A Year of Celebrating Biblically: Feast of Firstfruits / Easter
In fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 1 Corinthians 15:20
Passover Lamb.
Bread of Life.
Firstfruits from the Dead.
These are some of the names the Bible gives to Jesus, the ultimate fulfillment and reason for the feasts. Yes, these appointed times honored momentous occasions in Israel’s history. Yes, they redirected Israel’s gaze to the holiness of God and made possible a quasi-right relationship with Him. But the highest and greatest purpose of these events was and is to point to Jesus.
These feasts and festivals are prophetic.
And what does this feast foretell? The Feast of Firstfruits points to the resurrection of Jesus and the resulting resurrection of His believers.
During the Feast of First Fruits, the priest would wave the barley offering before the Lord.
9And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, 11and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD. 13And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the LORD with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. 14And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings (Leviticus 23:914).
Like all sacrifices, this offering of firstfruits was to be the very best the Israelites had to offer. Unlike a tithe, which was a percentage of all they had acquired, however, the firstfruits offering was an act of faith— a declaration that this first harvest would proceed a greater harvest. In the Feast of Firstfruits, the priests on behalf of the Israelites presented before God the first of a later, greater harvest of barley. In the resurrection of Christ, He as priest presented Himself before God as the first of a later, greater harvest of people.
I am not surprised that it takes Rabbi Paul to make the connection between firstfruits and Jesus, but I am thankful that he did.
As we are talking about Jesus’s resurrection, it is easy to consider Easter. According to the Israel Bible Center:
It is important to understand that outside of the English-speaking world, “Easter” is known by its proper name “Pascha.” This means that the majority of Christians in the world celebrate “Pascha” — an Aramaic synonym of the Hebrew Pesach, which means “Passover,” rather than “Easter.”
Remember how Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Feast of Firstfruits go back to back to back? Well— getting into the weeds here— Feast of Firstfruits occurs during the week long Passover celebration, which is why Pascha (Easter) is a derivative of the Aramaic Passover, Pesach. And so far from the pagan roots Easter is often accused of having, Easter or Pascha has its roots in the Feast of Firstfruits.
Jesus, as in all things, is better. He is preeminent. It is he to whom the entirety of the Law and the Prophets point.