|
|
||
|
Two First Fruits?! |
||
|
The
Resurrection: Messiah's & Yours |
||
| Last month I wrote about the Feast of First Fruits, which illustrates Messiah’s resurrection in light of Passover. This month we’ll dig a little deeper into this subject: Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD. Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the LORD for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places’” (Lev. 23:9-14). Two ‘First Fruits’ The Scriptures actually discuss not only one, but two “First Fruits”. It should therefore be explained that the First Fruits at Passover would be of the barley harvest, which ripens in the warmer areas as early as March. The second First Fruits festival occurs fifty days later (thus called Pentecost, meaning fifty days) and is the first fruits of the wheat harvest (Exodus 34:22; see also Exodus 9:31-32). For the offering, persons were delegated to go with sickles and obtain samples from different fields where they reaped the barley after sunset on the previous evening. These, being laid together in a sheaf (literally an “omer”- approximately 4 dry quarts) or loose bundle, were brought to the court of the temple, where the grain was winnowed, parched, and bruised in a mortar. Then, after some incense had been sprinkled on it, the priest waved the sheaf aloft before the Lord towards the four different points of the compass. He took a part of it and threw it into the fire of the altar - all the rest being reserved to himself. Then the remainder of the harvest was acceptable before God. First Fruits: A Type of The Resurrection We know that Yeshua died as our Passover Lamb and through Him we have redemption and forgiveness (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7, etc.). The Feast of First Fruits is observed the day after the Sabbath of the Passover week(23:11). Early that Sunday morning the priests were in the Temple offering up the First Fruits of the harvest. At the same time our Messiah and High Priest was raised from the dead, offering up Himself as our atonement, and in so doing became the First Fruits of the rest of the harvest of believers in Him. Therefore Paul writes, “But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, the First Fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Messiah the First Fruits, after that those who are Messiah 's at His coming” (1 Cor. 15:20-23). First Fruits: A New Life First Fruits was celebrated only after entering the Promised Land (Leviticus 23:10). It was not a ‘wilderness feast’, let alone one that could be celebrated while in bondage in Egypt. So also Messiah’s resurrection speaks of life after and beyond this ‘wilderness journey’ of struggle. This resurrection life cannot be understood while in the bondage of sin. In fact it wasn’t until after First Fruits was observed that the new growth of grain could be eaten. Likewise, it wasn’t until after Messiah’s resurrection that believers could fully partake of the new growth, even the new life in Him. It was only after He had been raised and ascended to the Father that we received “the First Fruits of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 8:23). First Fruits gave assurance that rest of the harvest would be accepted: “He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted” (Leviticus 23:11). First Fruits as a type of our Savior’s resurrection guarantees our eternal hope in Messiah. The offering of the wave-sheaf sanctified the whole harvest (see Romans 11:16). Your eternal assurance of full acceptance by God is in Messiah’s resurrection. His resurrection was proof that God accepted His sacrifice for our sins- and that the rest of the harvest was accepted in Him as well! He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification (Romans 4:25). “Who is the one who condemns? Messiah Yeshua is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (Romans 8:34). “And raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua” (Ephesians 2:6). “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Yeshua has entered as a forerunner for us” (Hebrews 6:19,20). |
||
| First Things First! This year the day of Messiah’s resurrection (called Easter by many people) happens to be celebrated on First Fruits, the day after the Sabbath of Passover week. Though ‘Resurrection Sunday’ should always be dated in regard to the week of Passover, Easter is actually dated on the Sunday commemorating the spring solstice. This comes from pagan origins, as does the name Easter which is taken from the pagan goddess of fertility, ‘Ishtar’. Every so often this ‘paganized’ date setting becomes somewhat of an embarrassment. A few years ago, Easter fell at the end of March, and Passover didn’t arrive until past the middle of April. In other words, you had Messiah’s resurrection celebrated three weeks earlier than His death! Obviously, you can’t separate the observance of His death from the observance of His resurrection and expect to make any biblical sense out of it. No wonder it’s so difficult for traditional Jewish people to understand Easter celebrations. However, if Messiah’s resurrection is identified with First Fruits, then it is seen in its proper biblical context. Thus it has greater biblical meaning and becomes the witness that Scripture meant it to be. Its Harvest Time! As we look at Passover week we see the work of God for His people as He reveals our need for salvation, and provides assurance of eternal life for those who trust in Messiah. So this year as we celebrate Passover and our redemption, let us be sure to exalt Messiah as our First Fruits of the resurrection, and to share with others the Good News of the ‘New Life’ that we have in our Lord! Y |
||
|
|
||
