| Exodus 23:16 And the feast of harvest, the FIRST FRUITS of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, [which is] in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours {corn, wine, oil and honey} out of the field. |
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| Exodus 23:19 The FIRST of the FIRST FRUITS of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk. |
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| Exodus 34:22 ¶ And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the FIRST FRUITS of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end. |
| Exodus 34:23 ¶ Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel. |
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| Leviticus 2:12 ¶ As for the oblation of the FIRST FRUITS, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour. |
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| Leviticus 23:10 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 FIRST FRUITS of your harvest unto the priest: |
| Leviticus 23:11 And he shall WAVE the SHEAF before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall WAVE it. |
| Leviticus 23:12 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. |
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| 2 Chronicles 31:5 ¶ And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the FIRST FRUITS of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all [things] brought they in abundantly. |
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| Nehemiah 10:35 And to bring the FIRST FRUITS of our ground, and the FIRST FRUITS of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the LORD: |
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| Proverbs 3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the FIRST FRUITS of all thine increase: |
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| Ezekiel 48:14 And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the FIRST FRUITS of the land: for [it is] holy unto the LORD. |
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| 1 Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, [and] become the FIRST FRUITS of them that slept. |
| 1 Corinthians 15:21 For since by man [came] death, by man [came] also the resurrection of the dead. |
| 1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. |
| 1 Corinthians 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the FIRST FRUITS; afterward they that are Christ’s at His Coming. |
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| There is the throne and around it the rainbow of promise. There are seraphim and cherubim. The angels circle round Him, but He waves them back. He enters into the presence of His Father. He points to His triumph in this ANTITYPE of Himself, the WAVE SHEAF, those raised with Him, the symbol of the captive dead who shall come forth from their graves when the last trump shall sound. He approaches the Father, and if there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, if the Father rejoices over them with singing, let the imagination take in this scene. Christ says, “Father, it is finished. I have done thy will, O my God. I have completed the work of redemption. If thy justice is satisfied, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am.” The voice of God is heard. Justice is satisfied. Satan is vanquished. Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. The arms of the Father encircle His Son, and His voice is heard, saying, “And let all the angels of God worship him.” {Ms115-1897} |
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| Christ arose from the dead as the FIRST FRUITS of those that slept. He was the ANTITYPE of the WAVE SHEAF, and His resurrection took place on the very day when the WAVE SHEAF was to be presented before the Lord. For more than a thousand years this SYMBOLIC CEREMONY had been performed. From the harvest fields the FIRST HEADS of ripened grain were gathered, and when the people went up to Jerusalem to the Passover, the SHEAF of FIRST FRUITS was WAVED as a THANK OFFERING before the Lord. Not until this was presented could the sickle be put to the grain, and it be gathered into SHEAVES. The SHEAF dedicated to God represented the harvest. So Christ the FIRST FRUITS represented the great spiritual harvest to be gathered for the kingdom of God. His resurrection is the TYPE and pledge of the resurrection of all the righteous dead. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” 1 Thessalonians 4:14. {1898 DA 785.4} |
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| But He waves them back. Not yet; He cannot now receive the coronet of glory and the royal robe. He enters into the presence of His Father. He points to His wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet; He lifts His hands, bearing the print of nails. He points to the tokens of His triumph; He presents to God the WAVE SHEAF, those raised with Him as representatives of that great multitude who shall come forth from the grave at His second coming. He approaches the Father, with whom there is joy over one sinner that repents; who rejoices over one with singing. Before the foundations of the earth were laid, the Father and the Son had united in a covenant to redeem man if he should be overcome by Satan. They had clasped Their hands in a solemn pledge that Christ should become the surety for the human race. This pledge Christ has fulfilled. When upon the cross He cried out, “It is finished,” He addressed the Father. The compact had been fully carried out. Now He declares: Father, it is finished. I have done Thy will, O My God. I have completed the work of redemption. If Thy justice is satisfied, “I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.” John 19:30; 17:24. {1898 DA 834.2} |
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| The slaying of the Passover lamb was a shadow of the death of Christ. Says Paul: “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” 1 Corinthians 5:7. The SHEAF of FIRST FRUITS, which at the time of the Passover was WAVED before the Lord, was TYPICAL of the resurrection of Christ. Paul says, in speaking of the resurrection of the Lord and of all His people: “Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” 1 Corinthians 15:23. Like the WAVE SHEAF, which was the FIRST RIPE GRAIN gathered before the harvest, Christ is the FIRST FRUITS of that immortal harvest of redeemed ones that at the future resurrection shall be gathered into the garner of God. {1911 GC 399.2} |
| These TYPES were fulfilled, not only as to the event, but as to the time. On the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month, the very day and month on which for fifteen long centuries the Passover lamb had been slain, Christ, having eaten the Passover with His disciples, instituted that feast which was to commemorate His own death as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” That same night He was taken by wicked hands to be crucified and slain. And as the ANTITYPE of the WAVE SHEAF our Lord was raised from the dead on the third day, “the FIRST FRUITS of them that slept,” a sample of all the resurrected just, whose “vile body” shall be changed, and “fashioned like unto His glorious body.” Verse 20; Philippians 3:21. {1911 GC 399.3} |
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| Christ was the FIRST FRUITS of them that slept. It was to the glory of God that the Prince of life should be the FIRST FRUITS, the ANTITYPE of the WAVE SHEAF. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). This very scene, the resurrection of Christ from the dead, had been celebrated in TYPE by the Jews. When the FIRST HEADS of grain ripened in the field, they were carefully gathered; and when the people went up to Jerusalem, these were presented to the Lord as a THANK OFFERING. The people WAVED the RIPENED SHEAF before God, acknowledging Him as the Lord of the harvest. After this ceremony the sickle could be put to the wheat, and the harvest gathered. {1958 1SM 305.2} |
