How should we understand the relationship between Old Testament symbols and the New Testament?
Old Testament symbols and rituals are to be understood as pictures or types that reach their fruition in the New Testament. The grain harvest and wave offering illustrate not merely agriculture but a spiritual harvest, as Jesus indicated when He said the fields were white unto harvest, meaning mankind was ready for a spiritual ingathering.
Les explains that the Old Testament practice of gathering ripened stems of grain into a sheaf and presenting it to the priest as a wave offering is a picture, not just of a grain harvest, but of a spiritual harvest. He says everything sown back in the Old Testament comes to its fruition in the New Testament. This ties directly to Jesus' earthly ministry, when He told the disciples to look out on the fields because they were white unto harvest. Jesus was not speaking of wheat or barley, but of mankind, who was ready for a harvesting of a spiritual sort. Thus the Old Testament symbols find their meaning and completion in the New Testament spiritual reality.