“They (the demons) screamed, ‘What do want with us, Son of God? Have you come to torture us before the appointed time’” (Matthew 8:29)
In case anyone might doubt whether God has got His perfect timing for everything, one can be sure that the demonic realm are very clear and tremble in fear! Their appointed time for judgement draws close. But, how well prepared are we His beloved children for His return? This is a key feature of the season we have entered in the Jewish calendar known as the ‘counting of the omer.’
Counting the Omer is an event which generally attracts scant attention or is overshadowed by Pesach and Shavuot. Although it is a minor festival it is packed with great significance.
During the seven weeks from Pesach to Shavuot, we count the days and the weeks:
“You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you” (Deuteronomy 16:9-10). Also see Lev. 23:10-16.
The omer was a measure of barley (one tenth of an ephah – Ex.16:36 around two quarts) and was used because it was the first cereal crop to be harvested in the new calendar year.
During the days of the Temple, on the second day of Pesach, known as ‘Reshit Katzir’ (the beginning of the harvest) an omer of barley was cut down and brought to the Temple as a special offering during this season and waved by the priest before the Lord in all directions as a gesture of dedication to Him. A lamb was then sacrificed as a burnt offering to the Lord along with unleavened bread mixed with oil, and wine (Lev.23:13). After the wave offering was offered, the people could harvest their crops. Here we see a beautiful symbolic picture, as a flawless male lamb was offered alongside bread and wine, of Jesus our Pesach lamb. Waving the omer began the counting leading to the Feast of Shavuot.
THE OMER AND MESSIAH
On the same day that Caiaphas interrogated Jesus, three elders from the Sanhedrin went out to a barley field not far from Jerusalem. As the Romans bound and crucified Jesus, these same elders bound up the standing barley into bundles to make it
easier to reap.
As the harvest began, the reapers collected three seahs of barley in their baskets and carried it back to Jerusalem. The baskets contained more than enough grain to constitute a full sheaf’s worth (an omer), enough to fulfil the Torah’s command:
“You shall bring in the omer of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the omer before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.” (Leviticus 23:10–11)
The Torah prohibited utilising any produce from the new year’s cereal crops until the priesthood offered up the first of the new grain to the LORD. The barley crop ripens first in Israel, so the priesthood always offered an omer of barley. The commandment of the barley omer reminded Israel that the land and its produce belong first to God.
That same night (Saturday) and throughout the night, the priests in the Temple threshed, roasted, and ground the barley into flour. In the period that the priests refined the freshly milled flour, sifting it through thirteen sieves, Jesus was raised from the
dead.
The next day on Sunday morning, while the women discovered the empty tomb, the high priest was busy mixing the barley flour with oil and frankincense to prepare it as a bread offering. The priests mixed the flour into dough with olive oil and incense. Caiaphas took the batch of dough in his hands and waved it before the LORD as a wave offering. Then he touched the barley flour to the corner of the altar.
After the morning sacrifice and the additional Pesach sacrifices (described in Numbers 28:24), Caiaphas offered a portion of grain offering on the altar as a memorial portion. The priests baked the remainder of the dough into loaves of unleavened
barley bread for distribution amongst the priesthood. Caiaphas concluded the ceremony by sacrificing a single male lamb as a burnt offering to accompany the new grain. That day began the fifty-day count to the festival of Shavuot (Pentecost).
COUNTING UP
Normally we count down towards any big event, but in the case of the omer, we count up ― from one to 50. To understand this, we must look back in time to the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Why did God wait 50 days before giving the Torah instead of immediately? Because it was for them an important time of preparation following the miracle of their deliverance. They had been immersed in pagan culture for over 400 years and needed to grow in maturity. God treated them as little children. He took them through the long route through the wilderness (40 years) rather than the short one (12 days) to protect them from being overwhelmed by their Philisitine enemies, and to prepare them as His people.
Without these weeks of preparation beforehand marked by the counting of the omer, there can be no Shavuot. We cannot simply migrate from Pesach to Shavuot without the inbetween, otherwise we simply mirror the five foolish maidens described Jesus’ parable.
PREPARATION
So, as we prepare well for the Lord’s return, we are challenged to fill every moment of our lives with words, thoughts, and deeds which bring honour to Him. Are we feeding on ‘milk,’ or the ‘meat’ which builds the strength and fullness of Messiah’s
stature in us? Is what we are gathering, the type of food which will bring us before His presence with exceeding joy?
