The Feast of Firstfruits

00:02 I want to invite you to turn in your copies of the Scripture this morning to the book of Leviticus, continuing the series on the Feast of Israel. And one of the most exciting feasts, although they are all exciting, is what took place in the 15th of Nisan, or the 16th. 00:24 We had the 14th day of Nisan, which is the beginning of the Jewish year for the ancient Israelites. It was the Feast of Passover. And that was one of the most familiar of the feasts, and probably the most familiar of the feasts, because it is that which is based on the crucifixion of our Lord. 00:44 And it was a memorial to their deliverance from Egypt, and found its significance in Christ as the Deliverer from sin. 00:54 Then we come to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was Nisan 15 to 21, which corresponds generally with our month of April. And that Feast of Unleavened Bread was a picture of the sinlessness of the Passover, 01:14 the sinlessness of Christ. It also instructs us to search our hearts, to rid our hearts of sin, and remove sin, identify it, find it, remove it. But it was also a picture of decay. It found its significance in the fact that Christ, being buried, did not suffer decay. He was crucified on Passover. 01:35 He was buried in correspondence with Unleavened Bread, where the fermentation process of leaven is not allowed to work in the bread, and the decay process of death is not allowed to take root in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. That same week, there was another feast that overlapped with those first two, 01:57 and that is the Feast of First Fruits. The Feast of First Fruits. And I'd like to begin reading at verse 9 of chapter 23 of Leviticus, 9 to 14. "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, 02:17 then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits 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. And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, 02:38 a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. 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 hinn. 02:56 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." This is known as the Feast of First Fruits. So this morning, we want to look at this feast and then various references in the New Testament to First Fruits, 03:18 and then the primary reference to the First Fruit of Christ. So when we find this passage of Scripture, it parallels with Deuteronomy chapter 26, and we'll look at that just briefly this morning as well. 03:34 But when you enter the land, it was several years before they could actually partake of the grain, because they were to dedicate the first several years of grain to the Lord as the first fruits of their harvest. 03:47 "Accordingly, in the time of Hezekiah, the first things of grain and wine and oil and honey and of the whole produce of the field were to be offered. This may further be inferred from the regulation to the effect that of every tree bearing edible fruit that any Israelite might plant, the fruits of the fourth year, 04:09 the earliest period of which they could be eaten, were to be sacred to the Lord." So the first fruits, the reason it's called First Fruits is because they were to bring the? 04:20 First fruits. 04:20 You guessed it. The first fruits. The first fruits from their ground and of their harvest. It would be similar to our tithing, that we tithe the first fruits. We tithe first from the abundance that God has given to us. So they were sacred to the Lord, 04:40 and consequently, they must be presented to the Lord in an offering. Now, the thing that we notice here is that this follows Passover. It follows Unleavened Bread, and then it comes to First Fruits. The First Fruits were in relation to the barley harvest. 04:58 About 70 days before First Fruits on the calendar, they would plant the first fruits of barley, or they would plant the crop of barley. That barley would be grown, planted in early winter. And of course, winters in the Holy Land and in Palestine aren't what they are in Indiana. 05:18 You don't plant barley in December or January here. But over there, you could. And they would plant their barley in relation to the First Fruits, and then that was to be grown in the national sense, without fertilizer or water. It was to be completely natural. 05:38 And this was to be done the first day after the Sabbath. So we have the Passover. We have Unleavened Bread. And then we have First Fruits, which was the day after the Sabbath. You notice that in verse 11, the day after the Sabbath. 05:58 Now, there's a debate on what that Sabbath is. It could be the holy day of Passover. So any holy days were considered Sabbaths, not just the seventh day of the week, but the holy day of Passover would be referred to as a Sabbath. Or it could be the first day of the holy day of First Fruits, 06:19 or excuse me, of Unleavened Bread, which was on the 15th of Nisan. Or it could be the seventh day Sabbath. We're not sure exactly which Sabbath it was. 06:31 Josephus tended to believe that, and he was a Jewish historian, believed that it was the First Fruits of the Unleavened Bread. Pharisees held that it was the Sabbath was the First Fruits of Unleavened Bread. But the church believed that it was the First Fruits of it was offered the day after, 06:52 or the Sabbath, the day after the Sabbath of the seventh day Sabbath. So it would always come on the first day of the week. Incidentally, that's when Jesus was raised from the dead, the first day of the week. Incidentally, that then started a clock ticking of 49 and 50 days. 07:12 49 days plus one, 50 days after First Fruits, was the Feast of Weeks, or what we call the Feast of Pentecost. And that was on the first day of the week. And so if you look at that, then the Sabbath would have been a seven-day Sabbath, seventh day Sabbath. 07:31 The first day after that corresponds with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is what First Fruits is all about. First Fruits is about the resurrection of Christ. 07:41 No matter what Sabbath it's referring to, it is clear that while the priests were offering the First Fruits in the temple, Christ was offering himself to the Father as the First Fruits from the dead, the firstborn from the dead. 08:00 So while the Jews were killing the Passover lamb, Christ was being killed. While they were getting rid of their leaven, Christ was being buried. And while they were waving the sheaf of the First Fruits, Christ was being presented to the Father as the fulfillment of that type, of that picture. 08:21 Now, each family brought its own offering. This was a command. This was to happen. Each family bringing its own offering. They would venture out into the barley fields and gather a sheaf of ripened grain. They would bind it with a cord and head for Jerusalem. While they were entering Jerusalem, they would be met by priests. 08:42 Some would be tending fires. Some would be slaughtering sacrifices. Some would be pouring out drink offerings. This wine, this drink offering of wine was to be poured out before the Lord. Some would be slaughtering sacrifices, pouring out drink offerings. Some would be waving the sheafs or baskets full of grain. 09:03 Many would be leading a lamb or a cage of pigeons to offer to the Lord. And they would be quoting Scripture and offering prayers of thanksgiving. That was the family offering. 09:16 They also got to the place where it became impractical for people from all over to gather in Jerusalem with a sheaf. So they would thrash out that barley, and they would come together with the barley in a basket and offer the basket before the Lord, which seemed to be acceptable to him. 09:35 But before this, before anyone could offer their First Fruits offering, they had to offer a national offering. The national offering was made by the national leaders. A field was tended with strict adherence to rabbinic tradition. 09:52 So in Jerusalem, there would be a field for the rabbis to offer the First Fruits from. It was plowed in the fall, and as I mentioned, planted around 70 days prior to the feast. It grew through the winter without water and without fertilizer. It was to be a completely natural offering to the Lord. 10:13 And several days before First Fruits, a group of three men, a three-men delegation from the Sanhedrin, the Sanhedrin was the Jewish ruling leaders, and three of them would form a procession with many leaders or with many observers to reap the barley sheaves. 10:34 These sheaves would be looked at earlier to find the best ones in the field. And they had been previously selected. And then this procession, a procession, you can imagine if we had a field out here of barley, and then we'd take three of us pastors and go out there, and the rest of you would come as observers. 10:54 And we would be quoting Scripture and celebrating. Celebrating what? Celebrating the harvest that's about to begin, celebrating the First Fruits of that harvest. And so they would then begin to ask questions to the group. 11:13 And they would ask questions like this: "Has the sun set?" And then the group would say affirmative. And this was to be done after sunset, so that it would be on the right day of the week. 11:23 And so, "Has the sun set?" And the group would affirm, "Yes, the sun has set." "Should we reap with this sickle?" "Yes, you should reap with that sickle." "Should we put it into this basket?" And there was an interaction between the leaders and the observers. 11:40 "Should we put it into this basket?" "Yes." "Should we do it on this Sabbath?" "Yes." "Shall I reap now?" "Yes, yes, yes, yes. Let's reap and celebrate the harvest." And they would do that exercise about three times to make sure they had it just right. And now, our Lord, our Lord is the fulfillment of the First Fruits, 12:01 and he did it just right. He did it just right. We don't have to be legalistic in how we approach to God, because Jesus was legalistic in how he approached the Father. He fulfilled the law perfectly so that we could know that he was acceptable to the Father. 12:21 Then they would all, as a group, make their way to the temple where it would be threshed. They would parch the grain over an open flame and winnow it in the wind to remove the chaff. So they would hold it up and let it fall down to the sieve so that the wind could blow the chaff away. And they would do that several times. 12:42 It was intensely sifted until an inspector, a rabbinical inspector, could put his hands in the flour and pull them out with no fines or chaff or fines adhering to his hands. It must come out completely pure, completely refined. 13:03 There were to be five pints, or one homer of flour, was mixed with three-quarter pint of olive oil, and a small amount of frankincense was sprinkled on it. And then this was waved before the Lord in front of the holy place, waved before the Lord as an offering. 13:22 Some of it was put on the altar to burn, and the rest was given to the Levites as a part of their support package. So no harvesting, this is what we want you to get, no harvesting or eating of grain could commence before this was done. 13:43 Now, keep that in mind. Nothing was to be eaten, and no harvest was to be done until this was done nationally. And no harvest was to be done until it was done personally, family to family to family. The individual families would then be allowed to offer their fruits, 14:03 a sheaf or basket full, brought to the sanctuary. And while they were bringing this, they would be reciting Deuteronomy chapter 26. So go to Deuteronomy 26, and we'll see what they would recite as they brought the First Fruits to Jerusalem to offer to the Lord. 14:24 Verse 2 through 11, "That you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket, and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make his name abide. 14:41 As you go to the one who is the priest in those days and say to him, 'I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.' Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. You shall answer and say before the Lord your God, 15:02 'My father was Assyrian about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number, and there he became a nation great, mighty, and populous.'" Who's he talking about? Jacob. Jacob and his family about to perish and went down to Egypt. 15:21 "But the Egyptians mistreated us," verse 6, "afflicted us and laid hard bondage on us. Then we cried out to the Lord and our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and on our labor and our oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. 15:41 He has brought us to this place, has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the First Fruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me. Then you shall set it before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, 16:00 you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you." And so this was to be recited. It was to be recited when they would come into the city in the morning, the company would set out toward Jerusalem, and they would be singing songs such as Psalm 122, verse 1, 16:19 "I was glad when they said unto me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord,'" was one of the songs that they would sing. They would be met by the officiating priests, the Levites, and the treasurers. They went out and welcomed the party, accompanied them into the city, singing as they entered, Psalm 122, verse 2, 16:38 "Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem." The piper who led the music and the party continued to play until they came to the mount of the temple. And here, everyone, even the king, took his basket from his shoulders, went and laid it forward till they came to the court of the temple, 17:00 singing, "Praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary." And the Levites responded with, "I will extol thee, O Lord." So you get this antifinal thing going back and forth between the priests and the people, the priests and the people. And then they would take this. Take this basket and hold it before the Lord. And then they would lay it down, 17:19 lay it down at the altar, prostrate themselves flat out face to the ground in worship, in worship. So we have a worship service here that's quite different than the worship services that we have. But nevertheless, we also should be offering First Fruits. So let's talk a little bit about what this means. 17:37 What this means is it is a physical expression of tithing First Fruits, Proverbs 3, verse 9. The Proverbs writer says, "Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the First Fruits of all your increase." So bring to the Lord the first of your crop. 17:59 Bring to the Lord the first of your crop. Offer it to the Lord. Give it to the Lord for the work of the priests, for the work of the church, for the work of the kingdom, for the work of God, and worship as you offer. So our offerings on Sundays as we give to the Lord and at other times are an act of worship. Now, 18:19 the important thing to remember about First Fruits is with the action was a promise. Promise was that there's more to come. You bring the First Fruits, and there's more coming that the Lord is going to give us in the harvest. 18:34 And so then it goes through the barley harvest, and then it goes through the wheat harvest and to the grapes and all the harvests throughout that calendar year, growing season. And so it was in essence saying, "Here's the first. There's more coming, and God is going to make sure that just like the First Fruits was given, 18:54 the rest of it will also be given to you." So when he says, "Bring the First Fruits of your increase, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." There's a promise. When you give it to God, there's more to come. The principle is to give God the first part of your income, 19:14 and he'll look after the rest. That's one picture of First Fruits. But then it goes deeper than that. It goes deeper than that. Christians are called First Fruits. Did you realize that you're one of God's First Fruits? You are one of God's First Fruits. 19:33 James 1:18, "Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of First Fruits of his creatures." I don't understand what all that means other than that the firstborn, we didn't even talk about this, 19:49 but the firstborn of animals and of people were to be fully dedicated to the Lord. And the firstborn that opened up the womb, the Scripture says in the Old Testament, was dedicated to the Lord. And the unclean animals, they would have their necks broke because they're dedicated to the Lord. 20:10 The clean animals would be redeemed, 20:13 and the people would be redeemed. And so you could redeem them for so much money going into the temple treasurer that then person would be what's called redeemed. So we, as God's First Fruits, we, as God's children, are redeemed. 20:32 We 20:35 recognize that we are not our own, but that we belong to him, and we place ourselves under his authority. Romans 16:5 talks about the First Fruits of Achaia, which was their ministry in Achaia. He talks about Epennatus, who was the First Fruits of Achaia to Christ. 20:55 So the people who came to the Lord first in Achaia was Epennatus and Stephanus. First Corinthians 16 talks about him. What is that signifying? Signifying these were the special people who came to the Lord first, guaranteeing that there's a whole bunch more people going to come that the Lord is going to save. 21:15 The Spirit is also referred to as the First Fruits, the First Fruits. Romans 8:23, "We also who have the First Fruits of the Spirit." What is the First Fruits of the Spirit? Well, the First Fruits of the Spirit, Ephesians talks about, is the down payment of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, 21:34 which is a guarantee that something else is coming. First Fruits is always a guarantee that there's more coming than what you're offering. Isn't that just like God? He always has more for us than what we give to him. He always has more, more in store. 21:55 And so the First Fruits of the Spirit says, "We ourselves grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." So we have the Holy Spirit, but that is wonderful. 22:10 But then the Holy Spirit is going to come and reinvigorate our mortal bodies and change us. That's called the redemption of the body. The Spirit assures and guarantees the future promise of heaven. 22:29 One of the things that First Fruits tells us is that as we are dedicated to the Lord and blessed and anointed and sealed with the Holy Spirit, it is the guarantee that there's going to be something great happen with our bodies. 22:47 Then the Scripture talks about the 144,000 in the book of Revelation, 12,000 from every tribe of Israel during the tribulation period. 22:56 Revelation 14 says, "The ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes, these are redeemed from among men, being First Fruits to God and to the Lamb." What is a First Fruit of the 144,000? That is the picture that there's going to be all Israel shall be saved. 23:16 On the way to getting all Israel saved in the tribulation, there's going to be 144,000 Jewish people that are going to bow the knee to Jesus Christ as the First Fruits to God and to the Lamb. They will be proof, guarantee, or pledge of a future harvest within the nation of Israel. 23:37 They will be the guarantee during the time of God's awesome wrath that he has not cast off his people. So they are called First Fruits. But what is the primary, the primary fulfillment of this promise? We've talked about possessions being offered to God. 23:57 We've talked about Christians being offered to God. We've talked about Jews being offered to God. We've talked about the Spirit coming from God and sealing us to God. But what is the primary fulfillment of the Feast of First Fruits? And that is the same as all the other feasts. The fulfillment is Christ. 24:19 It's Christ. Christ crucified, Christ buried, Christ risen again. So with that in mind, turn to First Corinthians 15 because this is where we find the fulfillment. 24:34 Everything else has been of interest and technical to help us understand this First Fruit offering. And then we come to Christ, Jesus our Lord. And it is part of the gospel message that he preached that Paul delivered, verse 3, "I delivered to you, 24:53 first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for us for our sins according to the Scriptures." When did he die? He died on Passover. And that he was buried. When was he buried? He was buried in relation to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. When did he rise again? 25:13 In connection with the Feast of First Fruits. All those Jewish feasts back there were to point to Christ, to Christ, to Christ, to Christ so that they didn't even know the implications of everything they were doing until Jesus came along and fulfilled it right in front of their eye. And they still did not believe. 25:33 So Christ, the Bible says of Jesus Christ that he is the faithful witness and the firstborn from the dead. If there's a firstborn, there must be some other born, right? Otherwise, he'd be the only born. The firstborn implies that there's a more born, more borning going to happen. 25:55 And so this comes to the heart of the gospel message and the fulfillment, the consummation of the gospel message. 26:05 And that is the truth of the resurrection, the truth of the resurrection, not only of Jesus Christ, but of the resurrection from the dead and of the dead at the end of the age. Now, how important is this? How important is there that there be a resurrection? 26:26 And I don't think probably we preach about the resurrection of Christ, but I don't think in my ministry I've preached enough about the coming resurrection, the coming resurrection. It's shrouded in mystery. Maybe one reason we don't preach about it more often. 26:43 And we're preoccupied with living down here and living out the principles of God's word and sharing our faith and living a life that's pleasing to God and building the kingdom of God and building it. But we kind of forget, yeah, we know we're going to heaven someday, but we forget this great, great truth that the dead are going to rise again. 27:04 You believe that? The dead are going to rise again. And if there's no resurrection, brothers and sisters, then we have an empty faith. Look at verse 13. Some of these people were saying that there's no resurrection from the dead. And Paul says, "If there's no resurrection of the dead, 27:24 then Christ isn't risen." And if Christ isn't risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is empty. If there's no resurrection, then Paul's a liar. We're talking putting all your eggs in one basket here, putting all the eggs in the resurrection basket. 27:45 And if the basket of the resurrection, I didn't intend this, but the basket, the waving of the First Fruits, if that isn't true, then none of it's true. That's what Paul's saying here. If that isn't true, none of it's true because Paul would be a liar. 28:06 Verse 16, he says, "If the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen." And if the dead do not rise and Christ is not risen, your faith is empty. Your faith is in vain. You are still in your sins, verse 17. Your sins can't be forgiven, brothers and sisters, if there's no resurrection. 28:26 We say Jesus paid it all, but part of the payment was to take himself and make himself acceptable and received by the Father to conquer death. And so you're still in your sins if there's no resurrection. Your loved ones are eternally lost if there's no resurrection. 28:46 Those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If there's no resurrection, brother and sister, Sister Annabel is not in heaven, and neither is your parent or your wife or your husband or your mother or father or brother or sister. They're lost if there's no resurrection. 29:06 And so he goes on to say that we are of all men most pitiable or miserable if there's no resurrection. 29:13 If there's no resurrection, what is the point of trying to live for God, a God who isn't strong enough to fulfill his promise, a God who isn't strong enough and real enough to do what he said he would and to put down the last enemy, which is death? Then there's no point. 29:33 But I love Paul's "but now" phrases in Scripture. They're all the way through his writings. 18 times in the writings of Paul, it says, "but now." Verse 20, "But now Christ is risen. He is risen and has become the First Fruits," there you go, 29:54 "of those who slept. 29:56 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." Now, the Gnostics were the heretics of the day, and they said, "It doesn't matter if there's a resurrection or not 30:15 because the body is evil." And so God wouldn't raise up an evil body. And so this is against the Gnostics who say, "It doesn't really matter. It's just a spiritual reality anyway." Brothers and sisters, if our faith is only a spiritual reality, then it's not true Christianity. It is a spiritual reality, 30:34 but it has a physical dimension that God is so concerned about that one day he's going to raise these dead bodies. God cares about the body. He cares about what people do with their bodies. 30:47 He cares about what about the temple that he lived in. He cares so much about it that he's going to bring it back. He's going to bring it back. Hosea 13:14 says, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. 31:08 O death, I will be your plagues. O grave, I will be your destruction." And sometime around Easter, I'm going to preach part two of this message on how important is the resurrection and the significance of the resurrection and what it would be without a resurrection. 31:30 But I want to just pose you a question in closing. 31:35 If somehow somebody you heard in the news tomorrow that they had discovered the bones of Jesus of Nazareth, and let's say it was possible to verify, they did DNA testing on it, found out that it is not human bones, it's God bones. 31:59 Now, that's not possible to do, but if you could, for the sake of illustration, if they were to find the bones by the way, in the Holy Land, when they put a person in the grave, in the sepulchre, they'd leave that person dead for a while until the flesh had decayed. Then they'd take those bones and put them in a box. 32:18 And those who have gone to Israel will remember seeing close to the garden or in the Garden of Gethsemane boxes of bones from dead people that had been discovered. And so it's not out of the realm of protocol that you could find a box of bones that are hundreds of years old. 32:40 So let's say they could prove that these were the bones of Jesus. Would that matter? Would that bother you at all? I hope it would. If that were the case, I would stop being a Christian tomorrow because it's that important. That's what Paul says. 33:00 There's no point. There's no point. Without it, I'll give you the outline for a future message. Without the resurrection, sin reigns. Without the resurrection, not all things are under the authority of Christ. Without the resurrection, the enemies of God are not subdued. Without the resurrection, the glory of God in mankind is not fully restored. 33:22 And without the resurrection, the word of God is not dependable. And without the resurrection, Jesus Christ is a liar. But now Christ is risen and has become the First Fruits of them that slept. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for the hope that we have in Christ. 33:44 We hate to think of it in such negative terms, but we must look at the negative in order to appreciate the positive that Christ is the First Fruit, that he fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures, and that he is coming again to receive us unto himself, that where he is, there we will be also, 34:04 not just spiritually, but physically with a spiritual new body. We don't know how that works. We don't know how it's going to look like, but we do know that somehow all those that are in the grave are going to hear your voice and come forth, some to the resurrection of the just, some to the resurrection of the unjust, 34:26 some to the bliss and blessedness of eternal reward, and others to the terror of eternal punishment. And so, Father, we rejoice. We rejoice every time a saint goes home to be with the Lord that there's going to be more. 34:45 There's going to be more. There's going to be a resurrection from the dead at the last day. And we look to Christ as the First Fruits, and we wave him before the Father and say, "Lord, he is our hope and our help. Ever more, Lord, give us this confidence. Through Christ, we pray. Amen."