Jesus Fulfilled the Feast of First Fruits

     The third feast of Israel, the Feast of First Fruits, always occurs on the Sunday following the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, 'When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.'" Leviticus 23:9-11

     This feast was a way for the Israelites to acknowledge God's provision for them in the land of Israel. It was on the Sunday after Jesus' crucifixion, while the Jews were celebrating this very feast, that Jesus was raised from the dead. This was no coincidence but according to God's preordained plan that Jesus was raised on this particular day. Jesus was fulfilling this feast just as He had already fulfilled the two previous feasts on the exact days that the feasts were being celebrated. Jesus had become the First Fruits of the Resurrection!

     "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive, but each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming."  I Corinthians 15:20-23

     And so, Jesus became the fulfillment of the Feast of First Fruits on the very day that the feast was being celebrated. A first implies that there will be more, and truly one day all believers will also be resurrected to live for eternity with Christ.

     "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 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. Therefore comfort one another with these words."          I Thessalonians 4:16-18

     Now that we have seen that Jesus fulfilled all three of the first feasts of Israel with perfect timing, what about the fourth feast? Was it fulfilled with the same precision?