Study on the meaning and understanding of ‘firstfruits’ from
Scripture
The aim
of this study is to see how this Scriptural term is a reality connected with
Christ Jesus, and how this reality is connected to believers of Christ today. The implications for life is also discussed at the end.
The following is a whole list of Scriptures containing the
term, ‘firstfruits’:
(Exo 23:16) And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits 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 out of the field.
(Exo 23:19) The first of the firstfruits 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.
(Exo 34:22) And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of
the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's
end.
(Exo 34:26) The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou
shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in
his mother's milk.
(Lev 2:12) As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye
shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a
sweet savour.
(Lev 2:14) And if thou offer a meat offering of thy
firstfruits unto the LORD, thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy
firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even
corn beaten out of full ears.
(Lev 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 firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
(Lev 23:17) Ye shall bring out of your habitations two
wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be
baken with leaven; they are the
firstfruits unto the LORD.
(Lev 23:20) And the priest shall wave them with the bread
of the firstfruits for a wave offering
before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the
priest.
(Num 18:12) All the best of the oil, and all the best of
the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto
the LORD, them have I given thee.
(Num 28:26) Also in the day of the firstfruits, when ye
bring a new meat offering unto the LORD, after your weeks be out, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye
shall do no servile work:
(Deu 26:10) And now, behold, I have brought the
firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set
it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:
God had already instituted the
bringing in of the firstfruit to point toward the Ultimate FirstFruit, the
FirstFruit of His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This statute was
pointing to the Ultimate Statute, the Statute of God’s Word Himself, the
Christ, the Anointed of God.
(2Ki 4:42) And there came a man from Baalshalisha, and
brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and
full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that
they may eat.
(2Ch 31:5) And as soon as the commandment came abroad,
the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits 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.
Here, we see the firstfruits
and tithes are differentiated, and yet, considered as part of the people’s
offering. It was the firstfruit, and the tenth of the firstfruits which they
brought in with abundance.
(Neh 10:35) And to bring the firstfruits of our ground,
and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of
the LORD:
In this verse, we understand
that the meaning of ‘firstfruits’ extend to the firstfruits of yearly, or
annual harvest. It is the first produce of a new harvest season.
(Neh 10:37) And that
we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit
of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers
of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that
the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.
(Neh 12:44) And at that time were some appointed over the
chambers for the treasures, for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the
tithes, to gather into them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the
law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the
Levites that waited.
Three different types of giving
is noted here : offerings (routine and consistent), firstfruits (new birth) and
tithes (tenth of everything).
(Neh 13:31) And for the wood offering, at times
appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.
(Pro 3:9) Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with
the firstfruits of all thine increase:
(Jer 2:3) Israel was
holiness unto the LORD, and the
firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come
upon them, saith the LORD.
As Israel, so the chosen and elect of God in Christ Jesus shall be ‘holiness unto the Lord’. All that seek to ‘eat them up’ which cause God great offense, and God shall bring evil upon them, as God Himself says.
(Eze 20:40) For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of
the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel,
all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I
require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your
holy things.
In this verse, we begin to see
how God views the firstfruits are holy things, offerings which He will accept.
See where Paul gets Romans 12:1-2.
(Eze 44:30) And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's: ye
shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the
blessing to rest in thine house.
The firstfruit is dedicated to
the our great High Priest, Christ Jesus Himself. This dedication causes a
blessing to rest in our lifes.
(Eze 48:14) And they shall not sell of it, neither
exchange, nor alienate the firstfruits of the land: for it is holy
unto the LORD.
(Rom 8:23) And not only they,
but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to
wit, the redemption of our body.
In this verse, Paul uses the
phrase, ‘but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit’. In other
words, we possess something which he refers to as the ‘firstfruits of the
Spirit’. The context of Romans is clear. What we have is salvation from Christ.
This salvation is so vast and it is conveyed to us, or brought to us, through Christ
and His finished work at the cross and through His resurrection, by the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit Himself is a gift included in God’s Package of
Salvation. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit as the Father’s Gift, and the Father’s
Promise, to all who would call upon the name of the Lord. Salvation is
incomplete without the Holy Spirit, God’s very Righteousness embodied. This is
what is referred to as the ‘firstfruits of the Spirit’.
(Rom 16:5) Likewise greet
the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the
firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.
Here, Paul includes, besides
Stephanas, Epaenetus, the ‘well-beloved’, as among the first to come to Christ
in Achaia. When a crop is ready for reaping, there are many fruits from the
firstfruits. So are Epaenetus and Stephanas.
(1Co 15:20) But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
Paul states that as Christ is
the first to be raised from the dead, He is become the firstfruit to symbolize,
and to make sure that all those who have died in Christ, will, like Christ the
first to be raised from the dead, to be raised as well.
(1Co 15:23) But every man in his own order: Christ the
firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
In this verse, Paul states that
Christ Himself is the firstfruit of the firstfruit.
(1Co 16:15) I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house
of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the
ministry of the saints,)
From this verse, Paul is using
the term ‘firstfruit’, to refer to the first converts to the gospel in Achaia
(the house of Stephanas), and how they had ‘addicted themselves’ to serving the
saints.
(Jas 1:18) Of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
The word ‘begat’ denotes
bringing to birth. Here, James the Apostle, the half-brother of the Lord,
asserts that God brought us to birth ‘with the word of truth’. This word of
truth from various other Scriptures always refers to the word of the truth of
the gospel of God, or of the kingdom, or of His Son, Jesus Christ. Through this
birthing with the word of truth, we become ‘a kind’, and in this Scripture’s
meaning, a ‘firstfruits’, or the very beginning of the very first sowing, and
planting of a seed (of the word of truth), with its firstfruit.
(Rev 14:4) These are they which were not defiled with
women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever
he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being
the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Christ Himself is God’s very FirstFruit. In His death and resurrection,
and out of God’s riches of mercy, God has given to His Christ, His FirstFruit,
the very firstfruits of His offering, God’s elect and chosen in Christ, ‘according to his good pleasure which he hath
purposed in himself’. (Eph 1:9)
Implication : as firstfruit of and in Christ, indeed we are to be holy
as He is holy. And this holiness is of the Lord, and especially of His Spirit.
We cannot be holy in the fallen, sinful, Adamic flesh nature. We can only be
holy as God’s firstfruit following His own FirstFruit, Christ our Lord, in our
new creation nature, and thereby partakers of the divine nature, solely by His
grace working through His gift of salvation faith given to us in that moment He
united us with Christ in His death and resurrection.
As firstfruits with Christ, brought into God’s kingdom, we have ALL the
resources of God at our disposal, to be used for His glory, in communion with the
Holy Spirit, only as we ‘walk by faith and not by sight’. As we continually
recognize, this side of heaven, that we are indeed ‘jars of clay’ with the ‘treasure
of Heaven’, Christ Himself dwelling in our hearts through faith.
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