“For the Joy of the Lord is your Strength” Nehemiah 8:10

The Feast of FirstFruitsBy Pastor Fee Soliven

Exodus 23:14-16Sunday Morning

April 20, 2014

Exodus 23:14-1614 "Three times you shall keep a

feast to Me in the year: 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread

(you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of

Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me

empty); 16 and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors

which you have sown in the

field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors

from the field.

BIBLICAL HOLIDAYS

SPRING FEASTS FALL FEASTS

Passover(Nisan 15)

Jesus’ Death

UnleavenedBread

(Nisan 15-22)Jesus’ Burial

First Fruits(Nisan 17)

Resurrection

Pentecost(Sivan 6)

Holy Spirit

Trumpets(Tishri 1&2)Repentance

Tabernacles(Tishri 15)Rejoicing

Yom Kippur(Tishri 10)

Redemption

50 Days

Historically Fulfilled During Jesus’

First Coming

The Church Age To Be Fulfilled By The Second Coming of Jesus

(Second Advent)(First Advent)

Leviticus 23:9-169 And the LORD spoke to Moses,

saying, 10 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you

shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He

shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your

behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And you

shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the

first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD. 13 Its

grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with

oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, for a sweet aroma; and its

drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. 14 You shall eat

neither bread nor parched grain nor

fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute

forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Leviticus 23:6-76 And on the fifteenth day of the

same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD;

seven days you must

SAINTS, THE THEME OF THE FESTIVAL OF FIRST FRUITS IS

RESURRECTION AND SALVATION

1. Noah's Ark rested on Mount Ararat.

Genesis 8:1-51 Then God remembered Noah, and

every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass

over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the

deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain

from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually

from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters

decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the

seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

2. Israel Crosses the Red Sea

Exodus 14:21-3121 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go

back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the

waters were divided. 22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

23 And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his

horsemen. 24 Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the LORD looked down upon the army of the Egyptians

through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians.

25 And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the

face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians." 26 Then the LORD

said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back

upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.”

27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the

sea. 28 Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea

after them. Not so much as one of them remained.

29 But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right

hand and on their left. 30 So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the

Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant

Moses.

3. Israel Eats the First Fruits of the Promised Land

Joshua 5:10-12 10 So the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at

twilight on the plains of Jericho. 11 And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover,

unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. 12

Then the manna ceased on the day

after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that

year.

4. Haman is Defeated

EstherIn the Book of Esther, Haman

plotted to kill all the Jews in Persia and Media. Haman had ten sons.

By this, we can see that

Haman is a type of the false Messiah (antichrist). A decree was sent out on the thirteenth of Nisan that all the Jews would be killed. Upon hearing this news, Esther

proclaims a three-day fast,

which would be Nisan 14-16. On the sixteenth of Nisan, Esther risked

her life when she came to King Ahasuerus. The king asked her, in

effect, "Tell me, what do you want?" Esther replied, "If it seem

good onto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the

banquet that I have prepared for him." This was the sixteenth day of

Nisan. At the banquet, the king again asked Esther what she

wanted, and she asked the king to come to another banquet to be

held the next day, the seventeenth of Nisan. On this day, Haman (a type of the false Messiah or

antichrist, as well as of Satan) is hanged.

5. The Resurrection of Jesus

1 Corinthians 15:16-2016 For if the dead do not rise, then

Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are

still in your sins! 18 Then also

those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. 20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of

those who have fallen asleep.

JESUS IS THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE BARLEY HARVEST

4. God used unleaven bread as part of a sacred vow for sanctification and separation. A Nazirite vow.

1. Jesus is the firstborn of Mary

Matthew 1:23-2523 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." 24 Then

Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord

commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her

till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His

name JESUS.

2. Jesus is the First-Begotten of God the Father

Hebrews 1:5-65 For to which of the angels did He ever say: "You are My Son, Today I have begotten You"? And again: “I

will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son"? 6 But when He again brings the firstborn into the

world, He says: "Let all the angels of God worship Him."

3. Jesus is the Firstborn of every Creature

Colossians 1:15 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

4. Jesus is the First-Begotten from the Dead

Revelation 1:5 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful

witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His

own blood

5. Jesus is the Firstborn of many Brethren

Romans 8:29 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be

the firstborn among many brethren.

6. Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrected ones

1 Corinthians 15:20-2320 But now Christ is risen from the

dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21

For since by man came death, by Man 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.

7. Jesus is the Beginning of the Creation of God

Revelation 3:14 14 "And to the angel of the church

of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful

and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:

8. Jesus is the preeminent One

Colossians 1:18 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 may have the

preeminence.

Psalms 126:5-65 Those who sow in tears Shall reap

in joy. 6 He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for

sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves

with him.

Jude 14-1514 Now Enoch, the seventh from

Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord

comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on

all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly

deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the

harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

1. We are called to seek first the Kingdom of God

Matthew 6:3333 But seek first the kingdom of

God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

2. Those who arose from the dead with Christ during His resurrection became the first fruits of all those

who would rise from the dead.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-1813 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning

those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no

hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus

died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we

who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means

precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend

from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the

trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who

are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with

these words.

3. Jesus first loved us, and He is to be our first love

1 John 4:99 In this the love of God was

manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the

world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we

loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so

loved us, we also ought to love one another.

“For the Joy of the Lord is your Strength” Nehemiah 8:10