THE SABBATH CALLED FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS

Its Old Covenant Significance

¹⁹ Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. EXODUS 23

Isra’el has two grain harvests each year. The Feast of Firstfruits celebrates the first grain harvest, which is barley. The Feast of Harvest celebrates the second, which is wheat.

¹⁰ Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. ¹¹ He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. ¹² On the day the sheaf is waved, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect, ¹³ together with a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil—an offering made to the Lord by fire, a pleasing aroma—and a drink offering of a fourth of a hin of wine. ¹⁴ You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. LEVITICUS 23

Its New Covenant Significance

The Feast of Firstfruits reminds of our need to be resurrected just as the Son of Man was. 

He was the first “born of a woman, born under law” to rise from the realm of the dead (Galatians 4:4). He rightfully ascended unto heaven after emerging triumphant from His baptism of fire. He is now the “sheaf of the first grain” to be waved on Nisan 16.   

²⁰ The Messiah has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 1 CORINTHIANS 15

⁴ He was buried, and… three days after He arose from the grave just as the prophets foretold. ⁵ He was seen by Peter and later by the rest of the Twelve. ⁶ After that He was seen by more than five hundred of Christian brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died by now. ⁷ Then James [the Just] saw Him and later all the apostles. Last of all [Paul] saw Him too. 1 CORINTHIANS 15 tlb   

His disciples were scared and confounded, thinking that He was a ghost. He had to ask for food and eat before them to convince them that he was really flesh and blood, fully resurrected.

In one incident, according to the Gospel of the Hebrews, Y'shua to James the Just for he had sworn not to eat bread from that hour in which he had drunk the Lord's cup until he should see Him risen from among the dead. “Bring a table and bread," said the Lord. He took bread and blessed and broke and gave it to James and said to him, "My brother, eat your bread, for the Son of Man is risen from among them that sleep."

³² [Peter said,] “God has raised this very Y’shua from death, and we are witnesses to this fact.” ACTS 2 tev

³ For forty days after His death He appeared to them many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that He was alive. They saw Him and He talked with them about the Kingdom of God. ACTS 1 tev

⁵⁰ Then He led them out of the city as far as Bethany, where He raised His hands and blessed them. ⁵¹ As He was blessing them, He departed from them and was taken up into heaven. LUKE 24 tev

³³ He has been raised to the right side of God, His Father. ACTS 2 tev

History has this record of the resurrection: “Now there was about this time Y’shua, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works; a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Messiah, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him: for he appeared to them alive again the third day: as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him.”—Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk. XVIII, Chap. III, Section 3 (Signature of God, pp. 91-92).

³¹ David saw what God was going to do in the future, and so he spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah, when he said, He was not abandoned in the world of the dead; His body did not rot in the grave. ACTS 2 tev

³⁴ David did not ascend to heaven and yet he said, The Lord [God] said to my Lord [the Son of Man]: Sit at My right hand ³⁵ until I make your enemies a footstool for Your feet. ACTS 2

David was so sure of his vision that he almost proclaimed the Most Holy Name: 

⁴⁶ The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! PSALM 18

Why the Resurrection

THE RESURRECTION PROVES LUCIFER WRONG.

He was saying, “Today let us eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die" (1 Corinthians 15:32). The resurrection demonstrated life after death. 

¹² How can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even the Messiah has been raised… ²⁰ But the Messiah has indeed been raised from the dead. 1 CORINTHIANS 15

²⁵ For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is Death. ²⁷ For He has put everything under His feet. ²⁸ When He has done this, then the Son Himself will be made subject to [God] who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all. 1 CORINTHIANS 15

THE RESURRECTION IMPRESSES IN OUR MINDS THAT LIFE COMES ONLY FROM GOD.

²⁵ I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying. ²⁶ Everyone who lives in Me and believes in Me will never ever die. JOHN 11 nlt

²⁴ I tell you the truth, whoever hears My Word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵ I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. JOHN 5

²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²² For as in Adam all die, so in the Messiah all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own turn: the Messiah, the firstfruits; then when He comes [back], those who belong to Him. 1 CORINTHIANS 15

¹⁰ Messiah Y’shua… has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel... 2 TIMOTHY 1

¹⁷ Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever. And I hold the keys of Death and Hades. REVELATION 1

¹⁵ Repent and believe the Good News! MARK 1

THE RESURRECTION ENCOURAGES ALL OF US TO MIRROR THE LOVE OF Y’SHUA AND HELP COMPLETE HIS MINISTRY.

He could have finished it by Himself, at the wink of an eye, but He did not. Why? Because it has to be tested how much we have grown in LOVE and faithfulness. It has to be determined who will rise as firstfruits after Him.   

¹⁸ He chose to give us birth through the Word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created. JAMES 1

²⁹ For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. ROMANS 8

¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. JOHN 13

¹⁹ The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. ROMANS 8