As our Risen Lord stood in the midst of His disciples on Resurrection Night, He indicated that this world-shaking event was revealed in the Old Testament by saying, "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me . . . . Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day" (Luke 24:44, 46).

Some of these predictions of our Lord's resurrection were in the form of forthright prophecies while others were in the form of pictures or types. It is to one of these illuminating types of our Lord's resurrection that we wish to direct attention in this study, namely, "The Feast of the Firstfruits."

The instructions concerning this feast are found in the book of Leviticus, chapter 23, verses 9 to 14: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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 shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord. And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings."

Having noted the scripture record concerning the feast of the firstfruits, we shall place before our readers a comparison of this feast and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then discuss each point briefly.

With this comparison of the Firstfruits and the Resurrection of Christ fresh in mind, let us turn to the consideration of the details of this interesting and instructive feast.

We observe first, "The Firstfruits followed the Passover, and the Resurrection of Christ followed His Death."

Here we quote a helpful comment from Reverend Henry Law, onetime Dean of Gloucester: "The Paschal sacrifice introduces the Wave-sheaf. A firstling of the flock, too, without blemish, accompanies the offering. A gospel truth here shows its light. The hand, which would bring gifts to God, must first be washed in the atoning stream. In every service "God's eye looks for His Son's blood. If this be present, sure acceptance smiles. If this be absent, stern rejection frowns. The worldling's heart may throb a grateful throb. But it cannot approach in nature's filth. He must be cleansed or he can gain no access. And nothing cleanses, but the blood of Christ" (p. 108, Leviticus).

While the foregoing is true, and is a very good application, let us not lose sight of the interpretation. In this respect the chronology is noteworthy: as Christ's resurrection followed His death (I Cor. 15:3-4), so in the type of the Firstfruits, it was preceded by the Passover which we found in our previous study was a type of Christ's death.

We note next, 'The Firstfruits was the result of life out of death, and the Resurrection of Christ was the result of life out of death."

The grain had been planted in the earth, the rain and snow had watered it, the sun had warmed it, and then the green blade came forth, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. Then the first-ripe sheaves were gathered and waved before the Lord. So also Christ must die in order to rise and become the Firstfruits of them that slept (I Cor. 15: 20, 36; John 12:24).

"The Firstfruits was waved on the first day of the week, and the Resurrection of Christ was on the first day of the week."

It was on the "morrow after the sabbath" that the Firstfruits was waved, in other words, on the first day of the week or Sunday. This is a remarkable type-prophecy of the day on which Christ should arise and was literally fulfilled (See Mark 16: 1-6). It also suggests the answer to the question, "Why do Christians worship on Sunday?" It is, "because Christ arose on Sunday" (See also Acts 20:6-7; I Cor. 16:1-2).

We proceed to the consideration of our fourth point: "The Firstfruits was accepted for the people, and the Resurrection of Christ was accepted for believers."

Even as the sheaf was waved before the Lord by the priest and was accepted for the people, so Christ also rose for "our justification" (Rom. 4:25), and with "His own blood, entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Heb. 9:11-12; Rom. 5:9). So now, not only do we have our sins forgiven, but we have the righteousness of God in our glorious standing in Christ our Risen Lord (Rom. 5:1-2).

Our fifth point is as follows: "The Firstfruits was associated with three offerings, and the Resurrection of Christ was associated with a threefold offering."

The burnt offering was typical of Christ's perfect deity— the Lamb of God without blemish and without spot (Lev. 23:12; I Pet. 1:18-19); the meal offering was typical of Christ's sinless humanity (Lev. 23:13; John 6:51; Heb. 7:26); and the drink offering was typical of Christ's complete sacrifice, the outpouring of His life on Calvary (Isa. 53:12; Phil. 5:5-8).

The sixth point states that, "The Firstfruits could be ignored, but could not be prevented; and the Resurrection of Christ could be ignored, but could not be prevented."

Israel could ignore God's plain instructions regarding the Feast of the Firstfruits, but if they planted the grain, the Firstfruits would spring forth. So also it was vain for the soldiers to seal the tomb of the Son of God to prevent His resurrection. It was not possible for Him to be held captive by death, for He was the Prince of life (Matt. 27:60-28:15). May we, who name His name, remember His resurrection (II Tim. 2: 8).

The seventh point relates to the fact that, "The Firstfruits must be offered before the grain could be eaten, and the Resurrection of Christ must precede our partaking of Him."

Here is the suggestion that without the resurrection of Christ there is no possibility of fellowship with Him. Fellowship requires life. "But now is Christ risen from the dead," consequently, we have a great High Priest Who is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. And we are invited to come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:14, 16). We are under cover of the blood and have seen the sheaf waved before the Lord and we feed with joy on the Bread of life (John 6:35).

The last point for our consideration is, "The Firstfruits was the earnest of the full harvest and the Resurrection of Christ was the earnest of the full resurrection.

August Van Ryn's comment is so helpful on this point that we pass it on to our readers verbatim: 'There is something unique about this type of the resurrection. Resurrection was a known truth in the Old Testament as Matthew 22:31, 32 and Acts 23:6, 8, etc., show; it was a resurrection of the dead. But this sheaf of firstfruits speaks of a resurrection from the dead; it suggested that only one sheaf would be presented before the Lord and the others left in the field. This is a distinct truth, wholly unknown in the Old Testament, which only spoke of a general resurrection. Therefore the disciples could not understand what the Lord Jesus meant when He spoke in Mark 9:9 about the Son of man rising from the dead. They wondered what the rising from the dead should mean. And they are not the only ones who wonder. Christendom today thinks too much of a 'general' resurrection day, when all men shall stand before God to be judged. This is not true. The New Testament reveals that Christ would rise from the dead first, hinted at in this 'Feast of the firstfruits,' of Lev. 23, and afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. First Christ, then all believers in Christ (See I Cor. 15:20; I Thess. 4:16, etc.), then the rest of the dead (Rev. 20:5). When believers only are raised at the coming of the Lord Jesus in the air — according to I Thessalonians 4 — they join in what is called the 'first' resurrection. The wicked are not raised till at least a thousand years after." (pp. 62-63, "His Appointments").

Let us appropriate, anticipate, and announce the blessings of the Risen Christ so interestingly typified in the Feast of the Firstfruits.

1) Achie H. Yetter is Director of the Bible Institute of Denver Bible College, and is in demand as a Bible conference speaker.