Saturday, December 17, 2016

The Messiah, 292A



~ Jesus Christ and The Feast of First Fruits ~

Background  ~ “Search the Scriptures—they testify of Me” — Jesus Christ (John 5:39).
“And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, Jesus explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27).  Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.  Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body [the true Church of Jesus Christ], nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God” (Colossians 2:16-19).

The Scripture  ~   “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, 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, 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 hin.  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”’” (Leviticus 23:9-14). 

The Messiah  ~  “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.  But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Corinthians 15:22-23).

The Feast of First Fruits (April)  ~  The Feast of First Fruits is all about new life springing forth.  We have new spiritual life because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ—The Messiah. 

For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.  But each one in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.  Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power” (1 Corinthians 15:21-24).  Jesus answered them, saying, ‘The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.  Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain” (John 12:23-25).  “For God made His Son who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus said, “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19).  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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