This Feast of Firstfruits was never kept, nor could it be kept, in the wilderness or in Egypt. It could not be held anywhere else than in the Promised Land for the very simple reason that this sheaf that was to be offered was to be the first of the harvest of the land to which they were going. And they were not only to be in the land, but they were to be possessing it in order to be able to sow and reap a harvest: “And it shall be when thou art come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it and dwellest therein, that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth” (Deut. 26:1).
It was one thing to be in the land and another thing to possess it; for there were enemies galore, all intent on keeping Israel out; and they had to fight them, and did fight them under Joshua’s leadership. In Scripture all this answers to the truth that all things are ours in Christ, for God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Him (Eph. 1:3). But the enemy would keep us out of the possessions that are ours; thus Ephesians 6 shows that we must fight against those wicked hosts in the Spirit’s power.
Obadiah speaks of a day when the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions (v. 17). How many Christians really enjoy and know much of the vastness of their estate, which should even now by faith be enjoyed? There can really be no harvest, and so no offering from you to God in the full sense of the word until you possess the land.
As 1 Corinthians 15:20 shows, the Lord Jesus in His resurrection is this firstfruits of the great harvest of souls which is to follow: “Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” This sheaf was to be offered on the morrow after the sabbath, in other words, on the “first day of the week;” for our blessed Lord rose on that day, which we celebrate as the day of His glorious victory over all the power of evil. Through His resurrection, our risen Joshua leads us into the promised land, victorious over all our enemies.
That sheaf of firstfruits is but the initial fruit of all the blessing which He has won for His own. That firstfruits is presented to God on our behalf, to be accepted for us (Lev. 23:11), for He was not only delivered for our offenses but raised again for our justification. And, having trusted Him as our Saviour, we not only have died with Him but have risen with Him, henceforth under His leadership to be led on into the possession of all our great blessings. Now dwelling in our promised land, we bring our baskets of firstfruits (Deut. 26:1-11) to the Lord; or in New Testament language, we bring “the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” It is only as we enter by faith into the enjoyment of our riches in Christ that we are really able to bring to God the praise which is His due.
This sheaf of firstfruits speaks of Christ risen from the dead. There is something unique about this type of the resurrection. Resurrection was a known truth in the Old Testament (see Mt. 22:31, 32; Acts 23:6, 8); it was a resurrection of the dead. But this sheaf of firstfruits speaks of resurrection from the dead; it suggests that only one sheaf would be presented before the Lord and the others left in the field. This was a distinct truth; the Old Testament only spoke of a general resurrection. Therefore the disciples did not understand what the Lord meant when He spoke about the Son of Man rising from the dead (Mk. 9:9).
And they are not the only ones who wonder. Christendom today thinks too of a general resurrection day, when all men shall stand before God to be judged. This is not true. The New Testament reveals that Christ would rise from the dead first, hinted at in this “Feast of the firstfruits,” and afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming. First Christ, then all the believers in Christ (see 1 Cor. 15:20; 1 Thess. 4:16, etc.), then the rest of the dead (Rev. 20:5). When believers only are raised at the coming of the Lord Jesus in the air–according to 1 Thessalonians 4–they join in what is called the “first” resurrection. The wicked are not raised till at least a thousand years later.
This is the only offering offered to God in the Old Testament that required no previous preparation. Animals had to be slain, grain to be threshed and ground into flour, and so on, but this offering went right from the field into God’s presence. It pictures how the Lord Jesus rose with a glorified body, immediately fit for the courts of glory to which He ascended. This is referred to in John 13:32 where it says that the Son of Man was to be straightway glorified. In our case, after rising from spiritual death of sin into new life through faith in Christ, we pass through the process of threshing, the testings and trials of life, ere we go home to heaven; and then we must wait the Lord’s coming to be made like Him. But He was straightway glorified. For the present we experience the trials of this life; that the trial of our faith might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
In connection with the offering of the sheaf of firstfruits there was to be no sin offering. This is significant, for on every other occasion except the daily offering there was a sin offering. But not here; for, praise His name, sin was settled on the cross, forever settled. But there was a burnt offering and a meal offering–oil and wine. All was offered to God, indicating the joy and delight that God found in the victory and triumph of His beloved Son.
It was waved before the Lord, “to be accepted” for us. The Lord God, as it were, received His portion first; not till then do we get our portion (Lev. 23:14). They were not to eat bread, corn or green ears, until the selfsame day that they had brought an offering to God. All our blessing is based on what He has done. He must always have His portion first. How often we do give to God what we have left. Shame on us! We also remember Him on the first day of the week; we begin the week by giving God His portion; that should be the whole tenor of our life. Then, having given to Him, the rest of the week we may feed on the produce of the land; delighting ourselves in all the riches that belong to us, bought for us by His precious death; and secured to us by His risen life at God’s right hand.
How little we realize all that is involved in the fact that He lives! He died and rose to introduce us into our spiritual inheritance. He is the only One who ever made a will, then died, and yet executes His own testament. How many blessings are associated with the fact that Christ rose again! In fact, all of them are dependent on this: our justification (Rom. 4:24-25), our eternal security (Heb. 7:25), our right to come into God’s presence (Heb. 10:21-22), our eventual going home to heaven, to name some. As risen Lord He is our High Priest, our Advocate, our Commander, our Goal. Thus worship belongs to Him; and as a result joy is ours (Deut. 16:11).
This commandment of the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits each year on the Sunday after the feast of the Passover proves that the Jewish year had to begin shortly before the commencement of this barley harvest. During the Feast of Tabernacles, many months later, we have another harvest–the harvest of the corn. The first harvest, the barley harvest, was as it were for the poor, for barley was the poor people’s food. It took place at the beginning of the year. It is lovely to see that thus the poor were provided for first. So the gospel is still preached to the poor.
As already said, the barley was to be ready for harvesting by the middle of the first month of each year, immediately after the Feast of the Passover. But since the Jews reckoned time by the moon instead of by the sun, they soon ran behind. The moon periods are approximately twenty-nine-and-a-half days each, while time is actually controlled by the sun, as we know now. This is divided into periods of thirty-and-a-half days each. Thus in the course of about three years the Jews would be one month behind the season itself, for that of course came in its proper time every year. There is an interesting thought here. Going by the moon, as the Jews did, they soon lost time. The Church is like the moon with its reflected light, and if we take Christians as our standard, we will soon lag, too. Let us go by the sun –our Lord Himself. Let Him be your standard. Let us rather run the race, looking unto Jesus. He is our Guide and our Goal.
He who set blood-red on Calvary’s cross and rose again with the golden glow of victory over sin and death is indeed the One to whom we may look, and on whom we may count for everything. He is the “Firstfruits,” blest earnest of all that is to come. Every grain shall be like the grain of wheat that first fell into the ground and died–when we see Him as He is. What a day of rejoicing that shall be when He shall come with gladness, bringing His sheaves with Him!
Reprinted from His Appointments, published by Loizeaux, presently out of print.