August 6, 2018

The Firstfruits

“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 firstfruits 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.  And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.  Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.”  Lev. 23:9-16

 As we read the passage in Lev. 23, we noticed the Lord was giving a future instruction – this feast would occur when the Israelites were settled in Canaan and could produce a harvest.  At this one-day feast, the firstfruits of the barley harvest were reaped and enough grain to produce a sheaf, or omer (thought to be about 2 quarts), was brought to the priest who would then wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted.  This was called a tenufah, or wave offering.  We also determined from the passage that the Israelites could not eat of this first harvest until the offering had been made – and accepted – by the Lord.  The firstfruits had to be offered to the Lord.  In this we see a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ, now resurrected.  1 Cor. 15:20 reads: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”  We can consider the significance of these passages in the following way:

• The priest presented the barley offering;
• Jesus, as High Priest (cohen hagadol), presented Himself as the firstfruits offering.
• The Lord accepted the barley offering;
• Father accepted His Son’s offering.
• Once accepted, God’s chosen people could partake of the harvest;
• Once accepted, believers can partake of the resurrection.
• The barley harvest pointed to a summer harvest of wheat;
• Our experience now points to the consummate experience later.