Through the daily Bible readings we read the account of the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ eight times a year. And over the years that turns out to be quite a few times. For sure, the first time we read this account we read it differently than we read it today. The first time we probably read it with horror at the physical pain that Christ had to endure, and as we read it through the years we begin to see other things in the account . . . the great sacrifice that he made, the fulfillment of many prophecies, and the symbols that were all brought together in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. So it changes through the years. We don’t get insensitive about the crucifixion, we just see more things in it. Let us look at one of the thoughts or concepts that has to do with being the first. We will use the following verse for the theme.
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” I Cor. 15:20
Consider Themes of First Fruits
So let’s consider the theme of first-fruits. This thought is taken from the Old Testament and its pointing back to the symbolic ordinances of the law of Moses where the firstborn and firstfruits were symbolic in pointing forward to Christ. But actually it points back much further than that. It goes back to Abel in Genesis 4:4, the first sacrifice performed by man. We see what was needed to have a proper sacrifice.
“And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.”
So proper sacrifices involved things that were first: firstfruits, firstlings, and firstborn sons. Let us look in the law and see the significance of these things.
“Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.” Exodus 13:2
Here we see that the firstborn of animals or humans were to be sanctified or made holy to God. Let’s look at verses 11 to 13.
“And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, that thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the Lord’s. And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.”
It was so important that if they would not redeem the animal, they would have to kill it. Now why was it so important? In verses 14 to 16 it goes on to explain that the reason they were to do all this was as a remembrance of what happened to them in the first passover . . . that they were redeemed out of bondage from Egypt and the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. In observing these ordinances their children who weren’t there would see that this happened and their parents would be reminded to tell them about it, so this miracle of escaping Egypt would not be lost in the minds of future generations.
Another aspect of the firstborn animal is found in Deut. 15:21.
“And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God.”
So when they were to give these firstlings they had to be perfect animals. They couldn’t have any physical defect. Also the eldest son was to be redeemed or devoted to God. In their case an offering was made.
Now let’s consider firstfruits. As the firstborn is important so are the firstfruits. We can see this from Exodus 23:19.
“The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God .
There was also a feast of the firstfruits. We read about it in Leviticus 23:10-12.
“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the 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.”
This was given when they were in the wilderness but when they got into the land and started farming and planting crops, three days after the passover which was the day after the sabbath, they were to bring their sheaves to the priest to offer them up for the Lord. If they didn’t do this then they couldn’t eat of their harvest until such time as they brought the sheaf for the offering.
Jesus, Our Passover lamb. .. Without Blemish
The reason for bringing out these verses is to point out the significance in regards to the sacrifice of Christ. Jesus, as we know from the New Testament, was our passover lamb. He was the firstling of God, His only begotten son. And of course he had no blemish like we have blemishes. We sin and thus are lame and blind, but Jesus didn’t sin and was the perfect sacrifice. We also know that the reason for the passover lamb was for a remembrance, and in like manner the breaking of bread is our remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice. But Jesus was not only the passover lamb, he was also the sheaf of the firstfruits. We see this from Matthew 28:1.
“In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.”
Jesus Is the First . . . of the Harvest
It was this day that Jesus rose from the dead, which was three days after his death. This is the very day that the sheaf was waved. He represents the sheaf of the firstfruits that was instituted back in Leviticus 23, pointing towards his resurrection. This is how Jesus is the first-fruits of them that slept. It’s a very significant phrase and no doubt Paul, when he wrote Corinthians had this in mind. Jesus is the first of the harvest and so the harvest has truly begun. Also this is our assurance that those who are sleeping in Christ will be raised again at the end of the, harvest and be able to take part in the kingdom.
But now we are going to look a bit closer than we have at these types. Types and symbols help us to increase our faith. They help us see that this book couldn’t have been written by just plain men. All these symbols tie together in a supernatural way that only God could be behind. Also types and symbols are to teach us how to live our lives, and the way we conduct our lives is just as important. Let’s take note of a couple of things. First, that the people under the law were required to sanctify their firstfruits, sanctify their first born, and sanctify their firstlings of the flock. The second thing is that God did the same in like manner. God sacrificed and sanctified His Son, His only begotten Son. So we see this example is doubly set forth to us. What is the meaning of all this to us? Is this a life style or attitude we should have? Are we required to give the firstlings of our flock? If so, how do we do that in modern times when few of us have flocks ? If there’s a principle involved how do we apply it?
Let’s consider why God requires the first. The first reason is found in Col. 1:18.
“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
Christ was the first and thus had the preeminence over all others. God considers the first: the preeminent, or the best, or that which stands out above all others. And if God has declared this fact to us, then we should also regard the first as very important.
Now the second reason is the key to this matter. It’s found in Romans 11:16.
“For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.”
God Asks for … . for the First
We see that if the first things, the firstfruits are holy, in God’s eyes the whole thing is holy or sanctified. If we can sanctify the first things in our lives, then God will consider our whole lump holy. This is a wonderful thing to know. It’s as certain as any law of nature, like the law of gravity, and our giving of our firstfruits is the greatest investment we can make. Simply sanctify the firstfruits, whatever they are, and the rest is holy. Does God require us to give all our money? Does He require us to spend all our time in the Lord’s work only? Does He require all our energy and effort to be only for the Lord’s Work? No. He doesn’t. But by giving our firstfruits then He will sanctify the whole thing. He doesn’t ask for all, but He asks for the first. The same idea works so beautifully with Jesus and his sacrifice. God doesn’t ask us to crucify ourselves on a cross. Christ, the firstling of God did it once for all of us, and thus we are all made holy by this sacrifice. By attaching ourselves to this root, which is Christ, we too become holy as the root is holy.
Let’s look at some examples in the Bible where this concept is shown. In the story of Elijah he was in Zarephath and approached a widow during the famine who was preparing her last meal before giving up.
“And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.” I Kings 17:11-13
On the surface it would seem like a little too much to ask, seeing it was their last meal. Even those who are about to be executed today get one last meal which they certainly don’t have to share. But God requires us to give first, as Elijah did of the widow, and she had no lack during the whole famine. It’s just like the law of gravity; it works every time. When we give God the first in our lives we will never lack, and the rest is made holy.
Another place that shows how important the first is, is found in Luke 9:59.
“And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord suffer me first to go and bury my father.”
This attitude was not acceptable to Jesus. The first is exactly what he wanted from this man. To give all but our first-fruits is to sanctify nothing. The summary to all this is found in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:33
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Let’s look now at our own lives specifically. We live in the 20th century and have our own set of problems. And how do we give our firstfruits? Most do not have farms or own livestock. So we’re going to take a few categories that are modern applications where firstfruits may be given.
First Category . . Money
The first and most obvious category is money. Do we devote to God the first of our money? Most of us get paid regularly, either by the government or by our employer. Payday is usually each week, 2 weeks, twice a month, or monthly. There’s no real harvest time when we gather all the goods in for the year. It’s such a regular thing that when is the first, anyway? What we have to look at is what our attitude is when we give money. Are there ways that we can give first? Using examples from my own life (bad examples that is) we can see how not to give first. Often when we get paid we deposit the check and start paying our bills. We go through all our bills that have to be paid before next payday writing checks for each one. After paying the bills we then figure out how much we need for groceries etc., until next payday. After subtracting all these figures we come up with a balance of what’s left. It’s at this point that we decide when and how much we can afford to give to the Lord’s work. This is definitely not giving of the first. Another way that closely resembles the same technique is to write out your check to give to the Lord’s work but hold it until the balance looks good enough to release it. You may have written the check first but you really didn’t give it first. This isn’t the way it should be. You see, the people in a harvest took the sheaf of the firstfruits while all the standing grain was out there waiting to be harvested. As they took the firstfruits to the Lord they knew they had to go back and live off the rest waiting to be harvested. They had to have some faith that they could live off the rest, but writing your checks like the bad examples listed is not having faith that we can live off the rest. We’re waiting to see what the rest is first and then act accordingly. This is just one example with money which can be applied to first-fruits. We need to give first without regard to how much may be left afterwards. Jesus told the rich man to sell all that he had and give to the poor. We haven’t been asked to do the same literally, but each of us can certainly give the first. Then according to the wonderful principle, the rest will be made holy by the offering.
Second Category . . . Time
Another aspect in our lives that relates to harvesting is how we use our time. It not only took an investment of money, but also a lot of their time to gather in the grain. And so, all the fields were ripe with grain and then they were to go up to Jerusalem for their feasts while it just stood there. It was an investment of very valuable time to give the firstfruits and we too must give the first of our time to the Lord’s work. But what’s the first of our time? Is it the first thing we do when we get up in the morning? Well, it might be, but more importantly it must relate to the preeminent part of our time, our free time. Sometimes, depending on our situation, the first thing in the morning is not our disposable time at all. But how do we use our free time and how do we allocate it? Once again we can do it like we did paying our bills. We can do our chores, we can putter around a little and maybe talk to some friends on the phone, and finally as the evening wears down we may get around to the Lord’s work. You see, we’ve put it off to the end again, doing the Bible readings, preparing a Sunday School class or something. We didn’t give the first, waiting to see how much time was left over and then we used that. How do we use our free time? What do we reserve for the best of our time? When your mind is alert and you’re feeling your best what do you do? And the weekends, how do you use the best of this free time? You see, if God gets our leftovers then we are not really giving Him our firstfruits.
The last category we’ll consider is our energy and effort. This is related to everything we do, including our time and money, but we’re going to look at it separately. What do our best and first efforts go for? Lots of times we put our best effort into our house or making a nice dress for an occasion. Or maybe our best goes into planning a nice vacation or having a set retirement. Sometimes we might miss meeting on a bad day for us. We just might not feel up to going. However if we felt this way in the middle of the week on a work day and we didn’t have any sick leave left, we might make the effort to work that day. We need to examine where we put our first energy and effort towards. Also where do we put our best creativity to work? Once again God does not like leftovers, even warmed up leftovers. Many of us do not like leftovers and some do, but we know for sure that God doesn’t like leftovers. But if we give God the firstfruits, this wonderful principle will take hold, that the rest will be sanctified in God’s sight.
So we’re left with a very simple conclusion. Just give God the firstfruits and the whole will be made holy, or give God the leftovers and nothing will be holy. This law is as sure as the law of gravity, it happens every time. When we come to the table on Sunday, we see this wonderful symbol, that God gave His firstfruits for us and in Jesus we see that the very best was given on our behalf. And because Jesus gave everything that he had and was crucified, the rest of us are sanctified in God’s sight. It’s a wonderful thing.
And so, let’s marvel at these ideas as we consider the crucifixion of Christ in the eight readings a year. By doing this we will be motivated to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness . . . for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One