What Jesus fulfilled

[Remnantrob]

Hi friends,

I was recently in another forum and one of the members started to talk about Jesus fulfilling prophecy and the likes. He mentioned Jesus being of the "first fruits" and fulfilling the "Wave sheafs". (something like that) I'm not the greatest OT historian, but I'm positive we have a lot of them in here. I was hoping you guys could help me understand the importance of first fruits in the OT and also the wave sheaf thingy that was mentioned. God bless.

[Remnantrob]

Ok, I'll try to give a little more background. one of the members of this board was defending the Eucharist to the OP who was completely opposed to it based on what he saw in scripture. Here is a piece of the response of the defender:

There is other evidence in the Scriptures of the eucharist. For one, there is the fact that three gospels and Paul affirm the eucharist, while only John includes the other. Moreover, it is clear that it was, as you said, a celebration of the Passover. And Jesus fulfilled the Passover, and the wavesheaf through His death and resurrection.

the highlighted is what i'm concerned about. Anybody got a history lesson/ bible lesson on the subject so I can better understand what Jesus fulfilled?

[Guest AngelicBeliever]

You can read about the wheat and tares in the bible, in the book of Matthew.

Matthew 13: 24-30 and 36-43. This is a parable given by Jesus as an illustration of the harvest of the earth that will take place. The good people are the wheat and the bad people are the tares. At the harvest of the world the good wheat (good people) will go into the marriage supper of the lamb and never be removed from the lambs side ever again. They will be with the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever in eternity.

The Tares, (the bad people) will be sent to burn in the lake of fire for eternity, this is the second death after the great white throne judgement.

Jesus Is the First Fruit, the first born of the dead. He will never die, he was the first to have eternal life and those that believe in him will be given this same reward which is eternal life.

This site has a few articles on this.

http://www.khouse.org/articles/2003/469/

[Guest AngelicBeliever]

Here is another article that I found.

The Wavesheaf Offering

by John W. Ritenbaugh

Forerunner, "Personal," April 1994

The Old Testament describes and commands many offerings for the Israelites in their worship of God. We are most familiar with the burnt, meal, peace, sin and trespass offerings of Leviticus 1-5. But other offerings, required to be given on special occasions, play significant roles in giving us understanding. These special offerings focus on specific parts of God's plan.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable," writes the apostle Paul in II Timothy 3:16. This includes "the begats," the Old Covenant laws and the ritual observances. Within them are principles, patterns and examples of God's way of life.

All of God's law is a teaching vehicle. The Hebrew word most frequently translated into "law" is torah, but torah more closely translates into the broader meaning of "instruction." Paul writes in Galatians 3:24, "Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith."

This teaching theme continues in Hebrews 9:9: "It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience." Later, the writer notes,

For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. . . . But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. (Hebrews 10:1, 3)

The wavesheaf offering is an easily overlooked offering. Only those aware of the counting required for observing Pentecost notice it because the count for Pentecost begins with the day of the wavesheaf offering. Possibly many of us were unaware of the wavesheaf offering because our church supplied us with a calendar showing the holy day dates for many years in advance. Since the date of Pentecost had already been determined for us, we were unaware that the count began with the day the obscure wavesheaf offering was made.

Occurring on only one day each year, the day of the wavesheaf offering is not designated a holy day by God. But it is far from minor or obscure in its meaning to salvation. In fact, we could say that without what it means to our salvation, there would be no salvation!

What, How and When

The wavesheaf consisted of a handful of barley, still on the stalk, cut at the beginning of the spring harvest. Since it came from the very beginning of the harvest, it can be called the first of the firstfruits (Exodus 23:19). Comparing Exodus 23:14-19; 34:22-26; Leviticus 23:10-11 and Nehemiah 12:44 shows that each Israelite having a harvest was required to give an offering. A priest then lifted or "waved" each sheaf before God for acceptance. However, research suggests that while the individual Israelite farmers did bring a firstfruits offering to the priests, the standard, recorded practice during the Second Temple period (the time of Christ) shows there was only one official waving of a sheaf by a priest in Jerusalem. This one sheaf and waving represented all the others brought by individual farmers.

In its setting in the Old Testament, the wavesheaf offering represents a thankful acknowledgment to God as the Giver of the harvest, while dedicating or consecrating it to Him. Its waving set the stage for the rest of the harvest to proceed.

Though the day the wavesheaf was to be cut is specified by Scripture, no specific time of day to cut it is given. Jewish history from the Second Temple period gives an interesting insight. According to the Talmud, when the Sadducees controlled the Temple, the sickle was put to the grain just as the sun was going down on the weekly Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread (Menahoth, Soncino ed., p. 389). Dr. J. van Goudoever's Biblical Calendars states, "The Boethusians [Temple priests] reaped [the firstfruits sheaf] at the going out of the Sabbath" (p. 18). A book by Moses Maimonides, Temple Service, gives additional information on this point (p. 280).

The priests began to make the first cuttings right at the end of the Sabbath, continuing over into the first day of the week, when the bulk of the work was done. But the ritual was not complete until the sheaf was offered (waved) before the Lord about twelve hours later, or more precisely, between 9:00 a.m. and noon. Some might object to the reaping of the sheaf in the closing minutes of the Sabbath because it is a day of rest when no work was to be done. After one understands the full reason for it, though, any objections to the practice disappear.

Spiritual Harvests

That reason is supplied in the New Testament when a major step in His plan begins to unfold. The Old Testament situates the festivals of God within the agricultural harvests, but in the New Testament these agricultural harvests become types of God's spiritual harvests of souls into His Kingdom.

Jesus says:

Do you not say, "There are still four months and then comes the harvest"? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. (John 4:35-36)

He obviously speaks of a spiritual harvest of people unto eternal life. This was His Work, the same Work He was training the disciples in also.

Matthew writes:

But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." (Matthew 9:36-38).

Another clear reference to a spiritual harvest is the Parable of the Wheat and Tares:

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. . . . Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." (Matthew 13:24-25, 30).

In His explanation of this parable, He says:

The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. . . . Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! (Matthew 13: 39, 43)

It is so plain! A harvest symbolizes a resurrection. More specifically and positively, a harvest is a type of a resurrection to eternal life