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First Fruits. - This feast occurred on the 1st
day of the week (Sunday)
The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak
unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the
land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye
shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on
the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. Leviticus
23:9-11
Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Day
of First Fruits were observed in the same season of the year and at the
same gathering. Only when Israel entered the Promised Land, were they
allowed to keep and celebrate this feast. It could not be kept in the
wilderness, as it was the place of wandering where Lord God provided
Israel with manna from heaven
The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a
distinct feast from the Passover. It began with the Passover meal and
continued for 7 days. The first and seventh days were Holy Convocations
(coming together). All leaven (a type of sin) was to be taken away from
the household. The Jews went all through the house looking for any crumbs
of bread that may have been made with yeast (leaven.) Failure to remove
all leaven brought the death penalty. Exodus 12:15-20
Exodus
12
15
For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On
the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything
with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off
from Israel.
16
On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and
another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to
prepare food for everyone to eat--that is all you may do.
17
"Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very
day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a
lasting ordinance for the generations to come.
18
In the first
month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the
fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.
19
For
seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats
anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel,
whether he is an alien or native-born.
20
Eat nothing made with
yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread."
On
the 14th day of the 1st month, Abib (called Nisan after the Exile) the
Passover Lambs were killed at 3:00 PM and prepared for eating. At 6:00 PM
the Passover began and lasted until sundown. (A Jewish day begins at
sundown). At 6:00 Saturday (The start of Sunday) the day of First Fruits
began. On Sunday morning a sheaf or handful of early barley harvest was
reverently cut and the barley removed, filling a bowl. It was then taken
to the Temple and waved before the Lord. The counting of the Omer began at
the feasts of First fruits.An Omer is a half-gallon of barley. The last
cereal to ripen was the wheat and the first fruits from this harvest were
to be offered 50 days, later at Pentecost
.
Paul commands us to
purge out the least bit of leaven from our lives and from the ecclesia,
for Jesus has become our Passover Lamb. I Corinthians 5:6-8
6
Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works
through the whole batch of dough?
7
Get rid of the old yeast that
you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our
Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
8
Therefore let us keep the
Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but
with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
Paul
states that Jesus at His resurection became the First Fruits and the hope
of our resurrection from the dead. I Corinthians 15:23.
In Psalm
126, we find the Song of degrees. It speaks of him who sows in tears, but
returns later rejoicing, bringing with him the sheaves of the harvest
(verses 5 & 6).
Psalm 126
5
Those who sow in tears will
reap with songs of joy.
6
He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to
sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.
This Psalm may be applied to our precious Messiah Jesus, for
He is the Lord of the harvest. In His first advent, He went forth weeping
bearing precious seed. At the Second Coming, He will come with rejoicing
at the time of the great harvest, bringing His sheaves with
Him.
The single sheaf presented to Yahvah God on Firstfruits,
prophetically speaks of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. For He is the sheaf
of the Firstfruits. The Children of Israel clearly understood the meaning
of this feast and that which were the firstfruits of their labour. It
spoke of the firstfruits of the harvest and of the firstborn of both man
and beast. The firstfruits were considered the choicest. The firstfruits
were holy unto the Lord. Jesus is the firstborn of Mary and Joseph
(Matthew 1:23-25). He is the first begotten of the Father (Hebrews 1:6).
He is the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18). He is the firstfruits
of the resurrected ones. "But now Messiah 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 Messiah all shall be made alive. But each one in his
own order: Messiah the Firstfruits, afterward those who are the Messiah's
at His coming" 1Corinthians 15:20-23.
GOOD FRIDAY
TO EASTER SUNDAY
At 3:00 PM Friday, Jesus died on the
cross at the exact time the Passover Lambs were killed and prepared to be
eaten at 6:00 PM.
John the Baptist said of Jesus "Behold the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world".
Jesus lay in the tomb Friday
afternoon and Saturday and arose from the dead on Sunday, the day of First
Fruits of the Harvest.
Fifty days later when the day of Pentecost was
fully come, Acts 2:1, when the crops were ready to harvest, the gathering
of the Brethren in Christ began.
Acts 2
1
When the day of
Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
2
Suddenly a
sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the
whole house where they were sitting.
3
They saw what seemed to be
tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
4
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in
other tongues [1] as the Spirit enabled them.
38
Peter replied,
"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit.
39
The promise is for you and your children and for all who
are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."
40
With many
other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves
from this corrupt generation."
41
Those who accepted his message
were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that
day.
42
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to
the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
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