It is the time for remembering the early first fruits
harvest. Not the wheat harvest that
happens around the time of Pentecost, but the first crop of the year that
happens around the time of Passover; the barley harvest. The original plan and intent at our house was
to have a nice dinner with lots of fruit and a festive meal with several
friends while we remembered the story of the early harvest and the waiving of
the barley loaf, then we would begin the counting of the Omer – the fifty days
leading up to Pentecost.
Unexpectedly, my Dad is in the hospital with several health
issues. More than likely we will be
having dinner with him from the hospital cafeteria. I have learned to lean into God’s will
whenever and where ever it happens. For
some reason God has once again changed my plans. I don’t even question anymore. All the same, the early first fruits of the harvest will still be in my heart and on my mind, and I will be looking for the ways that God will point this out to me, even in the halls of a hospital. I’m sure the songs that God put on my heart for this occasion will be playing in my head. One song is like a prayer to me – a prayer of offering up my whole life to God. Here are a few of the words that I must give Don Meon and Hillsong credit for writing and singing:
All
that I am, all that I have,
I
lay them down before you O Lord.
All
my regrets, all my acclaim,
The
joy and the pain, I’m making them yours.
Lord
I offer my life to You, everything I’ve been through
Use
it for Your glory.
Lord
I offer my days to You,
Lifting
my praise to You as a pleasing sacrifice,
Lord
I offer You my life.
This
beautiful song and the lyrics that I love immediately send my soul searching
out the meaning of true sacrifice, the best of the best, the early crop that is
offered to God at the first harvest. It
is a joyful time, full of the symbols of Resurrection.
The
ancient people of God would have already removed the leaven from their homes,
and celebrated the Passover. They fully
knew that removing the leaven symbolized the removal of sin from their spiritual
life. By the time of the first physical
harvest the leaven would be out of their homes and the sins would be confessed
before God. They fully understood the
importance of the act of repentance.
They knew along with repentance came the need for a sacrifice. They brought the first and best of their
barley harvest to the priest on the day after the Sabbath of the Passover, the
day of Early First Fruits.
The
sacrificial offering of Early First Fruits has been required since the very
beginning, right after the days that Adam and Eve first sinned. Once they sinned, God began to talk to them
and instruct them about the appointed times for making sacrifices.
It
isn’t exactly spelled out but if you read and study the Old Testament
scriptures you will begin to realize that Adam and Eve must have passed down
God’s instructions to their children. It
comes very clear as the story of Cain and Able unfolds.
In
those days, when it was time for the early First Fruits offering, Cain and Abel
showed up at the appointed place and appointed time, as well as Adam and Eve and
all the rest of their children. Adam and
Eve had been taught directly by God.
They in turn had instructed their children that God wanted the best and
the Frist Fruits of their labor. As you
read the story it becomes apparent that Adam and Eve had taught their sons
that God looks on the attitude of the giver and if the intent of the heart is
right, He accepts the sacrifice. When
God accepted the sacrifice it was consumed by divine fire.
If
the intent of the heart was wrong the sacrifice would not be accepted, and it
would not be consumed but would remain on the altar until someone moved it
away.
One
day the appointed time came and the family of Adam and Eve gathered to offer
their first fruits before the Lord. Abel
brought the first and the best of his herd.
They were without spot or blemish.
The best. The lord was pleased
and Abel’s offering was consumed by the divine fire.
Then
Cain brought the first of his labor, vegetables from where he had tilled the
ground. Only, Cain had eaten the first
and the best of the vegetables and fruit himself. He brought the Lord the leftovers, the ones
that he did not want. They were
withered and blemished. God saw that
Cain was selfish with his offering. God
did not consume the sacrifice.
Cain
became angry and he was jealous of his brother who had pleased God. Eventually Cain’s hatred for his brother Abel
became so great that he killed him and hid his body thinking that no one would
ever know what he had done.
The
appointed time came again and Cain showed up at the appointed place with his
offering of vegetables. Abel did not
show up. God asked Cain, in front of
everyone where Abel was. Cain lied and
said that he did not know. But God KNEW
the truth and He told Cain his own story, and everyone there heard from God
that Cain had killed his brother.
Cain
never repented.
Adam
and Eve must have been devastated. God
rejected Cain’s offering and cursed him.
Cain was cast out of the land, never to come before God again. Because of Cain’s selfishness he lost his
soul, his family and his home.
Cain’s
children grew up to be wicked and evil.
The curse of their father followed them wherever they went. This was a case where the wrong attitude
about firstfruits made for a very sad story.
Cain’s family began the curse on the earth of the evil and wicked
generations. Their generations after
them caused the world to be so evil that God sent a flood to destroy the
earth. Only Noah and his family were saved.
What
do you think was the first thing that Noah and his family did when the ark
landed safely right on the day of Early Firstfruits in the appointed place at
the appointed time?
They
built an altar and made an offering to the Lord. With the whole world washed away, what do you
think were the firstfruits of their labor?
It
was the gift of themselves, their lives.
The whole family of Noah and the animals with them would be bringing new
life to the world. It was a gift of
life, the best gift of all.
God
consumed their sacrifice by divine fire because they had brought themselves,
all that they had to offer, to start the world all over again. It was an acceptable offering and God not
only accepted it, but He gave them the promise of the rainbow. Noah’s children taught their children about
early first fruits until the days of Abram came.
Abram
went into battle with the King of Sodom and defeated him. On his way back from battle Abram was met by
Melchizedek, the King of Jerusalem and the High Priest of God. Abram recognized that Melchizedek was the
High Priest of God, and he gave Him an offering of the best of all of his
possessions, his first fruits. Abram
could have given him the spoils of the war against Sodom, but Abram sent those
spoils back to the King of Sodom. He did
not use them as an offering. He wanted
everyone to know that God had given him his blessings and that he had not
gained them from the King of Sodom.
Abram gave of all his best and
most treasured possessions. God was
pleased with Abram’s sacrifice. It was
accepted. Melchizedek blessed Abram and
fed him bread and wine.
Unlike
the sacrifices of Cain, the first fruits of Noah and Abram were accepted before
God.
Abram
taught his descendants about the first fruits sacrifice.
Abram,
who later became Abraham, taught his children to make the offerings to God at
the appointed times and the appointed place. God blessed Abraham’s descendants and made a nation from them. Sarah gave Abraham a son named Isaac. Isaac married Rebecca and they had twin sons
named Jacob and Esau.
And
so, we could go on and on with the stories of the children of Israel and how
they all brought early first fruit sacrifices before God in one way or another,
and how their offerings were either accepted or rejected by God.
In
the days of Moses, as the people were leaving slavery and God was speaking to
them of how to be His nation, He gave them further instructions. Let’s look at what God asked on this day so
long ago when He first met Moses on the mountain.
The
passage is found in Leviticus 23:10-12:
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 there of, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your
harvest unto the priest; and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be
accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave
it. And ye shall offer that day when ye
wave the sheaf a he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering
unto the LORD.
This
was God’s requirement for the early first fruits offering from when Israel
first entered the Promised Land.
So
we see a picture here of the people from many generations coming every year to
their first harvest of the year. It was
usually a barley crop. Barley was hardy
and grew almost anywhere. It survived
well, struggling for life and abundance even in hard times and rough
weather. Barley bread was known as “the
common people’s bread.” It was called
“the bread of the poor” because it was more affordable and easier to grow and
buy than the wheat that was produced later in the year.
It
was five loaves of barley bread that was found in the boy’s lunch that was
given to Jesus to feed the multitudes.
Jesus took it, blessed it, broke it and multiplied it out until there
was plenty for everyone. How significant
can the picture be of man offering up barley, the lesser of the crops, the easier
of the crops, the least expensive of the crops, much like the offering of
Cain. Man’s offerings could never be
good enough. Only when Jesus came into
the picture could this change in the eyes of God. There were years and years of barley harvests
presented before God.
Year
after year the first of every crop (usually barley) was brought to the
Temple. The very first bundle of grain
they gathered would be taken to the High Priest. The priest would wave the sheaf before the
Lord. This happened after the Sabbath of
the Passover during the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was the day of the bringing of the wave
sheaf that was to be offered to God before anyone offered or used anything else
that God had blessed them with from the harvest.
We
now know, unlike the Israelites who had to be obedient through totally blind
faith, that Jesus Christ was the true One that would make this wave sheaf
acceptable before God. The timing of
this first fruit ritual offering established by God way before Christ came to
earth, was perfectly in line and a shadow of the actions of Christ before, during
and after the Resurrection. He became
our acceptable first fruit offering of the harvest of spiritual souls for the
Kingdom of God. He and those who rose
with Him at the Resurrection were the Early First Fruits of the harvest of
souls.
It
is said that you must give the wave sheaf in order to make the rest of the crop
acceptable for use. When Jesus presented
Himself, holy and pure, before God as our offering, God accepted Him and that
made us (the rest of the crop) acceptable for use in God’s Kingdom also.
So,
we are not agricultural anymore, and Christ has come for us now and saved us
from our sins.
There
is no Temple in Jerusalem anymore.
Does
this mean we forget these days?
Not
at all; this only means that these days have an even fuller meaning than
before. We have even more to be thankful
for and to honor God for on this day.
Now we have the fuller celebration that incorporates the true essence
of Resurrection. A little like the
family of Noah after the flood, we have new life!
We
must do like the generations before us and teach oiur children to teach their
children to observe the appointed times for bringing their firstfruits before
God as a sacrifice that is acceptable. I love this dance that portrays this message:
You can find these wonderful dancers giving many silent lessons on You-Tube under the name of Attraction Black Light Theatre. I love how the dance speaks the story without a word. I love how they are offering their first fruits offering by bringing their dances before God to be used in telling His stories!
So
it is good to pause and think about the ancient people and their spirit of
worship.
What
was the true heart of the ancient people as they brought these offerings?
The
giving of the first fruits is a reminder that everything we have is God’s.
The
giving of first fruits does NOT mean:
This is God’s and the rest is mine.
The
giving of the first fruits means that I give to others to be used for God and
the rest that I have is meant for a lifestyle that glorifies Him.
Making
God a priority in our life pleases Him.
It
fills Him with pleasure. It is His
delight and desire. It is God’s will
that we make Him a priority in our lives, that is what is meant by verses 11 –
13 of the earlier passage we read in Leviticus 23. This says:
“to be accepted for you.” God
goes to great lengths to describe the offering that is to be given. The purpose for this offering is that it
would be acceptable to God on behalf of the nation.
There
are two parts to being acceptable before God.
The first involves the perfect sacrifice of Christ.
He
was obedient in all things, even to the death of the cross. Through His death He made it possible for us
to become acceptable to God in that through His death we receive His
righteousness when we put our trust in Christ as the only way of
salvation. In that way, we become heirs
of righteousness with
Christ Jesus. We become acceptable
before God in Him, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the
world.
HE
IS RISEN! PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!
The
second part of being acceptable before God involves living consistent with the
commitment that is made through the sacrifice.
This was true in the Old Testament days, and it is still true today.
Obedience
in this offering and other ritual offerings was demanded and commanded but not
just in the ritual of the offering but in all areas of life.
Obedience
is demanded.
When
it comes down to the facts, there was really only one thing necessary in the
Old Testament for an offering to be acceptable for God; obedience.
That
is why in Jeremiah 6:20 and Malachi 2:13 God refused the offering of the
people, because they were disobedient before God. They apparently thought since they obeyed the
ritual law they would be able to get God to look the other way during their everyday
lives. Sound familiar?
Please
let this never be true of any of us.
Let us instead come before God as obedient servants bringing Him the first fruits of our labor. It doesn’t have to be money, or material things. It can be whatever you have to offer before God of your best; prayer, devotion, study, the gift of time, giving of other less tangible resources in some way; but whatever it is your gift to God should be in keeping with the fact that you are bringing in your first and your best offering from the days of your life that have now been redeemed by the blood of Christ.
God
will look on the intent of your heart.
God will see the blood of Jesus that covers you, and you will be
acceptable to Him.
We
find this concept of Early First Fruits in the New Testament also.
Paul
begged the Roman believers on the basis of the mercy of God shown to them
through the death of Christ that they would present their bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which was their reasonable service, not
to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of their
mind that they might prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of
God.
Romans
14:17-19 describes more exactly what is the type of life that is acceptable
before God. It is not arguing over what
we should eat and drink, but rather righteousness and peace and joy,
specifically, Paul is emphasizing peace between believers in Christ.
Do
you need to bring a peace offering of your first and best to God?
2
Corinthians 5:9-10 teaches that whether our service is acceptable before God is
the basis whereby believers will be judged.
The
symbol is individualized through the denying of one’s self. The giving of the firstfruits served as a
reminder against idolatry of the heart.
Many of the things that we do or should do serve as a guard against the
ungodliness that is constantly lurking around in our hearts.
In
the early days of the feasts of firstfruits the people had been laboring since
the end of October or beginning of November when they first planted their
barley. They had watched it sprout up
out of the ground, grow tall, and fill out with grain. But they could not eat of it until the
firstfruits were given to God.
Part
of giving to God involves the understanding that you must deny yourself. To deny yourself does not mean to deny your
existence. That would be
foolishness. Nor does it mean that you
give up some pleasure or sin for the sake of Christ. It is simply the same thing as what is
symbolized by not eating leavened bread during the 7 Days of Unleavened
bread. It means that your needs, your
wants, your desires take a back seat to what God commands. The message is both to the community and to
the individual. Obedience does not mean
giving God something so that you can enjoy the rest without fear of
punishment. Obedience means a denial of
your importance in relation to the things of Christ.
Will
you deny yourself and follow Christ?
Will
you make Him THE priority, not A priority?
Jesus Christ should always be THE priority in your life.
If
you can make this decision you will always be bringing Him the first fruits of
your own spiritual harvest. Yes, it is
good to give offerings of money, but the money does not matter if the soul is
not right before God.
James
1:18 says: He chose to give us birth
through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all He
created.
Now
we must discuss further the greatest offering of Early First Fruits ever given.
!
Corinthians 15:20, 23 is the scripture which will guide us on to see how the
Festival of First Fruits is fulfilled in Christ. It tells us that Christ has been raised from the
dead, the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep. Christ the first fruits, then at His coming
those who belong to Christ.
First fruits
is all about Resurrection!
It
is all about the Resurrection of Christ!
Jesus’
resurrection from the dead is the promise that believers, too, will receive
bodies in the final harvest that will never again die. Had Jesus not been raised form the dead,
there would be no guarantee for believers to point to and rely upon when they
think about the final day that the scriptures point toward. But, as it is, the first fruit resurrection
of Christ guarantees that there will be a final harvest of bodies that will be
raised from the dead in similar manner to that of Christ.
Both
Romans 8:23 and Ephesians 1:13-14 speak of this…we…who have the first fruit of
the Spirit…Who is the guarantee of our inheritance…
The
Holy Spirit that believers have received is the assurance that the future
inheritance, that final harvest promise, will be laid hold of and reaped. We will be thinking more about this in 50 days at the
time of Pentecost. For now we must
believe, prepare and wait for those days to pass. That is another thing that we will begin in
this season of Resurrection. We will
begin to count the Omer, the 50 days leading up to Pentecost, which is the day
of the Latter First Fruits. In these
days of the counting of the Omer God will teach us the blessings that come from
Resurrection.
Let’s
read the scripture that gives us instructions on this observance:
(Numbers
15:17-21)
When you enter the land where I bring you,
there it shall be that when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall lift up
a heave offering to the Lord. Of the
first of your dough you shall lift up a cake as a heave offering; as the heave
offering of the threshing floor, so you shall lift it up. From the first of your dough you shall give
to the Lord a heave offering through your generations.
The
dough that was “lifted up” to God made holy the entire lump of dough that it
was taken from.
In
the days of the Temple, when the sacrificial system took place, the first fruit
offerings were given to the Levites and they became their property (Numbers
18:12.) After its destruction when no sacrificial
system existed the women of the house would throw a handful of the dough into
the fire as the first fruit offering to the Lord so that the rest of the dough
became holy to Him. In every kitchen
therefore, the hearth became an altar to YHWH.
Commenting
on this passage, the apostle Paul writes in Romans 11:16: “If the dough offered as first fruit is holy,
so is the whole lump.”
Since
Jesus gave His Holy Life for us, so too are we made holy before God.
And
how do we KNOW He was holy? The proof is
in the Resurrection! He is Risen!
So
on the celebration of Early First Fruits that falls during the 7 days of
Unleavened Bread following Passover, we mark our calendars as we say the prayer
for the Omer. Today, as I write we are
on the third day of the Omer. This prayer
of the Omer should be said every day until the count reaches 50 and we find
ourselves at the day of Pentecost.
Here
is the prayer we will pray today at our table:
BLESSED
ARE YOU, LORD OUR GOD, KING OF THE UNIVERSE, WHO HAS SANCTIFIED US WITH YOUR
COMMANDMENTS AND COMMANDED US CONCERNINGTHE COUNTING OF THE OMER. TODAY IS THE THIRD DAY OF THE OMER.
Counting
the Omer each of the days leading up to Pentecost in this manner gets us
excited about what God is going to do with our first fruits offering on the Day
of Pentecost.
So
basically when we celebrate the day of Early First Fruits we are recognizing
that we need to lift our lives up to God, giving ourselves to God for His
use. This is symbolized by the physical
act of the heave offering. This offering
only works for us now because of the sacrificial love of Jesus. Because He offered Himself up on the cross we
are able to live free from the bondage of sin.
Joining in with His spirit of sacrificial giving and offering our own
first fruits causes a follower of Jesus to sanctify (make holy or set apart)
each situation that we are a part of in our daily life, bringing the Kingdom to
bear on every level of our society. In
this act of love we find Resurrection to new life! Jesus was the first, and in our time; the
Bride of Christ, the Church.
It
isn’t just that figurative language is being used to speak of Jesus’
resurrection, but that the Resurrection actually took place on the exact same day that the festival of
first fruits was commanded to be waved before God in the Temple. New life has happened. Just like the seed of barley that fell into
the earth and brought forth a sheaf, so the seed of Christ’s body was sown in
the earth and brought forth new life as it was raised in power.
May
God bless each and every one of you and may He honor and accept the offerings
of the first fruits of your lives before Him.
Remember….
CHRIST
IF RISEN!!!!!!!
HE
IS RISEN INDEED!!!!!!!!!
CELEBRATE
THE RESURRECTION!!!!!!!
