Date of message: 03 May 2003
Subject: The Feast of First Fruits
Shalom, Boker-tov (good morning),
The LORD instructed Moses in Leviticus 23: 10 - 14: -
10. "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: "When
you come into the land which I gave to you, and reap its harvest, then
you shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest to the priest.
11. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf;
on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12. And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb
of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD.
13. Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed
with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, for a sweet aroma; and
its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin.
14. You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until
the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be
a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings."
The Feast of First Fruits was a celebration to thank the LORD for His
bountiful harvest. The first fruits to be harvested for the year comes
in spring, around late March / early April and generally this would be
the barley harvest. After forty years of wandering in the Wilderness,
the Israelites finally came into the Promised Land and they planted their
first crops immediately and began to harvest the following spring.
It must have been a joyous occasion for the Children of Israel to finally
have their own crops and enjoy the fruit of their labor. It was precisely
against this back-drop that the LORD reminded them that the provision
was from Him and they had to offer the first portion of the harvest to
Him as a tithe, an offering of worship to the LORD.
Part of the crop was to be ground into fine flour and this flour was to
be mixed with oil and offered up to the LORD as a burnt offering by fire
and they were also to offer up wine together with the flour. Both types
of offerings reminded God of His Son, our Lord Jesus, for He taught His
disciples that He is the Bread of Life (read John 6: 48) and the Vine
(read John 15: 1 & 5).
The Feast Day falls on the day after the Sabbath and according to the
Hebrew calendar, this Sabbath day is no ordinary Sabbath; rather it is
the Sabbath day after the Feast of Passover. As such the Feast of First
Fruits would have been three days after the Feast of Passover and according
to the Bible, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day.
During the Seder meal on the Passover night, the head of the family would
take the middle matzah cracker from its upright position on the table,
wrap it in a linen cloth and hid it from the children. Afterward he would
instruct the children to search for the missing matzah and whosoever found
the hidden cracker will be rewarded handsomely. If the cracker is not
found after three days, the father would then proceed to the place where
it was hidden, retrieve it and reveal the bread to the family. This had
been handed down through the generations and yet they could not understand
the significance of the object lesson.
Our Lord Jesus was buried in the tomb and He remained there for three
days and early on the third morning, the grave could not hold Him any
longer; Jesus rose from the dead and came back to His friends. He was
with them for forty days after which He ascended back to heaven to be
with the Father.
Paul wrote that Jesus became the firstborn (or first fruit) of what is
to come.
" In Romans 8: 29, Paul tells us that we who believe in Jesus will
be conformed to the image of His Son who became the firstborn among many
brethren.
" In 1Corinthians 15: 20, Paul wrote, "but now Christ is risen
from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen
asleep."
" Again in 1Corinthians 15: 23, "but each one in his own order:
Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming."
Because Jesus became the first Person to rise from the dead, there is
great hope for us who believe in Him. We will also experience this same
resurrection life when He comes back for His own. Our physical bodies
will be transformed to our eternal bodies just like Christ's; a body that
transcends time and space and yet can enjoy a good meal. After He rose
from the dead, Jesus was able to be in one place at one moment, disappear
from sight and reappear in another location instantly. He was able to
walk through walls and closed doors and He was able to have meals with
His disciples. He was able to rise above His disciples and 'hover' over
them before He was finally taken back to heaven.
The Bible describes Jesus as the firstborn among many brethren signifying
the state that we too will enjoy when Jesus comes back for us at the Rapture
or ""catching away of the Church." Our spirits were renewed
the moment we believed and received Jesus into our hearts but our physical
bodies remain the same until Jesus' return for the Church. Then our physical
bodies will be transformed in an atomic second (the Bible uses the term,
'in the twinkling of an eye') and we will put on our eternal bodies, rise
up into heaven and begin our eternal walk with Christ Jesus our Lord.
When Jesus comes back for His Church, will you be counted among those
who will be going up to meet Him in the air and to join Him in heaven
for the Wedding Feast of the Lamb and His Bride? Have you received Jesus
into your heart? You too can enjoy this life of walking in the Lord and
you can also learn to feed on Him daily.
All that is needed is for you to believe in Jesus, the One Who had died
for you and taken away all your sin. He will come into your heart and
give you eternal life. By believing in Jesus and receiving His Holy Spirit
into our lives, God confers on us the position of sons and daughters in
His Family, special positions reserved only for those whom He loves dearly.
(John 1: 12)
The Lord cannot lie. For Him, whatever He speaks come to pass and He had
promised us in the Bible that those who have put their trust in Him will
not be condemned but have passed from death into life (Romans 8: 1).
Pray this simple prayer of faith and invite Him into your heart and immediately
you will experience the peace of Jesus coming your way.
Our Heavenly Father, thank you that You are sovereign and in full control
over everything that is happening around us. Thank you that You love us
so much You sent Your only Beloved Son Jesus into this world to take our
place and to die for all our sins. Thank you Father that Jesus became
the first-fruit of many brethren and that we will one day be like Him
in that glorious eternal body.
Lord Jesus, thank you that You came, You obeyed the Father and You died
for all on the cross. You conquered death and rose again on the third
day. Thank you that You became that Sacrificial Lamb for us and because
of Your death, the judicial righteousness of the Father had been satisfied.
And now, because of Your resurrection, we, who believe in You as our Lord
and Savior, will no longer have to die but we receive Your eternal life.
Thank you for coming into my heart and making my heart Your home.
Thank you that what You have accomplished for us on the cross has qualified
me to become a child of God the Father. Thank you that I am now eternally
forgiven, greatly blessed, highly favored, deeply loved and completely
protected in the Lord and in Your most precious Name, Yeshua Ha' Mashiah,
I pray. Amen.
If you have prayed this prayer for the first time, welcome to the Family
of the Father (and it is a very large universal family). It is important
that you are not alone facing your personal trials but that you can obtain
good help wherever you are. Why not take the time to find your own local
Christian family (local church) and worship the Father together? You will
be greatly encouraged when you meet together to worship the Father, for
fellowship and for the study of the Word of Christ.
Start receiving the blessings of the Father as you walk with Him in faith.
It is your inheritance in Christ and He wants you to start enjoying these
blessings right now and there is more from where they come from.
The Lord blesses you and keeps you,
The Lord makes His face shine upon you and be gracious to you and all
your loved ones,
The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you His shalom peace.
Numbers 6: 24 -26
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Have a blessed week ahead, Shavrou-tov
Shalom,
Andrew L W Lee
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