• • • INTRO: Celebration of First Fruits

On this morning when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, we’re going to start with a journey back to our Jewish roots with a look at one of the seven Feasts, or festivals that were prescribed by God in the Old Testament as a picture of the Messiah, Jesus. Many of you know of the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread that Jesus fulfilled feasts completely and exactly.

He came into Jerusalem on the very day the Passover lambs were set aside for slaughter, was nailed to the cross at the exact time the Passover lambs were being prepared for slaughter in the Temple, and then died at the exact moment the lambs were being slain in the Temple. He was then buried at the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. At that time, he took our leaven, our sin, upon Himself and carried it to the grave.

This morning, we’ll look at the third of these feasts, the one that Jewish disciples of Christ should have been celebrating on Easter Sunday;  the Feast of Firstfruits.

• • • WELCOME: Happy Easter and welcome to Central Church of Christ, a people called out by God to Show His Love, Tell His Story, and Be His Family. Today we begin a brand new message series from the Bible called, “Celebrate Jesus.” In this series we will walk each Sunday from Easter (Apr 4) to Pentecost (May 23) through an exciting Bible timeline of the appearances of Jesus to the church.

• • • HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The instructions for observing the Feast of Firstfruits is found in Leviticus, chapter 23. This passage immediately follows the passage that set forth the instructions for the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread.

 

9 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, ’When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 ’And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 ’Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD. 13 ’Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the LORD for a soothing aroma, with its libation, a fourth of a hin of wine. 14 ’Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.- Leviticus 23:9-14

 

There are three main principles associated with the Feast of Firstfruits:

• The offering of the very best

• The promise of a future harvest
• The making holy of the whole

• • • JESUS FULFILLED THE FIRST FRUITS

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.

Luke 24:1

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. Matthew 28:1

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering. – Romans 8:3

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, – 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21

• • • CLOSE: Once again this is all exciting information on Easter Resurrection Sunday, but the important question remains. What does all this mean for me?