THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="02c285a1erlcgo.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Last Days Calendar:Bible Prophecy,Last Days,The Rapture</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" ><B>    </B></FONT><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Last Days Calendar:Bible Prophecy,La"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS</B></div> <div> <B>Back to:  </B><A HREF="hag_hamatzah.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Feast of Unleavened Bread"><U><B>Feast of Unleavened Bread</B></U></A><B>    Forward to:  </B><A HREF="shavuot.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Feast of Weeks"><U><B>Feast of  Weeks</B></U></A></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="02ad2c00dkelyh.png"> <div> <IMG SRC="083c4c80.jpg" border=0 width="196" height="200" ALT="Empty tomb" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>The Messiah</B></div> <div> <B>The Firstfruits of the</B></div> <div> <B>Resurrection</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS</I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS</B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B><U>Leviticus 23:9-14</U></B></I></div> <div> <I><B>    The L</B></I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><I><B>ORD </B></I></FONT><I><B>said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the L</B></I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><I><B>ORD </B></I></FONT><I><B>so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the L</B></I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><I><B>ORD </B></I></FONT><I><B>a lamb a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil-an offering made to the L</B></I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><I><B>ORD </B></I></FONT><I><B>by fire, a pleasing aroma-and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>The L</B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>ORD</B></FONT><B> (Yahweh) commanded that the Israelites were to bring an annual offering on the first day of the week (the day after the Sabbath) each year as they celebrated the Passover in the Promised Land. This celebration of Firstfruits included an offering which focused upon the first grain harvested in the spring. Every adult male was to bring a sheaf of the barley harvest as a wave offering. This sheaf was waved in six directions: north, south, east, west, up and down, to signify the omnipresence of God. This act was to recognize that the God of Israel was the author and sustainer of life.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>John 12:23-24</U></B></div> <div> <I><B>   Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>The winter is the season when annual plants die and the land looks barren. Spring, on the other hand, speaks of new life. Jesus used this symbolism to illustrate death and resurrection. The New Covenant was instituted at the Passover. Jesus was entombed during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The third Festival of the LORD , The Feast of Firstfruits, not only was a time for thanking God as the sustainer of life, but also foreshadowed the resurrection of the Messiah of Israel. </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Luke 24:1-8</U></B></div> <div> <I><B>   On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " Then they remembered his words</B></I><I><B>.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Jesus was raised from the dead on the day after the Sabbath. The women went to tomb on the first day of the week. Jesus arose on the Feast of Firstfruits. The apostle Paul recognized that the Messiah (the Christ) was the fulfillment of this ordinance that was given to Israel. </B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B><U>1 Corinthians 15:20-23</U></B></I></div> <div> <I><B>   But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Jesus participated in the Passover with His disciples on a Thursday evening. On the Hebrew calendar that year, that would have occurred on the 14</B><B>th</B><B> of Nisan (the first spring month) at twilight. For a Hebrew, the day began at twilight. This is in accordance to the pattern in Genesis chapter one: “And there was evening, and there was morning-the first to seventh day.” Later that evening, Jesus was illegally arrested, bound, beaten, tried, falsely accused and illegally sentenced.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>We know Christ came to die as the Passover Lamb. Matthew 27:46 says that Jesus died (on Friday) at the ninth hour, which is three o'clock. He died at the exact moment when the slaughter of the Passover lambs began in the Temple. First Corinthians 5:7 says, "Even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us. " Jesus died on the day and time the lambs were slaughtered that He might fulfill every prophecy to the letter. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>But how could He eat the Passover on Thursday night which was the day before the slaughter and eating of the paschal lambs? We know it wasn't just another meal because Jesus insisted that it be eaten inside the city of Jerusalem. They constantly referred to it as the Passover. Furthermore, it was unusual for Jewish people to have a meal at night. To recline at the table was unusual for anything other than a festival meal. In a normal meal the breaking of bread occurred at the beginning, not in the middle of the meal as in this case. The use of red wine also was unusual. They sang a hymn when they were finished with the meal, which was true of the Passover. And when Judas left, the disciples thought that he was going to give money to the poor, which was a typical thing to do at the Passover. So we can be sure they ate a Passover meal. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The answer to how we can account for Jesus and disciples eating the Passover on a different day than the Jewish leaders is based on how days were reckoned. We reckon a day from midnight to midnight. In Jesus' day, the Jewish people reckoned their days differently and they had two options: from sunset to sunset or sunrise to sunrise. The normal routine was sunrise to sunrise, but certain festivals, special days, and the sabbath were reckoned from sunset to sunset. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The Jews reckoned from sunrise to sunrise as the normal calendar day. Although we reckon from midnight to midnight, we think of our day as beginning when we rise in the morning. Their day officially began in the morning. Matthew 28:1 says, "In the end of the sabbath . . . it began to dawn toward the first day of the week. " The first day of the week began at dawn. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Regarding the Passover we can see a sunrise to sunrise reckoning in Deuteronomy 16:4. Combining that with Exodus 12:18, the Passover day could be calculated from sunset to sunset or sunrise to sunrise. Josephus, who was a Pharisee living in Jesus' day, explained that the law of the Passover called for the Paschal lamb to be eaten during the night with nothing left for morning (</B><B><U>Antiquities</U></B><B>, iii. 10. 5). The Talmud, the codification of Jewish law, says it had to be eaten by midnight, which seems to indicate that the new day began after sunset (</B><B><U>Pesahim</U></B><B> x. 9, </B><B><U>Zebahim</U></B><B> v. 8). </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>It is thought that the Galileans and Pharisees reckoned the Passover day from sunrise to sunrise, whereas the Judeans and Sadducees, who made up the ruling body in Jerusalem, reckoned it from sunset to sunset. The Talmud tells us that the Galileans would not work on the day of Passover because their day began at sunrise. The Judeans would work until midday because their Passover day didn't begin until sunset (</B><B><U>Pesahim</U></B><B> iv. 5). So the Galileans and Pharisees calculated the beginning of Passover on Thursday morning. The Judeans and Sadducees didn't calculate the beginning of Passover until Thursday evening at sunset running until Friday evening at sunset. </B></div> <div> <B>Matthew 26:17 follows the Galilean reckoning, so Jesus and the disciples had to kill their lamb on Thursday and eat the Passover meal Thursday evening. The Judeans and Sadducees didn't begin their Passover day festivities until late on Thursday and wouldn't kill their lambs until the prescribed time of day on Friday. That harmonizes John 18:28 with the other gospels. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Jesus had to die on Friday between three and five o'clock because that's when the Judean Passover lambs would be killed. But He also had to keep the Passover to transform it into the Lord's Table. How could Jesus keep the Passover and still be the Passover lamb? Only if God allowed the two options for reckoning days to take place in history. When it came time for Jesus to die, there was no problem in having Him participate in the Galilean Passover on Thursday night and die during the Judean Passover on Friday afternoon.</B></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B>Certainly the priests accommodated the two reckonings because it would be virtually impossible for them to kill all the lambs in one two-hour period. With the Galileans coming to the Temple on Thursday and the Judeans on Friday, at least the killing of the lambs could be divided into two days and they could accomplish their task much more easily. Since it was difficult to find a room in Jerusalem to hold the Passover meal, how convenient it was to be able to double the capacity of the city by having two different days to eat the Passover. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Luke 22:52-53</U></B></div> <div> <I><B>   Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour-when </B></I><I><B>darkness</B></I><I><B> reigns."</B></I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#333366" FACE="Arial" ><I><B> </B></I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>The first day of the month on the Jewish calendar is when there is a New Moon. By the 15</B><B>th</B><B> day (Nisan 14 at twilight) there is a Full Moon. Although there was light from both a Full Moon as well as the torches of those who came to arrest Jesus, He proclaimed that there was darkness. Darkness symbolizes both sin and death. On that Thursday night, prophecy concerning the suffering servant of God was being fulfilled.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Isaiah 53:7</U></B></div> <div> <I><B>   He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>It was Thursday evening and it was Friday morning the first day. Friday morning Jesus was flogged and crucified. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Matthew 27:45</U></B></div> <div> <I><B>   From the sixth hour until the ninth hour </B></I><I><B>darkness</B></I><I><B> came over all the land.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>At 12 noon, the brightest hour of the day, darkness came over the land. At 3:00 pm when the lambs were being slaughtered, </B><I><B>Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" </B></I><I><B>And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. </B></I><B>The body of Jesus was taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and placed in his tomb.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Matthew 27:57-59</U></B></div> <div> <I><B>   As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>The body had to be taken down before Friday at twilight because the next day was the </B><B>Sabbath. Jesus and his disciples took of the Passover meal on </B><B>Thursday evening. From Thursday evening when he was arrested to Friday morning marked the 1st day of his sufferings when spiritual darkness reigned. </B><B>Jesus was entombed on Friday the 15</B><B>th</B><B> of Nisan. From Friday at twilight through Saturday morning marked the second full day which was the 16</B><B>th</B><B> of Nisan. Saturday at twilight until Sunday marked the third day of Christ's suffering. Jesus arose on the third day, Nisan 17. Therefore, with an understanding of the Hebrew calendar and Jewish customs of Jesus' day, Scripture </B><B><U>does not</U></B><B> contradict itself when it declares that Jesus suffered three days and nights, yet He rose on the third day! Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection who rose on the Day of Firstfruits. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Romans 6:4-6</U></B></div> <div> <I><B>   We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>   If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has given us assurance that we who are born again by the Spirit, just like Messiah Yeshua, will be resurrected to eternal life!</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="shavuot.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Feast of Weeks"><U><B>Feast of  Weeks</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Last Days Calendar:Bible Prophecy,La"><U><B>The Last Days Calendar:Bible Prophecy,Last Days,The Rapture</B></U></A><B> (Home)</B></div> </td> </tr></table></body>