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2) The proper days to begin and end the count to Pentecost.

Since Jesus was the First of the Firstfruits (i.e. the Wavesheaf Offering) He was presented
before God the Father at exactly the SAME TIME as the Wavesheaf was offered on the altar.
When Mary Magdalene saw Him in the garden after the resurrection He told her, "Touch me not;
for I am not yet ascended" (John 20:17). These are the EXACT words used by the priest as he took
the Wavesheaf to the altar if another priest came near him. If that priest bringing the Wavesheaf of-
fering to the altar was touched, the offering was contaminated and the offering had to be done over.
Not only that, but the Wavesheaf offering was covered with oil and called "The Anointed," and
was also striped and punctured.

This understanding that our Savior was the Wavesheaf offering also gives us a clue as to
the exact time that Jesus was resurrected from the grave. In John 19:31 we read that the day after
Christ's crucifixion was BOTH a regular weekly Sabbath AND an annual holy (high) day (first day
of Unleavened Bread) -- in other words, the weekly Sabbath day and the annual high day fell on
the SAME day. Now, since Jesus' resurrection occurred at the EXACT TIME the Wavesheaf was
being cut -- not at some arbitrary time, not 5 minutes, not 30 minutes, not 1 hour, not 3 hours before
the assigned time -- we need to know when that took place. If we go to Leviticus 23:11 we read:

He [the priest] shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; ON
THE DAY AFTER THE SABBATH the priest shall wave it.

We read more about this in Edersheim's The Temple: Its Ministry and Services:

A little later on in the evening of that same day [15th of Nisan], JUST AS IT WAS
GROWING DARK, a noisy throng followed delegates from the Sanhedrin outside the city
and across the brook Kedron....They were to be engaged in a service most important to
them....The law had it, "Ye shall bring a sheaf [literally an omer] of the firstfruits of your
harvest unto the priest; and he shall wave the omer before Jehovah, to be accepted for
you: ON THE MORROW AFTER THE SABBATH the priest shall wave it"....Now, this
Passover-sheaf was reaped in public the evening before it was offered....Already, on the
14th of Nisan, the spot whence the FIRST SHEAF was to be reaped had been marked out
by delegates from the Sanhedrin, by tying together in bundles, while still standing, the bar-
ley that was to be cut down....When the time for cutting the sheaf had arrived, that is, on
the evening of the 15th of Nisan, JUST AS THE SUN WENT DOWN, three men, each
with a sickle and basket, formally set to work. But in order clearly to bring out all that was
distinctive in the ceremony, they first asked of the bystanders three times each of these
questions: "HAS THE SUN GONE DOWN?" "With this sickle?" "Into this basket?"....
Having each time been answered in the affirmative, they cut down [the] barley....The ears
were brought into the Court of the Temple, and threshed out with canes or stalks, so as
not to injure the corn; then "parched" on a pan perforated with holes, so that each grain
might be touched by the fire, and finally exposed to the wind....The omer of flour was
mixed with a "log," or very nearly three-fourths of a pint of OIL, and a handful of frankin-
cense put upon it, then waved before the Lord...(Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
1987: Grand Rapids, MI. P. 256-259).

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