What do the first ripe grain stems represent in the firstfruits picture?
The first ripe grain stems represent individual people in a spiritual harvest—early-ripened individuals plucked from the whole field. Though few compared to the entire crop, they are gathered into a sheaf and presented as a wave offering, picturing the firstfruits of a broader spiritual ingathering yet to come.
Les explains that the scattered ripened stems are not merely a grain harvest but a picture of a spiritual harvest. In the Old Testament practice, the Jew would go into the field and pluck the suddenly ripe stems one here and one there until he had enough to make a sheaf, which he presented to the priest as a wave offering. Jesus used the same analogy, telling the disciples to look on fields white unto harvest, and He was speaking of mankind ready for a spiritual harvesting. So the first ripe stems represent individuals—early-ripened people gathered out, small compared with the whole, yet enough to form a sheaf.