But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
1 Cor 15:20-23 NKJV
In my last blog, I discussed the paradox of God’s creation – a creation that enables sin and death, that was designed with humanity’s fall in mind, and that causes all to work together for good in God’s kingdom. We examined the unveiling of God’s grace in Gen 3 as the first indication of the perfect design of God’s redemption for a fallen world, and the outpouring of that grace being evident as the firstfruits of that redemption. In this blog, we will examine this concept of firstfruits, and discuss how it relates to law and grace.
Each year, following the celebration of the Passover, practicing Jews participate in a special tradition called “Counting the Omer”, which marks the time between the feast of Passover and the Feast of Shavu’ot (Weeks). This tradition is described in the book of Deuteronomy:
“You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you. You shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.”
Deut 16:9-12, NKJV
In ancient days, an “omer” was a unit of measure. On the second day of the Passover, an omer of barley was cut and brought to the Temple and waved before the Lord as an offering. This grain offering was referred to as the Omer. Counting the Omer, then, refers to the count mentioned above. Each day is counted, starting with the Omer (wave offering), and culminating in the Feast of Shavu’ot. The counting occurs during the evening; a blessing is given, after which the Omer is recited. As an example: on the 30th day of the Omer, the family will recite, “Today is 30 days, which is 4 weeks and 2 days of the Omer.”
As mentioned above, the completion of Counting the Omer ushers in the Feast of Shavu’ot, which occurs on the day of firstfruits. Let’s examine some scripture passages related to this feast:
“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.
“Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.”
Ex 23:14-17 NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
And:
‘Also on the day of the firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. You shall present a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the LORD: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, with their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for each bull, two-tenths for the one ram, and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; also one kid of the goats, to make atonement for you. Be sure they are without blemish. You shall present them with their drink offerings, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering.’
Num 28: 26-31, NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
So God instituted these three feasts, having a spiritual significance, as mandatory for all Jewish men. The Feast of Weeks represents a celebration of the first gathering of the harvest. However, it also had another very special significance. Let’s try to get a better understanding of this Feast, focusing on the timing. We’ll start in Leviticus:
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 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.
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‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the LORD.
Lev 23:9-11, 15-17, NKJV
So the Feast of Weeks occurs 7 weeks and one day after the Passover. Fifty days. But something else happened fifty days after Passover. That is, fifty days after the FIRST Passover. Let’s take a look…
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.” So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.” Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain. Now the glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
Ex 24:12-19, NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
Fifty days after the Passover, the tablets of the Testimony were given to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai. A very special and commemorative day, indeed! The Lord, God of Israel had spoken to them, led them out of Egyptian bondage, and given them His holy covenant. The Jewish people would seem to have every reason for a happy celebration – were it not for what happened in the camp, during and immediately following God’s revelation.
Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf.
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And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.
And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” But he said: “It is not the noise of the shout of victory, nor the noise of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing I hear.”
So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”
Ex 32:1-4 and 15-21, NKJV
What should have been a joyous occasion turned into a day of righteous anger, brought on by the rebellion of God’s own people. How quickly they had forgotten about His saving and providential hand! And how rapidly they returned to the vile practices of their former oppressors! Now; before moving on, let us reflect on some of the words written on those tablets of stone:
And God spoke all these words, saying:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Ex 20:1-6, NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
These, God’s two commandments, are the very ones that the children of Israel blatantly broke! so, they incurred both the anger of God, but His judgment as well. Let’s see what happened:
Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the LORD’s side — come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.‘” So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day. Then Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother.”
Ex 32:25-29, NKJV
How quickly the day of celebration and joy turned into a day of anger and wrath. On the day the Law came down, the righteous and holy Law of God, the result was death. What a sad story – and what a difficult remembrance. Interestingly, devout practicing Jews practice a time of mourning as they count the Omer. They see this as a time of reflection and working on inner growth and developing a holy character. There are various reasons given for approaching this as a period of mourning. While these reasons do not generally include the passage related above, it stands to reason that grief follows rebellion and punishment.
My reader, you may be wondering how a discussion concerning Grace and Firstfruits could turn down a path of rebellion, punishment and mourning. But stay with me; God ALWAYS has a beautiful message of peace and redemption for His people! And this redemption is always centered in the Grace that comes through His son, Jesus, the Christ!
The Feast of Weeks – a feast to commemorate the gathering of the firstfruits of the harvest, and the revelation of the Law (Torah) to the Jewish people. But maybe there’s more. Each of the Hebrew feasts have another special significance. These feasts are actually prophetic in nature. For each one, there is a future fulfillment. Could there be a fulfillment to the Feast of Weeks? Let’s examine this concept.
Above, we noted that the Feast of Weeks (or the day of firstfruits) occurs exactly fifty days after Passover. During the Greek dispersion, the Hellenistic Jews gave this feast a Greek name. They called it Pentecost. For centuries, Pentecost was celebrated as any of the other feast days, with local fanfare, but no lasting mark. That is, until the Pentecost following Jesus’ crucifixion. Let’s take a look at the account as written in the Book of Acts by Luke:
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
Acts 1:1-14, NKJV
So Luke records that, after Jesus ascended into Heaven, having given His disciples the “Great Commission”, these disciples returned to Jerusalem and went up to an “upper room” to await the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. What happened next was truly miraculous. May my readers notice the timing.
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs — we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”
Acts 2:1-12, NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
Do you recall that this feast (the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost) was considered a mandatory celebration? And that all Jewish males were required to travel to Jerusalem to attend it? It is only at a time like this, when the Torah demands attendance, that there would be so many travelers from so many different lands converging on Jerusalem. Notice the diversity:
“Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs — we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”
Such a wonderful mix of cultures in the same city, attending the feast! What better audience to hear the first public teaching of the risen Christ! And how did they respond?
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
Acts 2:37-42, NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
Did you notice? On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Apostles – an outpouring of GRACE and POWER! Grace that gives birth to a new spiritual and eternal life, power to proclaim that life to many diverse cultures in their own language! So the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit came on the day of firstfruits as a fulfillment of the Feast of weeks. Now let’s compare the first Shavu’ot to its fulfillment.
In the first, God had saved the Israelites from physical bondage and brought them out of Egypt. In the fulfillment, Jesus had saved His people from bondage to sin, and brought them out of the “world” into the Spirit. In the first, the Law was given to God’s holy people. In the fulfillment, grace was given through the Holy Spirit. In the first, the Law gave light to rebellion and resulted in anger and punishment. In the fulfillment, Grace gave light to praise, and the spread of God’s glory to God’s many people in many cultures. Finally,
In the first Shavu’ot, when the Law appeared, about 3000 people died. In its fulfillment, when Grace appeared, about 3000 people were given new life in the Spirit. In essence, the firstfruits of the holy Law were punishment and death, while the firstfruits of God’s holy Grace were power and life! Blessed be the fulfillment of Shavu’ot! And the ultimate firstfruits?
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
1 Cor 15:20-23, NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
So Christ is the ultimate firstfruits of the resurrection, and we are the harvest! But not only are we the harvest, we are the firstfruits of God’s creatures:
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
James 1:16-18, NKJV
We started this series with a discussion of the Law. We discovered that, although God gave Moses the written Law, Jesus expanded it to the realm of the heart. We also discovered that the whole of the Law is really contained within the greatest two:
“‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matt 22:37-40 NKJV
We found that, while Adam fell, casting the world and all of mankind into turmoil, God was not surprised. In fact, we found that God planned His design around that failure, and has used it for good throughout history. And now, we’ve found that, while the firstfruits of the Law was righteous judgment and wrath, the firstfruits of God’s grace is life through Jesus Christ! While the Law is holy and perfect, it can NEVER save. Lastly, salvation comes through the grace of God, working in us and sanctifying us to become holy and righteous – zealous for good works:
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
Titus 2:11-14, NKJV
I am so thankful for the Grace of God! May that grace work in your life as you learn more about God and His kingdom. God bless you in your studies, my friends! Selah…
YouJi