The Great Fifty Days of Easter - Day 16 - April 16th

 

Day 16 - April 16th

Firstfruits

1 Corinthians 15:20 (NIV)

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Firstfruits was something that the Jews were well aware of.  The Old Testament requires them to offer their firstfruits to God -- the first harvest of their crops.  The firstfruits are the most valuable -- they taste the best and command the highest price from consumers.  And they insured that harvests to come would be fruitful.  Paul is telling the Corinthians that Christ was the first offering, firstfruit, for our salvation and that his resurrection is just the beginning and signals more resurrections to come to those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ.  

Let's go back to Holy Week for a minute.  Take a look at the calendar above.  This calendar shows the events of Holy Week in respect to the Jewish calendar.   For the sake of discussion that relates to today's verse, the interesting thing about the day that Jesus rose from the grave (remember that "When the Sabbath [the High Day Sabbath-see the 15th above and the notation on the 16th] was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body.  Very early on the first day of the week [see the 18th above], just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb. Mark 16:1-2 NIV) and our connection to today's verse from I Corinthians 15:20 is that it was also the "Waving of the Firstfruits."  (See the Calendar above.)  Before any grain could be harvested in the spring, a ceremony was performed to begin the spring harvest season.  Instructions for this ceremony are outlined in Leviticus 23:10-14.

“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘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.  On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil—a food offering presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine.  You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. 

Remember that our verse for today says, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."  God had a reason for Israel to keep His festivals and for the church to continue to celebrate them.  Through these celebrations, God outlined the stages of salvation.  And  the Feast of the Firstfruits or the Feast of Pentecost (remember that Pentecost means 50 which is where we get the Great Fifty Days of Easter) is the first stage of God's salvation plan.  Firstfruits, as the word implies, assumes that there will be more fruit and additional harvests.  And the importance of this feast is that it symbolizes the calling and preparing of the Church in this age -- for right now.  We will see in later verses of 1 Corinthians 15 that God will resurrect the dead in a specific order.  But for right now, for today's verse, we see the beginning of that order -- Jesus Christ, the resurrected Messiah, the firstfruit of those that will be resurrected.

This has been a lot to explore today (which is why I'm so behind in posting this blog).  I encourage you to do some exploring on your own.  Do an internet search on the Waving of the Firstfruit.  And also look at other verses in the Bible that reference firstfruit.

And...watch for a special bonus feature soon that revolves around the Waving of the Firstfruit & the Festival of the Firstfruit.