Trinity Baptist Church

Leviticus 23:9-14

 

We began a few weeks a go a study of the Feasts of the Jews. Reminders: God established His annual Holy Days around the harvest seasons in the Middle East (Leviticus 23:9-16, Exodus 23:14-16). They have historical significance, messianic teaching and spiritual application. 

 

It is important to note also that the festivals revolved around the harvest seasons. Three of the Israelite feasts correspond to harvest times in Palestine. Three times a year God commanded the people to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Festivals of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. All three of these festivals are agricultural harvest festivals. 

 

The barley harvest begins in April, at the time of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits.

 

The wheat harvest begins about seven weeks later, at the time of Pentecost.

 

Then the summer crops -- grapes and other fruits and vegetables -- would be harvested in September, at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering.

 

The Holy Days have meanings that build upon each other. Together they progressively reveal how God works with humanity. 

 

 

Just as the Jews harvested their crops around these three Festival seasons, God's Holy Days show us how He is harvesting people for eternal life in His Kingdom through the person and work of Jesus.

 

Passover: Shed Blood, Salvation

Unleavened Bread: Exodus, Burial, Old Way of Life

Firstfruits: Red Sea, Resurrection, New Way of Life

 

Pentecost: 10 commandments, Holy Spirit,

 

Trumpets: Signal New Year, Rapture

 

Day of Atonement: Entering Holy of Holies, 2^nd Coming

 

Tabernacles, Promised Land, 1,000 year reign

 

So on the fourteenth day of Nisan, Passover was observed. The fifteenth of Nisan begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is a high Sabbath. It is a seven day feast to the Lord. Then the day following the Sabbath during Passover is called the Feast of First Fruits (Leviticus 23:10-14).

 

 

The Feast of Firstfruits was God’s reminder to the Jews that He brought them into the Promised Land by allowing their crossing of the Red Sea.

 

The harvest they enjoyed was because of God. They were going to benefit from crops and vineyards they did not plant and they were to celebrate the God of the Harvest in this annual celebration.

 

God commanded the people to bring a sheaf of the harvest (Leviticus 23:10). 

 

The nation of Israel was familiar with the concept of first fruits or the firstborn. The first fruits were always the choicest, the foremost, the first, the best, the pre-eminent of all that was to follow. They were holy to the Lord. 

 

The concept of first fruits or firstborn is a major theme in the Bible, and numerous Scriptures deal with it, but suffice it to say that EVERYTHING ON THE EARTH, BOTH MAN AND BEAST, WAS TO BE PRESENTED BEFORE THE LORD AS FIRST FRUITS TO HIM

 

--The firstborn of both man and beast were sanctified (made holy) and presented to the Lord (Exodus 13:2,22:29).

 

--The first fruits of all the earth were presented to the Lord at His altar in praise and thanksgiving (Deuteronomy 26:1-11).

 

There are several important events that happened on this day in the Bible.

 

1. Noah's ark rests on Mount Ararat (Genesis 8:4).

 

2. Israel crosses the Red Sea (Exodus chapter 14).

 

3. Israel eats the first fruits of the Promised Land (Joshua 5:10-12).

 

The manna that God gave from Heaven during the days in the wilderness ceased the sixteenth day of Nisan after the people ate of the old corn of the land; the day following was the seventeenth of Nisan. This was the when the children of Israel ate the first fruits of the Promised Land.

 

4. Haman is defeated (Esther 3ff).

 

In the Book of Esther, Haman plotted to kill all the Jews in Persia and Media. Haman had ten sons. By this, we can see that Haman is a type of the false Messiah (antichrist). A decree was sent out on the thirteenth of Nisan that all the Jews would be killed. Upon hearing this news, Esther proclaims a three-day fast, which would be Nisan 14-16. 

 

On the sixteenth of Nisan, Esther risked her life when she came to King Ahasuerus. The king asked her, in effect, "Tell me what you want."

 

Esther replied, "If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him." This was the sixteenth day of Nisan. At the banquet, the king again asked Esther what she wanted, and she asked the king to come to another banquet to be held the next day, the seventeenth of Nisan. On this day, Haman (a type of the false Messiah or antichrist, as well as of Satan) is hanged.

 

Hezekiah

 

5. The resurrection of Jesus (John 12:24, 1 Corinthians 15:16-20).

 

The Lord Jesus celebrated the Festival of First Fruits by offering Himself as the first fruits to all future generations. 

 

Jesus is called the first fruits of those who rise from the dead in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23. That wasn’t just a title, but a fulfillment to the exact day. 

 

Watch how this happens:

 

Most of the Christian faith accepts that Jesus died on a Friday. But scripturally, that makes no sense. Let me show you what I mean: 

 

From Leviticus 23:11 we discover that the Feast of Firstfruits is always celebrated on the day after the Sabbath after Passover. 

 

It is not given a date like Passover is (the 14^th); But it is always the day after the Sabbath that follows Passover; the day after this Sabbath is Firstfruits.

Keep that in mind because it is extremely important. 

 

So we have Passover always on Nisan 14. The next day begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That would be Nisan 15. That feast always began with a Sabbath and ended with a Sabbath. Not necessarily on Saturday, but a Hoy Day to the Lord. 

 

Because the Passover Observance could fall on any day of the week, this Sabbath was inserted as a High Holy Day. 

 

Now we know from John 12:1 that, “. . .six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead ." (NKJ).

 

What's the significance? Well, if the Passover was on Friday and we count backwards six days we come to Saturday, the weekly Sabbath day. No Jewish person would ever make a trip from Ephraim (John 11:54) to Bethany on a Sabbath. This is about 14 miles over rough hilly country, much farther that what is reckoned as a "Sabbath's day journey."

Nelson's Bible Dictionary states in its article, SABBATH DAY'S JOURNEY :

 

"The distance a Jew could travel on the Sabbath without breaking the law. This phrase occurs in the Bible in (Acts 1:12), where Mount Olivet is described as being "near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey."

 

This distance is usually reckoned to be about a thousand yards (Josh. 3:4), (NIV, NEB; two thousand cubits, NKJV), because of the distance between the ARK OF THE COVENANT and the rest of the Israelite camp in the wilderness.

 

"The idea behind the Jewish law (see Ex. 16:29) was that every person within the camp or city would be close enough to the center of worship to take part in the services without having to travel such a great distance that the Sabbath became a harried and busy day.

 

Exodus 16:29 states, "See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." (NKJ)

 

So Jesus perfect in regard to the Law, would not have violated that Sabbath restriction.

 

What difference does it make? Well, on what day was Jesus crucified? Passover, Nisan 14. Here is my suggestion: Jesus died on Thursday, which would have been Passover. The next day, the 15, began The Feast of Unleavened Bread and was a High Holy Day, which is exactly what John 19:31 tells us. 

 

So we have Passover on Thursday. Friday is Feast of Unleavened Bread Sabbath. Saturday is weekly Sabbath. Now on what day of the week is Firstfruits? The day after the Sabbath following Passover, which is also the first day of the week.  Which is Sunday, which is when Jesus arose on Firstfruits as our Firstfruits of the Resurrection. 

 

Think about this: On Resurrection morning, Mary Magdalene was standing by His empty tomb and Jesus appeared. He called her name and then, as she apparently went to take hold of him, said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God'" (John 20:17).

 

Then later the same day, as she and the other Mary "went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, 'Rejoice!' And they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him" (Matthew 28:9).

 

Did you ever wonder why no touching, then OK?

 

Something significant must have happened between these two episodes. For Jesus to later the same day allow His disciples to hold onto him, He must in the interval have ascended to the Father. What was the significance of this?

 

On that Sunday morning Jesus ascended to the Father to be accepted formally as the first to be raised from the dead in God's spiritual harvest of humanity. In doing so He opened the way for all of us to have the opportunity for eternal life.

 

Paul understood this connection clearly: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him" (1 Corinthians 15:20-23, New International Version).

 

Remember I said a moment ago God’s Holy Days are revealing His plan of Salvation. God is teaching through these harvest analogies

 

For example, Jesus said, "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together" (John 4:35-36).

 

The fruit that is important to God is that which is gathered for eternal life—those who become the children of God!

 

In explaining His parable of the wheat and the tares (i.e., weeds), Jesus said: "The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.

The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age" (Matthew 13:38-40).

 

Only the good fruit of God's spiritual harvest receives eternal life. This is the reason that all of the biblically ordained festivals are related to the harvest seasons in the Holy Land. Their purpose is to reveal to God's faithful people the proper sequence of events and the key elements of His salvation plan—His "harvest" of human beings to eternal life.

 

So enter Jesus; He dies on Passover as the sinless Lamb of God. He is placed in the tomb as the unleavened of God.

 

He then resurrects and appears to Mary as the Firstfruits of the Resurrection and says to not touch Him because He has not yet ascended to the Father. 

 

Apparently He then does ascend, and later is touched and clung to by the disciples. 

 

But think about this:

 

As He ascends to the very presence of God in Heaven, the wave offering was being carried out in the temple at the very same time. For more than a thousand years, Jews had been observing this ceremony.

 

 

 

 

Little did they realize its explicit purpose was to symbolize the importance of Christ's presentation of Himself to the Father at that exact time on that exact day to be accepted as the first of the "firstfruits" resurrected from the dead to eternal life.

 

Remember Moses instruction from the Lord: 

 

"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. 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" (Leviticus 23:10-11, NIV).

 

So here is Jesus: the original sheaf offering. 

 

The phrase "on your behalf" (verse 11) is striking in regard to what the wave-sheaf offering symbolized when it was lifted up and waved before God by Israel's high priest. It represented Jesus Christ, offered up on our behalf.

 

The Father accepted Him as our perfect Sacrifice, declaring Him "the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:4). As our resurrected High Priest, He ascended to the Father to present Himself on our behalf, the perfect and unblemished Sacrifice for our sins.

 

At that time He was accepted by the Father as the first Son of all of the future sons and daughters of God (2 Corinthians 6:17-18). He will forever be the preeminent Son of God within the family the Father is building (Ephesians 3:14-15).

 

This official acceptance of Jesus Christ as the first sheaf of the harvest, as the Captain or Author of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10), was necessary before the rest of the spiritual harvest could begin, just as in the physical parallel (see Leviticus 23:14).

 

Christ is the beginning of the harvest, the first human to rise from the dead and receive a resurrection body.

 

We will follow -- the full harvest is yet to come. But the firstfruits are in!

 

Very few people ever understand that God follows a systematic plan, symbolized by His Holy Days, including even the offering of Jesus as our Sacrifice, That plan results in salvation for those who come to Him in faith. 

 

Here is where we find

 

 

Way back there in history, God designed an offering to honor Himself as the God of the Harvest. I am convinced that those early Jews thought of that in purely earthly terms. 

 

But the harvest represents all who would put their faith, trust, and confidence in the Messiah (Matthew 13:39). Those Jews were commanded to bring a sheaf of grain; the first of the first fruits. 

 

At God’s appointed time, His sheaf, Jesus Christ, would appear, live a sinless life, die on a cross, and rise from the grave as the firstfruits of the resurrection. 

 

But a sheaf in the Bible is also used to typify a person or persons. That appears as early as Genesis 37:5-11, where Joseph has a dream of his sheaf being raised up, and the other sheaves, representing his brothers, bow to him. 

 

Israel was God's firstborn according to Exodus 4:22. God chose the Jews as His special people.

 

We are told in Psalm 126 that those that go forth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again, bringing their sheaves with them.

 

Now fast-forward to the New Testament church age: 

 

The Gospel was preached to the Jew first and then to the non-Jews or Gentiles (Romans 1:16).

 

But what happened? They rejected the Messiah. So according to Mark 10:31, God determined that the first will be last and the last will be first (Mark 10:31). 

 

Therefore, the Gentiles became the first to receive the Messiah (Isaiah 60:1-3, 62:1-3, Acts 15:14-16).

 

One of these days, the rapture will take place, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then those who are alive and remain will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. The church goes first. 

 

During the tribulation, the 144,000 Jewish witnesses will witness of Christ during the tribulation. They are referred to as first fruits to God in Revelation 14:1-4.

 

During that time, the Jews as a corporate people will accept Jesus as Messiah as well.

 

Then at the end of the tribulation, Christ will return to earth at His second coming as King over all the earth, and when He comes, He comes as Psalm 126 promises: He will bring the sheaves (the believers in Jesus as the Messiah) with Him! 

 

What a privilege to be in God’s Harvest!