Chapter 4

FEAST OF FIRST FRUITS

Before we begin our study of the Feast of First Fruits of the harvest let us pray,

Dear Holy Father,

We enter into Your Throne Room in the Name of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Father we ask that You would please bless this time in the study of Your Word. Father, please open our eyes, ears and heart so that we can come to a better knowledge and understanding of You and Your Word. Please Father strengthen our faith and trust in You, Your Son Jesus and in Your Word.

Amen

BACKGROUND

Before we begin our study it is important for us to understand that the Bible speaks of two different types of first fruits. One type of first fruit is the first fruit or first born of the womb. The second type of first fruit is the first fruit from the harvest. Thus, for our study of the Feast of First Fruits care must be given to insure we properly apply only those Scriptures that pertain to this harvest feast.

The "Chronological and Background Charts of the Old Testament" by John H. Walton1 identify that during this time period of Israel's history there were two harvest seasons. The first harvest season of the year was the barley harvest. This season occurred during the first religious month of the Jewish calendar which was called the month of Nisan. Nisan corresponds to our March/April time frame. As we will see in our study it was this harvest season that the Feast of First Fruits was to be celebrated.

The second harvest season of the year was the wheat harvest. This harvest took place during the third religious month of the Jewish calendar which was called the month of Sivan. Sivan corresponds to our May/June time frame. As we will see in chapter 5, it was in this harvest season that the Feast of Weeks, which was also called the Feast of Pentecost, was to be celebrated.

INTRODUCTION

With the above background in mind, we begin our study by reading what God said to Moses to establish the Feast of First Fruits. It is recorded for us in,

Leviticus 23:9-14

"[9] The LORD said to Moses, [10] "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. [11] 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. [12] On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect, [13] together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil--an offering made to the LORD by fire, a pleasing aroma--and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. [14] 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."

As we study the Bible we find that this feast had at least a threefold purpose:

  1. It was the means by which the nation of Israel was to remember that even though they plowed, sowed and harvested the fields; it was God who gave the growth.

  2. It was to bring to remembrance of the time when the nation of Israel first ate the fruit from the fields of the promised land of Canaan.

  3. It was also established as a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, Who is the First Fruit of the resurrection.

Since the primary focus of this volume of Spiritual Foundations is the foreshadowings of the Old Testament, we will limit our study to the exploration of the last two purposes, that is numbers 2 and 3.

As mentioned above one of the purposes of the Feast of First Fruits was,

TO BE A REMEMBRANCE OF THE TIME WHEN THE NATION OF ISRAEL FIRST ATE FROM THE FRUITS OF THE PROMISED LAND OF CANAAN

To see this let us review the timeline along with some of the sequence of events surrounding Israel's entry into the land of Canaan.

  1. On the tenth day of the first month, that is the month of Nisan, the nation of Israel crossed over the Jordan River and entered the land of Canaan. This is recorded for us in,

    2. Joshua 4:19

    "[19] On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho."

  2. On the fourteenth day of the month they celebrated the Passover. To see this let us read from,

    3. Joshua 5:10-11

    "[10] On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. [11] The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain."

    Notice that on the day after the Passover, along with unleavened bread, they ate from the produce or fruits of the promised land.

  3. From this point on, the Manna ceased and the nation of Israel now only ate from the food grown in Canaan. This is given to us in,

Joshua 5:12

"[12] Manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan."

With this in mind, let us now return to when God established the Feast of First Fruits and reread the following excerpts:

Leviticus 23:9-10

"[9] The LORD said to Moses, [10] "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."

In fact this activity of presenting to the Lord a sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest was to be a statute throughout the generations of the Israelite people.

Leviticus23:14

"[14] 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."

In other words every year during the first month of Nisan, the Israelites, along with the Feast of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, were also to celebrate the Feast of First Fruits. This was the time when the nation of Israel was to bring to remembrance of how God miraculously delivered them their bondage to the Egyptians and brought them into the promised land of Canaan.

Thus, we found in chapters 2, 3 and now in this chapter that starting on the fourteenth day of the first month the nation of Israel was to:

  1. Celebrate the Feast of Passover to remind them of how God's wrath "passed over" them when the destroying angel came to slaughter the first born of Egypt.

  2. Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread to remind them of the miraculous way God provided them bread, that is Manna, as they traveled the wilderness on their way to the promised land of Canaan. It was also to remind them of the purity of life that God had called them to live.

  3. Celebrate the Feast of First Fruits to remind them of the time they entered the promised land of Canaan and first ate from the produce of its harvest.

In chapters 2 and 3 we also saw that the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread were established to be a foreshadowing to teach us about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the works He did to bring God's children into the promised land of eternal life. Thus, it would be reasonable for us to expect that the Feast of First Fruits would also teach us about our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, let us now explore,

THE FORESHADOWING OF THE FEAST OF FIRST FRUITS

As one surveys the various sacrifices of the Old Testament one finds that the one unique requirement for the Feast of First Fruits was the waving, before God, the sheaf of first fruits from the harvest.

Before we look into the significance of this requirement, it is noted that according to Webster's New World Dictionary, "A sheaf was a bunch of cut stalks of grain bound up in a bundle." In other words, a sheaf of grain is not just the kernels of grain but also included the whole stalk as well.

With the above in mind we begin our study of the sheaf of first fruits and its ramifications by reading from,

Leviticus 23:9-11

"[9] The LORD said to Moses, [10] "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. [11] 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."

Let us notice the following verses,

10 … The sheaf was to be given to the priest. In other words, the person who harvested the grain bundled the first fruit or pickings of it into a sheaf and gave it to the priest.

11 … The priest was to wave the sheaf before God to be accepted on behalf of the person who brought it.

Now let us read from,

Leviticus 23:14

"[14] 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."

Within these Scriptures we find at least three foreshadowings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The first foreshadowing is,

The Sheaf Itself

Within the sheaf itself there are two foreshadowings.

  1. The sheaf of first fruits from the harvest points to Jesus Christ who is the first fruit of the resurrection. To see this let us remember that Jesus Christ clearly taught us that there will be a resurrection of those who had died and are buried. As an example let us read what He once said to the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection.

    2. Mark 12:18-27

    "[18] Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. [19] "Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. [20] Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. [21] The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. [22] In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. [23] At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?" [24] Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? [25] When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. [26] Now about the dead rising--have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? [27] He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!""

    To help us to better understand the resurrection, it is sometimes referred to as a harvest from the earth. For example let us first read what Jesus said to His disciples about the necessity to ask God the Father to send laborers into His field of humanity,

    Matthew 9:35-38

    "[35] Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. [36] When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. [37] Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. [38] Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.""

    For our next example let us read how the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John describes the resurrection in,

    Revelation 14:14-16

    "[14] I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man" with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. [15] Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, "Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." [16] So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested."

    With these examples or illustrations in mind, we find that the Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ is the First Fruit of the promised resurrection. To see this, let us read from,

    1 Corinthians 15:20-23

    "[20] … Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. [21] For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. [22] For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. [23] But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him."

    What is the whole point of this portion of our study of the sheaf? Why is it so important for us to know and believe that Jesus Christ is the First Fruit of the resurrection? The answer to these questions is given to us in the teaching that was given to some of the people in the church in Corinth who did not believe in or at best minimized the importance of the resurrection. It is recorded for us in,

    1 Corinthians 15:12-23

    "[12] But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? [13] If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. [14] And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. [15] More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. [16] For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. [17] And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. [18] Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. [19] If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. [20] But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. [21] For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. [22] For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. [23] But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him."

    Let us notice the following verses,

    12-18 … In other words, if Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead and there is no resurrection, then we are still in our sins and our faith is pointless.

    19 … If the only reason we have faith and trust in God is for good things to happen to us while we live upon this earth, then we have missed the whole point of Christianity.

    20-23 … But if Christ was raised from the dead, then be assured that we will also be raised from the dead to face God for judgement. Those who are true born again believers will enter into the promised Kingdom of God and those who are not will be cast into the Lake of Fire (see Revelation 20:1-15).

    Let us now move on to the second foreshadowing of the sheaf.

  2. The sheaf of first fruits from the harvest was not just the kernels of grain but the whole body of stalk. This is a foreshadowing to teach us that Jesus Christ's whole body was resurrected.

To see this let us read about the time when, after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples. This encounter is recorded for us in,

Luke 24:36-43

"[36] … Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." [37] They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. [38] He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? [39] Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." [40] When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. [41] And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" [42] They gave him a piece of broiled fish, [43] and he took it and ate it in their presence."

Let us notice the following verses,

37 … On seeing Jesus His disciples thought they had seen a spirit or ghost.

39 … Jesus reveals to His disciples and us that He was raised from the dead with a whole body.

43 … To further prove the point that He was not a spirit but was resurrected with flesh and bone Jesus ate a piece of fish.

This too is a foreshadowing to teach us that as Jesus Christ, who is the first fruit of the resurrection was physically raised from the dead, the born again believers will also follow in like manner. In other words, the Bible teaches us that when Jesus comes at the end of this age to bring the born again believers to be with Him, we will be resurrected or transformed to be like Him.

1 John 3:2

"[2] Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

This now brings us to the second foreshadowing from the Feast of First Fruits which is,

The Waving Of The Sheaf Before God

In reading from the book of Leviticus we found that the sheaf of first fruits was waved before God by the priest to be accepted on behalf of the people. It is noted that the wave offering which was similar to the heave offering was presented to God by either moving the offering from right to left, that is waving, or lifting it up on high, that is heaving. In addition, it was of these offerings that Aaron and his children, that is the priesthood, were to eat for their physical nourishment. To see this let us read the following excerpt from where God described to Moses the requirements for the Peace offerings.

Leviticus 7:28-36

"[28] The LORD said to Moses, [29] "Say to the Israelites: 'Anyone who brings a fellowship offering to the LORD is to bring part of it as his sacrifice to the LORD. [30] With his own hands he is to bring the offering made to the LORD by fire; he is to bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast before the LORD as a wave offering. [31] The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons. [32] You are to give the right thigh of your fellowship offerings to the priest as a contribution. [33] The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of the fellowship offering shall have the right thigh as his share. [34] From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken the breast that is waved and the thigh that is presented and have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as their regular share from the Israelites.'" [35] This is the portion of the offerings made to the LORD by fire that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the LORD as priests. [36] On the day they were anointed, the LORD commanded that the Israelites give this to them as their regular share for the generations to come."

For this study let us notice the following verse,

33 … It was the items that were waved that were given to the priest for their physical nourishment. In this particular offering it was the breast and thigh of the sacrifice.

(For a more in depth study of the Peace Offering please see chapter 11).

In reflecting upon the above we find two foreshadowing of our Lord Jesus Christ and the new covenant.

  1. The waving of the sheaf of first fruits before God is to teach us the Jesus Christ Who is our High Priest, in His resurrected state, is now before God the Father on behalf of the born again believers.

  2. The eating of the wave offering by the priesthood is to teach the born again believers that we, as members of the new priesthood, for our spiritual nourishment have been given the privilege to partake of our wave offering, that is Jesus Christ our Sheaf of First Fruits.

To see that Jesus Christ, our High Priest, is now before God the Father on our behalf we must recognize and accept that,

1. Jesus Christ is our High Priest

This is clearly taught to us by the Holy Spirit in,

Hebrews 5:1-10

"[1] Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. [2] He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. [3] This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. [4] No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was. [5] So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father." [6] And he says in another place, "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." [7] During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. [8] Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered [9] and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him [10] and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek."

Let us notice the following verses,

1 … The priest is appointed to represent the people in matchers related to God.

10 … God the Father appointed Jesus Christ to be our High Priest.

For a more in depth study of the priesthood of Jesus Christ and the analogy of the order of Melchizedek please see chapter 16 of this volume. However, for the purpose for this study it is sufficient to note that the Bible clearly teaches us that forever and ever Jesus Christ is our one and only High Priest.

In addition to being our High Priest, we must also recognize and believe that,

  1. Jesus Christ is now sitting at the right hand of God the Father.

    2. To see this let us read what Jesus said to the elders, chief priests and scribes of the Jewish people just before He was handed over to Pilate to be put to death.

    Luke 22:66-69

    "[66] At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. [67] "If you are the Christ, " they said, "tell us." Jesus answered, "If I tell you, you will not believe me, [68] and if I asked you, you would not answer. [69] But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.""

    Finally, in addition to being our High Priest and sitting at the right hand of God the Father, we must also believe that,

  2. Jesus Christ is constantly interceding to Him on our behalf.

To see this let us prayerfully consider what the Holy Spirit wrote through the Apostle Paul in,

Romans 8:34

"[34] Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."

In reflecting upon this portion of the foreshadowing of the Feast of First Fruits one might ask, "What is the point? What is the message to be learned?" Perhaps it is best summarized for us in,

1 John 1:8-2:2

"[8] If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."

"[1] My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. [2] He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

The second foreshadowing of the waving of the sheaf is to teach us that as members of the new priesthood the born again believers are given the Sheaf, that is Jesus Christ, for our spiritual nourishment. To see this we must realize that,

  1. The born again believers are the new priesthood.

    2. To see this let us consider,

    1 Peter 2:9

    "[9] But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

  2. Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life

To see this let us read an excerpt of what Jesus said to the people who were asking for a sign from heaven like the Manna that God gave them during their exodus from Egypt.

John 6:35

"[35] Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

As we saw in chapter 3, for spiritual nourishment the born again believer partakes of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is the Bread of Life and the Sheaf of First Fruits, by,

    1. Reading His Word

      2. Matthew 4:4

      "[4] Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'""

      We also receive spiritual nourishment by,

    2. Partaking of the Lord's Supper

To see this let us read what Jesus said when He established the Lord's Supper in,

Matthew 26:26

"[26] While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body.""

The third and last foreshadowing for our study of the Feast of First Fruits comes to light by noting that,

No One Could Eat Till The Sheaf Was Offered To God

In other words, no one was to eat from the fruit of the promised land of Canaan until the sheaf of first fruits was offered to God. This is a foreshadowing to teach us that no human being was able to eat or taste the fruits of the promised land of eternal life till the First Fruit of that land, that is Jesus Christ, offered Himself to God the Father on our behalf. To see this let us read an excerpt of what Jesus told Thomas when He was preparing His disciples for His upcoming death, burial, resurrection and ascension into Heaven. It is written in,

John 14:6

"[6] Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

In reflecting upon what Jesus said, one might ask, "Why? Why must we go through Jesus Christ to be with the Father?" The answer to these questions are as follows,

  1. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

    2. Romans 3:23

    "[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

  2. God gave His One and Only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from eternal punishment to have eternal life with Him.

    3. John 3:16

    ""[16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

  3. To save us from our sins Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sin offering on our behalf.

    4. Hebrews 10:12-17

    "[12] But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. [13] Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, [14] because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. [15] The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: [16] "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." [17] Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.""

    Let us notice the following verses,

    12(a) … Once and for all Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins.

    12(b) … As we saw earlier in this study Jesus is now at the right hand of God the Father.

    14 … In other words we have been made holy by the offering of Himself.

    15-17 … The Holy Spirit is teaching us that Jesus Christ fulfilled the promise of the new covenant that God gave the world through the prophet Jeremiah.

    (For a more in depth study of this topic please see Part II of Volume I).

    thus,

  4. If we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, believe that He was raised from the dead, that is He is the First Fruit of the harvest of mankind, confess Him as our Lord, repent of and confess our sins to Him, and call upon Him for salvation, then we are saved from our sins and can enter into the promised land of eternal life. Consider the following Scriptures,

Romans 10:9

"[9] That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

And,

Romans 10:13

"[13] for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.""

SUMMARY

The point of this study and that of chapters 2 and 3 can be summarized as follows:

At the time of Passover, the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of First Fruits were celebrated as vivid reminders for the nation of Israel of all God did to mercifully deliver them from their bondage to the Egyptians and bring them to dwell in the promised land of Canaan.

Similarly, at the time when the born again believer partakes of the Lord's Supper it should serve as a vivid reminder of our Lord Jesus Christ and all He did to mercifully deliver us from our bondage to sin and Satan and bring us to dwell in the land of eternal life with Him.

To see this, let us prayerfully read what Jesus Christ taught the Apostle Paul about the purpose of the Lord's Supper. It is recorded for us in,

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

"[23] For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, [24] and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." [25] In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." [26] For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

AMEN and AMEN

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