~ 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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