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Acts Review: The Mystery of Christ and His Church

Last time, we were investigating a mystery; the mystery of godliness – that term means, “holy life”. We
learned that the foundation of this holy life is Jesus – God the Son, who was made in the likeness of men
(Phil 2:7), in order that He might bring forth eternal life, to men. In this way, men, who are born sinners,
can then be regenerated – born again, as sons of God – and by the new, eternal life they have received,
empowered to live a holy life.

But how exactly do men obtain that eternal life, that Jesus brought forth from His death? Through uniting
themselves to Him, by faith - believing into Christ.

Through the union of faith, the believer is baptized into Christ’s death - buried with Him - and raised to
walk in newness of life, as a son of God - walking by faith, here and now, in the holy life that Christ
shares with him. And one day, that new life will bring forth the fruit of an ever-living body of glory,
which will fit the believer for the presence of God, to dwell with Him - forever.

When a person believes into Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in him, enlightening him to the Lord’s
thinking, and thereby providing unity with Christ and with other believers. He is a new creation in
himself, having been born again, as well as part of a new creation, in Christ Jesus. Paul spoke about this
in his second letter to the church at Corinth.

Turn to Second Corinthians chapter 5. Paul wrote of the love of Christ which constrained his heart,
pressing him on in his ministry to share the good news of what Jesus had done. Then he wrote of the new
creation in Christ.

[2 Cor 5:17-21]

v. 17 Believers are in Christ; collectively, they have become part of Him, and now partake of a new life
– they are an entirely new creation, the new man, Christ. The old things have passed away – that old life
you had, in Adam, in a body of sin. Behold, all things have become new – you have a new life, as a
member of Christ’s Body, a spiritual body.

v. 18-20 Paul was pointing out that this new creation in Christ, the Body of Christ, is of God; it is part of
His plan. First, God reconciled us to Himself through Jesus. As sinners, we were the enemies of God; we
were at war with Him; but God offered us His peace terms: His own Son, the sacrifice for our sin.

We have accepted God’s peace terms, and so have been reconciled to God. God then chose to limit
Himself to men who have been reconciled to continue to offer His peace terms, to the rest of the world.
This is the greater work that the Body of Christ is even now continuing to do (Jn 14:12), in the stead of
Christ, as His ambassadors, preaching the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.

v. 21 Here we see the great exchange, by which men are reconciled to God; the sinless Christ takes away
a man’s sin, and the man receives Christ’s righteousness in sin’s place. That’s an offer no man should
refuse!

Paul wrote to other assemblies that this new creation in Christ was, at one time, a mystery. Do you
remember what a mystery is, in the NT? It is a sacred truth, which is hidden or secret, and can only be
known by God revealing it; you can’t figure it out. That God would have a Body that was in Christ was a
mystery; that is, the church was a mystery – until God revealed it.
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Turn to Colossians chapter 1. Paul wrote this letter to the church at Colosse, a mostly Gentile assembly.
Paul begins this letter with a statement of the preeminence of Christ over His creation, and, in particular,
over all who believe in Him; He is the Head of His Body, the church, of which these Gentile believers
were fully members. Paul then speaks of the church as a mystery. We’ll begin in verse 24.

[Colossians 1:24-27]

v. 24-26 So first Paul said he found joy in suffering the reproach of Christ for the sake of the gospel,
because that suffering had a great purpose – the same purpose as His Lord’s suffering – to bring many
sons unto glory (Heb 2:10). It was for the sake of Christ’s Body, the church, that Paul suffered what he
did.

Specifically, Paul was appointed by God to be the apostle to the Gentiles. In this way, the word of God
would be fulfilled, by the gospel by being preached to all men – both Jew and Gentile. It was by this –
the preaching of the word of God - that a certain mystery would be made fully known by God, to those
who believe.

v. 27 That’s the mystery: Christ in you – speaking specifically of the Gentiles here, but a mystery
revealed by the fulfilling of the word of God in both Jew and Gentile. No doubt to the Jews, the part
about the Gentiles was the most mysterious part.

What exactly did Paul mean – “Christ in you, the hope of glory”? I think he was being very specific here.
The great mystery of the church is that Christ dwells in each one of its members through the Holy Spirit,
uniting them as one Body; as a collective, in Christ.

And Christ in us is our hope of glory; the Spirit is our guarantee that our individual bodies will one day be
redeemed - as we have already been, in our persons - through the blood of Christ; we have a know-so
hope of a body of glory (Eph 1:14).

Collectively, we will be the glorious Bride of Christ; a church of glory (Eph 5:27; Rev 21:2). That’s
“Christ in us – the hope of glory”. And that was a mystery, before Christ came to the earth.

Paul wrote on this subject to others, also. Turn to Ephesians chapter 3. Paul began this letter with God’s
perspective of the great salvation that Jesus had wrought for mankind, then wrote of those to whom Paul
ministered the gospel, in particular – the Gentiles, of whom the churches in Asia were principally
composed.

[Ephesians 3:1-7]

v. 1 This verse is rendered by several translators with the verb form “am” – “For this reason” – that is, in
order to preach the gospel to the Gentiles – “I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus – for you Gentiles”.
It is generally thought that Paul was a prisoner in Rome at the time of the writing of this letter, as well as
the letter to the Colossians. But Paul did not view himself as a prisoner of Caesar, did he? He was the
prisoner of Christ Jesus - the bondservant of the Lord.

v. 2 This word for dispensation in the Greek means stewardship; this is what God entrusted to Paul. Paul
went on to describe the stewardship which God had given him, among the Gentiles.
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v. 3-5 This speaks of the apostles and prophets of NT times, to whom this mystery of Christ had been
revealed, who then revealed it to the other believers, through their teaching. Now Paul opens up the
mystery.

v. 6-7 Of course, Paul is speaking of the Gentiles being fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of
God’s promise, with the Jews.

The Jews were acknowledged to be the people of God; the Gentiles were aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise. They had no hope; they were without God in the
world (Eph 2:12). The Gentiles were indeed the greater part of the mystery of Christ and His church; that
the Oneness to be had in Christ extended to them.

Paul would go on to say (v. 9-10) that the mystery of the church had been hidden in God from the
beginning of the ages, who created all things through Jesus Christ. The church, too, was created through
Jesus Christ; it was formed out of His death.

Although the mystery of the church was hidden in God, it was not entirely unknowable; God placed
several pictures in the OT Scriptures, which the Spirit could reveal to any OT saint with a desire to know
the deeper things of God. Within some of these pictures could even be seen the Gentile component of the
church.

Since the mystery has been made known in our day, we have the opportunity to reflect back on the
Scriptures, to see these pictures which God had placed in His Word of the Body that He purposed to have
in Christ.

It gives us a great sense of awe, to see how God planned for the church before we ever existed. Also,
these pictures would have served as the Spirit’s confirmation to the early Jewish believers that the Gentile
believers were to be fully accepted by them, as equal brothers in Christ. We’re just going to be looking at
some of these pictures as a quick overview.

First, let’s look together at a description that Paul gives concerning the relationship between Christ and
His church – which he again labels as a great mystery.

Turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Paul had been describing what Christ’s character of righteousness would
look like, in the members of His Body. Then he wrote of particular relationships within the Body,
beginning with husbands and wives, showing how their relationship reflects that of Christ and His church.

[Ephesians 5:22-32]

v. 22-24 So the husband-wife relationship is patterned after the relationship between Christ and His
church. The relationship speaks of loving authority, and respectful submission to that authority. Christ is
the Head, and the church is His Body; He has the say, and the Body is to yield to Him, in love.

Why is Christ the Head? Because He is the Savior of the Body. Another way of saying that would be that
He gave her Life; therefore, it is His right to be the Head. That is God’s design; His plan; and when each
does their part, it works beautifully.
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v. 25-29 The love that is spoken of here is agapao - the love of God, that gives the one loved, not what
they want, but what they need – for their good. What was it that Christ gave the church, in verse 25?
Himself; He gave her His Life. That’s what we truly needed. By this we know love, because He laid
down His life for us (1 Jn 3:16).

Jesus gave His life for us, for a purpose: to sanctify and cleanse the church. Before becoming members of
Christ’s Body, we were sinners; impure and unrighteous; unclean, walking according to the course of this
world (Eph 2:2).

But when we believed the good news of Jesus Christ, He cleansed us – how? v. 26 - with the washing of
water – by the Word of God. Having believed the Word of God concerning the good news of Jesus, we
were washed, loosed from our sins. And as we continue to believe God’s word, our thinking becomes
transformed into His thinking, and we are sanctified - set apart unto God, set apart from this world.

And what is it that encourages us, in this process? It is Christ Himself, who nourishes and cherishes us,
through His Spirit.

Those are both child-rearing terms in the Greek; they refer to training up to maturity. As Christ
disciplines us through His Spirit, we are trained to have the Lord’s thinking, and not our own thinking –
and we are sanctified. In this way, our thinking is purified, so that we can be partakers of God’s holy
character (Heb 12:10).

Sanctification is the ongoing process that we experience, in these bodies of flesh, to prepare us for the
time when Christ will present us to Himself complete, as His Bride – without spot or wrinkle; holy and
without blemish - a church of glory, all of its members in bodies of glory.

Notice that it is Christ that does all the work; He loved the church, and gave her His life; He sanctifies and
cleanses her; He nourishes and cherishes her. What is the part of the church? To submit to Him. All is
done in Love, because we are a part of Him.

As Paul was writing of this relationship of ultimate intimacy and love, He related it back to the first man
and woman.

v. 30-32 Here again, Paul mentions this great mystery – speaking of the union between Christ and His
church. From what Paul writes here, we understand that the first man and woman, specifically in their
relationship as husband and wife, pattterned Christ and His church. Elsewhere, Paul says that Adam is a
type of Him who was to come (Rm 5:14) – that is, Jesus. Likewise, the woman was a type of the church.

Let’s go back to the passage that Paul is quoting here in vv. 30-31. It is found in Genesis chapter 2.

Remember that when God initiated His creation of mankind, He created them male and female (Gen 1:26-
27). The LORD God formed the man’s body of the dust of the ground, and breathed into that body the
breath of life (Gen 2:7); He gave life to His creation. The woman was created as part of the man; created
when the man was created; but as yet, the woman was unseen; her life was concealed, contained, within
the man’s life. We could say the first woman was a mystery, to be revealed by God.

The woman was made when God determined that it was not good for the man to be alone.

[Genesis 2:18-24]
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v. 18 The KJV translates “helper comparable to him” as “help-meet for him”, which I think brings
greater meaning out of the Hebrew word, in light of what it types; a helper that would meet the needs of
the man.

It was not good for the man to be alone, because then he would be unable to fulfill the purposes for which
God created him – to be fruitful, to multiply and to fill the earth. God had purposely designed the man to
need another – a helper suited to him, his physical counterpart, who would help him to accomplish God’s
purposes on the earth.

Likewise, it would not have been good for Jesus to remain alone. Like the first man, God had planned
that the Second Man, the Lord from heaven, would have a helper; one suited to Him, His counter part,
who would help Him accomplish God’s purposes on the earth.

Remember that Jesus was that grain of wheat, that must fall into the ground, and die, in order to not abide
alone; in dying, He would bring forth much fruit (Jn 12:24).

Through death, Jesus would fulfill the purposes of God: to be fruitful – to bring forth eternal Life; to
multiply – reproduce that Life, in men – and to fill the earth – the gospel seed being sown in all the earth,
so that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9). The church is Christ’s help-
meet on the earth, by the design of God.

v. 19-20 Man’s help-meet would not come out of the earth. The LORD God would form her out of the
man.

v. 21-22 Now, this was not an ordinary sleep. This would have been a state of deep unconsciousness - a
death-like, unresponsive state – for the LORD God was about to perform the first surgery. While Adam
slept, the LORD God removed one of his ribs, and presumably some flesh, as well (v. 23), and God made
the bone and flesh a woman.

Now, it’s remarkable that two architectural terms are used in these verses. The word “rib” is also
translated “side”; it is used elsewhere in Scripture almost exclusively as an architectural term, often
referring to the side of a building. The Hebrew word for “made” – “He made into a woman” – actually
means built; another architectural term. This woman was really built!

So we see here the LORD God, as the Master Designer, building a woman out of the flesh and bone of the
man, which was taken from his side. This word for “built” is also used figuratively of a man building his
household; that is, having children.

In this, we see another reflection of our Lord Jesus, and His church. The church came out of the death of
Jesus; remember He is that grain of wheat. It can even be said that the church came out of His side, in
that the piercing of His side on the cross was the confirmation that Jesus was dead (Jn 19:34-35).

Out of that death, came the Life of the church, the household of God, built upon the foundational teaching
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone – a habitation of God
through the Spirit (Eph 2:19-22).

The church is still being built up, in our day; when the church is complete, she will be caught up to be
with her Lord (1 Thes 4:17), presented to Him as His Bride (Eph 5:27, Rev 21:2); just as the woman,
when she was complete, was brought to the man, to be his wife.
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v. 23-24 Here we read the verses that Paul had quoted in our passage in Ephesians – the great mystery of
Christ and His church. The woman had her own individual existence now, her own relationship with God
and with Adam, and her own purpose – to be Adam’s helper on the earth.

Yet, at the same time, she was also one with Adam – through their marriage union. Adam described the
woman (in wow!!-terms) as part of him – bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh.

After His resurrection, Jesus used the same terms to describe His glorified body - flesh and bone (Lk
24:39). When Jesus catches up His Bride, they will be joined as one flesh - glorified flesh. And it will be
a fruitful union, as sons of God fill the earth, during the Kingdom Age.

The mystery of Christ and His church is also pictured in a psalm that David wrote. Turn to Psalm 139.
This is a psalm that is known as the Song of the Son of Man – the song of Messiah.

In this psalm, the psalmist is prophetically singing the part of Messiah in His first coming to the earth - as
the Servant of Jehovah. The song is sung to the LORD - Jehovah - here representing the Father. In order to
keep our train of thought, we’ll just be looking at the part of this psalm that pertains to the church – just
four verses.

The psalm begins as Messiah sings to Jehovah from His perspective on the earth as the Servant. He
recounts with great wonder the omniscience, the omnipresence, the omnipotence of Jehovah.

Then Messiah sings of His own incarnation. This part of the psalm is very complex, and requires that we
dig deeply into the Hebrew meanings – but if you look carefully to see God’s meaning here, you’ll see a
beautiful picture – a unique glimpse of Christ and His church.

First, let’s read the passage together.

[Psalm 139:13-16]

v. 13 Remember, Messiah is singing to Jehovah. He says that Jehovah has possessed His reins. The
reins speak of the inner man. The word “possessed” actually means to create or bring forth. The “inward
parts” here refers to the inner organs; “covered” is a weaving or knitting together. The idea being
expressed is Jehovah creating a fetus in the womb, of Him putting all of the parts together. Can you see
that this is speaking of Messiah’s incarnation on the earth?

In the womb of Mary, Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit (Mt 1:20); the Son of God was incarnated as
the Son of Man, covered with a body that the Lord prepared for Him (Heb 10:5). The Word was made
flesh (Jn 1:14, KJV).

v. 14 Messiah is recognizing Jehovah’s awesome work, which is beyond human ability - as seen now
from Messiah’s own earthly perspective. Messiah’s wonder is not contained to how He Himself was
made - but also to what will be made - of Him.

v. 15 “Substance” in the Hebrew literally means a bodily frame. What’s the frame of the body? The
bones. Messiah is saying that His bones were not concealed from Jehovah; that is, Jehovah could see His
bones, His bodily frame.

Messiah is speaking of this regarding a particular time – when? When He was made in secret; the idea
here is of a hidden place.
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So in this hidden place – a place where Messiah was concealed from others – He was not hidden from
Jehovah’s omniscient gaze.

What is this hidden place? Look at the end of the verse – it’s the “lowest parts of the earth”. Now, the
lowest parts of the earth indicates the realm of the dead; in the OT, it is the contrast to the land of the
living (Ez 26:20).

Messiah is speaking of the time when He would be cut off from the land of the living (Is 53:8); when He
would be put to death. In death, He would be hidden from men, for a time; but He was never hidden from
Jehovah.

And in this hidden place, death, Messiah was being made in secret. What can that mean? The word for
“made” means to build or construct; it is the same architectural term used for the woman, built from the
flesh and bone of Adam. What was being built from Messiah, in this hidden place of death?

We have a clue in the phrase “curiously wrought”. In this context, the phrase speaks in a figurative sense
of a human fetus being woven into existence. The key Hebrew word in this phrase literally means to
embroider; to weave. In its only other usage in the OT, it refers to variegating a garment; of weaving
multi-colored threads together (Ex 38:23).

Out of the death of Messiah, Jehovah would weave together a Body – a Body with various members. Jew.
Gentile. Slave. Free. Male. Female. All being woven together, to form one Body. What Body is this?
The Body of Christ.

Here is the woman, the true church, built from the flesh and bone of the man, as he slept – in death. Here
is the great mystery of Christ and His church; concealed in the OT, to be revealed in its fulfillment,
through Christ.

Now the Son of Man reflects on the fact that this was always part of the Father’s plan.

v. 16 It was Jehovah’s eyes – all-seeing, all-knowing – that saw the Messiah’s “substance yet being
imperfect”. That phrase is just one word in the Hebrew, and it refers to anything which is folded up, or
undeveloped. In this context, it is referring once again to a fetus, where all the members of the body are
as yet folded up, or undeveloped, before they have assumed their distinct form and proportions.

Now, the next part makes it apparent that this does not refer to Messiah Himself, but to the Body that was
to come from Him - the church.

The word for “continuance” is plural in the Hebrew. It’s the word for the most basic conception of time.
In this context, the plural indicates “lifespans”.

A more literal rendering of this phrase would be, “And in Your book all of them were written, the
lifespans were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them”. Whose book is this? Jehovah’s book.

Messiah is speaking of Jehovah, in His prescience; in His foreknowledge. What is it that Jehovah could
see, before they ever existed? The members of the Body of Christ. He could see the lifespan of each and
every person, who will believe into His Son; who will be, in Him.

In what book are their names all written? In the book of Life. Before they ever came into being, the
Father had, in His foreknowledge, fashioned them into that new creation in Christ Jesus – His Body.
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Now look back for a moment over verses 13-16. What overall tense did the psalmist use to describe
Messiah and the Body that would be formed of Him? Possessed; covered; was not hid; was made; was
curiously wrought; did see; were written; were fashioned. The past tense.

Were these things past, when the psalmist was writing? No; they were future. But it is being spoken of as
if it is already done – because in the plan of God, it is done. What God has planned, He always brings to
pass. His thoughts are essentially His already accomplished works.

The Body of Christ, the true church, was part of the plan from the moment the Son agreed to be the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world; and the Body of Christ, the true church, was always a part of
Messiah, since His incarnation - just as the first woman had always been a part of the first man, since he
was created.

The church came out of the death of Christ, and is being built up on the Life that He brought out of that
death - a new creation in Christ Jesus, yet with its own unique existence.

God planted another glimpse of the fruit that would come out of Jesus’ death in the feasts of the LORD,
which were given to Israel. In this picture, there is even a foreshadowing of the Gentile members of the
Body of Christ.

There were three times a year that all the men of Israel were required to appear before the LORD in
Jerusalem: The feast of Unleavened Bread, the feast of Weeks, and the feast of Tabernacles (Deut 16:16).

These three feasts were memorials of what the LORD had done for the children of Israel, but also looked
ahead to a future fulfillment. Each feast would be fulfilled in a single moment in time in the history of
mankind. Each one pictured a vital aspect of the work of Christ.

During the feast of Unleavened Bread, three feasts were actually celebrated: Passover, Unleavened
Bread, and the Feast of Firstfruits, all beginning on consecutive days.

The feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, followed fifty days after the feast Firstfruits; they were linked together
as the beginning and end of the early harvests in the land that God gave Israel.

Tabernacles also had two other feasts celebrated with it: The feast of Trumpets, and the Day of
Atonement. Altogether, there were then seven feasts of the LORD, celebrated in Jerusalem by Israel.

For the sake of continuity, I’m just going to share the historic, one-time fulfillment of each feast, three of
which have not yet come to pass. The feast of Passover was fulfilled in the crucifixion of Christ; the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29).

Unleavened Bread refers to bread that contains no leavening; it has not been corrupted by the action of
yeast. In Scripture, leaven pictures sin or evil, with its corrupting influence. The feast of Unleavened
Bread was fulfilled in the burial of Jesus’ sinless body, which saw no corruption in the grave (Ps 16:9-10).

Firstfruits is the feast that celebrates the first harvest of ripened grain in the land; this was fulfilled in the
resurrection of Jesus from the dead, in a glorified body.
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The last three feasts have yet to be fulfilled; they’ll follow the Tribulation. The feast of Trumpets
foreshadows the Second Coming of Christ to the earth. The day of Atonement reflects Israel’s repentance,
receiving Jesus as their Messiah. Finally, the feast of Tabernacles foretells the setting up of the Kingdom
on earth by Jesus, for His thousand year reign.

It’s that center feast – the feast of Weeks, or Pentecost – that we want to take a look at today.

Turn to Leviticus chapter 23. We’ll do a quick overview of this feast and the one which precedes it, to
which it is connected – Firstfruits. The LORD was outlining all of His feasts to Moses.

[Leviticus 23:9-21]

v. 9-11 This was for the feast of Firstfruits. This offering was known as a wave-offering. A sheaf of the
firstfruits of the first grain harvest was gathered from the field, and waved before the LORD by the priest.
Of course, this would have been an unleavened offering, since it was raw grain. By this offering, and
those that accompanied it, the offerer was accepted by the LORD. It was to be done on the morrow after
the Sabbath – the day after the feast of Unleavened Bread began.

v. 12-14 So what was the wave-offering accompanied by? Burnt, grain and drink-offerings. These
offerings speak of Christ as the Servant of Jehovah, the Perfect Man, whose life was poured out in death.

Taken together, we see the perfect, complete sacrifice of Christ, who had been sown in the field of this
world, and had lived a sinless life; whose body therefore saw no corruption in the grave, and was raised
again a body of glory – the first fruits of the resurrection of Life.

The feast of Weeks is tied to the feast of Firstfruits by its timing.

v. 15-16 Now you see why it’s called the feast of Weeks. Seven Sabbaths is seven weeks – 49 days –
plus an additional day, makes fifty days – and that’s where we get the Greek name of the feast, Pentecost,
for pente, fifty. On the fiftieth day, a new grain offering was to be made to the LORD.

v. 17-21 Not from the field, but from out of their dwellings, the people were to bring this offering. Once
again, it was the firstfruits of a grain harvest – from a later sowing.

Note the different form of this offering: two wave loaves of fine flour, baked with leaven. Remember,
leaven is a type of sin, or evil, with its corrupting influence. Leaven is never, never present in any
offering that represents Christ, for He was sinless. So what does this offering represent?

This offering represents the Body of Christ; it is the firstfruits of that harvest of souls that God will take
into His kingdom, through Christ. There are two loaves, but one offering – and here we see the two
peoples – Jew and Gentile - that have been made one, in Christ.

The offering originates from the dwellings of the people; it comes out of them; it represents their lives,
offered up to God. Well, they have sin, in their lives – so therefore, the leaven. But the action of the
leaven has been stopped by the fire used in baking the loaves. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit in the
Body of Christ – overruling sin in the life of the believer (Rm 8:2).

Now, the action of the leaven has been stopped, but there was still leaven present – still sin, in the Body
of Christ. So, what makes this offering acceptable to God? Christ Himself does. We see Him pictured in
the offerings that accompany the wave loaves.
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Note that there are two offerings made in addition to those made at Firstfruits: a sin offering, and peace
offerings (v. 19), by which the Body of Christ has been loosed from their sin, and reconciled to God –
they are completely accepted in the Beloved (Eph 1:6). This harvest offering is perfectly acceptable to
God.

This harvest will be ultimately realized when the Body of Christ is caught up to Christ as He returns for
her - His Bride, presenting her to Himself, a church of glory (Eph 5:27) – every member in their glorified
body.

We see the offering of the two wave loaves for Pentecost reflected in one of Paul’s letters. Turn to
Ephesians chapter 2.

[Ephesians 2:11-18]

v. 11 “The Circumcision” refers to the Jews.

v. 12-13 The blood of Christ ratified the eternal covenant, extending God’s grace to all the families of the
earth – both Jew and Gentile.

v. 14 the middle wall of separation is a reference to the wall of partition at the temple, which kept the
Gentiles out of the place of worship.

v. 15-18 Two peoples, one offering, acceptable to God – through the blood of Christ.

We’ve seen the one-time fulfillment of the feast of Pentecost back in Acts chapter 2. And now we’ve
reached the point in history when the church began to transition to becoming predominantly Gentile. But
as the believers began to recognize that truly there was no Jew or Gentile in Christ Jesus - they would see
that they were one Body, united to God in the Spirit - one offering, acceptable to God in the Beloved Son.