Speak unto the Children of Israel and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then shall ye bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the Lord. Leviticus 23:10
The Feast of Firstfruits was an exciting day in old Israel. It marked the beginning of the first major crop – the barley harvest. From that point, the people were busy harvesting and gathering their crops, rejoicing in God’s goodness to them. The waving of the first sheaf of that barley harvest before the Lord was an indication of that thanksgiving, and a promise for all that was to come forth from the earth’s abundance. The Feast of Firstfruits was celebrated on the first day of the week, after the Passover. In this feast, we see something very special for us, because the first day of the week is significant to the Christian, marking not only the day in which we gather to remember the Lord, but also the day in which He rose from the dead. In the Feast of Firstfruits, we see pictured the resurrection of Christ and all of the promise from that glorious event.
The Israelite appreciated the barley harvest, because it came first. As Christians, we appreciate the resurrection, because it precedes all of the wonderful blessings that God has promised us. Everything flows from that resurrection. It gives us our assurance that God was satisfied with the offering of His Son. It gives us the proof that Christ is victorious over death. That victory gives us the assurance that we will also be victorious over death. From the resurrection comes also the promise of the Comforter, Who indwells each believer, and Who empowers us to live in the victory that Christ achieved. In a world that is filled with uncertainty and confusion, we have the clear hope of our own resurrection, an assurance that everything that happens to us in this world will come to an end in the fulfilling of the promise of firstfruits.
The Feast of Firstfruits was marked by the waving of the first sheaf before the Lord. This we do each Lord’s Day morning as we celebrate Christ’s resurrection. This we also do each morning of life as we face a future filled with the promise of all that the Lord Jesus has done for us, is doing today, and will do for us in the future. We wave the sheaf of firstfruits by our daily rejoicing in what God has done for us. We wave that sheaf by sharing that joy with fellow believers, and with sharing the news of the resurrection with non-believers. We wave that sheaf by living as our Saviour desires we should live in this world, working in the sure hope of a wonderful harvest.
The Feast of Firstfruits reminds us of the hope of resurrection, a sure hope that should fill our souls with gladness today. – Jim MacIntosh