THE FEAST
OF FIRSTFRUITS

After a cold barren winter new life breaks forth.

On the 17th day of the Nisan moon the firstfruits of the barley harvest was gathered and waved before the Lord in celebration. On the 17th day of Nisan in 32 A.D. Jesus rises up from the grave. He is the firstfruits from the dead. On that very day He fulfilled the feast.


    POWERPOINT on the MEANING OF PASSOVER
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YOUTube VIDEO on the MEANING OF PASSOVER - Pt. 1


YOUTube VIDEO on the MEANING OF PASSOVER - Pt. 2



A study by Gavin Finley MD
endtimepilgrim.org   -   2003


INTRODUCTION
TO THE 7 FEASTS
OF ISRAEL
THE SPRING FEASTS
1. THE PASSOVER
2. THE FEAST OF
UNLEAVENED
BREAD
3. THE FEAST OF
FIRSTFRUITS
THE SUMMER FEAST
4. THE FEAST OF
PENTECOST
THE FALL FEASTS OF ISRAEL
5. THE FEAST OF
TRUMPETS
6. THE DAY OF
ATONEMENT
7. THE FEAST OF
TABERNACLES

THE SPRING FEASTS
IN THE OLD COVENANT

LEVITICUS 23
10. "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.
11. 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.
The Feast of Firstfruits was a celebration of the firstfruits of the barley harvest. This was its agricultural significance. But, (as we shall discover), this celebration was destined to take on a further deeper meaning.

The barley harvest was the first harvest celebration of the year. Then counting out fifty days from firstfruits came the Feast of Pentecost. This celebrated the beginning of the wheat harvest.

THE SPRING FEASTS ARE FULFILLED IN THE NEW COVENANT

In the three spring feasts we see the redemption story of our Saviour as it emerged into history nearly two millennia ago. Our Lord Jesus personally fulfilled all three of those spring feasts. They were accurately fulfilled down to the minutest detail and on the very day of the lunar calendar they were due. Christ was crucified on Passover, in the grave on Unleavened Bread.

In the case of the Feast of Firstfruits on the morrow after the sabbath of Passover something wonderful and unexpected happened. Our Saviour once again fulfilled the feast. He rose from the dead on the first day of the week. This was on the morrow after the sabbath following Passover. Thus in His resurrection from the dead He fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits. Resurrection Sunday came on the very day in which the Feast of Firstfruits had been celebrated, (and foreshadowed), in the Old Covenant since the feast was given by YHVH/God through Moses to the covenant people as they gathered at Sinai.

THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS IS FULFILLED IN THE NEW COVENANT.
CHRIST IS RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD RIGHT ON FIRSTFRUITS.

The Feast of Firstfruits was fulfilled by Jesus in His resurrection. He was the "firstfruits from the dead".
1 Corinthians 15
20. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

21. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
23. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.

Jesus is called "the Firstfruits of those that rise from the dead". (I Corinthians 15:20) Three days and nights after His crucifixion and early in the morning Jesus rose again from the grave. The Resurrection of Jesus came on the first day of the week. That day happened to be the 17th of Nisan, right on the Feast of Firstfruits. Note that the sabbath or 'high day" of the first day of the seven days of Unleavened Bread is then followed by a regular weekly seventh day sabbath, (or Saturday). There were two Sabbaths back to back that year, which was 32 A.D.

Here below is a calendar of that epic spring and summer in the year of Christ's passion. Firstfruits is in yellow.

Firstfruits was the first day after the sabbath following Passover. The risen Jesus Christ was seen that morning by Mary near the garden tomb. -John 20:10-18 Later He walked through the wall to visit with the disciples in a closed room. Thomas felt the wound in His side and confirmed that He was not a ghost. He was real. He had a spiritual body. His spiritual body was solidly manifest in this world. He could be touched and felt as a material body. -John 20:24-29 After His resurrection from the dead Jesus met up with James and John by the Sea of Galillee. They were out in their boat fishing. He had bread and was frying some fish for them there by the seashore. -John 21:3-14 Later He joined up with some disciples as they walked down from Jerusalem on the road to Emmaus. (See the wonderful painting above by Robert Zund). This was the manner in which our risen Lord operated in this cosmos during those weeks before He ascended to the Father. He would appear among His people, join in fellowship with them, minister to them, and then disappear. Will this be the pattern of His ministry in the Millennium?