The Work of the Firstfruits

Leviticus 23:9-21 covers God's instructions concerning making the wavesheaf offering, the counting of the seven weeks, and the observance of the Feast of Weeks, called Pentecost in the New Testament. With an understanding of the application of the holy days to the plan of God, it is easy to see that this entire period concentrates on the firstfruits of salvation. As the apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 15:22-23, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming." The wavesheaf is of the firstfruits; it is the first of the firstfruits. As we know, it represents Jesus Christ being accepted before God as our High Priest. He is the first of the Firstborn (Romans 8:29), those who are glorified in the first resurrection.

As last week's essay, Pat Higgin's "Count for Yourselves," illustrated, by counting throughout the whole fifty days from wavesheaf to Pentecost, we are to be concentrating on the theme of this period: on the harvest of the firstfruits and on God's part in it.

This period begins and ends with a waving of an offering. It starts with the waving of the sheaf of firstfruit barley, representing Christ. At the conclusion of the fifty days, two wave loaves baked with leaven are waved before God, and these represent the people of God, the called-out ones, the elect. This waving of the firstfruits in the form of loaves of leavened bread pictures the Father's gracious acceptance of very fallible human beings into His Kingdom.

In this period, then, the entire panorama of God's work with His firstfruits is portrayed—from Jesus Christ being accepted as the perfect sacrifice for sin and our High Priest all the way to the time when all of His brothers and sisters, the children of God, fully enter His Family. The holy day culminates a period of harvest, in which the firstfruits of the Kingdom are emphasized. It excludes almost everything else. During this time, God is concentrating on His people.

In the instructions on this period, God emphasizes something that many people miss. In Exodus 23:16, God calls the harvest "the firstfruits of your labors." He adds, "which you have sown in the field." The Pentecost offering, described in Leviticus 23:16-17, is to be of new grain, and it is brought "from your dwellings." These phrases hint that God stresses what His people do during this period. His people are hard at work in their fields and their dwellings.

Applying these types spiritually, we can say, then, that Pentecost tends to emphasize the Christian's work, and it is split between the field, his external labors, and his house, his internal labors. He has responsibilities to produce godly character and growth in his behavior and in his heart and mind. We are being converted inside and out, and it takes a great deal of hard work.

Thus, the period from the wavesheaf to Pentecost pictures a time of intense labor of sowing and reaping carried out by human beings whose goal is to be offered before God as an acceptable offering. God, though, is firmly in the picture. He may not be completely in the foreground, but He is certainly there by our side. He is working alongside us, blessing our efforts just as He blesses the efforts of a farmer bringing physical crops to harvest.

A farmer goes out into his field, tills the soil, plants the seed, pulls weeds, and toils ceaselessly to bring the harvest in. But who provides the rain and the sun? Who made the soil with all its nutrients? God is there and active in the work, but the farmer is the one whom other people see doing the labor. Yet, God is also there, unseen, helping things along. It is from these joint efforts that the new grain is produced.

From what we know from both Old and New Testaments, God is firmly in this picture during this Wavesheaf-Pentecost period in at least three ways. First, it is traditional that God gave His law from Mount Sinai on the Day of Pentecost—or very near to it. Biblical chronology places it firmly in the third month, Sivan, when Pentecost falls. Thus, we see God present in His providence of His law, the standard by which we are to live.

Second, Acts 2, of course, narrates the story of the giving of the Holy Spirit to the fledgling church. The Holy Spirit gives us the power, the inspiration, and the help that we need to do what is right—to see God, to follow Him, and to make right decisions.

Third, we should never forget what the wavesheaf offering represents. We could say it is the most important part of the whole process because Jesus Christ, our Lord, Savior, and High Priest, has opened the way to a relationship with God (Hebrews 10:19-22). By His sinless life and teachings, He has shown us the way to live (John 14:6). He has done what is needed so that the rest of us can follow. We can have salvation because He lives, guiding us through this period of sanctification to eternal life (Romans 5:10).

These three factors are always in play, though in terms of work, they perform invisibly. However, just because they cannot be readily seen does not minimize the part they play in the harvest of the firstfruits. What God provides during the salvation process far surpasses all that we do. And for that we give Him glory.

Even so, the emphasis during this period—the fifty days of the count—seems to be on what we have to do. We know that God will do His work; He finishes what He starts (see Isaiah 55:11). He is faithful (I Corinthians 1:9). He never slacks off in His work—and this is exactly why the emphasis is on what we do because we will certainly drop the ball one time, several times, many times. Some would say we fail to carry the load most of the time!

Thus, we need to be prodded every year that there is still work to be done. We have to get in line with God the Father and Jesus Christ—the First of the Firstfruits—so that what He desires to be built in us is accomplished. While our part may be small, it is very important. We must work out our own salvation (Philippians 2:12).

In the book of Ruth, one of the five Megilloth—Festival Scrolls—and the one we should read in conjunction with the Feast of Pentecost, a great deal of work is done. Ruth, a type of the Christian, is a very diligent worker. Throughout the narrative, she is constantly working, serving, helping. More importantly, she is growing the whole time. Notice how many times she is commended for what she does.

Her work "pays off." She marries the kind, wealthy Boaz, a type of Christ, and becomes part of a joyous, blessed family. If she had not done the works, she would never have received the blessings. There is a wonderful lesson in this for us as we prepare for God's Kingdom.

RBV: Genesis 27:16

And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

--Genesis 27:16

This verse appears within the story of Jacob's tricking of the elderly, blind Isaac into giving him the patriarchal blessing instead of bestowing it on his older-by-mere-minutes twin brother Esau, who was the rightful heir. The "she" mentioned here is Rebekah, Isaac's wife and the mother of the two young men.  

Part of the background of the story is that the two parents played favorites (Genesis 25:28): Isaac preferred Esau and his "manly pursuits," while Rebekah favored Jacob, who is described as "a mild man, dwelling in tents" (Genesis 25:27), suggesting that he was more refined and that his aptitudes were more mental than physical. This favoritism put the couple at odds on at least one score, who would inherit the patriarchy after Isaac's death. Isaac evidently thought Esau the better candidate, since he was the older and stronger. His wife felt Jacob better suited to the position, being more cunning and skillful in business and management. It also spurred rivalry between the sons.

Jacob had revealed his cunning when he had bargained the birthright from Esau some time before (Genesis 25:29-34). He made cynical use of Esau's famished state to finagle the lucrative--even precious--birthright from his brother, whom the Bible says did not value it highly enough: "Esau despised his birthright" (Genesis 25:34; see Hebrews 12:16-17). The birthright was the firstborn's double portion of inheritance. (Jacob later passed this birthright on to Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh; see Genesis 48.)

In Genesis 27, Isaac had sent Esau out to hunt for game to make his favorite stew, after which he would pronounce the blessing on him. Rebekah knew that this gave her time to make her own stew from the meat of young goats to imitate Esau's dish and to prepare Jacob to disguise himself as his hairy brother (see Genesis 25:25). Jacob was a "smooth-skinned man" (Genesis 27:11) by comparison to Esau, so he would need, not only to wear his brother's clothes so that he smelled like him, but also to apply hair to the backs of his hands and neck to make the ruse work.

So, Rebekah evidently adhered the skins of the freshly killed kids to Jacob's hands and neck, perhaps even sewing them to her son's cuffs and collar so that Isaac would never think that the hair he felt was not genuine. With the short time she had to work with, she went to great lengths to ensure that Jacob received the blessing--and even then Isaac nearly guessed the truth when Jacob could not imitate Esau's voice well enough (Genesis 27:22).

Perhaps what God said in Genesis 25:23 motivated Rebekah: "Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger." She knew that God had ordained Jacob to lead the family (see Malachi 1:2-3; Romans 9:10-13). However, like Sarah before her, Rebekah took matters into her own hands rather than allowing God to work matters out so that Jacob would receive the blessing in a more ethical way.

Who knows how He would have worked it out--maybe Esau would have despised the blessing too or Isaac would have been warned by God not to bless Esau but to bestow it on Jacob at a later time. It is a moot point now. God included it in His Book so that we can learn lessons from what actually happened--lessons about the use of trickery, favoritism in families, getting ahead of God, making assumptions about what He is doing, priorities, selfish ambition, parental manipulation of their children, how one lie begets another, and so forth. We can mine a wealth of wisdom from the rivalry of Jacob and Esau.

At the Father's Right Hand

Down through the centuries since the lifetime of Jesus Christ, despite the Bible's injunction against making images of God, artists have depicted probably every scene from the gospels. However, many of them have chosen to portray one of two vignettes from His life: Jesus as a baby in His mother's arms or as crucified Savior. In each case, they depict Him as needy and powerless—either dependent on His mother or dying or dead.

Much of modern Christianity follows the same dual-themed template in its preaching and worship. Each year we are barraged by the imagery of the baby Jesus in the iconography of the interminable Christmas season. While it is certainly wonderful to realize that God came in the flesh to dwell among men (John 1:14), this world's Christianity and its prolonged emphasis on Christmas tends to "freeze" Him in the position of a cute little baby for all time, ignoring His greater purposes and works.

In addition, the constant refrain, especially of the evangelical set, is "Have you been saved?" Again, their question is undoubtedly sincere, and it is hard to fault their missionary zeal. Yet, it seems that their only goal is to call as many people forward as they can to pray the prayer of salvation, accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. "Jesus Christ died to save you from your sins" is a true statement—and thank God that He did!—but He did not remain on the cross any more than He stayed in the manger. With those wonderful works accomplished, He has moved on to even better things.

The apostle Paul is eager to point this out in Romans 5:10: "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (emphasis ours). Certainly, the Easter holiday—as paganized as it is with its use of fertility symbols like bunnies and eggs—proclaims the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, but its impact on society and nominal Christians is feeble. About the most that those who call themselves Christians get from it—and even this is only partly true—is that Christ's resurrection opens the way for them to get to heaven and enjoy eternal life. So much for the meek "shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5)!

But notice carefully what Paul writes: "We shall be saved by His life." Most people seem to think that we are saved by His death, but that is a false concept! We are justified by His death; our sins are forgiven and we are proclaimed righteous once covered by the blood of Christ. Our salvation, however, hangs on the fact that Jesus Christ is now alive forever!

Imagine that Jesus, sinless and perfect, had paid for our sins through the sacrifice of Himself in our stead, yet He did not rise from the dead. What would have been the result? We would still have payment for our past sins once we accepted Him as our Savior, but that would be all. There would be no hope of a resurrection, no chance of eternal life, because, in this scenario, Christ never opened the way, never having become "the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). He would never have conquered death and never have been crowned with glory and honor to share with other sons and daughters of God (see Hebrews 2:10-16).

Further, had Jesus remained dead in the tomb, never having risen to spiritual life or ascending to heaven to take His place at the Father's right hand (Hebrews 1:2-4; 10:12), mankind would still be cut off from God. We would have no opportunity to enjoy a relationship with the Father. Why? Because the living Jesus Christ is the Mediator between man and God (I Timothy 2:5). The author of Hebrews writes:

But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens. . . . (Hebrews 7:24-26)

Later, he urges us to enter the Father's throne room with boldness and "in full assurance of faith" by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:19-22) for the purpose of strengthening our relationship with the Father. Paul explains, "It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us" (Romans 8:34).

On the night of His arrest, Jesus tells His disciples, "It is to your advantage that I go away [to the Father]; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send [it] to you" (John 16:7). Among His many duties, Christ is responsible for dispensing the Holy Spirit to God's people, giving them the power to understand God's will and to put it into practice. Hand in hand with this is His position as "head of the body, the church" (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 5:23). He directs and controls all the works of the church, raising up servants to further God's purpose and prepare a people as "firstfruits of His creatures" (James 1:18; Revelation 14:4).

As Head of the church and our sinless Savior, He is also the perfect Judge of all men (John 5:27; II Timothy 4:8; I Peter 4:5), and now "the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God" (I Peter 4:17). In the book of Revelation, Christ writes letters of evaluation to seven churches, representative of all His people down through the ages (Revelation 2-3). These letters are His judgment of the major attitudes of God's people, especially those in the time of the end, for He makes frequent allusions to His return (Revelation 2:5, 16, 25; 3:3, 11, 20).

He begins the body of each letter with the words, "I know your works." Being alive and in power at God's right hand, He is intimately aware of what we are doing. Since He desires greatly that we attain eternal life in His Kingdom, He warns us through these letters to make the changes necessary to please God. His primary job is to bring each of us into the Family of God to share endless years of loving companionship and creativity with Him and His Father. So we will be saved by His life—because He lives, we will be given salvation. Jesus assures us, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:27-28).

Now that is good news!

The Centrality of the Resurrection

The Apostles' Creed is thought to be the earliest formal Christian statement of belief, which the later Nicene Creed (AD 381) expanded. It is unlikely that the twelve apostles actually created and circulated this creed among the churches of God, as its origins are second century, but the Apostles' Creed is an early confirmation of what a majority of professing Christians believed in the first few centuries of the church's existence.

(As an aside, a glaring detail missing from the Apostles' Creed is any claim of Trinitarianism; it reads simply, in Latin, "Credo in Spiritum Sanctum"—"I believe in the Holy Spirit." The later Nicene Creed adds Personhood and the title "the Lord, the giver of life" to the Holy Spirit, as well as equality in worship and glory with the Father and Son. This is an indication that the Trinity doctrine was formulated and accepted by the Catholic Church in the fourth century and is not original to biblical Christianity.)

By far, the bulk of the Apostles' Creed concerns Jesus Christ:

I believe in Jesus Christ, [God the Father's] only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead. On the third day He rose again.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Central to the doctrine of Christianity is the resurrection of Christ from the dead. An even earlier, biblical statement by the apostle Paul attests to this fact:

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. (I Corinthians 15:3-5)

Even earlier, the apostle Peter's first sermon builds to its crescendo of the good news of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and what it means:

[David], foreseeing [that his descendant, Messiah, would sit on his throne], spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption [Psalm 16:10]. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. . . . Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:31-33, 36)

We can go back even further, to Christ's ministry itself. Jesus gave only one sign to verify His Messiahship, and it was His resurrection from the dead. The scribes and Pharisees had demanded a sign from Him to prove His claims. He responded:

An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be give to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:39-40)

In harmonizing the four gospel narratives—of which about a quarter concerns His arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection—it is clear that this sign was fulfilled to the very second. He rose from the dead exactly three days and three nights—seventy-two hours—from His burial "in the heart of the earth." The amazing point about this is that, being dead, He had no power to effect either His burial or His resurrection! Far from being a "mere coincidence," it is proof that God the Father, in His sovereignty, brought this sign to pass in its every detail.

Doctrinally, why is His resurrection so vital to Christian belief? Beyond the fact that it fulfilled the sign, the resurrection of Jesus Christ opened the way to eternal life and glory for those who believe. While the sinless Jesus' crucifixion and death paid for all the past sins of those who accept Christ's blood for their forgiveness, it leaves them redeemed but without a future. A dead Savior leaves salvation incomplete. As the apostle Paul explains in I Corinthians 15:14, 19: "If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. . . . If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable."

Yet, by raising Jesus from the dead, restoring His glorious spirit-body, and exalting Him to His right hand, the Father made possible two crucial realities:

1. Jesus became our Mediator and High Priest before the Father, giving us the opportunity to have a relationship with Him (Hebrews 8:6; 10:12-13, 19-22). Paul tells us, "For through [Christ] we both [Jews and Gentiles] have access by one Spirit to the Father" (Ephesians 2:18). As Jesus Himself says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).

2. Jesus became "the Firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29) and "the firstborn from the dead" (Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5). By overcoming death through the resurrection from the dead, He became the Archegos—the Forerunner, the Trailblazer—for everyone who faithfully follows Him as a disciple (Hebrews 2:10-16). Paul writes:

But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep [died]. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. (I Corinthians 15:20-23)

In this way, the resurrection from the dead is mankind's God-given "victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" over death, the last enemy (I Corinthians 15:57, 26). It provides us great comfort to know that death is but a step in God's plan to give eternal life to us in His Kingdom (Hebrews 9:27-28). Paul's reassuring words in I Thessalonians 4:14, 17 assert the Christian hope: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. . . . And thus we shall always be with the Lord."