Appointed times 2019 - Feast of First Fruits (Part Seven)

A great sermon about this time of year once proclaimed

"It's Friday, but Sunday's Coming!"

FIRSTFRUITS (Barley Harvest) 

This is the culmination of the Spring Feasts appointed by the Lord and placed under the Stewardship of the Hebrew children for several centuries until Jesus appeared on the scene to fulfill them according to the Old Covenant instructions and brought them forward into the NEW COVENANT in  NEW and LIVING way.

The Feast of First Fruits was observed at 9 AM, on the first day of the week, that fell during the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 

In the designated plot maintained by the priests, the first Barley sheaf to sprout and come up out of the ground was carefully watched and confirmed.  For this reason, Barley became a symbol for the 'Overcomer'. The first fruits to come back up out of the ground after the 'Death' of Winter.  

At that time it had a ribbon tied around it and it was kept until this day when the priest would lift this sheaf of Barley above his head and wave it before heaven as the Wave Sheaf Offering.  So all of Heaven could see the proof that God has raised the overcoming barley from its earthly grave of winter. Just as He would raise Jesus the Overcomer from the grave and He would become the First Fruits of the sons of Adam to be raised to immortality. 

For that reason, no one was allowed to harvest or eat any barley until after the Feast of First Fruits.

Yet, for the common man, the unleaved bread they ate was barley grain kept over from the previous year; another symbol that not only was Jesus the First to be raised from death, but He was also raised because Death could not hold Him; He was the Incorruptible Bread and the Overcomer 

My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life. In Your presence is fullness of joy;At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:10 

So let's step back in time into the Passion week of 33 A.D. 
In order to fulfill this point in the law, Jesus would have to present Himself as the 'Overcomer' at 9 am in the Courts of Heaven as the First Fruits of the Sons of Adam to rise from the dead into immortality as a Testimony of His finished work...

In His Death - on the cross, the Passover Lamb to end all Passover lambs. 

In His Burial - in the grave, the incorruptible Bread no Sin...nothing for Death to cling to. 

In His Resurrection - in His glorified body as the wave sheaf offering to end all wave sheaf offerings. Over 500 people saw Him physically on the earth but not before he presented Himself in the Courts of Heaven as the propitiation for our sins. And as the 'Overcomer' making an open display of  His Victory over Death, not limited to just his own physical body but for his spiritual 'body' and therefore for our mortal bodies as well.
  

Let's look at the Scriptures covering that Sunday morning and see if all the timing fits with the timing of the Feast of First Fruits. John 20 1-20

1 Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”

19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. 

v 1 is probably before 6 AM, "while it was still dark" the passage says she ran back and told the disciples they ran back Jerusalem was not a large city.  (45 minutes to an hour maybe for a round trip on foot) 
v 17 is perhaps an hour later 7 AM "I have not yet ascended to My Father, "tell them I am ascending" 
at 9 Am according to the law, the sign of the 'Overcomer' was presented in the Courts of Heaven *

v19 by evening (6 pm) He was back and came into their midst behind locked doors - where was Jesus from 8 AM until 6 PM? In the courts of Heaven. 

*11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the [g]handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, Colossians 2:11-16

20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (died) .  

21 For since by man (Adam) came death, by Man (second Adam) also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.  

24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet.”  1 Corinthinas 15:20-26

"O Death where is your victory? O death where is your sting?"

More about this as we approach the Fall Feasts in August this year. 

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Various writings from the past
The Road Not Taken

At Home In MN