Christ, and (3) count backwards from His resurrection to His crucifixion.
First, let’s reckon time like an old covenant Jew, shall we? To do that, you need to do one thing: strip away every idea you know about when our days start and end. Do away, temporarily, with the Gregorian calendar, which is based on the earth revolving around the sun, and instead adopt the Jewish calendar, which reckons a day as starting at sundown. So then, by doing that, the first day of the week begins at sundown on (what we call) Saturday. But really, for us, Saturday night (from sundown on) will now become Sunday night—the beginning of the first day of the week. That said, our time will be reckoned thus, in order:
Sunday night (our Saturday night)—Sunday day (1st day of the week)
Monday night (our Sunday night)—Monday day (2nd day of the week)
Tuesday night (our Monday night)—Tuesday day (3rd day of the week)
Wednesday night (our Tuesday night)—Wednesday day (4th day of the week)
Thursday night (our Wednesday night)—Thursday day (5th day of the week)
Friday night (our Thursday night)—Friday day (6th day of the week)
Saturday night (our Friday night)—Saturday day (Sabbath)
Now, we know that Christ
rose from the tomb before the sun rose on Sunday. John 20:1-2—1 Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the
tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the
stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 Then she ran and came to Simon
Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them,
"They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where
they have laid Him." So then, Sunday night (our Saturday night) is
one night. And if Jesus was telling the truth, and He was to be “in the heart of the earth” for three days AND THREE
NIGHTS, counting backwards, we have Him in the tomb Sunday night (our Saturday
night), Saturday night (our Friday night), and Friday night (our Thursday
night). The “Jesus was crucified on Friday” falls apart already, simply because
of the fact that if He died on Friday, and if He meant what He said “in the heart of the earth three days AND THREE NIGHTS”,
then even if we reckon time in a Gregorian manner, at best he was in the tomb
Friday night and Saturday night—ONLY TWO NIGHTS, not three. For a visual aid, I
give you this from Zola Leavitt:
How to Read
this Chart
First it is vital to understand that the Jewish day begins at sundown and ends
at twilight the following day... The chart above therefore indicates the
following chronology:
- Yeshua was crucified and buried on Nisan 14, a Thursday afternoon (i.e., 1/2 day). This was also the "Preparation Day" for the Sabbath of Passover that would begin after sundown that same day.
- He was in the tomb Nisan 15 (from sundown until twilight Fri. = 1 day) and
- He was in the tomb Nisan 16 (from sundown until twilight Sat. = 1 day) and
- He was also in the tomb on Nisan 17 (i.e., after sundown Sun. = 1/2 day) BUT
- He later rose from the dead that day Nisan 17 (i.e., before sunrise Sun. morning)
(Zola Leavitt Ministries, Reshit Katzir - Messiah as the Beginning of the Harvest, http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Spring_Holidays/First_Fruits/first_fruits.html).
So then, now counting forward, we see He died on Thursday day. He was in the ground by sundown Thursday (1 day). Then at sundown Thursday comes Friday night (our Thursday night) (1 night), then Friday day (2 days). Then Saturday night (our Friday night) (2 nights), and Saturday day (3 days). Then Sunday night (our Saturday night) (3 nights)—and He is out of the tomb before the sun rises Sunday morning. Three days. Three nights. (You may need to read this a couple times to understand it, since our Gregorian calendar reckons days differently)
Now, what does all this have to do with רֵאשִׁית קָצִיר (Reshit Katzir)? I'm glad you asked! When was Christ arrested? Thursday night (our Wednesday night). The night of Passover Seder. Mark 14:12—Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?" This was the 14th of Nisan. Leviticus 23:5—“On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD's Passover.” Now, you may be asking “But the Feast of Unleavened Bread started the 15th of Nisan?” True, but the 14th was the start of the eight-day span when they would eat no bread with leaven. Even though the 15th of Nisan was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the 14th was the first day they would avoid eating leavened bread. The lambs were killed during the day on Thursday. As was our Lord. Then, the 15th of Nisan was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Leviticus 23:6—“And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD.” This was Friday. So he was arrested Thursday night (our Wednesday night), died Thursday day, in the ground Friday night (our Thursday night), Friday day was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Then at sundown began the Sabbath (Saturday night, our Friday night), followed by Saturday day. He came out of the tomb before Sunday day came, and guess what was special about that Sunday day following that Sabbath following the Passover? Leviticus 23:11—“He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath.” On the first first-day-of-the-week after the first Sabbath after Passover came the רֵאשִׁית קָצִיר (Reshit Katzir). On the first first-day-of-the-week after the first Sabbath after Passover our risen Lord appeared! What does Paul say in 1st Corinthians 15:20—But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Oh and one more thing: Matthew 27:50-53—50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. On the day of our Lord’s resurrection, He offered to His Father not only a Lamb without spot or blemish (Leviticus 23:12), but also an omer of the harvest that was to come—an offering of His own “firstfruits.”
But hey, why do we study all that Old Testament Law stuff anyway? It doesn't have anything to do with us!!
