First Fruits

At Lazarus' Tomb, Bethany, Israel

The picture above was made while visiting the tomb of Lazarus, earlier this year.  What an awe-inspiring feeling to stand in the place where tradition holds that Jesus called Lazarus forth from the dead!  Just a few short months later, He spent His last days before His own death, burial and resurrection with the living Lazarus (and his sisters), fully recovered after having been dead for 4 days.

Easter is my favorite Christian "high day".  Why?  Because if Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead, our entire faith would be groundless and worthless. It would be "in vain", as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:17.  The figureheads of all other world "religions" either lie dead in the grave to this day or they will be there eventually.  But, Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by the power of God the Father (Ephesians 1:20), and it is because of this that we mortals who trust in His finished work have the assurance of eternal life if we trust in Him (1 Cor. 6:14).  Hallelujah!

On this beautiful Resurrection Morning though, I invite you to examine briefly with me (as most of us have a very busy Easter) the parallels between the Resurrection and the Jewish Feast of First Fruits.   To review:

It is recorded in Leviticus 23 that God the Father gave Moses the information about the 7 Holy Feasts. Here are the Spring Feasts, in chronological order:1

Passover (Pesach)   Nisan 14-15
Unleavened Bread (Hag haMatzah)   Nisan 15-22
First Fruits of the Barley Harvest (Yom Habikkurim), the first Sunday after the Hag haMatzah Sabbath Saturday.  The year Jesus was crucified, this was Nisan 17.
Pentecost (Shavuot)  The year Jesus was crucified, this was Sivan 6.

And here are the first three, added to our old friend, the handy-dandy Passion Week chart!

Thursday sundown to Friday sundown	Nisan  8	Jesus arrives at M,M&L's house in Bethany earlier in the day. "Mary" (most likely Mary of Bethany) anoints Jesus' feet with costly ointment.
Friday sundown to Saturday sundown	Nisan  9	Weekly Sabbath; no work or travel.
Saturday sundown to Sunday sundown	Nisan  10	Palm Sunday; Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem Jesus presents Himself at Temple; Passover Lambs are Selected (Lamb Selection Day)
Sunday sundown to Monday sundown	Nisan  11	Day 2 of lamb with family Jesus curses the fig tree Jesus cleanses the Temple Jesus heals and teaches in the Temple Jesus and the 12 return to Bethany.
Monday sundown to Tuesday sundown	Nisan  12	Day 3 of lamb with family Jesus teaches extensively in the Temple Olivet Discourse (Mount of Olives) to disciples Judas makes contact with Temple priests
Tuesday sundown to Wednesday sundown	Nisan  13	Day 4 of lamb with family  As the day begins after sundown, Jesus and the Twelve dine with Simon the Leper.  An anonymous woman anoints His head with costly oil.  During the daylight hours of Wednesday, the disciples locate a place for the upcoming feast days and make it ready by cleansing it from leaven.   Judas leaves to sell Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver.
Wednesday sundown to Thursday sundown	Nisan  14 The Lord's Seder	"Preparation Day" After sunset, to begin the day, Jesus eats The Last Supper (Jesus' early Passover seder) with the disciples. Garden of Gethsemane in the early hours; Jesus' high priestly prayer (John 17); Jesus's mock trial; sentencing Thursday morning. Day 5 of lamb with family; sacrificed in mid-afternoon.  Lamb's blood applied to doorposts . God's Lamb's blood covers all our sins.  Day of Jesus' crucifixion (begins mid- morning) and death (mid-late afternoon) Earthquake at His death; Temple veil rent in two. Jesus is hastily buried in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb before sundown.
Thursday sundown to Friday sundown	Nisan  15 Passover Feast of  Unleavened Bread begins	High Feast of Passover at Thurs. sundown, when Passover meal is eaten;  First day of Feast of Unleavened Bread; Jesus' body is dead in the tomb; Disciples are scattered and terrified.
Friday sundown to Saturday sundown	Nisan  16 The Weekly Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Hag haMatzah)	Jesus' body remains dead in the tomb.
Saturday sundown to Sunday sundown	Nisan  17 Feast of First Fruits: The Morrow after the Hag haMatzah Weekly Sabbath	In the wee hours  of Sunday morning Jesus is resurrected, as our First Fruits.  Other dead in the area come out of their tombs.  After dawn, the women and later the disciples witness the empty tomb.  He is risen!  He is risen indeed! During the day, the Wave Offering is made (waving of the omer - - sheaf of barley).

Interestingly, though not coincidentally, Jesus referred to the Feast of First Fruits Himself, in John 12.

23Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

27“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

The Feast of First Fruits commemorates (Leviticus 23:9-12) the beginning of the barley harvest, and signals the start of 49 days until the harvest festival of Shavuot (Pentecost) comes.  (Counting of the Omer).  It is always celebrated on the first Sunday after the Sabbath Saturday that falls within the week of Unleavened Bread, the first Sunday after the 15th of Nisan (Aviv).  See Leviticus 23:15-16.

In brief, because most of you will find your eyes crossing over this next part, there was great controversy in Jesus' day as to when First Fruits should begin.  The Pharisees thought it should always be celebrated on Nisan/Aviv 16, and the Sadducees believed it should be calculated as I have stated above, the first Sunday after the 15th of Nisan (Aviv).  {For a detailed explanation of why the Sadducees were right, see source #3, in the Sources section.}

Therefore, both First Fruits (and Pentecost) always fall on a Sunday.  As Zola Levitt so beautifully put it:4
"Thus it happens, so early in the Bible {Leviticus}, that God honors Resurrection Sunday, the Sunday after Passover, as representing particularly the things that come up out of the ground spontaneously and miraculously after the long, dead winter."
Jesus' resurrection miracle brought life to mankind, who had been enslaved to sin for 4000 years.

The ceremonies surrounding First Fruits are:

• the waving of a sheaf of barley (wave offering)  see Joshua 5:11
• a defect-free male lamb was offered, along with bread and wine, See Leviticus 23:13.
• the very symbols Jesus used to ask us to remember Him ("Last Supper" aka Jesus' Early Seder)  

20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

1 Cor. 15:20-23 (KJV)

Now, I want to quote very liberally from my source below: {emphasis mine, for clarity/translation}

"Yeshua {Jesus} is the first-begotten of the Father (Heb. 1:6); the firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15-16); the first-begotten of the dead (Rev. 1:5); and is the First Fruits of those who are to be resurrected (1 Cor. 15:20-23).  Baruch HaShem! {Blessed be G-d!}  And just as He is our Firstfruits, so 'He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all He created' (James 1:18)."

How amazing that immediately after Jesus' resurrection, we find recorded only in Matthew's gospel that, in the aftermath of the crucifixion earthquake and Easter morning earthquake the graves were opened and that some of the dead were likewise resurrected, as the incredible resurrection power of God spilled over that area!  (Matt. 27:52-53)

In closing, 1 Peter 1:3-5 (NET) - -

{This from the man who had not only denied His Lord 3 times, but who had 3 days later held the empty grave clothes in his hands...}

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 that is, into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is reserved in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are protected through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Alleluia!

https://youtu.be/eeZVLgbKTxo

Sources:

1  http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Introduction/introduction.html

2   Good, J. (1998). Rosh HaShanah and the Messianic Kingdom to come: an interpretation of the Feast of Trumpets based upon ancient sources. Nederland, TX: Hatikva 

3   http://nailedtocross.com/index.php/articles/calendar-studies/5-firstfruits-16th-day-or-first-day-of-the-week

4   https://www.levitt.com/essays/first-fruits

Image Inexplicable

Most Bible commentators I've read believe that Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians because that little church was being unduly influenced by Gnostics.  (Sounds like a group of aliens from Star Trek, doesn't it?)  We'll look more deeply into the beliefs of Gnosticism later, but let's start by confronting a couple of their false beliefs.  The first is that Jesus Christ was merely one of God's manifestations (appearances, emanations) to an evil, material world.  Gnostics also believe that all physical matter is evil and that God could have no contact with it.1

Because of this alarming incursion of Gnosticism into the Colossian church, Paul launches into a series of verses in which he describes who Jesus Christ actually was and is.

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,

16for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

17He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him.

18He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.

19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son

20and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Paul begins with establishing the deity of Christ by detailing His various interactions with mankind, as you see in the verses above.

Today, we are going to focus on verses 15-16:  incarnation versus emanation.

I do not fully understand the mystery that happened between God the Father and God the Son, when the decision was made to give the Father "form" - - material, physical form.  This is not fully explained in the Bible, perhaps because we don't have the capacity to understand.  Most certainly, this occurred before any other created thing was created, because both verses 15 and 16 state that it occurred prior to creation AND that Christ WAS the creator of ALL things.  So, in a move that runs totally counter to Gnosticism, we see the Creator God the Son making the material and constructing the spiritual realms.  The apostle Peter also confirms this in 1 Peter 1:20.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times for your sake. 
(NET)

A little bit ago, I was musing...does God the Father or Son or Holy Spirit EVER in the Bible manifest as any created thing?  Oh, He inhabits created spaces, such as when "His glory filled the Temple".  In other scriptures He is referred to (in his Christ form) as "the angel of the Lord".  But, He never manifests as an eagle or a bear or a serpent (as Satan did).  He is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and C.S. Lewis portrayed Him as the lion, Aslan, in his fictitious allegory series, The Chronicles of Narnia.  But....He always takes the form of a man, the God-Man, whom we learned at his birth to call, Jesus.

Man was created by Jesus Christ, the God-Man, in His image.  Jesus is the image of God the Father, who Himself is Spirit, invisible. And we are created in His (Jesus') image.

"Through him and for him" - - -

Having expounded upon the first, let's consider the last.  We, mankind, were created FOR God, for Jesus Christ, who knew what the future held for Him, who knew that, even in creating us we would fall into sin; we would need a Redeemer, and that He was the only One who could save us.

"Slain, from the foundation of the world".... 

(Revelation 13:8 KJV)

Not only did He create all things, He became us, became a human, ultimately the human named Jesus Christ, fully God and fully Man.  The incarnation (the "en-fleshing", encasing in human flesh) of the invisible God.  The human body is not evil, as Gnostics claim.  If it were, Jesus would never have incarnated Himself into one!

As a result of The Fall, all human love, all of it, is tainted by self-interest.  I am unable to conceive of a love like Jesus Christ's, a love so pure and holy.   A love that could not bear to see us forever lost, forever separated from Him, a perfect love which constrained Him to snatch us back from the pit of Hell at an incalculable personal cost.

This is not an aloof, removed God, afraid to get His hands dirty.  This is a God who not only plunged right into the fallen world, to abide with us, but who also longs to be with each of us in every way, every day, even now.  This is a God who finished redemption's work so that all of Gnosticism's rule-following is rendered void, and replaced those heresies with grace, pure grace alone.

Hallelujah for that!

https://youtu.be/YnM3lc-LyzY


Source:

1   Wiersbe, Warren W., and Warren W. Wiersbe. The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete New Testament in One Volume. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2007. Print, p. 659.