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Deu 16:9-12 How do we Become Firstfruits?

[Study Aired June 12, 2020]

Deu 16:9  Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.
Deu 16:10  And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:
Deu 16:11  And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there.
Deu 16:12  And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.

I want to start this study off with a quote from Brother Mike’s sixth study on “The biblical Overview of the Plan of God” because in this study he gives a good outline of what the “feast of weeks” represent. Then we will, if the LORD permits, go into an inward application of these verses of Deuteronomy and connect them to what we have been taught by the LORD in the study of Brother Mike’s on the “feast of weeks”.

The Biblical Overview of The Plan of God
Part 6 – The Day of Atonement
Who Does God Accept As an Atonement for The Sins of The People?

“We are continuing in our series on the overview of the plan of God, and we have been seeing that God outlined His plan for mankind and has given us an overview of that plan in the annual holy day festivals which He gave to ancient Israel.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek: tupos, types]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

These festivals are types of the various steps that must be taken by all men of all time. They are divided up into three seasons, which tells us that there is a progression in our walk as well as a progression in the completion of God’s plan for the salvation of all men:

Deu 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

2Ch 8:13 Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.

Here is the link to our study on the spiritual significance of the number three:
Numbers in Scripture – Three, The Process of Spiritual Completion

The first festival was in the Spring and was called the passover and the days of unleavened bread. On the day after the sabbath during the seven days of unleavened bread, a wave sheaf of the barley harvest was offered as the first of the firstfruits to God. This first firstfruit wave sheaf typified Christ as the first of the firstfruits to God.

1Co 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

1Co 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

But we also saw in our last study that this wave sheaf of the barley harvest was not the only “firstfruits unto God”.

Fifty days after the sabbath during the days of unleavened bread there was to be another firstfruit wave offering of the Summer wheat harvest. This wave offering of the Summer wheat harvest was to be the firstfruits of Christ’s labors at Passover. Here is what we are told of this second first fruit harvest:

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.

Here is the New Testament fulfillment of this second firstfruit harvest:

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.

So we learn that there are two separate firstfruits, and these two firstfruits are separated the first from the second by 50 days, and we saw that Christ died on the passover, was raised up from the dead and ascended up to His Father on the same day that the wave sheaf of the firstfruits of the spring barley harvest was offered up to God.

This is what we are told in Leviticus, of that first fruit harvest in more detail:

Lev 23:16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
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 23:18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.
Lev 23:19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
Lev 23:20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD  for the priest.

“They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest” refers to this promise in the New Testament:

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

This is who this second firstfruit harvest at Pentecost symbolizes:

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 first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.

This second ‘firstfruit’ harvest is “the firstfruits… unto the Lamb”, and it is used of “the Lamb” in the same way as He was used of His Father as God’s firstfruit of the Spring harvest:

Joh 17:18 As thou [the Father] hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

Joh 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Christ was sent by His Father to be the firstfruits of them that slept and to atone for the sins of all mankind of all time:

Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

“Not for ours only” proves beyond any doubt that we are “a kind of firstfruits”, and if we are indeed called “a kind of firstfruits” by being in the first resurrection, then there has to be a later harvest which is not called ‘firstfruits’:

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.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the [first] firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming [the second; Summer, pentecost first fruits “for the priests”].
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the [harvest at the] end [of the year], when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. [The last of which is death]

1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

If we cannot say “we [are] a kind of firstfruits of His creatures”, and if we cannot say we are priests who are the first fruits who are “holy unto the Lord”, then we are denying who we are, and Christ will deny us.

Luk 12:8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:
Luk 12:9 But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

And just who are we if indeed we are given to say that “we [are] a kind of firstfruits of His creatures”? This is who Christ Himself tells us we are:

Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.”

So, having learned that we are the first fruits unto Christ, we must go on to learn how that comes to be. Why are we told to count seven weeks and then on the 50th day make an atonement? How does that process happen, and is it a one time act in a ten-second sinner’s prayer in our past or are we BEING atoned for, in aorist tense?

Let’s start off with Revelation 14:4 to understand what atonement for the firstfruits means;

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 [being redeemed] redeemed [G5681] from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

The phrase “were redeemed” is in the aorist tense, which means “we are being redeemed”. Each day is a beginning and an ending of the seven weeks, because each day we are being atoned for on the 50th day. Seven means, “completion” especially of the completion of judgment, see study on the number seven, Study of Numbers – Number Seven. When The LORD reveals false doctrine to us in our lives, we are being judged and then atoned for. From that judgment and atonement, we are first fruits unto Christ. This process is ongoing and never ending in this age for the elect, because they have been chosen out of the world to be first fruits unto God, priests. Remember Leviticus 23:20?

Lev 23:20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. [Christ is The Priest for whom we are holy.]

We go through seven weeks because seven times seven equals 49 and forty nine means the whole of judgment. 4 means WHOLE and 9 means JUDGMENT, together they mean, the whole of judgment in that particular false doctrine on that day will bring an atonement and a new start, a day of pentecost. What does the pentecost mean? It means all things are restored and a new beginning starts. It is as the year of JUBILEE. The feast of weeks is seven weeks, but the Jubilee is seven sabbath of years, seven times seven years, 49 years and then the 50th year is the jubilee. The feast of weeks is inward in coming to know the truth of the LORD, and the seven times seven years is when we are given freedom in those years and freed from the false doctrines that once held us. It is our JUBILEE.

Lev 25:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
Lev 25:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD.
Lev 25:3  Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
Lev 25:4  But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. 
Lev 25:5  That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
Lev 25:7  And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.
Lev 25:8  And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 
Lev 25:9  Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 
Lev 25:10  And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
Lev 25:11  A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.
Lev 25:12  For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

This is the new testament witness to the Jubile:

Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Act 9:4  And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 9:5  And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Act 9:6  And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

When the jubilee comes to you, you give it to your family, to your neighbors, to the poor and to all that ARE IN ISRAEL and are called ISRAELITES. This JUBILEE is only for those who are IN THE NATION OF ISRAEL, it is not applicable to the nations that  are AROUND ISRAEL. Verse 2 of Leviticus 25 says, “Speak unto THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,” not to the Philistines, Amorites, Hitites, Jebusites, or any other “ite” you can come up with. Unless we go through the “feast of weeks”, we cannot partake of the “JUBILE”, because one begets the other. The feast of weeks can be seen as inward and in aorist tense as always occurring in the Israel of God. We are always being planted and always being harvested, and when those years are multiplied by seven [7×7=49], we end up in the Jubilee [7×7=49+1=50], where we are walking in freedom from the very things Christ was planting and then harvesting out of our lives. We learn we have been freed, and we begin to partake of the land’s fruit that was not planted by us but by Christ. It where we rest from our own works. It also has an outward application where we are transformed into spiritual bodies. This is the new testament equivalent and fulfillment:

1Co 15:36  Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
1Co 15:37  And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
1Co 15:38  But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Those verses just explained the seven weeks, which is the feast of weeks, where we are in aroist tense being cleansed from false doctrine and the seven times seven years, which ends in the Jubilee, where we are transformed into spiritual bodies and partake of all that Christ had planted in our ages. It was all written for our learning and edification, preparing us for the GREAT JUBILEE where we will be transformed into the very thing for which we are being created – kings and priests. We will be kings and priests created for the reigning and ruling during the 1000-year reign of Christ. May God grant us the strength, the desire, the eagerness and the endurance to run the race set before us. Unless He gives us these things – the falling by the wayside, the being choked by the thorns and the scorching of the sun, the things we must go through – He will not allow us to grow in good ground. We must pray and hope that these three processes of judgment will make us stronger, not weaker.

Mar 4:3  Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
Mar 4:4  And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
Mar 4:5  And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
Mar 4:6  But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
Mar 4:7  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
Mar 4:8  And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.
Mar 4:9  And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.