Did you ever notice as you read
the scriptures, or as you read the scriptures, how that our
God graciously and wisely revealed himself to us in this book by
progressive degrees of revelation? He didn't give us the scriptures
all at one time, but rather they were written over a period of
many, many years by numerous men in various circumstances.
And in the same way, it is true that God still, in a sense, reveals
himself progressively to us. He reveals himself to us in his
saving grace, and then he teaches us. He doesn't give us everything
all at once, because we can't take it all in. In Genesis chapter
1, as the book opens, it begins with these words in the beginning,
God. And thereby, he teaches us that
everything begins with him. All things are of God. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. The creation is God's work. The
old creation of nature and the new creation of grace is altogether
his work. And then something happened.
The earth became without form and void. And darkness was upon
the face of the deep. The earth, God's creation, came
under cataclysmic judgment. For what reason, we don't know.
We know the earth was not created without form and void. God makes
everything perfect. It became without form and void. Darkness covered the deep. The
earth was in chaos, covered with darkness. What a picture of our
fallen race. And then the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the earth, and everything's made new by the
hand of God. That's a picture of God's grace
in the new birth. When Adam and Eve had sinned
in the garden, the very first word God spoke to the fallen
pair with regard to hope was the promise that he would send
one who would be the seed of the woman, who would crush the
serpent's head. And thereby, he portrayed for
us and for them the hope of redemption and salvation through a man,
but not a mere man, a man who is seed of woman, one who is
incarnate, born of the Virgin. And so Adam and Eve hoped for
life through a man coming who would crush the serpent's head
and undo all that he had done in the ruin of our fallen race.
And then the Lord pictured what he was going to do. He took an
innocent victim and killed it. A victim slain because of Adam's
transgression. A victim slain in the room instead
of Adam and Eve because God must punish sin. And he took the clothes
or the skins of that victim and made clothes for Adam and Eve. What a picture of redemption
and righteousness and grace. How does God save sinners? Only
by substitution. Only by punishing sin to the
full satisfaction of his justice in an all-sufficient substitute
who is God and man in one glorious person, Jesus Christ the Lord. And the Lord God, with the hand
of his grace and the hand of his justice, takes the perfect
righteousness of his darling son, the Lamb of God, and robes
his people in the spotless garments of his righteousness, so that
we are both made to be pardoned of all sin and perfectly righteous,
standing accepted before God. God, throughout the book, reveals
his work and his purpose of redemption and grace, a little here and
a little there, one thing building on another, until at last we
had the full revelation of his grace. Over in Leviticus 23,
as the Lord God reveals his purpose of grace, he established seven
feasts. by which the children of Israel
were commanded to come and worship him every year. Seven feasts
they were to keep throughout their generations. And these
feasts, one builds upon the other in the revelation of grace. The
first feast to be observed on the 14th day of the first month
of every year was the Feast of Passover, picturing Christ, our
Passover, who was sacrificed for us, showing how that God
saved sinners by the sacrifice of his darling son, the Lamb
of God slain from the foundation of the world. And then the Feast
of Unleavened Bread is a picture of faith that was to be held
on the 15th day, the day immediately following the Passover. The Feast
of Unleavened Bread pictures the believers' life of faith
in this world. But now, there is no faith without
redemption. The Feast of Unleavened Bread
could not be kept without the Passover. And so we have life
and faith by Jesus Christ, our Lord. We live before God because
Christ has redeemed us. All for whom the Paschal Lamb
was slain kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread. and all for whom Jesus
Christ died at Calvary are in the time of God's love at the
appointed time of grace made to live before Him and given
faith in Him and feed upon Him through the days of their lives.
And then in verses 9 through 14, we come to the Feast of Firstfruits. This Feast of Firstfruits speaks
of the resurrection which follows the life of faith in Christ the
Lord. Read with me beginning at verse
9. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto the children
of Israel, and say unto them, when you come into the land which
I give you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then shall you
bring a sheaf of firstfruits 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 you shall offer that day,
when you waive the sheaf lamb, a he lamb, without blemish of
the first year, for a burnt offering unto the Lord. And the meat offering
thereof shall be two tent deals of fine flour mingled with oil,
an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savor. And the drink offering thereof
shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hen. And you shall
eat neither bread nor parched corn nor green ears until the
same day that you have brought an offering unto your God. It
shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your
dwellings. Now turn to 1 Corinthians 15.
We're going to look at several passages of scripture this morning.
1 Corinthians 15, I told you that this wave of the firstfruits,
this feast of the firstfruits, was a picture of the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and ultimately of our resurrection
in, with, and by Christ Jesus. And the basis for that statement
is 1 Corinthians 15. Look at verse 19. The Apostle
Paul is addressing the issue of the resurrection. In his day,
as in ours, there were many who thought they were smarter than
God and thought they knew more than God knew. And they denied
the resurrection. They said, that's a myth. That's
just a story folks have invented. There's nothing to it. And Paul
says, if that's the case, we're found false witnesses of God.
And we worship a false god and a false Christ. The resurrection,
the hope of the resurrection, was held before the children
of God throughout the days of the Old Testament and in the
New. And we who believe recognize
the days coming when our God shall come in the person of his
Son and raise the dead, both the righteous and the wicked,
unto everlasting life or into everlasting damnation. And Paul
says in verse 19, If in this life only we have hope in Christ,
we are of all men most miserable. Now, that does not mean that
if all there was to life is life in this world, then following
Christ and living for Christ would be a miserable thing. And that's exactly the concept
most folks have, because their religion is miserable. Their
religion is bondage and not liberty. Their religion brings them into
great constraints, and they're not allowed to be and do what
they want to be and do. That's not the case here. What
Paul is saying is this. We live in hope of that day when
we shall be set free from sin. When God shall roll away from
us all the bondage of Egypt, when God Almighty shall make
all things new, and we shall live before Him in the perfect
righteousness which Christ has given us, and that perfect righteousness
which shall be ours ultimately by experience as well as by imputation. And we shall live before Him
with no fear, no thought of ever sinning against
Him. forever. Now, to be deprived of that is
most miserable. Read on. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become, what did I tell you, the first fruits
of them that slept. For since by man came death,
since we died by a representative man, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. We're going to live by a representative
man. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. But every man in his own order,
Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ at his coming.
Then cometh the end. When he shall have delivered
up the kingdom unto God, even the Father. When he shall have
put down all rule and authority and power. For he must reign. He must reign till he hath put
all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under
his feet. But when he saith all things
are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did
put all things under him. God the Father put all things
under the feet of his Son as our mediator and substitute.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall
the Son, our mediator, our substitute, the God-man also himself be subject
to him that put all things under him. That is, the son is going
to finally present the kingdom to the father and say, here,
I've done everything stipulated in the covenant. It's over. It's
finished. The work is done. That God may
be all and in all. The Feast of the Firstfruits,
back here in Leviticus 23, was a celebration of God's provision
before it was ever obtained. It was a celebration of God's
provision before it was ever obtained. It was a celebration
of that provision which God had for His people in the land of
Canaan. The feast was established by
divine ordinance, by divine law, back here in Leviticus 23, 40
years, 40 years before it was ever kept. God said, you keep
this feast, but don't keep it until you come into the land
that I'll give you. So the children of Israel lived
for 40 years eating manna. And then they came into the land
of Canaan, and the manna ceased. That was the food of their wilderness
journey. When they arrived in Canaan to
celebrate the promise of God's abundant harvest in the land
of provision, they observed this feast for the first time, along
with the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Turn to
Joshua chapter 5. Let me show you. Joshua 5. Joshua now has brought Israel
into the land of Canaan. You remember Moses couldn't.
Moses had to die because Moses represented the law, and law
can never bring us into heavenly glory. We cannot be saved by
what we do. But Joshua, whose name means
Jesus, deliverer, redeemer, came up after Moses, and he stands
in the room instead of Moses and brings Israel into the land
of promise. And now in verse 9 of chapter
5, the very first week after they arrived in the land of Canaan,
the Lord said to Joshua, this day have I rolled away the reproach
of Egypt from off you. Wherefore, the name of the place
is called Gilgal unto this day. The name of the place is called,
listen now, Liberty. I brought you now who were bondmen
into Liberty. Verse 10. And the children of
Israel encamped in Liberty and kept the Passover on the fourteenth
day of the month and even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn
of the land on the morrow after the Passover, after the Sabbath.
Unleavened cakes and parched corn in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow
after they had eaten of the old corn of the land. Neither had
the children of Israel manna anymore, but they did eat of
the fruit to the land of Canaan that year. The harvest, spoken
of back here in this Feast of Firstfruits, represents all God's
elect who shall be saved. The harvest is that which Christ
shall gather out of the earth to Himself. He is gathering His
elect now. He has been gathering them ever
since Adam and Eve fell in the garden. And He will continue
to gather them until the end of time. And then He shall come
after He has finished all His work. He has put His sickle in
the earth, the sickle of the gospel, and He's gathering His
harvest. And then He shall come and gather
us up to glory. The harvest, then, represents
the whole host of God's elect, every sinner chosen, redeemed
by God Almighty, chosen from eternity and redeemed at Calvary,
who shall be called and shall at last be with Christ in glory.
Yes, there is a people in this world called God's elect. There
is a thing called the election of grace, and every sinner of
whom God Almighty said from eternity, you shall be my people, shall
be his. Everybody said, but, that's the
language of goats. But, but, but, you'll but your
way right out of the kingdom of God. It's exactly right. Salvation is of the Lord and
He chose to save somebody. Thank God He did. If He hadn't
chosen to save you, David Peterson, you'd wind up in hell. That's
just fact. All God's got to do is leave
you alone and you're going to hell. Unless God intervenes and
rescues you from your imaginary free will, unless God intervenes
and makes you willing in the day of His power to believe on
His Son, you'll never believe on Him. But blessed be God, somebody
shall believe. There is a harvest that shall
be gathered. The first fruits is the guarantee. The firstfruits is the pledge.
The firstfruits is the assurance. The firstfruits is the declaration
that harvest is at hand. And that represents Christ the
Lord. Now let's look at the ceremony first. And let me give you just
a brief account of the ceremony as it took place in the land
of Israel. The ceremony began on the 16th
day of the first month of the year. That month is sometimes
called abib, which means year of corn, and sometimes it's called
nisan, which means beginning. 14th day was the Passover, 15th
day unleavened bread. And the 16th day begins the feast
of firstfruits. When the children of Israel had
planted their crops every year, they'd plant their barley in
the field and they'd mark off the section. a specific design
section. It was planted specifically for
this purpose. And when the harvest was about
to come in, when the time came for them to gather in the harvest,
before they did anything else, the men of Israel went out on
the 16th day of the first month of the year. The first month
of the year. Now, that doesn't correspond
to our January. That corresponds to springtime
in Israel. Their calendar was different.
But on the first month of the year, when redemption began for
Israel, they'd go out, and they would take the sickle, and they'd
go to that pre-assigned, marked-out place in the barley field, and
they would gather in one sheaf, just one sheaf. Every man in
Israel gathered one sheaf out of the barley field, and they
would bring that one sheaf to the priest, along with oil and
wine. and a burnt offering. And they
would offer that sheaf to the priest who would take it and
wave it before God to be accepted for the people along with their
other sacrifices. The priest, of course, represents
the Lord Jesus Christ, our priest, by whom alone we have access
to and find acceptance with God. The sheaf of firstfruits, as
I've spoken already, speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was
waved before the Lord. Just waved before the Lord. Can you imagine
the delight? Just waving that sheaf before
the Lord. Here we are! Accepted. waved before the Lord. That's
Christ Jesus in glory, who has gone into heaven as our forerunner,
having obtained eternal redemption before us, waving before the
Lord. Acceptance. Acceptance. And the
burnt offering, of course, of the He Lamb typified Christ,
the Lamb of God, by whom we have atonement. The meal offering
mingled with oil, You'll notice it was said to be two-tenth deals. That's twice as much as on any
other occasion. Twice as much. They come here
and they bring a meal offering which is the sustenance of life. There they bring that on which
they depend. Let me see if I can put it in
modern language. They go get everything out of
the freezer they put up last year. Everything. And they bring it to God. Now,
wait a minute. What if something happens? What if Hale falls and
the barley beat down? But if God sends a strong wind
and a rain and floods the place, after we bring this sheaf to
the Lord and we've already brought our meal offering to Him, we've
emptied the freezer and emptied the cupboards and all the canned
goods are gone, we bring this to God, what can we expect? We can expect God to provide.
They come and bring that which represents the whole of life
to the Lord God. And they bring it, declaring
that all things are yours, including us. And we look to you and depend
on you and you alone to provide everything for us. And so they
bring this meal offering ceremonially as a symbolic representation
of faith, believing God, believing Him. and they bring it before
they ever have one bite of corn oozing with butter off the fields
of that new harvest. They can't eat anything until
they brought everything. Did you get it? They can't eat
anything until they brought everything. You can never Eat Christ the
Lord and the bounty provision God has for sinners in Christ
until you bring him everything. Everything. And they were commanded
to bring this meal offering, this meat offering, with wine. That'd give the teetotalers something
to talk about, wouldn't it? and commanded to bring their
meal offering with wine. Why? Listen to this. Wine maketh
glad the heart of man. That's what the book says. And
oil makes his face to shine, and bread strengthens his heart. And so they come and bring that
which was the strength of heart and life, they bring it to God
with a shining face rejoicing before Him because their hearts
are glad. representing that there's nothing
grudging about this. We've now brought the Lord God
our meal offering with this wave of firstfruits and we bring it
to Him because that's just the way we want to live. We want
to live believing God. We want to live depending on
God. All of this was done before they were allowed to gather anything
from the fields for themselves. They gave thanks to God for the
harvest. while it still stood in the field. In other words, they dipped every
temporal blessing in the fountain of life and grace before ever
tasting it for themselves. Brought everything to God. Everything. It's yours. Now, we'll go home and eat some
corn. They came and worshiped him.
And God accepted both the people and their sacrifice as a sweet
savor with which he is well pleased. We bring our gifts here. And they just represent a little
part of what we bring. We bring our praise, our worship,
our adoration. But all these things are but
a declaration to God. I'm yours. And everything I have, I have
been trusted with as a steward before you to honor you. And I depend on you for everything,
both temporal and eternal, both material and spiritual, both
that which is required for my body and my welfare physically
in this world, my body and my welfare emotionally in this world,
and that which is required for my soul and my welfare eternally. So Lord God, everything, you're
first. You're first. You're not just
the most important thing in my life, you are my life. First. All right, now, here's the second
thing. I want you to see, and I want to see and acknowledge
myself, God's rightful claim to the firstfruits. The firstfruits. God claims the firstfruits of
everything. The firstfruits belong to Him.
Even before their harvest, He claims the firstfruits of everything. That is, He has first claim on
our lives. Everything on the earth, both
man and beast, was presented before the Lord God as the firstfruits
to Him. Turn to one passage in this regard,
Exodus 13. You can look at it later in Deuteronomy
26, the firstfruits of all the earth were presented to the Lord
at His altar in praise and thanksgiving with willing heart. Here in Exodus
chapter 12, the Lord God declares that the firstborn both of man
and beast as well as the field were sanctified, made holy and
presented to Him. Exodus 13 verse 2, sanctify unto
me all the firstborn. Whatsoever openeth the will among
the children of Israel, both of man and of beast, it's mine. I recall. Shortly after Faith
was born, back in those days, either we didn't have good sense
or the doctors didn't. We didn't keep them in for a
year before we took them out, you know. And just as soon as you
get them home, you take them out, wrap them up, and show them
to everybody. Faith was born in February. Shelby
and I were walking down the street in the pastor's house one day,
decided to go in and show this old preacher our newborn baby. He must have been 80 years old.
And he was just happy as he could be. And before we left, he took his hands and put them on the
head of that child and prayed. And he prayed just like I'd been
praying for nine months. Lord, this child is yours. You gave her, but she's yours. Take her now. Have mercy on her. Firstfruits of everything. Firstfruits
of everything. She's yours. How can you do that? How can
you not? She's yours. Do with her as you
will. Because you see, faith begins
this way. I'm yours. I've been bought with a price. I've been saved by your free
grace. Oh, Son of God, I acknowledge your claim as Lord and gladly
with wine and with my face rejoicing, I offer to you myself." Firstfruits. Firstfruits. And that's not That's not, Ron,
after faith matures for 25 years, you decide to let Jesus be your
Lord and become a good disciple. These churches all over the world
have discipleship training. You know what that means? We're
going to take reprobate, unbelieving, ungodly wretches who've made
a profession of religion and teach them how to live like Pharisees. God's people are trained to be
disciples at the very beginning. They give themselves to Christ. All right, here's the third thing. I want you to see the message
of the Feast of Firstfruits. Here's the message. Resurrection
and salvation. Now, get your pen and paper out.
I want you to jot these down. I found this remarkable. I'd
never noticed it before in preparing this message. There are many, many, many events
recorded in Scripture that took place on this very day, on this
very day that God ordained to be the day for the Feast of Firstfruits. And every one of them, every
one of them, buddy, speak of resurrection and salvation. Everyone
up. It was on this day, Genesis chapter
8 verse 4, that Noah and his ark rested after the flood was
expended on Mount Erreth. On this very day. After Noah
and his family had gone through the storm of God's wrath, in
the ark Christ Jesus, redemption was accomplished, and they rested
on Mount Ararat. It was on this day, on this very
day, Exodus 14, that Israel came out of Egypt with a high hand
by God's outstretched arm and His almighty omnipotent hand.
On this very day, the picture of redemption, deliverance experienced,
our salvation in Christ Jesus by God's free grace took place
back in Exodus 14. On this day, on this very day,
Israel ate the first fruits in the promised land. We read it
in Joshua 5, picture and glory obtained. They came into the land and took
possession of it. On the 14th day, they kept the
Feast of Passover. On the 15th day, they kept the
Feast of Unleavened Bread. And then on this day, the Feast
of Firstfruits. The manna God gave them from
heaven during all the days of their wilderness journey ceased
the 16th day of Nisan, the new beginning. after the people of
the land ate the old cord of the land. And then the following
day was the 17th of Nisan, the day the children of Israel ate
the first fruits. Now, be sure you read the book
of Esther, chapter 3 particularly. On this very day, the day When
God commanded Israel to eat the first fruits on this very day,
Haman was hanged on this very day. The book of Esther describes
a plot by this man Haman to kill the Jews who were in Persia in
Media. He had 10 sons who followed him.
Haman pretty clearly represents pictures, the false messiah,
the Antichrist. And a decree was sent out on
the 13th day of Nisan that all the Jews must be killed. And
when she heard that news, Esther proclaimed a three-day fast,
which would be Nisan 14, 15, and 16. On the 16th day, Esther
took her life in her hands. She risked her life and went
in before the king, Ahasuerus, No man dare come in except by
invitation from the king himself. But she said, if I perish, I'll
perish. I'm going to the king. And when
the king saw her, he said, in effect, what is it that you want?
And this is what she said. If it seemed good to the king,
let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have
prepared for him. That was the 16th day. At the
banquet, the king again asked her what she wanted. And she
asked the king to come to another banquet to be held the next day,
the 17th day of Nisan. And on that day, Haman, Antichrist, Satan, all the foes
of God's elect were hanged on the gallows they had made for
the children of Israel. Salvation. It's sure enough,
sure enough going to be completed according to God's purpose, even
by the hands of those who would destroy us. And then our Lord
Jesus, turn to John chapter 12, was resurrected on this very
day. He celebrated the festival of
firstfruits by offering himself as the firstfruits to God for
all future generations of his people. In John chapter 12, listen
to how he describes himself, verse 23. Philip came and brought these
Gentiles who came and said, Sirs, we would see Jesus. And the Lord
Jesus looks on those Gentiles along with His other disciples
and He sees in them that which He had come to accomplish, the
redemption of His people, the gathering together of His people
out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. And in verse
23 He says, Jesus answered them saying, The hour has come that
the Son of Man should be glorified. How's that going to be? Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone. Take that little grain of high
ole chief or extra sweet corn, that one little kernel, just
that one little kernel right there, and hang on to it. Stick it in your pocket. Carry
it around and you'll die. But you take that one little
grain, stick it in the ground. Next spring and in the fall,
go out there and get hundreds more, hundreds more out of that
one little grain. The Lord Jesus said, I'm the
grain of corn. I'm going to the ground. And
I'm going to bring forth fruit. Look at it. If it died, bringeth
forth much fruit. Back in Matthew 27. Matthew 27. Let's start with chapter 28. On the next day after the Sabbath,
as was commanded back in Leviticus 23, the Son of God arose from
the dead. and stood upon the earth with
a multitude of resurrected men, waving before God, the firstfruits.
Look here, Matthew 28. In the end of the Sabbath, as
it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, on the next
day after the Sabbath, when the real Sabbath began. Now look
back here in chapter 27, verse 52. Look what happened. When Christ
died and rose again on that first day after the Sabbath, when the
law was fulfilled and thereby ended, when the new Sabbath of
grace had begun, when salvation had been accomplished, when the
new creation worked, we read in verse 52, the graves were
opened, and many of the bodies of the saints which slept arose. and came out of the graves, watch
this, after his resurrection and went into the holy city and
appeared to many. Now back to Matthew 28. In the
end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day
of the week, as it began to dawn toward the Sabbath, Came Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold,
there was a great earthquake. For the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door
and sat upon it. And his countenance was like
lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for the fear of
him, the keepers did shake and became his dead men. And the
angel answered and said to the women, fear not ye. For I know
that you seek Jesus, which was crucified." Bless God. He's not here. He's not here. Come see the place
where the Lord lay. And the Lord Jesus had risen
from the dead. And with Him, many of the saints
had risen and walked on the earth. And Larry Brown, that's what
he's going to do with us. He gonna make all things new and
we shall rise with Him and we shall spend eternity with Him
living in the glory land of the new creation. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
first fruits. He was delivered because of our
offenses and He was raised again because of our justification. He is the first fruits Standing
before God. Now here he is. Here's the lamb
by whom atonement is made. Standing before God. Here is the wave of the firstfruits. Standing before God. The firstfruits, you know what
it represents? The whole thing. The whole thing. And the Lord God smells it, says
it's a sweet safer. Christ is the first fruits. He's
the one who has preeminence. Oh, and God speaks to so he has
preeminence in everything. Watch this. He's the first born
of Mary. He's the first begotten of the
Father. He's the firstborn of every creature. He's the first begotten from
the dead. He's the firstborn among many
brethren. He's the firstfruits of the resurrection. He's the beginning of the creation
of God. He, in all things, has preeminence. Now, turn back to 1 Corinthians
15. Now Christ is risen from the dead and become
the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came
death, I'm reading verse 21, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam all died, just
like we died in a representative manner. Even so, in Christ shall
all be made alive. We're going to be made to live
because of and by a representative man. But every man in his own
order. Christ the firstfruits. Now watch
this. Afterward, the day that of Christ,
that is coming. Oh, there is a day coming. When
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead
in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. As if that weren't enough. As
if this expectation weren't enough. The Apostle Paul tells us in
Romans chapter 8 that we have already sort of experienced the
firstfruits. He says, we have the firstfruits
of the Spirit. Even we ourselves, waiting for
the adoption to wit the redemption of our body, we have the firstfruits.
The firstfruits is the pledge, the promise of the whole thing.
You see, the scriptures speak of two resurrections, not two
bodily resurrections. No, no, no, no, no. Scriptures
never speak of anything like that, but two resurrections. The first
resurrection is the first fruits of the second resurrection. The
first resurrection is our resurrection from spiritual death to spiritual
life by the power of Jesus Christ pouring out his Holy Spirit,
calling life out of death. This is what he says. Blessed
and holy are they that have part in the first resurrection On
such the second death has no power in other words Paul says
we have now the first fruits of Everlasting glory because
God has put his spirit in us We've received the pledge the
promise the down payment the earnest of our inheritance But the first fruits The first
fruits means there's something else
to follow.