The Festival of First Fruits and the Body of Resurrection

Leviticus 23:9-412:

The LORD said to Moses,

"Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest.

He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.

On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect.

3500 ago, God set up Israelite Law through Moses that Israelites should return to Jerusalem every year in Spring Festival to observe Passover.  Observing the Passover comprises of three festivals including the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Festival of First Fruits.

During the Festival of First Fruits, the Israelites need to offer the first harvest, the first grain of harvest as a wave offering to God.

So since the ancient time, the sacrifice that pleases God should be the ripe fruits or the crops full of grains.

As a result, about 2000 years ago, Jesus was born. When Jesus was 33 years old, he became the Passover lamb according to the law of the Passover in spring time.  He fulfilled God’s plan of redemption with many holy ones raising from their tombs. Besides, during the Festival of First Fruits, Jesus also raised from the dead with his earthly body.  He is the first one who acquired the Body of Resurrection, and together he brought with him a group of holy ones who also are resurrected, mature in their faith and mission in life. With the Body of Resurrection, they got up to the Throne of God and became the first grain of the wave offering.

Matthew 27:50-53:

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.

The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.

They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

So, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Apostle Paul revealed that in the last days, the holy ones will be like Jesus, with physical change that they can have the Body of Resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:20-25:

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

Besides, in Philippians chapter 3, Apostle Paul also stated that Jesus has the Body of Resurrection, which is the model for the saints in the last days, as the first Fruits.

Philippians 3: 21:

Who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Similarly, Apostle Paul stated that again that in the last days when the horns blow just how the Israelites used to blow in every year’s Feast of Trumpets, the saints will experience what Jesus had experience and will have the Body of Resurrection. They can even get up to heaven escaping the Seven Years of Tribulation on earth.

1 Corinthians 15:50-53:

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--

in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

Thus, before the disasters at the endtime, the church and the saints will be like Jesus, that they may become the ripe fruits or the crops full of grains.  It means that during their life on earth, they are just like the wheat of the Festival of First Fruit, which they fill up their inner, and satisfy their destiny and the duties as a Christians, so as to become the first grain of harvest that God pleased.

Moreover, in the last days, during the harvest of the Feast of Tabernacles in Autumn Festival, not only do some churches become the wheat, but also have the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Just like the life of Joseph, he was always watchful even under the most difficult situation that he even completed the duty of his belief that given to him. He got ready for the Seven Years of Famine. Besides, he even helped the people around him, such as his brothers and father that he provided the answer and solution for the disaster.

So, in the last days, the churches and the saints can follow Joseph’s belief, and fulfill the mission given by God. They can become the sacrifices that God pleased, thus get up to heaven before Seven Years of Tribulation. Just like Jesus, they can have the Body of Resurrection and escape from the disasters on earth.

So, the Revival is going to happen in the last days.  According to the acoustic frequency creation, some new believers are always watchful just like the wheat being filled up inside speedily.  Thus they become the sacrifice of the first grain that God pleased.

Amos 9:13:

"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.

So, in the last days, in the wedding of the Lamb in heaven, other than Jesus, the Bible tells us that there are three groups of people.

 
1. The bride:

They are the church which know about the coming of Jesus and always be watchful and get ready. They observe the rehearsal of the Holy Communion and wait for the coming of Jesus. They even complete the Revival in the last days.

2. The Watchful Virgins

They do not sleep like other virgins, who delay in participating in the wedding of the Lamb.

3. The Guests who get ready.

Although they cannot be like the brides and the virgins to fulfill many of the missions of the Kingdom of God, still they catch up. And like the wheat that fill up their inner, and get ready to complete the basic duty of one’s belief, they still become the sacrifice that God pleased.

Matthew 22:2-10

The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king, who made a feast when his son was married

And sent out his servants to get in the guests to the feast: and they would not come

Again he sent out other servants, with orders to say to the guests, See, I have made ready my feast: my oxen and my fat beasts have been put to death, and all things are ready: come to the feast

But they gave no attention, and went about their business, one to his farm, another to his trade

And the rest put violent hands on his servants, and did evil to them, and put them to death

But the king was angry; and he sent his armies, and those who had put his servants to death he gave to destruction, burning down their town with fire

Then he said to his servants, The feast is ready but the guests were not good enough.

Go then to the cross-roads, and get all those whom you see to come to the bride-feast
And those servants went out into the streets, and got together all those whom they came across, bad and good: and the feast was full of guests

However, in the great revival in the end, some people - because of backsliding and pleasure seeking in terms of their faith - will not prepare well. They finally can’t be taken up to the lamb’s wedding.

Matthew 22:11-14

But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a guest's robe

And he says to him, Friend, how came you in here not having a guest's robe? And he had nothing to say

Then the king said to the servants, Put cords round his hands and feet and put him out into the dark; there will be weeping and cries of sorrow

For out of all to whom the good news has come, only a small number will get salvation.

If a person’s faith is unlike wheat fully filled up, God will not take him as an offering.   In addition, he is easily swept away by the wind due to inner hollowness and left in the outside darkness.

Psalms 1:4
The evil-doers are not so; but are like the dust from the grain, which the wind takes away.

Similarly, Jesus has demonstrated when he was resurrected and taken up to heaven, he was only going with those saints already passed away, act as the first fruit of the wave offering to God.  It was because his disciples just woke up from the situation of knowing God, they had failed to fulfill the responsibility in their own beliefs. 

On the other hand, Revelation Chapter 14 says, God has chosen a hundred and forty-four thousand people to preach his gospel in the disaster.  They need to be the first fruits to God as well.

Revelation 14:1-4

And I saw the Lamb on the mountain of Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, marked on their brows with his name and the name of his Father

And a voice from heaven came to my ears, like the sound of great waters, and the sound of loud thunder: and the voice which came to me was like the sound of players, playing on instruments of music

And they made as it seemed a new song before the high seat, and before the four beasts and the rulers: and no man might have knowledge of the song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, even those from the earth whom God has made his for a price
These are they who have not made themselves unclean with women; for they are virgins. These are they who go after the Lamb wherever he goes. These were taken from among men to be the first fruits to God and to the Lamb

So no matter the rapture is before the disaster or in the midst, or even in the end, we must fulfill God’s requirement, to have a resurrected body into eternality.  We must aim at becoming the first fruits to God, fill up ourselves with Christ character, complete our responsibility in faith and be the first-fruit that is God pleased.  As wrote by Apostle Paul near the end of his life.