The resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ is a fact that cannot be reasonably disputed by anyone. It is clearly revealed throughout
the scriptures. It is a fact well established
in history. We read in the scriptures of
at least 12, perhaps 13 times, our Lord was seen by men after
his resurrection before he ascended back to heaven. And it is a indispensable
fact of gospel truth. Without the resurrection, we're
yet in our sins. Without the resurrection, we
have no hope. Without the resurrection, there's
no gospel to preach. Without the resurrection, there's
no anticipation of everlasting glory. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
the God-man mediator, he who put away our sins by the sacrifice
of himself is risen from the dead. We ought to always walk
in the blessed, confident joy of our Savior's resurrection. He ascended up on high, leading
captivity captive, conquering death, hell, and the grave as
our substitute. And He is the exalted King of
Kings and Lord of Lords. This risen savior, this almighty
Christ has empowered and commanded his church to preach the gospel
to all men as much as we have opportunity and the ability by
his gift to do so. And he has told us not only to
declare the fact, but more importantly, the meaning of his resurrection.
Let's look at some Old Testament scriptures. Turn to Psalm 16.
Psalm 16. You know, of course, that the
resurrection of Christ was plainly and clearly prophesied in the
Old Testament, as much so as his incarnation, his obedience,
and his death as our covenant surety. Here in Psalm 16, we
have one of those prophecies, verse 9. Therefore, my heart
is glad and my glory rejoiceth, my flesh also shall rest in hope. This is not just David speaking,
David speaking prophetically, it is our Lord Jesus speaking,
and we know that because the Holy Spirit tells us so in the
second chapter of Acts, verse 10. For thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, that is in the grave, neither wilt thou suffer
thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
life, In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there
are pleasures forevermore. Look at one more in Isaiah chapter
53, Isaiah 53. In the 26th chapter of Isaiah's
gospel, we have this prophecy. Thy dead men shall live together
with my dead body, shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that
dwell in the dust. Now look in Isaiah 53, verse
10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his sin. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. That is, he's going to rise from
the dead and rule and accomplish the purpose of Almighty God.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore, having accomplished our redemption for the saving
of our souls, therefore will I divide him a portion with the
great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because
he hath poured out his soul under death and he was numbered with
the transgressors and bear the sin of many and made intercession
for the transgressors. Those are just three prophecies
given directly in the Old Testament Scriptures, three of many, that
clearly state the fact of our Lord's certain resurrection.
But did you know that our Lord's resurrection was also set before
us in the types of the Old Testament? Let's look at one in Leviticus
chapter 2. Leviticus chapter 2. In verses
12 through 16, I want to show you the meaning and the message
of the oblation of firstfruits. Leviticus chapter two, verses
12 through 16. As for the oblation, that is
the offering of the firstfruits, you should offer them unto the
Lord, but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savor.
And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with
salt, Neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy
God to be lacking from thy meat offering. With all thine offerings,
thou shalt offer salt. And if thou offer a meat offering
of thy firstfruits unto the Lord, thou shalt offer for the meat
offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn, dried by the fire,
even corn beaten out of the full ears. verse 15, And thou shalt
put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereof. It is a meat offering,
and the priest shall burn the memorial of it, part of the beaten
corn thereof, and part of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense
thereof. It is an offering made by fire
unto the Lord. The oblation, the offering of
firstfruits, gives us a clear, instructive picture of our Lord's
resurrection, our own resurrection, both in the new birth, the first
resurrection, and in the resurrection of the body, the second resurrection,
and of faith in and consecration to our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
look at these four verses together. Verse 12. Notice first that this
oblation offering was not to be burned on the altar. As for
the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the
Lord, but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savor. Now without question, these first
fruits were offered by men and women as a voluntary acknowledgment
of God's goodness in providing his people with daily bread,
daily provision, daily supplies. They are included in the meat
offerings described in this chapter because they're freewill offerings,
not offerings compelled, not offerings required by the law,
but freewill offerings, offerings of thanksgiving, of gratitude
and praise. God shows us by these freewill
offerings that if we serve him, we serve him freely. voluntarily,
not by constraint, not by outward pressure, not because we're somehow
feel like we're going to gain something by it or lose something
if we don't. Whatever is done for God is done
freely because of gratitude for God's great grace given us in
Christ. Paul said, the love of Christ
constraineth us. In all the service of God's people
in this gospel age, all the service is the service of volunteers. God's people do what they do
because they want to do so. That's what these freewill offerings
are. They're offerings of gratitude, thanksgiving, and praise. And
they certainly speak much concerning both the worshiper and his property. But you will notice that the
first fruits here described were not brought to the altar. They
weren't brought to the altar like the other sacrifices. Why? They primarily represented and
typified our Lord Jesus in his resurrection glory, not in his
sufferings and death. There was no burning here. The
Savior's burning is over. His suffering is done. The sacrifice
has been made and accepted. Justice is fully satisfied. Sin
is gone. This offering was food. food
to sustain God's priest. They would come and bring the
frankincense and make a little bit of it be offered by burning
to the Lord, but the sacrifice was to be taken by the priest
and eaten. And Jesus Christ crucified. He who died and rose again as
our substitute is for every believer the bread of life. Faith in Christ
is living upon him. eating his flesh and drinking
his blood. That's not a symbol of the Lord's
Supper. The Lord's Supper portrays a
picture of our Lord's death and burial, his body broken, his
blood poured out. And we portray faith in him eating
the bread and drinking the wine. But in John six, when our Lord
says, we must eat his flesh and drink his blood, he's talking
about faith in him. Believing on the Son of God,
trusting Christ, as surely as you trust God's Son, you take
all that He is as your own. And all that He is becomes your
own in the sweet experience of grace. His atonement His sacrifice,
His punishment, His satisfaction, His righteousness, His perfection,
His holiness, so that we eat His flesh, taking His righteousness
as our only righteousness, and drink His blood, taking His sacrifice
as our only atonement for sin, and thereby we feast upon the
Savior. Here's the second thing, look
at verse 13. These sacrifices were to be seasoned with salt. Now I'll be brief here because
I hope to come back to this, Lord willing, next Tuesday. The
Lord gave here a very plain commandment with regard to salt. And every
oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt,
neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God
to be lacking from thy meat offering. With all thine offerings thou
shalt offer salt. What a strange commandment. With
all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. Salt represents preservation
and security. Salt indicates corruption, but
corruption removed. Corruption prevented, permanently
prevented. When I was a boy, my grandparents
down in Southeastern North Carolina used to cure hams in a smokehouse. After Shelby and I started dating,
I was up at their place one time when they were slaughtering hogs,
and her dad about always did the slaughtering every year,
and he cured his hams in a salt box. Now if you've never tasted
a real salt cured country ham, you haven't yet tasted a country
ham. You about have to soak it and then still real salt it.
He'd take that ham and put it down in a box that had salt in
it and then he'd cover the ham in salt and it was preserved. You could leave it outside and
cut your slice off anytime you wanted to. It was preserved.
That's what salt does. It implies sure corruption. It also implies preservation
and the prevention of that sure corruption without the salt.
That's what Christ is for us. Salt speaks of covenant grace. Hold your hands here and let's
look at two texts. Numbers chapter 18, Numbers chapter
18, verse 19. All the heave offerings of the
holy things which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord
have I given thee and thy sons and thy daughters with thee.
That is these things are given to feed Aaron's sons, to feed
the priestly family by statute forever. It is a covenant of
salt before the Lord forever before the Lord unto thee and
to thy seed with thee. Look at 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles
chapter 13, chapter 13 verse five. God speaks of his covenant with
David. He says in verse five, ought ye not to know that the
Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom of over Israel to David forever,
even to him and his sons by a covenant of Saul. Of course, he's not
talking merely about the physical kingdom given to David's physical
lineage. He's talking about a spiritual
kingdom, the kingdom of God's Israel given to David's Lord,
who is David's son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who sits upon the
throne of grace by a covenant of salt. Salt was also used in
ancient times as a symbol of friendship. I did a little research
on this yesterday and last week. I've read among the ancient Jews
that each man regularly carried a little pouch of salt with him.
I can't imagine why, except for this purpose. When two or more
of them would meet and take a liking to one another, they would each
take out a little bit of salt from his pouch and put it in
a bowl. And so the men, two or three
or four, five, six, however many there were, took a liking to
each other. They'd mix a little bit of their salt together in
a bowl. And then they would break bread. Dipped the bread in the
mixed bowl of salt and each one eating a little of the bread
dipped in that salt And then they would take the salt those
left each one take that mixed salt put it back in his pouch
Indicating a permanent friendship a pledge of friendship a The
nearest thing I can picture of it is what we used to see in
the old westerns when they make blood brothers with the Indian
tribes. And there was a pledge of friendship,
a pledge of unity. That's the picture given here
of salt. Get hold of this if you can.
God Almighty, in all his fullness, in all that he is, in all that
he does is ours in totality by a covenant of salt. Though we
were once at heart enmity against the Almighty, he's brought us
to himself in a covenant of everlasting friendship. so that in Christ,
God sups with man, and man sups with God. The Lord Jesus in Revelation
320 says, I stand at the door, knock. If any man will open to
me, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me. And thus the Lord God blesses
us in our souls, in our homes, in our fields, in our store,
And in all things, the Lord God says to us, say ye to the righteous,
it shall be well with him. There shall no evil happen to
the just. How come? Because we are blood
brothers in a covenant of salt with the triune God. God our
Father has made even the beast of the field and the fowls of
the air to be our friends and our servants by requiring that
all sacrifices be offered with salt. The Lord God declared that
satisfaction he has in the sacrifice of his son, the burnt offering. is an unchanging, abiding, eternal,
indestructible sacrifice and satisfaction, that he will ever
be faithful to his purpose, faithful to his promise, faithful to his
covenant, and faithful to you, his people. Hold your hands here
and turn to Mark chapter nine. I don't think I'd ever noticed
this until this afternoon. Mark the ninth chapter. See how
the Lord Jesus uses this very commandment. I have no question
he has this commandment in mind when he gives us this statement
in Mark 9. Let's begin in verse 41. For whosoever shall give you
a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ,
verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. And whosoever
shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is
better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
he were cast into the sea. And then he goes on to talk about
folks being cast into the lake of fire, damnation. Look what
it says in verse 49. For every one, every one of these
little children that you've offended, every one of them, shall be salted
with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Every one of God's elect, salted
with the fire of the burnt offering, and salted with salt, preserved
by his sacrifice and his grace from all evil and all injury. Even when the wicked rise against
us, even when foes would ensnare us, even when enemies roar against
us, God's elect are salted with the fire of redemption and the
salt of his grace. Therefore, there shall no evil
happen to the just. Look back in verse 14 of Leviticus
2. Here's the third thing. Our Savior is here portrayed
by a sacrifice of corn. More literally, sacrifice of
wheat, a grain of barley. Sacrifice of barley that was
ripe at this time of the year. He says, these green ears of
corn are to be brought to him. Look at verse 14. And if thou
offer a meat offering of thy first fruits unto the Lord, Thou
shalt offer for the meat offering of thy first fruits, green ears
of corn, green ears of barley, dried by the fire, even corn
beaten out of the full ears. These ears of barley represent
our Redeemer. I don't doubt again that our
Lord Jesus had this very text of scripture in mind at this
very ceremony when he said in John chapter 12, barely, barely
I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. Our Lord says, I am that one
represented in that corn brought to God. But if I abide alone,
there's nothing accomplished. But if I fall into the earth
and die, Then I will in my resurrection bring forth great harvest, great
fruits. This corn offering. There must
be green ears. Green ears. What a strange statement. Green ears. Who would take the
green ears? Our Savior was cut off like green
ears of corn. in the prime of his life. The
words might better be translated ears of the best kind. And certainly
that's our Redeemer. He's Alpha and Omega, the perfect
God, the perfect man, the perfect sacrifice, the perfect savior.
And these green ears were told must be dried by the fire. Though there was no blood, in
these sacrifices, these oblations of first fruits, there's always
the reminder of blood. And in our worship of God, in
our service to God, in our gifts, in our sacrifices, if we can
call them such, our first fruits of thanksgiving are offered to
our God always with the blood in mind. Whatever it is that in God's
providence, He calls for us to endure of sorrow, ought to be
endured with remembrance of our Savior's sorrow as our Redeemer. Whatever we are called upon to
do that we may look upon as being sacrificial, whatever it is,
whatever God puts in our hand, the opportunity to do, Oh God,
let us do it with joyful voluntariness, remembering what our Redeemer
has done for us and sacrificed for us. In the offering of this,
these green ears of barley, dried by fire, remember the sacrifice
of our Savior, even while he walked on this earth. What a
picture they are of the man of sorrows, All his life long, he
was being dried in the fire. It's true, he was made sin and
made to bear our sin in his body on the cursed tree when he was
put to death as our substitute. But all his life long, he lived
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His kinsmen opposed
him. He was maligned. He was despised. He was ridiculed. Men sought
His life day after day. Men sought to destroy Him all
His life long. And then behold Him when He comes
to Gethsemane as He anticipates being made sin for us. And there
behold His agony in Gethsemane. Even before he went to Calvary,
as he anticipated in the garden what would transpire on Golgotha's
hill, our Savior's heart was broken within him. He offered
his sacrifice as a man whose life was spent in sorrow and
in bitterness and in affliction, in trouble, in difficulty, but
constantly, constantly walking before God with commitment and
faith. What an example. Our Lord Jesus
died when he was just 33 years old. but anyone looking at him thought
he was nearer 50. That's a tale of sorrow. That's a tale of labor. That's
a tale of toil. That's a tale of adversity. He
looked like he was 50 years old when he was in the prime of his
life. Then out of these ears, or these ears of corn had to
be beaten out. Andrew Bonar, I think rightly
said, This represents the bruises and strokes whereby he was prepared
for the altar. Paul writes in Hebrews and says,
it became him for whom were all things and by whom were all things
in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. What a statement. Hebrews chapter
two, verse 10. The triune Jehovah made the God-man,
our mediator, a perfect savior. That is a complete, total savior. The captain of our salvation,
made perfect as the captain of our salvation by the things he
suffered. Now go back to our text again
in Leviticus. Before we look at the next line,
I would tell you that in these, all these things, Christ is set
before us as the firstfruits, as the firstfruits. Firstfruits
are the first part of the harvest. The firstfruits imply that something
else is to come. Firstfruits always speak of that
which will come that is in the likeness of the thing that's
brought as the firstfruits. And you and I, being spoken of
in Scripture as the full harvest of the firstfruits, are conformed
to the image of Him who is Himself God our Savior. So that by God's
marvelous grace, He takes his people and makes each of his
own like his son. This is the desire, the ambition
of the renewed heart. Paul said, oh, that I may know
him. I may know him. Being made conformable to his
death. If I could look in your heart
and know your heart. If you're God's, I know this
you desire above all else, to be like Him. I hope equal to
that desire, you have this blessed assurance. Soon we shall indeed
be in body, in soul, and in spirit, exactly as He, the man who is
God, is. The scripture tells us that He
will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto
His glorious body. according to the working whereby
he is able even to subdue all things to himself. The scriptures
don't leave us to guess about these things. The Holy Spirit
has given us full instructive teaching in the scriptures concerning
the sacrifices, these oblation of first fruits. The first fruits,
speak of our Lord Jesus in his resurrection glory. Paul says
so in 1 Corinthians 15. And then the firstfruits represent
our regeneration. James in James 1 18 speaks of
us being born again by the will of God, by the word of truth,
which are the firstfruits of his creatures. So that we who
are born again In this blessed experience of grace, what we
have here, this is just the first fruits. Peace and pardon, forgiveness
and righteousness, justification, acceptance with God, reconciliation,
sanctification. This is just the first fruits,
just the first fruits. What then shall heavenly glory
be? What shall it be to be raised
with Christ in his glory? Whatever grace is here. And sometimes it can almost seem
that we're living just right on the outskirts of heaven's
glory. Sometimes, oh, how wonderful
is the apprehension of God's grace. But whatever it is, Mark,
it's just the firstfruits. firstfruits. No wonder Paul said,
I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love Him. But God's revealed them to us
by His Spirit. Now let me tell you what that
means. When you've read all the books, And you've learned all
that's written, particularly in Revelation 21 and 22. And
all those prophecies concerning heaven and the resurrection and
glory. And you've got everything down
as good as a man can get it down. All you have, Lindsay, is just
the revelation of the fact. We haven't ever conceived in
our highest estimation what awaits us in the glory of heaven. This is just the firstfruits.
This is just the firstfruits. The oblation of firstfruits was
also a picture of believers honoring God with their substance. Giving,
like the offering of the firstfruits, is an act of faith. A man bring
the first fruits. God said, when you go out and
get your fields harvested, whether you bring in the grapes or you
bring in the corn, or you bring in the barley, or you bring in
the wheat, whether you bring in apples and pears and peaches,
or you bring in the goats or the chickens, whatever you bring,
bring me the first fruits. The first fruits. That takes
an act of faith. That takes faith. This is the
first. This is the first. I bring you
God the first because God deserves the first and God demands the
first and God only should get the first and the best of everything. And God's promised he'll take
care of everything else. And he does. And he does. Children of God, Maybe even more
so for you who are older than for the younger, understand this. Always give God the best and
the first of everything. What else can we do? How dare we think of anything
less? Giving God the firstfruits is
a declaration that all is His. I think I said this to you recently.
I may say something about it more publicly. I don't want to
be in any way disrespectful of or speak ill of friends or faithful
men. A good many of my friends have
for years just had offering boxes at the doors and don't receive
an offering. And I understand the reason for
it. I've given considerable consideration to it. I still prefer that we,
every Lord's Day, bring our gifts to God as an act of worship,
whereby publicly together and individually, we offer to God
the first. And we say, God, now this represents
something. Everything I am. and everything
I own and everything I influence is yours. That's what's called giving. The oblation of firstfruits was
also a prophetic picture, an expression of the believing sinner's
hope of his own resurrection glory with Christ. Every man in his own order, Paul
said, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ
at His coming. Look at verses 15 and 16. When
at last we stand with Christ in glory, there's one more thing
yet to be done, the reconciliation of all things to God, eternity,
eternity. Oh, blessed eternity. Look at
verse 16, or verse 15, rather. And thou shalt put oil upon it,
and lay frankincense there on it as a meat offering. And the
priests shall burn the memorial of it, part of the beaten corn
thereof, and part of the oil thereof, with all the sweet-smelling
frankincense thereof. It is an offering made by fire
to the Lord. the smoke and the frankincense
ascend up to heaven and all is accepted. We come to God with
the sweet frankincense of Christ's sacrifice and we are now accepted
of God, accepted with Christ, accepted just as fully as Christ
is accepted. Accepted for the same reason
Christ is accepted. Because of his obedience to God
as the God-man mediator, God's given him power over all flesh. Seated him at his own right hand
and crowned him with glory. And because of his obedience,
we are accepted of God and loved of God as he is. And then in heaven's everlasting
glory, forever and ever all things will be as frankincense and myrrh
and sweet spices ascending up before the throne of God to the
everlasting praise of the triune God. That's the meaning of the
oblation of firstfruits. That's the meaning of of our
Lord's resurrection. And that's a picture of the hope
that's before us. These Old Testament saints, I
keep trying to picture what they must have known. And I often
come up with answers in my own mind that seem almost beyond
the possibility of reality. And then I realize, wait a minute,
These men walked in light. I recognize that we have a progressive
revelation of God given to us through scripture. Had the full
revelation of God in the person work of his son. And there is
still a fuller revelation to be given in heaven's glory. But
those Old Testament saints, those who believed God came and brought
a sacrifice. They brought a burnt offering,
a ram or lamb, turtle dove. They brought a sacrifice to God.
And they said, we believe in him who comes to be our redeemer. We trust his blood and his righteousness. And they brought these sacrifices
of firstfruits, these oblations of firstfruits in the full anticipation of resurrection glory. They believed
not only in the coming of Christ and atonement by him who would
come, they believed in the second coming of Christ and the resurrection
from the dead with him. How do you know that? Because
Enoch, way back before the flood, prophesied, behold, he cometh
with 10,000 of his saints. And they lived on the tiptoe
of anticipation, looking for Christ to come and accomplish
this wondrous thing called redemption. And now we look back and see
all that he has done and what he's doing. And behold, he cometh
with 10,000 of his saints. And we worship God just like
they did, believing on his Son. Amen.