The sheaf of first fruits was, typically, Christ risen. "On the morrow after the Sabbath" it was waved, and that was the first or resurrection-day.
In the ordinance of waving it we observe that:
1. The Jew, (Israel as a nation), was to bring the sheaf to the priest.
2. The priest was to wave it before the Lord, to be accepted for Israel.
3. Israel was, then, to offer a burnt offering with its meat and drink offering.
4. Israel was not to eat of the new corn, in any form till this was done.
This ordinance, very simple in its materials, was very significant of the way of a believer or of the Church touching the resurrection of Christ, as we see that way presented to us in Luke 24:44-5344And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48And ye are witnesses of these things. 49And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 50And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 52And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen. (Luke 24:44‑53).
1. The disciples bring the sheaf, that is, they apprehend and believe the fact of the resurrection.
(vv. 44, 45.)
2. Christ, the true Priest, teaches them that this resurrection was for them—that the sheaf was accepted of the Lord for them, and He gives them a blessed pledge of this. (Vv. 46-51.)
3. They make their offerings, because of this, offerings of worship and joy. (v. 52.)
4. They know of no eating, no feast, no communion, but in connection with the waved sheaf, or risen Christ. They occupy the temple only as in company with that very story. (v. 53.)
Such is the simple and direct illustration of this beautiful type, which the earliest moment in the experience of the saints after the resurrection of the Lord affords us.
The principal point of attraction, at least, to me, is in Luke 24:5353And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen. (Luke 24:53), connected, as it is, with Lev. 23:1414And 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. (Leviticus 23:14).
The disciples can do nothing but rejoice in the wave sheaf. It affords them their one commanding, absorbing thought. They fill the temple, not as worshiping Jews, with sacrifices and remembrances of sins, but as believing souls with thanksgiving for the resurrection and the remission of sins.
It was the first day of harvest with them. They have lost sight of the temple, save as the due spot for rendering offerings on the waving of the first fruits.
And in all this we have another form of owning, as David did in his day, a new place of service. (1 Chron. 21.) The wave sheaf or Christ risen tells us, like Ornan's threshing-floor, that "mercy rejoices over judgment." David, therefore, could not seek the former altar, or the high place at Gibeon, and so the disciples here forget the old temple, or the temple in all its wonted services, except that which belonged to the first day of harvest.
The resurrection had already done much sweet service for them. It had removed their fears, cleared up many a doubt and perplexity, gratified their poor wounded affections, anticipated the toil of their hands at the great stone of the sepulcher, and the value of their spices for the body of their Lord. But now it does the most sublime service of all for them: it changes their religion. As it had already rolled away the heavy stone for them from the door of the sepulcher, so it now rolls away a yoke which neither they nor their fathers had been able to bear. It builds a temple for them fairer than Solomon's. They serve now in the sense of the victory of Jesus, in the waving before the Lord of the sheaf of first fruits accepted for them. "They returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God." Theirs was now, as the Church's still is, the religion of the victory or resurrection of Christ.
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