The Sheaf of the Firstfruits

Q: What does the Bible say about the Feast of Firstfruits?

The Feast of Firstfruits in Leviticus 23 symbolizes Christ's resurrection as the first fruit of those who have died. The Feast of Firstfruits, as outlined in Leviticus 23:10-11, mandates the Israelites to present a sheaf of the firstfruits of their harvest to the priest. This act was both a ceremony and a profound symbol, prefiguring the resurrection of Christ as the ultimate firstfruit. The feast was to take place the day after the Sabbath, drawing a direct line to the resurrection Sunday when Christ rose, making Him the firstfruit of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20). Through this festival, God established a pattern of redemption that points to the ultimate fulfillment in His Son, Jesus Christ, enabling believers to understand their acceptance before God through Him.

Q: How do we know that Christ's resurrection is essential to the Christian faith?

Christ's resurrection validates His role as Savior and ensures believers' future resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is foundational to Christianity as it confirms His divinity and the acceptance of His sacrificial work. In 1 Corinthians 15:20, Paul refers to Christ as the 'firstfruits of those who have died,' asserting that just as Christ was raised, so too will all who trust in Him be raised in the final resurrection. This historic event is not only a testament to Christ's victory over sin and death but also secures the promise of eternal life for believers. The resurrection is thus central to the doctrine of justification, wherein believers are justified through faith in the risen Lord, guaranteeing their ultimate resurrection and eternal communion with God.

Q: Why is the Feast of Unleavened Bread significant for Christians?

The Feast of Unleavened Bread symbolizes purification from sin and the life Christians are called to lead. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, observed during the week following Passover, represents the calling for believers to live a life free from sin. In Leviticus 23:6, God commanded Israel to eat unleavened bread for seven days, a practice that symbolized removing leaven, which often represents sin. For Christians, this feast emphasizes the importance of living a holy life after having been redeemed through Christ's sacrifice. The call to eliminate leaven from their homes showcases the need for spiritual purity in the life of believers (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). By embracing righteousness and rejecting the 'leaven' of sin, Christians reflect the transformative power of Christ's death and resurrection in their daily lives.

Q: Why do Christians celebrate Easter related to the Passover?

Easter corresponds with the Passover, marking Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection. Easter, for Christians, is intricately connected to the Passover as it celebrates the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the ultimate Passover lamb. Just as the Passover lamb was sacrificed to provide a means of salvation for Israel (Exodus 12), Jesus' death on the cross fulfills this typology as He sheds His blood for the redemption of His people. This connection is profound, as the timing of the resurrection occurs right after Passover, aligning Jesus' role as the sacrificial lamb who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Thus, Easter not only commemorates Christ's victory over death but also reinforces the eternal significance of Passover within the redemptive narrative of Scripture.

so Lord may graciously help me I'll turn your prayerful attention to the chapter that we read in Leviticus chapter 23 and reading verses 10 and 11 for our text this morning Leviticus 23 verses 10 and 11 So this chapter that we read specifies the different feasts throughout the year that the Israelites were to keep and this is the one feast that I particularly want to focus on is the Sheaf of the Firstfruits. Leviticus chapter 23 and verses 10 and 11.

Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them when you come into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest. and ye shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

So we have before us something of the law that was given to Moses, that ceremonial law but also those shadows, types and shadows which were speaking of good things that were to come, speaking of Christ. and all the Old Testament by God's grace is looking forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there were these seven, if you count them really in a sense, seven feasts that are specified in this Leviticus chapter 23, starting off by telling us of the Sabbath, which is that weekly time when we are to come and to to worship the Lord and then going on to these special times in the calendar of a year as to when they were to come to the Lord.

And really the first set of feasts were in the spring and then the rest of them were in the autumn time. And So the first, you might remember elsewhere in Exodus, it says that three times a year, all you are to present yourselves before the Lord. And so that was firstly at the time of the Passover, then at the time of Pentecost that we think of 50 days later and then in the autumn in the time around September for us that sort of time. So we start with the first feast was that of the Passover. This is very well known, the Passover.

Remember Exodus 12, we have Israel leaving the Egyptian slavery and the Passover, that Passover lamb that was offered and sprinkled, the blood sprinkled on the doorpost and the sides of the door and they were to eat that lamb on that evening the 10th plague this was on the Egyptians and that very night they were to be liberated and brought out of Egyptian slavery and this is a picture and it was linked of course to the death of the lamb the lamb died in the place if you like of the firstborn because all the firstborn in the land of Egypt were going to die. But in the houses of the Israelites that had taken note of what Moses had said, the lamb would die in the place of the firstborn.

And this was going to be a picture looking forward of how Israel, you might think they would be saved because they were Israelites. Many of the earlier plagues, they had darkness over all the land of Egypt, but Israel had light in their dwellings, we read. But God, in this last plague, although he was going to put a difference between Egypt and the Egyptians, he was also going to show that it was going to be a means. And without that means, actually, Israel were also exposed to danger.

And that's very clear in the Gospel, isn't it? It's not that, well, we belong to the right set of people, so we are accepted. No, it is, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. It is linked to death and of course it's pointing forward to the Lord Jesus Christ who died and we recently been thinking of that with the Easter time of the time when Jesus was on Palm Sunday as he was separated to be the Lamb of God. They were all busy finding their suitable lamb for the Passover but the Lord Jesus Christ was being separated on that day as he rode into Jerusalem on that foal of the ass. He rode into there and they shouted Hosanna to the Son of God.

So that was a picture of the 10th day of the month. The 14th day of the month they were to take that lamb that they had separated, each family had their lamb, they were to have that lamb live with them for a few days and then on the 14th day they were to kill that lamb on a particular night. And that, of course, is picturing what happened.

The Lord Jesus, if you remember, the night before he was betrayed, he kept the Passover with his disciples. Perfectly linking, you see, what he was doing, as he was the Passover lamb. He was the one that was going to stand in the place, not just of the firstborn, but of all his church. that he was going to be that acceptable sacrifice. And when I see the blood, being under that blood, having an interest in that, in his finished work, meant that there would be a passing over of the righteous anger of God against sin. because we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God.

It's not that the good people go to heaven. No, there is none good. No, not one. It is we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. If we are to go to heaven, it is because we are covered by blood because we have sheltered in his precious blood well that's the that's particularly on this 14th day of the month the Passover that's the first feast so they came together you see to remember the Passover That was on the 14th day.

The 15th day of the month, we read in chapter, sorry, in verse 6 of the chapter Leviticus 23, we read on the 15th day of the month, so one day later, there was this feast of unleavened bread. And for seven days they were to eat unleavened bread. Leaven is what they refer to as yeast and basically it was bread that didn't have yeast in it. Yeast, if you remember, as you put that in the bread it ferments and it gives out a gas and therefore your bread becomes, it rises, the dough rises and we use that in bread today as the bread raises. But on this particular occasion for seven days they were to have unleavened bread. bread made without putting the yeast in and therefore it would be much more flat and dense but in the scriptures the picture of leaven is a picture of sin in a sense and of course I think something of the picture is that one of the things sin does is bring pride doesn't it and what does pride do it swells us up Think of bread rising and pride when it works in our hearts.

You think of it in one of the angels that was in glory, Satan. He was puffed up with pride. Pride was that thing that he wanted to be exhorted and to be as God. and as such he was thrown out of heaven. The basic sin is pride, wanting to be something other than what God has meant us to be. Walking in pride is a very symbol of Satan's kingdom.

But on this 15th day then they were to have this seven days of unleavened bread, no sin. You see there's a link here also, that they were to have no leaven in their houses, the idea that they were to seek to be free from sin. And when we've come under the blood, when we've been washed, when we've been cleansed, then the Christian doesn't go out and say, well, I've been cleansed and now I just fill myself with the filth of the world again. No, there is to be a separation. Seven days is a completeness in that separation.

They were going to eat unleavened bread to show that the Christian life, as they come under the blood, they are then to live to God. There to be those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, not feed upon the the follies and the emptiness of this world. And that's the feast you see of unleavened bread. Also we think of leaven, one of the great truths of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when his body was put in the grave, that his body did not decay. normal bodies that are put in the ground they very quickly decay particularly so in those eastern countries where it's so much hotter and yet we know from psalm 16 if you look in psalm 16 written by david some 1 000 years before the lord jesus would come to this earth we have those precious words psalm 16 verse 9 it says therefore psalm 16 verse 9 therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth my flesh also shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

He was not to have that corruption, though he was made sin for us. He didn't have sin in him. You see, we corrupt because we're sinners. But he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate than sinners. And though he stood in behalf of people, he had laid on him the sin of the entire church. Yet he had no sin. and therefore corruption had nothing to do with him.

And David prophetically said this a thousand years before. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell or in the grave, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Christ's body did not corrupt in those three days. They said of Lazarus, he had been in the grave three days. By this time he's stinking. But not so of Christ. he did not corrupt.

Unleavened bread, this feast of unleavened bread to recognise that this one who has died, he died differently than anybody else had. He died voluntarily, not because of his sin, but because he laid down his life, a ransom for many. Well that's the feast of unleavened bread then that we have for seven days.

Now then we have another very interesting detail that I want to really bring before you today. And as I was reading through Leviticus it sort of came out in its importance as we were looking through this. I think really the Passover is very well known amongst churches. Generally I think it's preached a lot and people would probably be quite familiar with the Passover. But I think this particular aspect of the Feast of the Firstfruits is far less well known. It certainly was not well known to me.

So we have this in verse 9, and the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priests.

So this was an instruction that actually wasn't going to be carried out for many years. because they were yet in the wilderness and of course if they'd have been obedient they'd have gone into the promised land so much quicker but because of this unbelief and disobeying God's command they ended up another a total of 40 years wandering in the wilderness and obviously when they're wandering in the wilderness they did not have a harvest they didn't till the land, they didn't sow crops They had no agriculture for 40 years. And that's the wonderful, amazing blessing that a whole host of something like two million people could live in a desert with no harvest, no planting, no agriculture, and God sustained them out of his amazing bounty with his daily manna. The manna that ceased the very day they ate of the corn, or the day after that they ate of the corn of the land of Canaan. as they went into the promised land over Jordan. It's recorded in Joshua, the book of Joshua. So this was an amazing thing.

But, of course, they couldn't do this particular command was due to harvest. They didn't have a harvest. They had a daily manna provided, but they had no harvest. There was no grain that they harvested. So they couldn't do this command in the wilderness. But when they got into the Promised Land, they were to do this. And this is what we have before us.

Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, when ye come into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest there, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priests. So the idea here was that that when they started the harvest, and this would have been the barley harvest, the barley harvest comes before the wheat harvest, it does so in England, but everything in the Jewish calendar or where they lived in Israel is earlier in the year, so we would think of this as that Easter time, we don't harvest barley at Easter time in England. It's much later in the year, it's probably June, late June, mid-July, and you're reaping the barley harvest, and then wheat comes on at late July and into August. But the calendar is all a bit earlier in that different climate that Israel lived in. But this is the beginning, you see, of the barley harvest, the time when Ruth came back to Bethlehem. as she came in the beginning of barley harvest it would have been this sort of time so this feast then of what's described as the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest so they were to gather this sheaf and present it to God. And we're told in verse 11, and ye shall wave the sheaf before the Lord. So this idea of waving it is to hold it up and to move it either up or down or left or right, to present it to God. A presentation of the firstfruits of the harvest. And that's what they were to do.

And they were not to eat anything of that harvest until they'd done this. If you look later on in verse 14 of this chapter, And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God. It shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. So here they're told specifically, you're not to eat of the harvest until you first brought that sheaf and presented it to God and the priest has waved it, moved it and presented it before God and been accepted.

And then the whole harvest was theirs then to harvest and to enjoy and to eat of. But it was the first fruits, it was the beginning of the harvest and it was presented to God and it was accepted and then the whole harvest was therefore accepted as a result of this. But there's another interesting detail here, a very precious detail. If you look in verse 11, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you, for you. this was on behalf there's a substitution here accepted for you this sheaf was going to be accepted for them for the people but then look at the other detail On the morrow, after the Sabbath, the priest shall waive it.

So we have, on the 14th day, we have the Passover. Now the 14th day of the month will fall on different days of the week, won't it, each year. We don't have the same date on our calendar gives you different days of the week as you go through different years. So the 14th day of the month would not always fall on the same day of the week, would it? But here we're told that on the 14th day of the month, they would have the Passover.

It didn't matter what day of the week it was, they would keep it as the Passover, independent of whether it was a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, in that sort of way. But, and on the 15th day, they would begin, you see, this Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. So it would, that the Feast of Unleavened Bread would span an entire week, an entire seven days. So it would have every day of the week in it. well this when they got into the promised land this feast of the first fruits was to be performed at a certain day and that tells us in verse 11 on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it what does that mean the sabbath day the morrow after the sabbath that's the first day of the week So this, independent of which year it lay, always when they came into the land of Egypt, sorry, the land of Canaan, sorry, as they came into the Promised Land, on that first day after the Sabbath day, the morrow after the Sabbath, they were to present this sheaf of the first fruits and present it before the law to be accepted for you. This was back in Old Testament days, this was pointing surely as we think of the events that we've recently thought of around Easter time.

We thought of the Passover. We thought of the fact that Christ is your Passover. He is your Passover. Corinthians tells us, Paul tells us through the Corinthians, writing to them, that even Christ, your Passover, was sacrificed for us. But now we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread, thinking of the death of the Lord Jesus. We think of the burial and the fact that he didn't corrupt in that grave.

But he was waiting, you see, so in the calendar year that the Lord Jesus died in, it seems that the Passover fell on the Friday, and then he rose again on the Lord's day, three days later, counting the Jews count days differently than we do. They count the day that they're on as the first day. And that's why you have the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, the three days. are counted as he was in the grave three days but not necessarily three times 24 hours. So here we have this great truth that even in the Jewish calendar where if you like the Sabbath day was the special day yet the sheaf of the first fruits was always offered on what we would call today the Lord's Day.

Even back then. And you see, this is what we read in Corinthians. Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15, the whole chapter is on the importance of the resurrection. The importance that Christ rose from the dead. And so we have in these feasts, you see, picking up the key points in the gospel narrative of how God deals with his people.

He died for their sins. He was buried and then rose again for their justification. And you see in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20, but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. Here Paul ties back to this little known and little recorded feast of the first fruits. He ties it back and says Christ is that first fruit.

So when he rose from the dead on the first day of the week, It was perfectly in line with what all these Old Testament beautiful ceremonies showed, that the pattern of salvation, that the Lord Jesus would die, that he would stand in his people's place at the Passover, he would be buried, he would die, he would be the death of death in the death of Christ. but that's that death would not corrupt upon him and feed upon him he would overcome death and there would be this victory as he rose on the third day and you see he rose on this day when the The priest, if they, we don't read that they were doing this, but if they'd have kept what the Bible told them to do in the Old Testament, they would have, on that morning of the resurrection, the priest would have been ready to wave this sheaf in front of the Lord and to demonstrate that, to present it before God. And yet, what was really happening when the stone had been rolled away, when Christ had risen from the dead, he was going to fulfil that beautifully on that resurrection morning.

It's something I hadn't tied before with that in my own mind. It's looking through this, we can see a beautiful connection. But you see, if you look at what Jesus said to Mary Magdalene on the day of the resurrection, at John chapter 20, John 20 verse 16, Jesus saith unto her, this is Mary, Mary, sorry, he says unto her, Mary, she turned herself and said unto him, Rabboni, this is John 20 verse 16, which is to say, Master, Jesus saith unto her, touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my father. and your father to my God and to your God." Do you see this sense of the resurrection?

He was then to present himself. And then it's interesting that we don't really read, we don't read, I think, of the Lord Jesus calling his disciples his brethren before Calvary. He calls them his friends. But it's after Calvary and after the resurrection that he particularly calls his disciples brethren.

Because now, you see, they've been brought into the family of God. He has gone, you see, and we have this beautiful wording that he speaks to Mary, I ascend to my father. But go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my father. and your father to my God and to your God this connection this family connection now that there is between the Lord Jesus and his people they've been adopted now into this family and he has he has been that one that has been presented so what does this what do we learn from this and ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest, and ye shall waive the sheep, sorry, the sheaf, sorry, before the Lord to be accepted for you.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the firstfruits from the dead, who'd gone through death, death didn't feed and corrupt upon, he didn't corrupt in the grave, but he rose again, as the first fruits of his entire church. And this is the great message that comes from this, that Christ is risen. and therefore he will not leave the church behind. He and he has been presented to the father and the father has accepted as the high priest held up or the priest held up this sheaf and waved it before the Lord and that sheaf was accepted and therefore the whole harvest was then treated as clean. They could go and harvest it and eat as they needed to for their bodies. But you see, the first one was accepted and then everything else is accepted in him. And of course that's a beautiful picture of what the Lord Jesus was doing.

He went and presented himself, you see we don't It's interesting to say that he said to Mary, touch me not, for I am not yet ascended. It sounds like he was almost about to do that that very morning, to send to his father. You say, but then the ascension happened 40 days later. But you see, he was going to present himself, as it were, on this Lord's Day, this first day of the week, this rising from the dead, present himself to his father, and therefore the whole church. is accepted in him, to be accepted for you.

There's something personal here, isn't there? The brethren, you see, they had, the disciples had all forsook him and fled. Peter had denied that he knew who he was. The disciples had recently fallen, but this is the time he calls them brethren. And he is presented as the first fruits of the harvest. You see, the first fruits of the harvest is the beginning. And as the first fruit comes in, it pictures that there will be a great harvest to follow. And of course, that is true. The Lord Jesus has gone first. I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. That where I am, There ye may be also.

You see there's a whole idea as he's doing this as our representative, as for us and for his people, this great plan of salvation that's pictured in these Old Testament types and shadows. that Israel was to perform and there was this looking forward to the Saviour and though the Jews kept that Sabbath day as being the special day, yet the Lord even in this particular feast is pointing out that it was always on the first day of the week.

If we think of creation, what happened on the first day of the week in creation? let there be light and there was light and God saw the light that it was good the first day in creation let there be light and here the Lord Jesus rising from the dead on the first day of the week he is the light of the world let there be light And you see, he gave that light to his people.

He was light, but he used that light, you see, to lighten them. Oh, you can have some people that are very clever, but they keep their cleverness and their helpfulness to themselves for their own good. They don't share it with others. But here we have one that is the light of the world, and he lightens the hearts of these dark people that are far off from him, that are dead in trespasses and in sins. He commands. You see, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, that beautiful text. I've just turned to it. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6.

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. the first day of the week, the day that Christ arose from the dead, victorious over sin, death, hell and the grave, but with an earnest that as he rose from the dead, so everyone that he stood in the place of will also rise.

This is tremendous for our faith, to recognise that our acceptance is not in our own works. It's not, well, you've been a great Christian, you'll go to heaven. It's not that we seek to live lives that are reckless, but here it is accepted for you. He's in our place. He's paid the price.

He has gained acceptance with God, and as that sheaf was presented, then it was a forerunner of the whole harvest. And so the Lord's people are the harvest. They are his sheep. They are going to be gathered in from all nations, kindreds, tribes and tongues to bring in this harvest.

But then if I just briefly go through the rest of this chapter, because You see, after that first Sabbath, sorry, the day after the first Sabbath, so this was in the unleavened bread week, what we would call the Lord's Day of that week, was when they would wave this sheaf of the first fruits, and then they would count from the day before, seven weeks.

And then they would, and that's what we would refer to as Pentecost, and they had this, another feast, which they call the Feast of Weeks, a week, that is seven, a week of weeks, that is seven weeks, which is 49 days, and then it's a day after, so that would be the 50th day, which again, so there's two feasts. in these seven feasts that are commanded in Leviticus 23 that were kept on the first day of the week. Interesting, right back then it was pointing to there's going to be a change. and how the Lord was risen not on the Sabbath, but on the day after the Sabbath. He rose from the dead. And how then we have that with the sending of the Spirit.

So the next feast, you see, so three times a year the children of Israel were to go to the, so the first time of the year they were to have the feast of the Passover, the unleavened bread, and also the, of the first fruits. And that was all within a week really. a week and a day. So three of those feasts were all together. So they would go once in a year to that and then they would come again seven weeks later and keep the feast of weeks which was really the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest. So they would then come together for that occasion.

Of course, In the New Testament, that is linked, you see, with that day of Pentecost, when they were sending forth of the Spirit. There had been a gospel before, but when the Spirit came, there was that enlarging of the Church of God. There was an in-gathering of the multitude of the harvest. It was not just to be one or two from Israel.

It was to be from every kindred, nation, tribe and tongue were going to be gathered in. and the sending forth of the Spirit in Pentecost. So really we can say that historically four of these four of these feasts have been kept already. Historically. We've had the coming of the Passover lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. We've had the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We've had the Lord Jesus in the grave.

We've had him rise again on the first day of the week that the first the feast of the first fruits and then we've had the 50 days later we have the Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured upon the disciples. We have that firstfruits, that 3,000 souls entering the Kingdom that day, touched by the Holy Spirit under Peter's preaching and others. So they are brought into the Kingdom, a firstfruits of that Church of God that Christ rose, you see, and was presented to the Father, and He was accepted. So the whole Church would be accepted in him. And so union with Christ is the great and the vital point for each of us. Do we have a living union with Christ?

Do we realise that we need his death? Or else we die ourselves. Or else we are still in our sins. If we are looking to ourselves and our own righteousness and our own keeping of the law, we shall perish. But if we're looking out of ourselves and putting our trust for time and eternity on this Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, then we're in Him. then we're buried with him in baptism. We're raised again in the resurrection as we think of as the sheaf of the first fruits. Him raising from the dead is a first fruit. You might say, but ah, some rose from the dead before the Lord Jesus did. Yes, there was. He did it himself, didn't he?

The widow of Nain's son, he was raised from the dead. And there was Lazarus that was raised from the dead. There was another girl that was raised from the dead. But you see, all those three characters, they died again. Their resurrection from the dead wasn't to everlasting life, not here below. But you see, the Lord Jesus is the firstfruits. He rose to die no more. Lazarus rose and died again later. He must have done. He's not alive today. But you see, this resurrection is that he raises to die no more.

And so do we have, do we know something of that resurrection power, by the power of the spirit we live, raised from death and conquered death through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the coming of the spirit, the spirit be poured upon you from on high. Do we know something of that that has taken place at Pentecost.

But then the other three feasts were later in the year. There's a big gap in the calendar, a big gap between the next feast, some three or four months, or three months. And here we then have the Feast of Trumpets. You can read about them, the Feast of Trumpets. You have the Great Day of Atonement. And then you have the Feast of Tabernacles.

And some have pictured that that is yet to be fulfilled. You see, when Israel was in Egypt, in the wilderness, none of this had actually taken place in the history of the world, apart from he is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. But in another sense, in historically, it hadn't yet been fulfilled. But now four of those feasts have had their fulfillment in Christ.

And yet three of them are still waiting. The feast of trumpets. And we think of that in Corinthians. We read of that 1 Corinthians 15 verse 52. In a moment, in the twinkling of the eye, at the last trump, For the trump shall sound and the dead shall be raised, incorruptible and shall be changed. The last trump.

And there's going to be that festival of trumpets and of awakening. The Lord is coming again. He has fulfilled those four feasts. They've happened. They've been happened to the church and we are now in that long period between, as it were, the giving of Pentecost and the time when that last trump will shout. the sound. And there's been that harvesting time between those two, the long harvest from every kindred, nation, tribe and tongue. Children are being brought into the kingdom.

Then there'll be a last trump. and the trump shall sound and the dead in Christ shall be raised and then we have this great day of atonement oh how precious in that last great day was was seen the work of Christ as he has stood in his place it was it's also described as the day of atonement a day to afflict our souls and to recognise our need of repentance and our need of the Lord Jesus to atone for our sin. And then the idea of the feast of the tabernacles. As it were, it was a rejoicing feast, to think of what God had done and to look back on the Lord's mercies. And so those feasts are yet to come for the Church of God.

But yet, but you see, we are living then in this time. And may we then have an interest in what has taken place, but recognise that Jesus is coming again. The Lord's Supper is, do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this blood, ye do show the Lord's death Till he come. Till he come. Jesus is coming again. The last trump shall sound. Time shall be no longer.

We need to be ready. We need to be those that have a living, lively interest in those first four feasts that Israel had presented to them in types and shadows, but were fulfilled so beautifully in Christ, as He rose triumphant from the dead, without decay, with nothing lacking, and He was able to then be accepted for us.

For us. to have an acceptance in him. You see, we are accepted in the beloved. And he now speaks to his children as sons and daughters, he speaks to them as brethren. Because he is, as it were, my father and your father. There's a family connection, we have the same father.

And there is a great blessing here then. So as we've looked at these feasts, may they be shadows of good things to come, that we may see that the Lord had given this to Moses in shadow form that was going to be fulfilled in Christ. But some of those things have yet to be fulfilled. that they've yet to happen, they will happen. Just as there was a long time between this law being given to Moses and Christ coming, but in the fullness of time he came. And he did come and lay down his life, that acceptable sacrifice. He went to the grave. did not corrupt in that grave, the unleavened bread rose again on that Lord's Day morning as the sheaf being waved or presented before God, a perfect, a forerunner of the whole harvest.

And may our faith be able to lay hold upon that as He has been accepted, so all His people that trust in Him will never be left behind. They will be accepted in him. So everything is to do with our link with Christ. As it was in the days of Joseph, with his brethren, everything was, their stay in the land of Egypt was all linked to their relationship with Joseph. Because he was accepted, they were accepted. And so it is with our greater Joseph, the Lord Jesus Christ, as he is accepted. in all his people in him are accepted too. And therefore unto you that believe, he is precious. Amen.

The Sheaf of the Firstfruits

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the Feast of Firstfruits?

How do we know that Christ's resurrection is essential to the Christian faith?

Why is the Feast of Unleavened Bread significant for Christians?

Why do Christians celebrate Easter related to the Passover?

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The Sheaf of the Firstfruits

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the Feast of Firstfruits?

How do we know that Christ's resurrection is essential to the Christian faith?

Why is the Feast of Unleavened Bread significant for Christians?

Why do Christians celebrate Easter related to the Passover?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Hayden

Comments

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