Introduction
I have heard it said many times that Easter celebrates the Feast of First Fruits… This is true in a way but Easter celebrates with candy, eggs, and bunnies with a sunrise or regular service that acknowledges that Jesus raised from the dead. It is simply focused on the resurrection, which is great! But it misses the bulk of the meaning the Festival of First fruits. This holiday is not only rich in meaning, it is vital to understanding our salvation through Yeshua. Easter follows the pagan formula which hinges on the spring equinox and on reworking a series of pagan practices and a holiday to celebrate resurrection. The Feast of First Fruits is a direct fulfillment of many scriptures which look forward to Messiah, who Messiah is, our standing in Messiah, and at end time prophecy. This Festival is deep with meaning that is critical for understanding our walk and purpose on the earth.
We are going to look at the biblical truth behind the Feast of the First Fruits, how it applies to the resurrection (Lev 23:10-14) and how it applies to Pentecost (Shavuot) (Lev 23:16-21). We will be looking at the Jewish custom of counting the Omer, and the reason behind this (Lev 23:15-16). We will be looking at the gift that God promises and the anticipation of it. This festival spans 50 days making it the longest festival on the Jewish calendar. God loaded this festival with fantastic symbolism explained by Yeshua, Paul, and Old and New Testament writers explaining how it applies to our Messiah.
Leviticus 23:10–21.
The Feast of the First Fruits is commanded by God as an everlasting ordinance continuing forever (Lev 23:14, 21). The first day of this feast landed on the first day of the week following Sabbath after the Passover Seder. The feast landed on a Sunday because part of the festival involved work for everyone (Lev 23:10-14)! The farmers were to gather a sheaf of barley and take it to the priest. He would wave the sheaf before the Lord as an offering to Him. The sheaf offering included other sacrifices which were offered to the Lord, these are not possible today but will be resumed in the Millennium. It is also important to see that the farmer was not allowed to harvest any of the crop for personal use until this offering was made (Lev 23:14). This prohibition clearly designated God as the very first one to consume the first fruit of the crop.
Barley is the first fruit of the spring crops. The sheaves were taken to the temple as an offering to the Lord. This introduces a second function of the feast that is called “counting the Omer”. During the seven weeks between the two Feasts of First Fruits, the Jews count expectantly down to the final day of the feast which is “Shavuot”. Later the people would harvest wheat and it would be made into loaves which were offered at the second feast of first fruits, Shavuot. (Due to the Greek translation of “fifty” in Acts, this is often referred to as Pentecost.) This introduces the second feast of the first fruits offering, waving the loaves before the Lord. At this time, the celebration of the Feast of First Fruits is completed.
Sacrifices: Many are wondering about the purpose of animal sacrifices and how that they apply today. Let’s discuss the purpose of animal sacrifices for a moment. The Christian churches as a whole have taught that animal sacrifices cover sin to appease God who is angry about sin. This is a big stick mentality where God is ready to whack you when you do wrong… It is error! The true meaning of animal sacrifices hinges on the Hebrew word korban. It means something brought near or to “draw near” look at this short excerpt drawn from a very long discussion on the word:
“A final technical use of our verb is cultic and connotes every step man performs in presenting his offering to God. This idea begins to develop with Moses’ drawing near to God (Ex 3:5). Later at Sinai the people exercised the same care in approaching his holy mountain (Lev 4:11; Deut 5:23 [H 20])…”[1]
This word is drawn from the word “offering” (Leviticus 23:14). The idea of offering or animal sacrifice is a method that enables people to draw near to God. Just like the Hebrews, we stand in debt to God and must bring an offering to approach His throne of grace. Yeshua provided the offering of His life as by standing in our place to make it possible for all of us to draw near to the throne of God. In essence, the Old Testament believers drew from grace and the unmerited favor of God by drawing near through payment of animal sacrifices. The Old Testament word for “grace” is “lovingkindness”. The word carries the same idea of grace but was never translated that way since it conflicts with the modern Christian translator’s mindset that God replaced the old system with a new one. To translate the word lovingkindness as grace would conflict with the deceptive idea that grace is a strictly New Testament concept.
We have been taught that we can simply walk right into the presence of God since the veil has been torn down. We can draw near to God with a sincere heart with the full knowledge that our sin has been appeased (Hebrews 10:19-25). This understanding has caused us to misunderstand the purpose behind the sacrifices. We think that sacrifices were made to appease God. The sacrifices were done for several purposes. Sacrifices cost you something. Some sacrifices were festival appropriate such as the sheaf of barley in this festival. This did not “cover” sin, it was an offering of first fruit. Another reason was a blood offering that covered violation of Torah. Lastly, sacrifices were done to mark stages in life such as birth. Lastly, some sacrifices were free-will offerings that were given over and above all other sacrifices. We think since Yeshua died as the final Passover Lamb that all sacrificial offerings were halted. Scripture indicates that we are very wrong in this since the sacrificial system will continue during the Millennial Reign of Messiah (Zech 14:16; Eze 20:40-41; 40:39-43). There is little doubt that full sacrificial offerings will resume during the Messiah’s reign. As Christians, it may be better to say that we simply do not understand the purpose of biblical sacrifices and quit declaring that they have ceased. Otherwise, we will have to eat our words and apologize to God for teaching obvious error. It is very obvious that God will completely restore the temple during the Millennial reign and occupy it (Eze 40-44). Either this is true or we delete the Book of Ezekiel from the Bible.
We are skewed in our thinking because of the discussion of the writer of Hebrews on Yeshua being our perfect High Priest (Hebrews 9:11-15). One purpose of the blood sacrifices was to appease the conscience and attain ceremonial purity so one can draw near to the throne of God (Heb 9:13). Yeshua made it possible through His death for us to draw near to God as a mediator of a new covenant. This is a covenant that is in addition to the Old Testament covenants and builds on their base; we can draw near to God confidently. This is because our offering is Yeshua. Well-meaning teachers have impressed on Christians that this means that all sacrifices are finished. They simply do not understand the sacrificial system.
In the meantime, perhaps it is not so bad to stick a few dollars in your pocket during this festival. Designate this for the deacon’s fund, Tzadakah, or benevolent fund and give a little extra. It changes the mindset of worship because you have invested part of yourself that was unnecessary. It also blesses the less fortunate with aid during our troubled times. On the Feast of First fruits, two sheaves of barley were offered before the Lord (Lev 23:10-11). If we follow suit and give away some of our coveted cash, or even pass along a little blessing by picking up the tab in the grocery store for a stranger, I am certain that we will see tremendous spiritual blessings (Acts 20:35).
New Testament Discussion of First Fruit
Paul stated that Yeshua the Messiah is the First Fruit of those who are dead, and the First Fruit of all those who resurrect and join Him at his second coming (1 Corinthians 15:20–23).
Let’s backtrack for a moment. Look at the original passage out of Leviticus, you can see that the first Feast of First Fruits took place on the day following the Sabbath (Lev 23:11). This is thought to be the Sunday following Passover in New Testament thinking. What day of the week did Jesus rise from the dead? The New Testament makes it clear that it happened between twilight on Saturday night and twilight on Sunday morning (Matt 28:1-10; Mk 16:2-6; Lk 24:1-12; Jn 20:1-18). We know this because all the references point to the “first day of the week”. It is important to consider that the “first day” starts on Saturday night at sundown.
Some hold that Yeshua rose from the dead at twilight on Friday night, John seems to give us this indication (John 2o:1). When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb “while it was still dark”, could have been Saturday evening Jesus was the literal fulfillment of the first Feast of First Fruits. Perhaps you will take the argument that the text indicates that it was early in the morning… This is due to the inadequacy of the English language to handle a conflict from the Greek intent. Everything in the Greek in John 20:1, indicated a present tense action, not past tense. This does not read well in English so the translators correct the problem by putting it into past tense. This is a disservice to us since it deceives us into thinking that the situation took place early in the morning when in reality the text indicates that if Mary went to the tomb on the first day of the week “early at dark”. On the Jewish calendar the day begins “at dark” and continues until the next day “before dark”. Early, “at dark” places the actual resurrection on Saturday night to Sunday Morning prior to dawn. This is an excellent argument if we allow it to stand alone.
The other Gospels Matthew records that Mary showed up “as it began to dawn” in the English translation (Matt 28:1). This is an excellent translation which indicates that Jesus rose upon the dawning of the light. So, we have a question mark in our minds. Luke also uses a term which points directly to daybreak (Luk 24:1). Mark clarifies this by stating that it was early in the day, when the sun had risen (Mark 16:2).
Let’s run through what we know: Mary showed up at the tomb while it was still dark (John 20:1) and the resurrection occurred prior to daybreak. An earthquake took place prior to daybreak and the stone was rolled away (Matt 28:2). We know for certain from these passages that Yeshua rose from the dead in the dark of the night just prior to dawn. Mary arrived at this time, discovered the empty tomb and ran to tell the disciples. The other women showed up shortly after at dawn to prepare the body and found the tomb empty (Luke 23:55-24:2). We have a question mark since Mary Magdalene is recorded among the women who showed up at dawn (Mark 16:1-2). In short, we have four storytellers who spoke of the resurrection in close proximity with dawn. Either before, after or during dawn. Mary probably did not come on Saturday evening and knowingly return to an empty tomb on Sunday at dawn.
I think the reason that this argument is important to Messianic Christians is because we are so bent on debunking the pagan holidays. Easter Sunrise services were patterned after the pagan rituals of fertility worship, not after the resurrection of Yeshua. Therefore, people are jumping through hoops to prove that Jesus did not rise at that time.
This did not occur on the regular Sabbath since the women were recorded to be resting on that day (Lk 23:56). The order of occurrence is Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread (high Sabbath), Regular Sabbath, 1st day of week (Sunday). Yeshua rose before dawn on Sunday… Why is this important? The argument really hinges on when the Feast of First Fruits hits. We will discuss this later in this study.
Notice that when Jesus was in the garden, he commented to Mary to stop clinging to Him since He had not risen to the Father yet (John 20:17).
I propose that the idea behind this has to do with the Feast of the First Fruits. Jesus was holy, set apart, as the First Fruit from the dead. When Mary clung to him it was a picture of clinging to our possessions. Jesus informed her that she must release him so that He could rise to the Father. Jesus rose from the dead, then was released by a human as an offering to the Father. In order to comply with the feast, he had to be surrendered as an offering to the Father. Mary was chosen to perform this task.
Did the Disciples go home? No, they were Jews, the Passover celebration was not over until Shavuot, or in our terminology Pentecost, which both mean fifty. On Pentecost, we know that the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples. The extension of that gift was the gift of 3,000 Jews and Gentiles who committed their lives to Yeshua the Messiah.
During the next forty-nine days or seven weeks, the apostles anxiously spend time with the Lord. The scriptures record that the disciples lived in the Upper Room during the fifty days of counting the Omer to the Second Feast of First Fruits, Shavuot (Acts 1:13-14). Jesus instructed them to wait for a special gift that the Father had promised (Acts 1:4-5). During Passover, the child who finds the “hidden piece of bread” or “afikomen” will receive a special gift at the end of the fifty days. While they were waiting for the gift, Jesus ascended into heaven on the fortieth day.
This time was one spent in prayer and in anticipation of the fiftieth day (Lev 23:15-17). They were to count the days for seven weeks and one day… The Jewish people look for a special gift on the second Feast of First Fruits (Deut 16:9-12). The fiftieth day is seen with anticipation as they look for the blessing from the Lord. The Jewish disciples and their families who gathered for Passover at Jerusalem would not depart until they counted the Omer for seven weeks looking for the day following, Shavuot. After this, they could return home to Galilee. You can be certain that they did not expect the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as the special gift from God.
I was always taught that they were camping out in the upper room out of fear since Yeshua was crucified and they were shaking with fear in the upper room, thinking they would be next. This idea is pretty shallow, if they were afraid, they could have left town. Failing to understand the festivals has caused many commentators and preachers to develop myths and goofy stories to fill in gaps where inconsistency with normal life seems to exist. The festivals fill in the gaps in understanding and explains the behavior of the Apostles.
Two loaves were waved before the Lord on Shavuot (Lev 23:17). Think of the two loaves of bread for a moment. The loaves were made with yeast. In the Bible, yeast is falsely said to “always” be a metaphor for sin because sin permeates and changes the courses of our lives. We established in the last study that Yeast actually pictures two different ideas. The first one is the blending of religions with Torah to make a hybrid which God hates. The second picture is where Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast (Matt 13:33; Luke 13:21). I believe that this is the idea behind the leavened bread is the way that the Kingdom of heaven will spread. This is validated by the way that the spiritually dead were brought to life on Pentecost, three thousand came to know Yeshua.
Jesus left the earth prior to the fiftieth day, so it is clear that Jesus was not the offering for the second First Fruits feast. Suppose we consider that the Holy Spirit also permeates our lives through regeneration. He permeates our entire being to transform it into the image of God. The Holy Spirit indwelt the Disciples in a new way. They were the “First Fruits” of believers who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Paul stated that we are the first fruits of the Spirit and we eagerly await with perseverance (Rom 8:22-25). Paul understood counting the Omer and waiting for the special gift!
The picture of the two loaves waved before the Lord could also refer to both the two aspects of Christianity. The Jewish believers and the Gentile believers. God blended both the Jew and the Gentile into one new Man where He generated a perfect blend. This was polluted when Christianity blended with paganism in the first century. The Messianic movement is correcting the error and returning to the perfect blend of Jew and Gentile under our Messiah, Yeshua.
I am careful with allegories; I am very careful not to take firm stands on the possible meanings. Yet, it is interesting that Jesus, as the first fruit of the dead, sent the Holy Spirit to indwell believers and place the life of God in them. The second Feast of First Fruits is a double blessing of believers who are indwelt by God and empowered like none ever before (1 Corinthians 3:16). Glory to God!
This is the true story of Resurrection Day. Over the years, the Church has compromised its ethics by allowing a pagan holiday to the god named Ishtar to usurp a God ordained holiday called Feast of the First Fruits. I hope that in this study you can see the significance of God’s plan and design of a Biblical feast that foretold Jesus raising from the dead, spending time with the Disciples who were anxiously awaiting their gift which landed on Shavuot, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now talk to me about eggs, bunnies, sunrise services and other traditional trappings, and I will feel cheated. More could be said on this holiday, for the sake of space we will discuss that during our regular studies.
Resurrection Day:
First, let’s consider the biblical timeframe that the resurrection followed. In order for Yeshua to be in the tomb for three days and three nights it was impossible for Him to have been crucified on a Friday.
If you count the days, there were three daylight periods during the time of Yeshua’s death. There were also three night periods during this time. There were a total of three days in the grave. This fulfills Yeshua’s prophecy (Matthew 22:40). Let’s count the days:
- Wednesday night, Nissan 14, Last Supper, which was an early Passover Seder
- Thursday day, Nissan 14, Passover lambs sacrificed at Temple, Yeshua crucified. Feast of Unleavened bread begins at dark. High Sabbath demands that the bodies are taken down before the Sabbath begins.
- Friday day, Nissan 15, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Ends at Sundown, Regular Weekly Sabbath begins.
- Saturday day, Regular weekly Sabbath. First day of the week begins at Sundown, also Feast of First Fruits. Harvesting and work required for this feast.
- Sunday Day, Jesus rose from the dead prior to sunrise, Feast of First Fruits.
Very simple, Jesus was in the tomb three days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. He was also in the tomb three nights, Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday night. The scriptures clearly teach that He rose early on Sunday morning (discussed above).
The problem that I run into with this scenario is we cannot line up a historical calendar to fit this scenario. I checked NASA’s website for lunar and solar eclipses and did not find one that hit on Nisan 14 or 15 in the range of 27 AD through 33 AD.[2] This could be easily explained that there was no eclipse as has been taught by many scholars. The darkness that covered the land was spiritually induced.
The closest year was 30 AD for Nisan 14 landing on a Wednesday. If Nissan 14 started at Sundown on Wednesday this works perfectly. If it starts at Sundown on Tuesday, then we have a one-day error since Friday is a day when the women could have treated the body as a normal workday. Thursday would have been a High Sabbath. In that range, the only other date that seems feasible is 33 AD, on which Nisan 14 hits on Friday. The problem with this date is that there are not enough actual days between Friday and Sunday for a three day count. Other problems involved is related to historical records of significant men of the time, when they reigned or were in office. By the reckoning of many historians 33 AD is ruled out by conflicts with the records of historical people.
Therefore 30 AD is the best date. It appears that the error may be with the calculation of the Jewish day compared to the Gregorian day. If computers look at the day as starting on the calendar day of the Gregorian calendar, then a day starting at sundown on Wednesday and concluding at Sundown on Thursday would show up on the Gregorian calendar as a Wednesday date. This throws all the calculations off by at least 12 hours. In the timeline I listed above that was deduced from the Gospels, and dates of biblical festivals, the only year that comes close is 30 AD. Again, the problem that this year has is when Nissan 14 actually started. If the day started at Sundown on Wednesday, it is a perfect match. Hebrew4Christians gives this exact explanation on their website by building a chart to show the problem.[3]
The significance of the date is huge when we look at the actual first day of First Fruits. We will discuss this further in the next section.
First fruits, which day?
There are a few camps of argument regarding the Feast of First Fruits. Some say that it should start on the 1st day of the week following the Passover. This would be sundown Saturday night to sundown Sunday night. Others contend that it starts on the next day following the Passover. I have contended in the past that the “Sabbath” it follows is the “High Sabbath” which is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I am reconsidering that position. Many Jewish people today blend the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened bread together on Nissan 13-14, then on the day of Nissan 14 they celebrate the Feast of First Fruits. They reduce three festivals into one. Passover is then stretched for seven days. To accommodate for unleavened bread it becomes Passover I, Passover II, and so on till Passover VII. Biblically Passover is a meal, not a week-long event. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a weeklong event… Who is right?
Let’s go to the scriptures and see if we can sort this out. Nissan 14 is the Passover (Lev 23:5). Nissan 15 is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a high Sabbath (Lev 23:6-8). This Feast has one Sabbath, Nissan 15 and on Nissan 22 a “holy convocation” (service). The Feast of First Fruits starts on the day following the Sabbath, after which we are to count seven complete Sabbath’s and one day for the final Feast of First Fruits (Lev 23:10-21). The argument that takes place on this greatly determines when the first and last feast of First Fruits takes place. This is vitally important.
This argument is huge and has been argued for centuries, so we are probably not going to clear up the argument in this study. This will probably not be answered until Yeshua sets up His Millennial Kingdom, then we will have a final word on when it takes place. In the meantime, let’s consider it a little further since so many are concerned with the answer. This seems meticulous but is necessary since the fifty days of counting the Omer starts on the first day of the Feast of First Fruits.
The Sadducees argued that the wave offering should occur on Sunday, the day following the weekly Sabbath. This is consistent with the day that Yeshua rose from the dead (Matt 28:1; Mark 16:2; Lk 24:1; John 20:1). The Pharisees and orthodox Judaism argues that it takes place following the High Sabbath of the first day of Unleavened Bread. This is based on the historical account of entering the Promised Land the Jews celebrated Unleavened Bread on the day after Passover (Josh 5:10-13). First Fruits is not mentioned because they did not have fruit of the land yet, they were still on the move! They were able to keep Passover; it was a requirement. Unleavened bread was kept because they ate of the fruit of the land without leavening. It was a holy food, however, they did not have literal “First Fruits” to offer since they could not bring a sheaf of barley into the temple.
The Sadducees have Leviticus as a standard. Pharisees point to Joshua, ignoring the obvious. What are we to think? Modern Judaism turns the Passover Meal into two days, an early Seder on the evening of Nissan 14 and a public Seder on Nissan 15, which doubles for Unleavened bread. Yep, it is very confusing.
The issue with making the Feast of First Fruits follow the High Sabbath creates a huge problem with the resurrection of Yeshua. The Scriptures clearly teach that He is the first fruit from the dead (1 Cor 15:20-23). So His resurrection day was on the first day of the festival of First Fruits. If the festival of First Fruits landed on the Sabbath following the High Holy Day of the First day of Unleavened Bread, then Yeshua should have risen on the weekly Sabbath. The problem with this argument is that if you hold this position, then anytime the Feast of First Fruits would land on a Sabbath, you would have to delay the festival for one day. The scriptures do not give this instruction.
An abbreviated timeline: Yeshua died on Thursday, Nissan 14, First day of Feast of Unleavened (High Holy Sabbath) began at Sundown becoming Nisan 15 and continued to Sundown Friday, Regular Sabbath began at Sundown Friday becoming Nisan 16 and continued to Sundown Saturday, Feast of First fruits began at sundown Saturday, Nisan 17, Yeshua rose before dawn the next morning…
Another argument that is connected with this line of thinking is that the Chumash (Hebrew/Aramaic version of the Old Testament), uses both the word for Sabbath and for week to refer to the seven complete Sabbath’s (Lev 23:15). This view is similar to the Pharisee’s position. The Feast of First Fruits always follows The first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread. We have discussed the issue, on the week that Yeshua rose, He would have risen on the weekly Sabbath.
I conclude that the scriptures must be correct. The first day of the Feast of First Fruits should begin following the weekly Sabbath regardless the day that Passover lands upon (Lev 23:15). The discussion on this follows. One thing that we must do is to make sure we do not lose sight of the forest for the trees. The Jewish people keep First Fruits. They may celebrate the festival on different days depending on their convictions; but they still keep the festival.
Feast of Unleavened Bread: Buffer Zone
We are going to split hairs for a few paragraphs to complete the thought that we started in the previous section. Then continue on:
The Feast of Unleavened Bread starts before the Feast of First Fruits. If you count forward from any day of the week, you will hit a 1st day of the week within seven days. God instructed Israel to start the Feast of Unleavened bread on the 14th day at evening and continue until the 21st at evening (Ex 12:18). These are very specific dates. Leviticus clarifies this to indicate that this is just as the evening dawns, identifying the fifteenth day as the first day of Unleavened Bread. We covered this in our chronology above.
Israel was instructed to wave the sheaf offering of the Feast of First Fruits on first day following the Sabbath (Lev 23:11). They were to count “seven complete Sabbaths” plus one day (Lev 23:15). A complete Sabbath had a complete week preceding it. Therefore, there were six days then a Sabbath.
The Feast of First Fruits according to this definition had to wait till the first day of the week following the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Counting the days then does not start until the Sunday (first day of the week) that follows the Feast of Unleavened Bread… By this definition, Passover could possible occur on a Shabbat with the First day of unleavened bread landing on a Sunday, and the feast of First fruits would wait an entire week to the following Sunday to start. Fictitious scenario for the most radical situation: Nisan 14, Saturday Passover, Nisan 15, First day of the festival of Unleavened Bread (Sunday), and then must wait one week for a regular Sabbath with the Festival of First fruits landing on the Sunday following. The seven day length of the Feast of Unleavened bread is enough to bridge the most radical situation so that no leaven is consumed before the Festival of First fruits.
Suppose we start counting the fifty days with the chronology of Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of First Fruits… Placing the Feast of First Fruits after the High Sabbath of Unleavened Bread. Then we count seven complete counts of seven. In order for the fifty count to land on a day following the Sabbath the count will be anywhere between forty-three and fifty-seven days. This throws off the entire fifty count. Therefore, in my estimation the counting must start on the first day of the week following the regular Sabbath that follows the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Israel was instructed not to consume any of the harvest until they first offered the Feast of First Fruits (Lev 23:14). The weeklong celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread offers a buffer zone to protect against accidentally consuming some of the new harvest before it is offered to the Lord.
Spiritual implications:
Everything starts with preparing for the Feast of Unleavened Bread where Yeast is removed from the home. This symbolizes removing the sin and compromise from your life. In effect we are readying our hearts for the Lord. At Passover we remember that the Lord delivered Israel from Egyptian captivity. This translates modern day into salvation that is found through the perfect Passover Lamb, Yeshua. As we wait for resurrection day we continue to live our lives in a state where we focus on removing sin and compromise. This is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We look forward to the Feast of First Fruits where we celebrate that our Messiah is the first fruit from the dead. We also recognize that as we removed sin and compromise from our lives that we continue to do so. The yeast that belongs in our lives is the Yeast of the Holy Spirit as He permeates our lives. Lastly, we count expectantly to wait for the final day of the Feast of First Fruits. This is when the “second” Feast of First Fruits takes place. This is where we wait expectantly upon God for a special blessing from Him.
A great injustice was done toward Christianity around 325 AD. Constantine purposefully eliminated all Jewish holidays and all Jewish functions. The Early Church fathers followed His lead and eliminated all the festivals. After that time, it was against Roman law for Christians to follow Jewish festivals. The Catholic Church, which was the only church at the time, enforced the ban on Judaism which set a pattern which has carried on to the present time. But, let’s not be too hard on the Catholics. The protestant reformation maintained the Catholic ideals and never restored the Jewish festivals. Christians who claim to follow the Bible as their guideline for the most part have not restored the original festivals in accordance with Scripture. This fervor of anti-Semitism is found in the Spanish Inquisition and in Hitler’s extermination of the Jews are examples of many attempts of the Christian church to exterminate the Jews. Even though the majority of the Christian church broke away from the Catholic Church, we still continue to abandon the Jewish holidays and other stuff that is ordered by God in the scriptures. We not only lost the festivals, we developed doctrines and deep teachings that explained why they are no longer in effect.
Let’s look at the significance of the Feast of the First Fruits.
The Feast of First Fruits lands on Nisan 17 on the Hebrew calendar. This is three days after the Passover which lands on Nisan 14. In our New Testament thinking, Yeshua rose from the dead on Nisan 17 which was three days after Passover. What is the significance of Nisan 17?
Noah’s ark rested on the mountains of Ararat on the seventh month, seventeenth day (Genesis 8:4). This is significant because when Israel entered the Promised land, the seventh month, Abib, (which is now Nisan) was moved to be considered the first month and the first month of the year (Exodus 12:2; Dt 16:1). Forty days later Noah opened the window of the Ark and sent out a raven (Gen 8:8). The water was abated from the earth, but it was not safe to exit the Ark. Fourteen days after that he left the ark, fifty-four days after it came to rest on the first day of the second month after that (Gen 8:13). (Note, the insertion of the word “month” for “first month” is confusing since this word is not in the Hebrew. The scripture already indicated that it was the seventh month, fifty-four days later would be the first of the ninth month.)
This is significant because it coincides with the resurrection of Jesus on Nisan 17 which by the old calendar was Abib 17. Forty days later coincided with Yeshua rising from the earth and returning to heaven (Acts 1:3). The deliverance from the water was complete for Noah, but it was not safe for him to exit the Ark. The same was true of the Disciples, they remained in waiting in the upper room. Fifty-four days later Noah exited the Ark. It could be stretched to say that if you include the day of preparation through the fiftieth day a total of fifty-four calendar days take place during Passover through Pentecost… Fifty days after Yeshua’s resurrection, the disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit and left the upper room (Acts 2:1).
Fast forward to Exodus. The Passover took place on Abib (Nisan) 14 at twilight (Exodus 12:6). The Feast of Unleavened bread started that same day (Ex 12:18). Three days later, Nisan (Abib) 17, God split the Red Sea and Israel went across on dry ground. The significance: Yeshua delivered the entire earth from the bondage of sin through His death at the Passover and resurrection on Nisan 17 from the dead. God delivered the Hebrews and the Gentiles who left with them from bondage to the Egyptians on the exact same date by destroying the armies of the Egyptians with water. Satan’s army was defeated by the blood of Yeshua and the resurrection from the dead…
Israel entered the Promised land and celebrated Passover on Nisan (Abib) 14 (Joshua 5:10). The day following the Passover the people ate from the produce of the land with “unleavened cakes and parched grain” (Josh 5:11). The following day was Nisan 17. Guess what happened. Manna stopped and Israel began enjoying the fruit of the land from that day forward, Nisan 17 (Josh 5:12). Immediately after this God showed up in the form of a man (a theophany) where He joined Joshua in battle (Josh 5:13-15).
The significance is obvious to all of us. Passover took place, The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of First Fruits. God brought the people into the land. He delivered them from dependence upon Manna for their sustenance. What is more exciting is that God stood before Joshua in the form of a man ruling the armies of YHVH as they began the conquest for the Promised Land. Our significance. Yeshua rose from the dead and gave us the victory over the enemies that face us. We stand with the power of heaven on our side because we serve a risen Messiah.
The Jewish people have a significant legend surrounding Esther’s deliverance of the Jews. They hold that a Passover was taking place, check this out:
The latter view seems to have been shared by Koheleth 8.5, which reads: Whoso keepeth the commandment shall know no evil thing (Eccles. 8:5); this refers to Esther who was busy in carrying out the commandment of “searching for leaven” (this ceremony takes place at night from the thirteenth to the fourteenth of Nisan), and knew not of the evil decreed by Haman against the Jews. The statement, however, that Mordecai went on the first day of Passover to Shushan to arrange for the fast (one of the main features of the fast was the gathering of the people for public prayer) could only be explained if the fast-days were on the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth of Nisan..[4]
According to Jewish Legend, Haman was hanged on his own gallows on 17 Nisan. This was the “First Fruit” of deliverance from his decree to kill all the Jews. As you can see from the note above, the Jewish people were busily involved in the festivals when they incorporated deliverance into the theme. Nisan 17 was a significant time because it started deliverance from death. Esther literally saved the nation through her dinner with the king and Haman. When we look forward to the New Testament, we see clearly a picture of the Messiah in this story. After Haman made his deal with the king, the Jews were as good as dead. They fasted and prayed for three days for deliverance which is consistent with the three days that Yeshua spent in the tomb. Deliverance is consistent with the idea that Satan was defeated at the cross. Haman was defeated and hanged.
Fast forward again to the New Testament times. Very few people will disagree with the fact that the Last Supper was a Passover Seder. In Jewish life, there are two Seders, one that takes place the evening before Passover with the family and the second Seder which takes place in the community. Yeshua had the personal Seder with His disciples. On the actual official Passover, He was the lamb that was slain. His blood was shed to cover the sins of all who take refuge in Him. The following day was The Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was followed by The Feast of First Fruits. Bingo, Nisan 17th, Yeshua rose from the dead.
Does this play out in the New Testament? Let’s look at the Book of Revelation for some clarification. You may find this interesting… The Marriage Supper of the Lamb may be a Passover Seder where Yeshua claims His bride (Rev 19:7-10). I say this because we have strong evidence that the following events are the next two feast days. It is also true that the bride of Yeshua was bought with His blood which was shed for the final Passover sacrifice. Everything about Salvation revolves around the Passover and spring festivals.
This is followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The first day of the festival is to remove all yeast from the house. We discussed that Yeast symbolizes world religions, perversions of the word, and compromise of Torah. Who is the one who loves to twist God’s word? Satan and his angels. On the following day, Yeshua comes to earth and strikes down all the nations and kings that are standing against Him. The symbolism here is all worldliness, earthly powers, and religions. He seizes the beast and false prophets and cast them from the earth into hell (Rev 19:11-21). Lastly He binds Satan and throws him into the abyss for a thousand years (Rev 20:1-3). God cleaned house on the earth consistent with the idea of cleaning the physical house in preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Note that Satan was responsible for deceiving the world and drawing them into false religion.
But that is not enough… We have to deal with the Feast of First Fruits. The First Fruit of Revelation was the saints who were slaughtered because of their testimony for Jesus (Rev 20:4-6). These saints will reign with Christ during the Millennium because they were part of the very first resurrection of saints (Rev 20:6). They were the First Fruit of the harvest of the saints. This shoots a hole in the idea of a pre-trib rapture. If the rapture were to take place prior to the tribulation, then this would be the second resurrection of the saints. But that’s my stand on the rapture; I constantly look for scriptural support either for or against it, so far the scales tip toward “No rapture”.
The point of this is simple. The New Testament follows the pattern of the Old Testament. We discussed the idea that leavening is a mixture of the world or pagan ideas with biblical ideas.
Counting the Omer
There is a lot of discussion as to what counting the Omer means. First, let’s start with the meaning of “omer” (sheaf). It is the sheaf of grain that is offered on the first day of the Feast of First Fruits. Counting the fifty days starts with the first day, and ends with the wave offering of the two loaves at the second First Fruits. The reason for calling this period of time “counting the omer” is because it counts off the days looking to the second celebration.
Leviticus 23:15–16
This Biblical command of looks forward to the fiftieth day. There has been a lot of speculation on this. Through the years, just like other holidays, there has been a lot of baggage added to the count. The purpose of the count is to count forward to the fiftieth day. Jewish traditions teach that a special gift is given on the fiftieth day. Consequently, this is the day that the Holy Spirit began to dwell in believers. This is the day that we received the gift of the Holy Spirit. On this day the church or actual Messianic believer spiritual body was birthed.
During the Passover Seder, a young child is sent to find the missing piece of Matzah bread. He is promised a very special gift for finding the bread, but has to wait till the fiftieth day to receive it!
Jesus spent His post-resurrection days on earth during this counting period. Jesus spent forty days traveling with the disciples and ministering. He gave explicit instructions for them to remain in Jerusalem and wait expectantly for the gift of the Father which was to come shortly (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4). There is no doubt that the gift of the Holy Spirit landing on the fiftieth day was to fulfill the “promise” that was traditionally associated with the day. Jacob (James) made this connection in his epistle when he discussed Pentecost:
James 1:17–18
The truth of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is one of the key teachings that is expounded upon in the Epistles. These gifts came as a result of the first fruit gift of God on Pentecost.
Counting the Omer then has a special significance to the believers who take part in the New Covenant (Jer 31:31-35). It is a time of reflection where we consider the sin and compromise that we threw off during the feast of unleavened bread. It is a time where we spend time daily in the word and look forward to the work that our Messiah has for our lives. It is a time where we wait expectantly to see the new season that is to come and hope for a special gift from our Father.
Joe Turner.
[1] Coppes, L. J. (1999). 2065 קָרַב. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (812). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEcat5/SE0001-0100.html, Accessed 4/25/16.
[3] http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Spring_Holidays/First_Fruits/first_fruits.html, accessed 4/25/16.
[4] Ginzberg, L., Szold, H., & Radin, P. (2003). Legends of the Jews (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.