Why do christians know virtually nothing about the counting of the omer, or what it actually means in the PATH TO SALVATION? It’s because christianity mostly rejects the true path to salvation, having invented its own.
On the first day of the week following the weekly Sabbath after Passover is the Feast of Firstfruits. It is the first day of the barley harvest. On that day, the high priest would wave a bundle of barley sheaves in the air as the Firstfruits wave offering to the Father.
For a period of seven Sabbaths following that Firstfruits wave offering, the high priest would take a single sheaf of barley and present it to the Father each day. That 49-day period was called the “counting of the omer.” At the end of that period (the final day of the omer is on the seventh weekly Sabbath following Firstfruits), the wheat harvest began. The day after that seventh Sabbath was the first day of the wheat harvest, and it is called the Feast of Weeks.
The Feast of Firstfruits and the Feast of Weeks are tied together, as each represents a “firstfruits,” one of barley, the other of wheat. Both grains were planted at the same time, but barley is harvested seven weeks before wheat is.
The Feast of Weeks commemorated the giving of the physical covenant (Ten Commandments) seven Sabbaths plus one day after the Israelites had been led out of Egypt by the Holy Spirit following Passover, when they had spread the blood of lambs on their doorposts, and the death angel had passed over them, sparing their firstborns from death.
The Passover was the preparation for the Jews being led out of Egypt toward the mountain to receive their covenant. The Passover was NOT their covenant, but the preparation necessary to receive their covenant (which is why Passover is called “the preparation”).
In Hebrew, the word “omer” means “promise.” So, the counting of the omer represents a period of waiting to receive the promise—the covenant.
Messiah Yahoshua was crucified on Passover, and He rose again on the Feast of Firstfruits (He is the firstfruits of the resurrection). Along with Him, the OT saints who were being held in Abraham’s Bosom were also resurrected, and as the new Great High Priest, it was Messiah’s duty to perform the real substance of the Firstfruits wave offering, which was to present the friends of the Bridegroom (OT saints) to the Father (they all ascended with Him to heaven).
Seven Sabbaths plus one day after He fulfilled Firstfruits (His resurrection), the fulfillment of the Feast of Weeks was the pouring out of the real substance of the covenant—the seal of the Holy Spirit. He is the “law” that is written on the hearts and minds of Yah’s people. Those who are given the covenant (Holy Spirit) are Messiah’s. Those who aren’t given the covenant are not His bride (Romans 8:9).
How does the Hebrew “omer” apply to the real substance, which is the redemption of the bride? We see it in Ephesians 1:13-14. In Him, you also, AFTER listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation– having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge [down-payment, or guarantee] of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of Yah’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Do you see that? The Holy Spirit OF PROMISE. The counting of the omer, or waiting for the promise, is the result of believing and enduring in that belief until the covenant is given. The notion that a man’s decision immediately places the Holy Spirit within him is an outright lie from Satan, who desires to keep people from enduring in their belief until they do receive the covenant. Satan convinces people that, having made a human decision, they have need for nothing else, which is the spirit of the Laodiceans.
To further distort the true path to salvation, christianity largely perverts the actual meaning and purpose of baptism to be something that occurs AFTER the Holy of Holies, where the covenant is received, when water baptism is nothing but an invitation to be cleansed spiritually BEFORE the covenant is received, not a profession of anything that purportedly already occurred (even though man does not have the power to declare his own salvation).
Christianity’s counterfeit path to salvation ignores the precise path the Father has shown us, because it abolished the Father’s traditions, and Satan has convinced most christians that those traditions are meaningless in regards to salvation. Nothing could be further from the truth.
When we further learn the true meaning of the spiritual barley harvest (that began with Messiah’s resurrection), the spiritual wheat harvest (that will come after the conclusion of the spiritual barley harvest—the tribulation), and then the grape harvest (that will come at the end of the tribulation), those whose hearts and minds are illuminated by the Holy Spirit will see how all these things show us exactly what is getting ready to happen on the earth.
For more information: What Are the Old and New Covenants?