A Harvest Like No Other
Exodus 23:14-19,John 3:14-15,1 Corinthians 15:20-23
Pastor Leslie Tipton

An unknown writer shares: When our second daughter was quite young, she once heard the line in a church song, "Send the fire! Send the fire! Send it we implore thee. Fill us with the Holy Ghost as we bow before thee."  The opening words "Send the fire!" startled her and thinking literally of the worst case scenario she tugged on her mom's skirt and said "Do they really mean it mommy? Do they really mean it?" The day of Pentecost symbolizes a major component of the spiritual understanding because upon this day God sent His Holy Spirit to His church, providing Christ's disciples with the power, love and understanding to carry out the work of the church. This “falling” of the Holy Spirit is the key to understanding the spiritual principles of God's Word and opens our understanding of the plan that God is working out among mankind.

First I’d like to take you back further, before Pentecost…way before Pentecost, into the Old Testament, way back into the Old Testament. God established His holy days around the two major harvests of the year, a small one in the spring and a larger one in the fall. These harvest seasons typify two spiritual harvests. Pentecost, occurring in late spring, symbolizes the first spiritual harvest and reveals that this is not the only day of salvation. This day is also the anniversary of God's church—the beginning of the portion of God's master plan in which He calls people out of this evil world to create in them His holy, perfect, spiritual character. The Lord called the Israelites to come before Him three times during the year, general periods during which God's holy days fall. Passover and Unleavened Bread occur in early spring, the "Feast of Harvest" in late spring and the "Feast of Ingathering" in the fall. Before the Israelites could reap the spring crop, God commanded them to bring a sheaf of grain to the priest, who waved it before God for acceptance. This "wavesheaf offering" occurred on "the day after the Sabbath" that falls during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Occurring on only one day each year, the day of the wavesheaf offering is not designated a holy day by God, yet it is a very important day, for it means something very significant in terms of our salvation. We find the details regarding the wavesheaf offering in Leviticus 23:9-14: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The wavesheaf consisted of an omer of barley, still on the stalk, cut at the beginning of the spring harvest. Since it came from the very beginning of the harvest of the firstfruits, it can be called the first of the firstfruits (Exodus 23:19  A comparison of Exodus 23:14-19, Each Israelite possessing a harvest was required to give an offering. A priest then lifted or "waved" each sheaf before God for acceptance. However, while the individual Israelite farmers did bring a firstfruits offering to the priests, the standard, recorded practice during the the time of Christ was to perform only one official waving of a sheaf by a priest in Jerusalem. This one sheaf and its 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. In fact, the work of harvesting could not begin until the wavesheaf offering occurred. The wavesheaf offering represents this small, initial harvest.
 
Now that we have discussed and understand the significance of the offering of the firstfruits of the harvest, let us now turn our attention from the celebration of the Seasonal Harvest to the Spiritual Harvest, which is where we find ourselves in Acts 2:1, When the day of Pentecost came (remember now, this is the day that the wavesheaf offering is made, between 9 am and 12 pm) they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. This is the day the Jesus promised, that after He left he would send a Comforter (John 14:18).
And as we continue to read in Acts, we see that it was recognized by witnesses that the people speaking in tongues were all Galileans, but those listening were from foreign countries, and those who heard were hearing in their own native language. Then the Apostle Peter stands to address the crowd, and preached Christ the Lord to them. Shortly thereafter, three thousand were added to their number that day, a spiritual harvest never seen before, a harvest like no other!
 
Just like the wavesheaf offering that was to be made before the harvest, offering the firstfruits to God, this harvest, too, had a wavesheaf offering.
Just before the book of Acts, we read in the Gospels that Jesus offered up His life, His sinless, perfect life, and handed Himself over to death on a cross, so that we might have a relationship with His Father. He says to us in Scripture that there is only one way to the Father, and that is through Him, Jesus. John 3:14-15 says “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.”
 
Jesus Christ is and was the “Firstfruit offering” for humanity, He clearly was the first part of the harvest that was offered for the salvation of humanity. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 refers to Christ as the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be make alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.”
 
So we see the relationship between the seasonal harvest and the spiritual harvest, but WHAT does all of this mean to us? How can we apply it today? What does it mean for me? Or should we say WHO does it mean for us? The Holy Spirit…Present at Creation, Promised long ago. Described by Jesus, Given to all. The Holy Spirit was given to us so that we could and would have several characteristics of God in our lives. We are to have comfort, counsel, peace…and we are to have power. Not our own power, but the power of God with which HE will do marvelous things in, through, and around us.
 
Now power is a funny thing, because it can be utilized in more than one way. Listen to this illustration from an unknown source: Power can be used in at least two ways: it can be unleashed, or it can be harnessed. The energy in ten gallons of gasoline, for instance, can be released explosively by dropping a lighted match into the can. Or it can be channeled through the engine of a Datsun in a controlled burn and used to transport a person 350 miles. Explosions are spectacular, but controlled burns have lasting effect, staying power. The Holy Spirit works both ways. At Pentecost, he exploded on the scene; His presence was like “tongues of fire” (Acts 2:3). Thousands were affected by one burst of God’s power. But He also works through the church—the institution God began to tap the Holy Spirit’s power for the long haul. Through worship, fellowship, and service, Christians are provided with staying power.
 
Pentecost is not about seeking an “experience.” It is not about what might happen, but Who might happen. It is not about straining and coaxing and manipulating the Spirit, but it is about making room in our hearts and lives for the Holy Spirit to come in, perhaps for the first time ever, or maybe in an even deeper way. None of us knows Him as deeply as we can…none of us has a corner on the market of holiness or spiritual maturity…none of us is super spiritual, and if we think we are, we’re even less spiritual than we think we are. There is ALWAYS room for more of God, more of Jesus, more of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Day of Pentecost is a celebration of the beginning of the church, and the sending of the Holy Spirit to humanity in a powerful way. If you know Jesus as your Savior, you already have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, but there is always room for more of Him. What is He asking you to do with this information right now? Some of us may feel convicted by His request on us. Conviction, a strong word, yes, yet an appropriate word all the more. Some of us may feel Him wooing us closer, deeper, into a more intimate relationship with Him. And then some of us may want to know His power, how to let Him utilize his power in your lives, His loving, sustaining, undying power.
 
WHAT is He saying to YOU? Not your partner, not your neighbor…YOU! The power of the Holy Spirit was the power by which the few firstfruits (the apostles) then called were able to develop God's holy, righteous, and perfect character, which is God's purpose for having put humanity on the earth—that God may thus reproduce Himself. Do you see the relationship? Do you see Jesus as the firstfruit offering of those who were to follow? Do you see your place in the reproduction of God through you? Do you have His power within you?

These words, spoken by the Prophet Joel, are for us now today: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below.


 Do you belong to Him?
Are you listening?
Are you open?
Are you willing?
Are you ready?