God told Moses to speak to the children of Israel concerning His feasts:
“In the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days you must eat unleavened bread. … When you are 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.”
Leviticus 23:5-10
Does God require that you bring the first stalks of wheat that come out of your garden? What if you can’t grow wheat? Does that make you unacceptable? This seems silly. There must be more to this than what’s on the surface. Let’s take a look at other places in God’s word to see if we can gain a better understanding of what’s being said here…
“Of His own will begat He us with the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of ‘firstfruits’ of His creation. Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God… But you be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: For he beholds himself and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was. But whoso looks into the perfect Law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
James 1:18-25
“For if the casting away of His people is the reconciling/atonement of the world/cosmos, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root is holy, so are the branches.”
Romans 11:15-16
Most denominations in the world today teach that Y’hoshua/Jesus was physically resurrected. There are things in God’s Word which mean something more than what’s on the surface. This is the case with Y’hoshua’s resurrection from the dead.
Resurrection from the dead
The definitions of being dead are as follows:
- One who has breathed his last (breath)
- Lifeless
- Destitute of life, without life, inanimate
- Spiritually dead- destitute of a life that recognizes and is devoted to God, because given up to trespasses and sins
- Inactive as respects doing right
- Powerless and fruitless.
“Y’hoshua said: I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.“
John 14:6
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might understand. He was not that Light but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, but the world didn’t know him. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the children of God, even to them that understand his Name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…“
John 1:6-14
The Bread from Heaven
“Y’hoshua said: I say to you, He that understands me has everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die/be dead. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live … and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the cosmos. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Y’hoshua said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
Jesus, John 6:47-53
“His flesh is the Word, and his blood is the Holy Spirit. He who has received these has food and he has drink and clothing.“
Philip, The Gospel of Philip :17
If Y’hoshua’s flesh is the Word, and he said that he is the way, the truth and the Life, the Word of God is what we need to be made alive. When you partake in the Word of God and understand what it is truly saying, you will be compelled to remove yourself from the traditional houses of assembly. Those preachers and priests are just like the Pharisees whom he likened to whitewashed tombs, and those who are in there are as the dead. If you come out of these places of assembly, it is like being given the ‘breath of life’ and you will be considered as one who is resurrected from the dead.
“Those who say that the Lord died first and then rose up are in error, for he rose up first and then died. If one does not first attain the resurrection will he not die? As God lives, he would be already dead.“
Philip, The Gospel of Philip :15
The Firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so by way of Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s…“
1 Cor 15:20-23
“I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand … And I heard a voice from Heaven … and as the voice of a great thunder … These are they which follow the Lamb … These were redeemed from among men, being the ‘firstfruits’ unto God and to the Lamb… And in their mouth was found no guile/deceit: for they are without fault before the throne of God.“
Rev 14:1-5
King of kings, Lord of lords
“And I saw Heaven opened and behold a white horse; and he that sits upon him is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war. His eyes are as a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns; and he has a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.”
Rev 19:11-13
Christ was the first one to come out from the dead and he always said to his disciples, “follow me”. There are others who will also come out from the dead, and become the firstfruits which are acceptable as a meal offering as called for in the Law. Strive to make yourself one of them.