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Resurrection First Fruits
By Sam Nadler

Our Messiah died for our sins on Passover, and on the third day, early that Sunday morning, the priests were in the Temple offering up the firstfruits of the harvest. At the very same time Yeshua our Messiah and High Priest was raised from the dead, offering up Himself as our atonement. In so doing Yeshua became the firstfruits of the rest of the harvest of those who would believe in Him.

Therefore Paul writes, “But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, the Firstfruits 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 firstfruits, after that those who are Messiah’s at His coming” (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).

Faith In The Facts
One day a man was passing a cemetery. One of the tombstones caught his attention. He paused to read the inscription on that tombstone. The words read: “I still live.” Scratching his head, he said, “Well, if I was dead I’d be honest enough to admit it.”

Those who do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Messiah may think the same about believers’ declaration that Yeshua lives.

Even Yeshua’s disciples had a difficult time understanding and believing in the bodily resurrection of their Messiah. “The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in” ( John 20:4-5). Both Peter and John ran to investigate the matter of the missing body of Yeshua. This was serious and demanded their immediate attention. But John is younger, so he outruns Peter. Miriam is following, but now is way behind. “And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb” (John 20:6). Peter is bolder, so he enters the tomb to discover the facts of the matter while John initially remains outside looking in.

Faith is based on the facts of Messiah's death and burial. He was declared dead by professional Roman executioners, and also buried, entombed, enwrapped, and embalmed. “Nicodemus also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds in weight. So they took the body of Yeshua and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews” (John 19:39-40).  There is no way Yeshua could have lived through this entire burial process.

Sealed, Guarded, and Sealed Again!
We also know that the the tomb was completely secured by the stone, the soldiers, and the seal (Matthew 27:60; 28:65-66). In ancient times tombs were not commonly closed by doors. Instead, at the doorway of the tomb a groove was dug or hewn in the ground which was angled slightly uphill away from the door. Into this groove was placed a large stone, circular like a cartwheel, which was so huge it would have been quite difficult even for several men to move. To close the tomb the stone would be wheeled into position to cover the opening; but to open it would have taken several men to roll the stone 'uphill' away from the door of the tomb.

The soldiers would have proved to be an almost unsurpassable obstacle for anyone, especially since the soldiers would face the death penalty if they failed their duty and allowed someone to disturb the grave.

Beyond all this was the seal placed on the door of the tomb (Matthew 27:66). This seal represented the authority of Rome and would have meant capital punishment for anyone who would dare break the seal in an attempt to move the stone.

He Is Risen
In addition to the witness of those items that certified His death: an empty tomb with the stone removed, the soldiers on guard who fled, and the broken seal, there is other evidence that Messiah truly rose from the dead.

With their only hope apparently dead in the tomb, these frightened followers of Yeshua would never have had the "chutzpa", the nerve, to take on the power of Rome. Besides this, two other specifics must be considered – the items remaining in the tomb. Like forensic detectives today, when Peter and John investigated the tomb they saw the physical evidence of the grave clothes and the face cloth. The body would have been literally encased by the spices in the grave wrappings. In order to get the body out of the wrappings, any mere mortal would have had to cut or tear them away. It would have been foolhardy for anyone to do it there at the tomb--not with the guards and other possible witnesses to their graverobbing. Instead, they would have removed the enwrapped corpse first and then gone to a private area to take off the wrappings.

However the grave-clothes were there in the tomb, neither cut, disheveled nor disarranged in any way.  John writes, “And he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself” (John 20:6-7).

The grave-clothes did not look as if they had been put off or taken off; they were lying there in their regular folds as if the body of Yeshua had simply vanished out of them.  These are just some of the issues at-the-scene to consider. 

Firstfruits gave assurance that the rest of the harvest would be accepted: “He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted” (Leviticus 23:11). Through Messiah’s Firstfruits offering, God does not just accept us; rather He is delighted and well pleased with us, and accepts us completely. “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). In the assurance of the incontrovertible facts of Messiah's resurrection, let us also go and declare the resurrection of Messiah and the forgiveness and salvation God has provided for all who will trust in Yeshua! Y

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