The Feast of Firstfruits was the day Israel waved the first sheaf of the harvest before the Lord.
No one was to eat the new grain until that sheaf had been offered.
It fell in the week of Unleavened Bread, on the day after the Sabbath.
Paul said Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
The empty tomb is that sheaf, waved in the presence of God.
When Israel came into the land and reaped its harvest, they were to bring the first sheaf of the barley to the priest.
- He waved it before the Lord so that the people might be accepted.
- A male lamb without blemish, a grain offering mixed with oil, and a drink offering went with it.
- Until that day they were not to eat bread or parched grain or fresh ears.
- The first belonged to God; the rest of the field followed.
- The feast sat between Passover blood and the countdown to Weeks.
Jesus died at Passover.
Firstfruits is therefore both a farm command and a resurrection hope.
God gets the first. The field is not forgotten.
- Firstfruits teaches that the harvest is the Lord’s before it is the farmer’s.
- The sheaf is a pledge of the rest of the field, not a substitute for it.
- Christ’s resurrection is dated to this appointed time in the week of Unleavened Bread.
- He is firstfruits, not the whole harvest already in the barn.
- Those who sleep in Him will be raised because the first sheaf has already been accepted.
- Giving God the first is still the logic of gratitude, even when the calendar of Sinai is not a yoke.
- Dead faith keeps the word “firstfruits” and never offers the life.
- The Sheaf Waved – The priest lifted the first of the harvest before the Lord.
- Accepted for You – The offering was so that the people might be accepted.
- Nothing Eaten First – The new crop waited until God had been honored.
- Lamb and Grain – Blood and bread traveled with the sheaf.
- Day after the Sabbath – In the week of Unleavened Bread.
- Christ Raised – The firstborn from the dead, the firstfruits of the sleeping.
- Harvest Still Coming – Then at His coming, those who belong to Christ.
- Leviticus 23:9-11 – “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.’”
- Leviticus 23:12-14 – “And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord… And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God.”
- Exodus 23:19 – “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.”
- Deuteronomy 26:1-3, 10 – When you come into the land, take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, go to the priest, and say, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land… And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.”
- Proverbs 3:9-10 – “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”
- 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 – “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”
- 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 – “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
- Matthew 28:1, 5-6 – “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb… ‘He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.’”
- John 20:17 – “Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’”
- Colossians 1:18 – “And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”
- Revelation 1:5 – “…and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.”
- Romans 8:23 – “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
- James 1:18 – “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
- Acts 26:23 – “…that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”
- Leviticus 23:15-16 – From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count fifty days to the Feast of Weeks.
- 2 Kings 4:42-44 – Firstfruits bread multiplied to feed a hundred—an early sign that first gifts in the Lord’s hand overflow.
On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave the sheaf, so that you may be accepted.
Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
The field is not empty. The first sheaf is already before the Father.
Do not eat as if the harvest were only yours. Honor the Lord with the first.
Then at His coming, those who belong to Christ.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.
The tomb is empty. The sheaf has been waved. The rest of the harvest will follow.
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