Christ the Firstfruits
Christ fulfilling the offering of Firstfruits after his resurrection is often cited as a Pinpointed Lunar Sabbath.
This page presents the rationale for considering it as a Pinpointed Lunar Sabbath, and discusses several objections.
Rationale
It's clear from Scripture that, on the first day of the week, Christ appeared as the Firstfruits offering in heaven. When Mary met Jesus in the garden that day, he told her:
Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (Joh 20:17)
The reason that she could not touch him was that he was fulfilling the Firstfruits offering (Lev 23:10), and the new grain is not allowed to be eaten (touched) until the Firstfruits is offered up (Lev 23:14).
The Apostle Paul describes in more detail how Christ was our Firstfruits offering:
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. (1Co 15:16-23)
The Firstfruits offering is also known as the Wave Sheaf Offering. Lev 23:11 tells us that it is to be waved on the 16th of the month, the Second Day of Unleavened Bread:
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before YHVH, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Lev 23:10-11)
This proves that the Sabbath was on the 15th of the month, since Christ was crucified on the 14th, in the grave on the Sabbath (the 15th), and rose to be Firstfruits on the 16th.
Objections
The assertion above relies on a Rabbinic reckoning of Pentecost which interprets the "sabbath" day in Lev 23:11 and 15 as the day after Passover (i.e. the 15th of Abib). The reckoning of the Wave Sheaf Offering, (Firstfruits), and Pentecost are connected because, according to Lev 23:15, the Counting of the Omer to the day of Pentecost is to begin the day that the Wave Sheaf Offering is brought.
It is possible that the "sabbath" of Leviticus 23:15 refers to the weekly Sabbath and not the Holy Day on the 15th of the month. This is the method of reckoning used in the Sunday Pentecost calendar and demonstrated in the book of Joshua (see the Passover in Gilgal page). If this is the case, then the 15th of the month was not necessarily on the Sabbath that week.
Also, the timing of the Crucifixion Week is also the subject of ongoing debate, as there is disagreement as to whether the Crucifixion was on a Wednesday or a Friday.[1] If a Wednesday, and Christ rose on Sunday, then that would make Sunday the 18th instead of the 16th.
