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Firstfruits
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Date |
Nisan 16 or Sivan 6. |
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Gregorian Calendar |
March/April
May/June |
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Spring or Fall |
Spring Feast |
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Scripture |
Leviticus 23:10
Luke 24:7 |
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Significance |
Firstfruits speaks of the Lord's triumphant resurrection; death simply could not hold her foe.
On the third day, Jesus rose victoriously from the grave. |
The third feast occurs on the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread; it is
called the Feast of Firstfruits.
Barley, which is the first crop to be planted in winter, is now beginning
to ripen for its spring harvest. The first sheaf or firstfruits of the harvest is
subsequently cut, and, in a carefully prescribed and meticulous ceremony, is presented to the Lord. The Lord's acceptance
of the firstfruits is a pledge on His part of a full harvest to come.
Following the ascension of Jesus into heaven, major doctrinal errors began
to creep up in churches. Most notable, some people at the Church in Corinth
began to spread the false Hellenistic belief called gnosticism. Gnosticism
rejects the concept of a physical resurrection; therefore it
rejects the physical resurrection of Christ.
Enter the apostle
Paul onto the scene.
The Corinthians' thesis was this: There is no bodily resurrection, only immortality
of the soul. Paul then responded, if there is no bodily resurrection, then Christ
was not raised from the dead. If these gnostics were correct, the
implications would be devastating: Paul had a lying problem,
their faith was in vain, their loved ones who had died in Christ had perished, and they
were of all men most miserable.
Fortunately, the apostle
Paul "saved the day" when he issued a triumphant response to combat this erroneous statement:
"But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them
that slept" (I Corinthians 15:20). Paul had in mind the first sheaf (firstfruits)
of the barley harvest (Leviticus 23:10). When God accepted the firstfruits, they
became the guarantee that the rest of the crop would indeed be
harvested, for Jesus (Yeshua) himself is the "first fruits" (I Corinthians 15:23).
Although a number of people mentioned the Bible were resurrected from the dead (including
Jairus' daughter and Lazarus), they simply died again in due season. However, Jesus
was the first to be resurrected from death and the grave, never to die again. He alone
is the "Firstfruits."
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This teaching was written by David Holt Boshart, Jr.
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