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The Feast of First Fruits
Finding Significance by Relating with God through the Lord’s Feast of First-FruitsSummary God instructed the children of Israel to celebrate First-fruits after coming into the Promised Land and reaping the benefits of its harvest. On the one hand, First-fruits marks a way to dedicate the harvest, or fruits of our efforts to God. It represents gratefulness to God, and provides for a special way to express devotion and loyalty to Him. On this day, God also directed the children of Israel to begin counting 50 days to offering a new grain offering. This commemorates the 50 day journey from the deliverance of the bondage of Egypt to the receiving of God’s 10 Commandments and revelation of His covenant at Sinai. It serves to remind us that redemption was not truly complete until receiving God’s Torah—or instruction of His Word—His covenant. Taking the time to count each day and meditate on the reality of God prepares our heart and mind to truly receive fullness of truth and revelation of the knowledge of God. The LORD lived as a man, taking on our human nature. He dedicated His life in devotion and obedience to the Father, saving ours from spiritual death. In fulfillment of the feast, the LORD rose on the 3rd day after Passover, the very day of First-fruits. In His resurrection, He, therefore, became the first fruits of the human race to experience the resurrection of the new life. Those born again in the LORD follow in His footsteps. We also celebrate this feast on an ongoing basis in faith as we dedicate our lives—our hearts and minds first—and service and duty to glorify God; and as a result, reap the fruits and benefits of His harvest.
Life Application Questions In what ways do you express your gratefulness to the LORD for dedicating His life to save yours? In what ways do you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in studying God’s Word and preparing your heart and mind to receive God’s truths?
Scripture References Leviticus 23: 9-14; Proverbs 3:9; 1 Corinthians 15:20
Discovering God’s Purposes by Relating with Him through the Lord’s Feast of First-FruitsSummary David truly had a heart of gratefulness. He acknowledged God as sovereign, and therefore, His source and sufficiency. In Psalm 24, he declares, “The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness.” (Psalm 24:1 NKJV) On First-fruits we also dedicate ourselves to focusing on preparing our hearts and minds to receive new things of God and the fullness of the measure of new revelation God would offer us by His word and Spirit this season. Peter further affirmed that God has given to us “everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowing the One who called us to his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3 JNT) For this reason, the LORD taught about the blessings of giving to others from a heart of gratefulness; and in faith, believing that God would multiply whatever you give. “Give, and you will receive gifts — the full measure, compacted, shaken together and overflowing, will be put right in your lap. For the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure back to you!” (Luke 6:38 JNT)Giving to others truly prepares the heart to receive back from God. Out of gratefulness and in faith, we therefore, dedicate a portion of the first fruits of what God has given to us back to Him; not in mere duty or obligation, but in love.
Life Application Questions In what ways do you freely give back to God a portion of the first fruits of what He has given to you? What are some ways you can bless others as God blesses you? How do you demonstrate your trust in God’s provision for the future?
Scripture References Matthew 19:21; 25:37; Luke 3:11; Acts 20:35
Receiving God’s Amazing Grace by Relating with Him through the Lord’s Feast of First-FruitsSummary Interestingly enough, Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus Christ was also “inspected” by the religious leaders to test His claim to be the Messiah. Many false Messiah’s have attempted to claim Messiahship. His point was made and His claim proved, however, after His resurrection from the dead! The feast of First-fruits is, therefore, a shadow pointing forward to the LORD’s resurrection as the first soul arisen in the newness of eternal life.
In identifying with the LORD’s death and resurrection, we resist the temptations of sin, and allow the Holy Spirit to arise within and empower us to overcome. The more we yield to this gift of grace—the true gift of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit—the more we experience the real sufficiency of God in our life. Paul discovered that this grace gift became the true source of his strength.
Life Application Questions None of us will ever be perfect in our mortal frames. We are just asked to seek first His kingdom, and earnestly allow the Holy Spirit to transform us, and conform us—into His image until He is revealed in us. In what areas would you like to see God’s nature reflected in you?
Scripture References
Responding in Faith to God’s Invitation of Life and Peace by Relating with Him through the Lord’s Feast of First-FruitsSummary
This new nature is appropriated with a conscious decision to affirm the LORD’s headship, or Lordship and allowing the Holy Spirit to have dominion in your life. This should produce a change in attitudes and behavior. Paul, therefore, exhorted believers to: “strip off your old nature, because your old nature is thoroughly rotted by its deceptive desires; 23 and you must let your spirits and minds keep being renewed, 24 and clothe yourselves with the new nature created to be godly, which expresses itself in the righteousness and holiness that flow from the truth.” (Ephesians 4:22-24 JNT) With this fresh focus and openness to new things God may be doing, it becomes easy to receive new truth and revelation by the Holy Spirit. As God reveals truth, the Holy Spirit works change in your heart and renews your mindset. The more the eyes of your heart open, the wider your perspectives become—clearing the way for God to bring you through transition, repositioning and transformation. This is how the Holy Spirit leads you through the outworking of God’s creative and redemptive process. As you take time to engage with God these 50 days over the early harvest of new things He is doing—the first fruits—and allow His Word and Spirit to minister to you, He progressively expands revelation and truth to the point of climax at Shavuot—Pentecost! As you continue to engage with God over time, He will nurture your faith and cultivate His nature in you from faith-to-faith and glory-to-glory! (Romans 1:17 and 2 Corinthians 3:18)
Life Application Questions In what ways do you affirm the LORD’s headship and permit His Lordship in your life, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal new truths? How is your new nature reflected in your life?
Scripture References
Walking in Spiritual Reality by Relating with God through the Lord’s Feast of First-FruitsSummary This new position acknowledges an intimate and genuine relationship with our Creator and Father God. It is by this real “Spirit of adoption” whereby the child of God receives the love of the Father, responding by crying out from the heart, “Abba, Father.” As His children, we become joint heirs in union with the LORD. (Romans 8:17) In addition, the gift of the Holy Spirit is bestowed into our hearts as the “guarantee of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:14) This infilling is in essence, the deposit—or initial installment of our eternal inheritance! This new posture or standing opens up a truly new realm of vested spiritual rights to the child of God, as stated in John 1:12-13. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” To gain insight into what this truly means, two words need to be fully understood: receive and right. The word used for receive here, lambano, is an active verb, in contrast to the more passive kind of verb used in the sentence just prior to this one. It means: actively attained. The word used for right is exousia. Like many Greek and Hebrew words, it is an expansive word. It means: right, privilege, capacity, competency, strength, freedom, authority, power, and jurisdiction. It means a lot! So, those who more than believe, but actively embrace and trust the LORD and welcome the Holy Spirit from the heart, attain the full right, privilege, capacity, competency, strength, freedom, authority, power, and jurisdiction of covenant children of God! How many of those who believe actively receive all God has to bestow? Truly, God’s children in the LORD have opportunity to apprehend a fresh, wide-range perspective of life! This standing offers the child of God a special kind of spiritual vision. 1 Samuel 3:1 calls this type of vision, open vision (chazone parats). With such type of open vision and the faith to see it materialize, you can truly come into the fullness of God’s unique purposes for your life.
Life Application Questions To what degree have you received the love of the Father? How has God revealed His Son in you? To what extent have you received your “vesting” as a joint heir How have you been exercising your rights as heirs of grace,
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Be Blessed by Embracing God’s Values and Relating with Him through the Lord’s Feast of First-FruitsSummary
In identifying with His resurrection, the child of God is, therefore, elevated to a new spiritual state; “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Romans 8:21 NKJV) Grateful for this new sense of liberty, we will have opportunities to express loyalty—or faithfulness—to God. Such expressions of loyalty demonstrate the qualities of a consecrated life to God. In addition to valuing God’s grace in the harvest, First-fruits gave the individual the opportunity to examine the first fruits of the crop to test the quality of the harvest. If the first fruits were good—and therefore blessed—the rest would likewise be blessed. Here too, the LORD has become an example of the type of character we should value and embrace. The Holy Spirit, however, is the real enabler. He is the Comforter who, if allowed, will transform your mind and heart, bringing it to conformity with the LORD’s character and nature.
Life Application Questions In what ways do you submit to the LORD’s headship, allowing Him to have authority in your life? How do you dedicate the first fruits of your labors to God? What are some simple ways by which you can demonstrate loyalty to God?
Scripture References
Living Life in its Fullness by Relating with the Lord who is the Door of the SheepThe prophet, Joel, was speaking of Messiah when he proclaimed, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.” (Joel 3:5 MT; v. 2:32 others) Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus Christ came as LORD proclaiming that He was the way to eternal salvation, the gateway—or door—of heaven.
This word was truly fulfilled at the moment His fleshly life expired, as the veil to the Holy Place in the Temple was ripped in two from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:51) The very entrance to the place representing the throne room of God, where access had been restricted, became open. Paul expanded on what this truly meant for those placing their faith in the LORD by explaining, “through him and on the ground of our trust, we have gained access to this grace in which we stand.” (Romans 5:2 JNT) This grace is the fullness of the LORD’s salvation—eternal life with eternal access to God’s presence in heaven—and open access to God, “in earth as it is in heaven” while still on earth, through the presence of the Holy Spirit! Paul further explained how believers in the LORD follow after Him as true children of God bound for eternal life, in proclaiming that, “the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have died.” (1 Corinthians 15:20 JNT) The LORD came as a man to be the first fruit to ascend unto eternal life after substituting His sacrificial blood for the remission of sins. No longer would animal sacrifices be acceptable to God. He opened the door to eternal life! He lives eternally in heaven, as do those who have put their faith in Him, and follow Him. In the LORD, we truly see El Hashamayim—The God of the Heavens. (Psalm 136:26) |
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