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

THE HOLY WEEK PERPETUATION OF FALSE TEACHINGS

The Holy Week the world knows is full of lies, a perpetuation of false teachings. It is not holy at all.

The belief that Y’shua died on a Friday and resurrected at dawn of Sunday is biblically inaccurate.

⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. MATTHEW 12

³¹ …He must be killed and after three days rise again. MARK 8

Three days and three nights in the grave are equivalent to 72 hours. The belief of interment near sunset of Friday and resurrection at dawn of Sunday is only equivalent to 36 hours.

Which brings us to our next point: Seventy-two hours means the resurrection would occur at more or less the same time of day the interment was made. Interment near sunset (as pronounced in Matthew 27:57, Luke 23:52-54, John 19:42) should result in the resurrection occurring near sunset. The belief of the resurrection occurring at dawn would be incorrect.

Seventy-two hours means if the interment were made on Friday, the resurrection should have occurred near sunset of Monday. But that is not what happened. No resurrection occurred near sunset of Monday, not even near sunset of Sunday. Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to anoint Y’shua’s body dawn of Sunday but it was no longer in the grave.

⁵ As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man [Matthew 28:5 says he was an angel] dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ⁶ “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Y’shua the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here.” MARK 16

Now read the resurrection accounts (Matthew 28:1-7, Mark 16:1-7, Luke 24:1-8, John 20:1-9). It is important that you do because nowhere in them is it said that Y’shua resurrected at dawn of Sunday. The churches that say He did are making wrongful assumption. Why? Because then the time between interment and resurrection would more or less be 60 hours or some 12 hours less than 72.

If the resurrection did not occur near sunset of Sunday or at dawn of Sunday, then the next likely scenario is that it occurred near sunset of Saturday. Let us consider this. Count three days and three nights backwards. Day 3 in the grave would be near sunset of Friday to near sunset of Saturday. Day 2 would be near sunset of Thursday to near sunset of Friday. Day 1 would be near sunset of Wednesday to near sunset of Thursday. Y’shua dying and being interred near sunset of Wednesday would fit the historical fact that the Passover in 31 ad—the year of His death—fell on a Wednesday.

Is 31 ad indeed the year of His death? Yes, it is. Y’shua began His ministry soon after John the Baptist began his, which is “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar” (Luke 3:1), between August of 28 ad and August of 29 ad. Y’shua’s ministry lasted 3-1/2 years. Add 3-1/2 years to 28 ad and we get to 31 ad.

Timeline of the Death and Resurrection

Nisan 14

Nisan 15

Nisan 16

Nisan 17

Passover Feast--Tuesday sunset to Wednesday sunset

Seventh-Day Sabbath & Feast of Unleavened Bread--Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset

Feast of Firstfruits--Thursday sunset to Friday sunset

Friday sunset to Saturday sunset

INTERMENT near sunset Wednesday

RESURRECTION near sunset Saturday

Day 1 in Grave

Day 2 in Grave

Day 3 in Grave

Near sunset Wednesday to near sunset Thursday

Near sunset Thursday to near sunset Friday

Near sunset Friday to near sunset Saturday

What are the implications of the above FINDINGS to our religious beliefs and practices?

The belief of Y’shua dying on a Friday is incorrect. His death happened on a Wednesday, on a Sabbath day called Passover Feast. His body was interred near sunset of that particular Wednesday.

Passover Feast is Nisan 14 in God’s calendar. This year 2011 Nisan 14 is April 16 (Saturday). Nisan 1 (the first day of the first month in God’s calendar) is April 3. Thus April 16 is the proper day to commemorate Y’shua’s death, not April 22 (Friday) as tradition wants us to believe.  

John 19:31 says the Passover was followed by a “high day” (John 19:31). High day (also called “special Sabbath”) is the biblical term when an annual Sabbath begins or ends on a Seventh-Day Sabbath. On April 17 (Sunday), the annual Sabbath called Feast of Unleavened Bread falls on the same day with the Seventh-Day Sabbath.

Unknown to most men, four Sabbath days occurred during the period between the interment and the resurrection. Wednesday was the Passover; Thursday, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Seventh-Day Sabbath; and Friday, the Feast of Firstfruits. The common translation of Matthew 28:1 says, “The women went back to the tomb after the Sabbath.” But Herbert Armstrong noted that in the Greek text, the word is in the plural and that Ferrar Fenton’s version of “after the Sabbaths” renders it correctly. The women resting during the four Sabbath days must be the basis for our observance of the Holy Wednesday, Holy Thursday, Holy Friday and Holy Saturday.

Holy Saturday has Sabado de Gloria and Black Saturday. They do not contradict each other. Inasmuch as Y’shua resurrected near sunset of Saturday, this makes near sunset of Saturday to near midnight of Sunday Sabado de Gloria. Before the resurrection--the period Saturday midnight to near sunset--is Black Saturday.   

Traditionally, Filipino children are told on Good Friday, “Sshhhh. Don’t be noisy. Let us mourn the death of God.” Please, don’t do that. First of all, strictly speaking, it was not God who died but the Son of Man. Secondly, the Passover is a festive, joyous occasion. God intervening in our affairs and our passing over from the realm of the dead to the realm of the living are good enough reasons for us to celebrate. Leave the mourning to the demonic forces. Thirdly, the death did not happen on a Friday. Daniel 9:26, 27 is correct in prophesying that the Messiah would be cut off “in the midst of the week.”

The practice of commemorating Y’shua’s death on a Friday is biblically inaccurate. Contrary to common belief, the Passover is not fixed on “Good Friday"; it may fall on other days of the week depending on the calendar year.

Y’shua rose from the dead just as He said He would (Matthew 28:6).

¹⁶ In a little while you will see Me no more, and then after a little while you will see Me. JOHN 16

⁶³ After three days I will rise again. MATTHEW 27

The belief that the resurrection occurred on Sunday is utterly wrong. Likewise, the belief of holding on to Sunday as the day for worship service “because it was the glorious day of resurrection.” The resurrection occurred on Saturday. It is wise to break the habit of holding on to Sunday as the day for worship service.

What about Matthew 16:21, 17:23 and 1 Corinthians 15:4? They say that Y’shua rose “on the third day,” not after three days. Our belief is that textual alterations were made to align Y’shua with pagan gods Phoenix and Osiris who were said to have resurrected on the third day. Anyway, if Y’shua did rise on the third day, the resurrection would fall on a Friday. If that were the case then the claim that He resurrected on a Sunday would walk farther from the truth.

Sunday Observance. Churchgoers are doing Sunday without questioning why. It is about sun-worship, which Deuteronomy 4:19 says is detestable to God. They must revert back to the seventh day as the day for their weekly sacred assembly.

³ You must observe My Sabbaths. LEVITICUS 19

20     Keep My Sabbaths holy. EZEKIEL 20

Sunday observance began when God’s decree was superseded by a human decree. The Roman emperor Constantine the Great issued an edict on March 7, 321 AD fixing observance of the Seventh-Day Sabbath on Sundays. Constantine decreed under penalty of death that all artisans, merchants and people of his empire should cease work on the Day of the Sun.

The Romans were sun-worshipers. To them the emperor was sun-god enthroned in a human body. It was a weekly ritual of sun-worshipers to assemble at dawn on Sunday to greet the sun at its rising. They considered everyone who did not worship the sun to be an atheist and a traitor.

Constantine’s historian, Eusebius of Caesarea, recorded the edict as saying, “All things what so ever that it was duty to do on Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s Day.”

Lord’s Day? In the Scripture it is a reference to the Second Coming of Y’shua. Obviously Constantine’s edict was not referring to it. Its “Lord’s Day” is no doubt a euphemism for the Day of the Sun.

²⁹ We must obey God rather than men! ACTS 5

Exhortation. The false teachings on Y’shua’s death, burial and resurrection must be dishonored and given eternal rest. Everyone must be told the truth and must practice the truth. Those who profess to be followers of “the Truth, the Way and the Life” must stop believing lies and peddling lies. Those who worship God in spirit and in truth are the kind of worshipers God seeks (John 4:23).

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