visionary
19th April 2008, 10:49 AM
Unlike the year Yeshua died, the first fruits of this year will be a whole week later... Next Sunday April 27th.
First Fruit principles
1. The promise of a future harvest
One of the principles that a first fruit offering taught was that a future harvest was promised - the first fruit were just a taste of what lay in store at the end of the full ingathering of the harvest. Therefore, when a first fruit offering was brought before the Lord, it represented a prayer to Him to watch over the future harvest that was there foreshadowed by the minute proportion that was being presented.
Certainly, the quantities of produce that were brought before the Lord as first fruit offerings were, at most times, unusable because of the quantities being brought - here, for instance, at the festival in question, just one sheaf of the barley crop was brought to be waved, a quantity that could hardly have been construed as being useful to produce a loaf from!
As previously noted, beginning with this festival and carrying through into the subsequent two, the reason behind the ceremonies is predominantly the anticipation of the future harvest which the first fruit offering looked forward to.
At the third Jewish festival (the festival which we’re dealing with on this web page), a sheaf of the first fruit of the harvest was waved before God (Lev 23:10). This festival marked the beginning of the reaping of the barley harvest and the sheaf was offered in anticipation of that final harvest of barley.
Then, at the fourth Jewish festival, the beginning of the wheat harvest, two loaves of bread made from the first fruit of the ripe wheat were offered to God in anticipation of the full harvest of wheat that was being gathered in (Lev 23:17, Ex 34:22).
And, finally, at the Intermediate Festival (which took place between the fourth and seventh Jewish festivals - that is, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles), the first fruit offering to the Lord was offered in anticipation of the overall harvest of all agricultural produce that was to be gathered in (Deut 26:2, Ex 23:19) or, perhaps, it’s more accurate to say ‘that had already been gathered in’.
This principle carried itself over into themes that run throughout Scripture. So, for example, Jer 2:3 tells us that
‘Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruit of His harvest...’
Because God chose Israel as the first fruit of all the nations of the earth, He was anticipating His plan for the final harvest in which other nations would be gathered in to the Kingdom of God. That Israel chose to reject the purposes of God for themselves doesn’t negate the declared will of the Lord (and, one day, the inclusion of the Israelites will spell the close of the age in which the final harvest of souls will come in to God’s ‘barn’, so to speak - Rom 11:12). Israel, the first fruit offering of men and women to God for His use and purpose as outlined in the OT, is a proof and guarantee to all believers that God had purposed a wider harvest to be reaped from every Gentile nation under the sun.
Rom 11:16,26 also picks up this theme of Israel’s standing before the Lord God when Paul records that
‘If the dough offered as first fruit is holy, so is the whole lump...and so all Israel will be saved...’
The first fruit of the Jews that have become believers (specifically referring to the patriarchs of the OT) are the promise that eventually all Israel will be saved. The concept of the first fruit offering being a small offering that makes the entire lump ‘holy’ and acceptable to God will be looked at under the next section but, for now, we need only note Paul’s argument that the Jewish believers that had, at that time, given themselves wholly to the Gospel that the apostles were preaching were seen to be the guarantee and promise that God had not once and for all rejected His people but that He would provide for a time when the nation that He primarily came to die for and to commission to spread the news of the work of the sacrifice of Yeshua will take up their calling and fulfil their appointed destiny.
In James 1:18 (see also Rom 8:19-21) the author speaks of the believers that he’s writing to by saying
‘...that we should be a kind of first fruit of His creatures’
Followers of Yeshua (not just the believers that James is writing to - though there’s specific significance in James’ words as he’s primarily addressing his teaching to Jews) are a type of first fruit of the entire Creation - they are the promise that the earth will be set free from its bondage to decay and will enter the liberty that the children of God, the first fruits, have received.
I Cor 15:20,23 tells us that
‘...Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep...Christ the first fruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ’
Yeshua's resurrection from the dead is the promise that believers, too, will receive bodies in the final harvest that will never again die. Had Yeshua not been raised from the dead, there would be no guarantee for believers to point to and rely upon when they think about the final day that the Scriptures point towards. But, as it is, the first fruit resurrection of Yeshua guarantees that there will be a final harvest of bodies that will be raised from the dead in similar manner to that of Yeshua.
Both Rom 8:23 and Eph 1:13-14 talk of
‘...we...who have the first fruit of the Spirit...[who is] the guarantee of our inheritance...’
The Holy Spirit that believers have received is the assurance that the future inheritance/final harvest promised to them will be laid hold of and reaped. Again, like the resurrection of Yeshua, had not a believer something tangible to rely upon, ‘belief’ would then become grounded upon purely subjective criteria and statements that have no real provable worth.
But believers can know with a great deal of certainty that they’ll receive the final promised inheritance into their lives because they’re experiencing the first fruit of that inheritance - they aren’t just believing that they must have the first fruit because they’ve been told they should have it even if they can’t see the evidence for it, but they are living in the reality of the provision that’s poured out upon them now.
First Fruit principles
1. The promise of a future harvest
One of the principles that a first fruit offering taught was that a future harvest was promised - the first fruit were just a taste of what lay in store at the end of the full ingathering of the harvest. Therefore, when a first fruit offering was brought before the Lord, it represented a prayer to Him to watch over the future harvest that was there foreshadowed by the minute proportion that was being presented.
Certainly, the quantities of produce that were brought before the Lord as first fruit offerings were, at most times, unusable because of the quantities being brought - here, for instance, at the festival in question, just one sheaf of the barley crop was brought to be waved, a quantity that could hardly have been construed as being useful to produce a loaf from!
As previously noted, beginning with this festival and carrying through into the subsequent two, the reason behind the ceremonies is predominantly the anticipation of the future harvest which the first fruit offering looked forward to.
At the third Jewish festival (the festival which we’re dealing with on this web page), a sheaf of the first fruit of the harvest was waved before God (Lev 23:10). This festival marked the beginning of the reaping of the barley harvest and the sheaf was offered in anticipation of that final harvest of barley.
Then, at the fourth Jewish festival, the beginning of the wheat harvest, two loaves of bread made from the first fruit of the ripe wheat were offered to God in anticipation of the full harvest of wheat that was being gathered in (Lev 23:17, Ex 34:22).
And, finally, at the Intermediate Festival (which took place between the fourth and seventh Jewish festivals - that is, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles), the first fruit offering to the Lord was offered in anticipation of the overall harvest of all agricultural produce that was to be gathered in (Deut 26:2, Ex 23:19) or, perhaps, it’s more accurate to say ‘that had already been gathered in’.
This principle carried itself over into themes that run throughout Scripture. So, for example, Jer 2:3 tells us that
‘Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruit of His harvest...’
Because God chose Israel as the first fruit of all the nations of the earth, He was anticipating His plan for the final harvest in which other nations would be gathered in to the Kingdom of God. That Israel chose to reject the purposes of God for themselves doesn’t negate the declared will of the Lord (and, one day, the inclusion of the Israelites will spell the close of the age in which the final harvest of souls will come in to God’s ‘barn’, so to speak - Rom 11:12). Israel, the first fruit offering of men and women to God for His use and purpose as outlined in the OT, is a proof and guarantee to all believers that God had purposed a wider harvest to be reaped from every Gentile nation under the sun.
Rom 11:16,26 also picks up this theme of Israel’s standing before the Lord God when Paul records that
‘If the dough offered as first fruit is holy, so is the whole lump...and so all Israel will be saved...’
The first fruit of the Jews that have become believers (specifically referring to the patriarchs of the OT) are the promise that eventually all Israel will be saved. The concept of the first fruit offering being a small offering that makes the entire lump ‘holy’ and acceptable to God will be looked at under the next section but, for now, we need only note Paul’s argument that the Jewish believers that had, at that time, given themselves wholly to the Gospel that the apostles were preaching were seen to be the guarantee and promise that God had not once and for all rejected His people but that He would provide for a time when the nation that He primarily came to die for and to commission to spread the news of the work of the sacrifice of Yeshua will take up their calling and fulfil their appointed destiny.
In James 1:18 (see also Rom 8:19-21) the author speaks of the believers that he’s writing to by saying
‘...that we should be a kind of first fruit of His creatures’
Followers of Yeshua (not just the believers that James is writing to - though there’s specific significance in James’ words as he’s primarily addressing his teaching to Jews) are a type of first fruit of the entire Creation - they are the promise that the earth will be set free from its bondage to decay and will enter the liberty that the children of God, the first fruits, have received.
I Cor 15:20,23 tells us that
‘...Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep...Christ the first fruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ’
Yeshua's resurrection from the dead is the promise that believers, too, will receive bodies in the final harvest that will never again die. Had Yeshua not been raised from the dead, there would be no guarantee for believers to point to and rely upon when they think about the final day that the Scriptures point towards. But, as it is, the first fruit resurrection of Yeshua guarantees that there will be a final harvest of bodies that will be raised from the dead in similar manner to that of Yeshua.
Both Rom 8:23 and Eph 1:13-14 talk of
‘...we...who have the first fruit of the Spirit...[who is] the guarantee of our inheritance...’
The Holy Spirit that believers have received is the assurance that the future inheritance/final harvest promised to them will be laid hold of and reaped. Again, like the resurrection of Yeshua, had not a believer something tangible to rely upon, ‘belief’ would then become grounded upon purely subjective criteria and statements that have no real provable worth.
But believers can know with a great deal of certainty that they’ll receive the final promised inheritance into their lives because they’re experiencing the first fruit of that inheritance - they aren’t just believing that they must have the first fruit because they’ve been told they should have it even if they can’t see the evidence for it, but they are living in the reality of the provision that’s poured out upon them now.