Please turn in your Bibles on this resurrection morning 2005 to I Corinthians chapter 15 as we look at the Jewish Feast of Firstfruits. As you are turning there, listen to this tragic story that took place at Easter-time last year. It was during an Easter celebration in Glassport, Pennsylvania that we are told:
It may not have been as gruesome as Mel Gibson’s movie, but many parents and children got upset when a church trying to teach about Jesus’ crucifixion performed an Easter show with actors whipping the Easter bunny and breaking eggs.
People who attended Saturday’s show at Glassport’s memorial stadium quoted performers as saying, “There is no Easter bunny,” and described the show as being a demonstration of how Jesus was crucified.
Melissa Salzmann, who brought her 4-year-old son J.T., said the program was inappropriate for young children. “He was crying and asking me why the bunny was being whipped,” Salzmann said.
Patty Bickerton, the youth minister at Glassport Assembly of God, said the performance wasn’t meant to be offensive. Bickerton portrayed the Easter rabbit and said she tried to act with a tone of irreverence.
“The program was for all ages, not just the kids. We wanted to convey that Easter is not just about the Easter bunny, it is about Jesus Christ,” Bickerton said.
Performers broke eggs meant for an Easter egg hunt and also portrayed a drunken man and a self-mutilating woman, said Jennifer Norelli-Burke, another parent who saw the show in Glassport, a community about 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
“It was very disturbing,” Norelli-Burke said. “I could not believe what I saw. It wasn’t anything I was expecting.”
- The Associated Press, 04-08-04
Folks, granted this day has nothing to do with the Easter bunny and hidden eggs, that is truly a pagan influence that has crept into the church. The problem is that they focused on what this day is not instead of what this day is all about – the resurrection of Jesus Christ! May we not lose sight of that as we try to bring the message of Jesus to others, focus on Him! And we need to keep in mind that Jesus is Jewish, and thus, we are going to see that the Feasts of Israel were just a foreshadowing of what was to come, Jesus Christ.
First of all, on the 10th day of the month of Nisan the Passover lamb was taken and for the next five days this lamb was to be inspected and examined for any spots or blemishes that would disqualify him from being the Passover lamb for that family. Jesus, on the Sunday before He was crucified, a day we call Palm Sunday, rode into Jerusalem as Messiah the King and for the next five days He was examined for spots or blemishes by the people, He was grilled by the religious leaders, He was grilled by Pilate.
And in Luke 23:13-15 we are told, “Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, said to them, ‘You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him.’”
You see, He was innocent of breaking any law, He was without spot or blemish as Peter tells us in I Peter 1:18-19, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Thus, on the 14th of Nisan, as the Passover lambs were being slain at 3 PM, Jesus Christ gave up His spirit and died on the cross of Calvary. A coincidence? I don’t think so. John the Baptist said of Jesus, “ . . . ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” John 1:29. And Paul makes this powerful point in I Corinthians 5:7, “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” Thus, on that Thursday, the body of Jesus was taken down off the cross and placed in the tomb!
The Feast of Passover is a feast of salvation. First of all, to the Jews in bondage in Egypt, as the angel of death passed over the homes that had the blood of the lamb sprinkled on their door, interestingly enough the blood was spread in the shape of a cross, so too are we delivered from the death of sin when the blood of Jesus is applied to our lives and He washes us from our sins. Yes, the Jews were set free from their bondage in Egypt but it was just a shadow, a picture of the greater redemption that was to come as our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ was sacrificed for the sins of the world!
The Feast of Unleavened Bread followed Passover on the 15th of Nisan and ran for 7 days. During this time all leaven would be removed from the home and leaven is a type of sin. As we are saved by Christ, immediately the sanctification process starts where God is purging us from the garbage that is in us and it continues till we go to be with Him. And so, at the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread Jesus was buried in the tomb, Jesus being without sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him and as I said, Passover is a type of our salvation and Unleavened Bread a type of our sanctification, but it all points to Jesus, He is the substance.
That now leaves us with the Feast of Firstfruits and with that said, let’s begin reading in I Corinthians chapter 15, starting in verse 20, and see what the Lord has for us this resurrection morning 2005!
The Feast of Firstfruits occurred on the first day after the Sabbath after Passover. That would place this feast on the Sunday after Passover or resurrection morning! Now, just for some background information, the Feast of Firstfruits was an agricultural feast, as were many of the feasts of Israel, and they would bring to the Lord the Firstfruits of the grain harvest. They would gather a sheaf of grain and bring it before the Lord and wave it before Him and it was to represent a fruitful harvest from the Lord as they gave to the Lord.
We read of this feast in Leviticus 23:9-14 where we are told, “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD. Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.”’”
Now here is the fascinating thing. Paul calls Jesus “the firstfruits” and Jesus rose from the dead on that Sunday morning during the feast of firstfruits! Paul tells us in Romans 6:5, “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.”
You see, the resurrection of Jesus Christ points us to a future bountiful harvest of souls one day. Trapp put is this way as he said, “As in the firstfruits offered to God, the Jews were assured of God’s blessing on the whole harvest, so by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our resurrection is insured.” Again, Paul tells us in Romans 8:23, “Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”
Now many look at the resurrection of Jesus and see it as foolishness, not because the facts don’t support it, they just refuse to believe. And so to deny that Jesus rose from the dead they have to come up with all kinds of theory’s, all kinds of ideas to what happened to Jesus if He didn’t rise from the dead. They say He never really died, but just passed out, the women went to the wrong tomb, they made up the story that Jesus rose from the dead, that the disciples stole the body and the theory’s go on-and-on but they don’t hold water when you look at the evidence. And you see, if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, listen to what Paul has to say and it is powerful. In I Corinthians 15:17-19 Paul tells us, “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”
You see, if Christ didn’t rise from the dead we are still lost in our sins, our faith is empty, it is futile, we might as well eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow we die and that is it! But Paul does not leave us in that hopeless situation, he goes on to say, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
But what is the evidence that makes it so convincing? Listen to what Kurt DeHaan tells us regarding the resurrection of Jesus. We are told:
If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the Christian faith is a foolish fantasy. However, if the resurrection of Christ did occur, it confirms His life, message, and atoning work. It is the basis of our hope of life beyond the grave. Christ is alive, and the evidence is overwhelming. Here are some of the reasons we can be so sure.
1. Jesus predicted His resurrection (Matt. 16:21; Mark 9:9-10; John 2:18-22).
2. The Old Testament prophesied it (Psalm 16:10; compare Acts 2:25-31, 13:33-37).
3. The tomb was empty and the grave clothes vacant. If those who opposed Christ wished to silence His disciples, all they had to do was produce a body, but they could not (John 20:3-9).
4. Many people saw the resurrected Christ. They looked on His face, touched Him, heard His voice, saw Him eat (Matt. 28:16-20; Luke 24:13-39; John 20:11-29; John 21:1-9; Acts 1:6-11; I Cor. 15:3-8).
5. The lives of the disciples were revolutionized. Though they fled and even denied Christ at the time of His arrest, they later feared no one in their proclamation of the risen Christ (Matt. 26:56, 69-75).
6. The resurrection was the central message of the early church. The church grew with an unwavering conviction that Christ had risen and was the Lord of the church (Acts 4:33; 5:30-32; Rom. 5:24).
7. Men and women today testify that the power of the risen Christ has transformed their lives. We know that Jesus is alive not only because of the historical and biblical evidence but also because He has miraculously touched our lives.
- Kurt E. DeHaan
Not only that, we are also told:
Many impartial students who have approached the resurrection of Christ with a judicial spirit have been compelled by the weight of the evidence to belief in the resurrection as a fact of history. An example may be taken from a letter written by Sir Edward Clarke, K. C. to the Rev. E. L. Macassey:
“As a lawyer I have made a prolonged study of the evidences for the events of the first Easter Day. To me the evidence is conclusive, and over and over again in the High Court I have secured the verdict on evidence not nearly so compelling. Inference follows on evidence, and a truthful witness is always artless and disdains effect. The Gospel evidence for the resurrection is of the class, and as a lawyer I accept it unreservedly as the testimony of truthful men to facts they were able to substantiate.”
- Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, p. 190
You see, folks, in our courts we can convict a person on the testimony of only a few witnesses. In the case for the resurrection of Christ there were over 500 witnesses that had seen the risen Christ and when Paul wrote I Corinthians many of those witnesses were still alive and Paul makes the point that you can check it out for yourself, go and ask them, the eyewitnesses of the risen Lord!
And also please understand that by saying they saw the risen Lord they did not get any benefits from that, only trouble. They were not asked to speak on the Oprah Schwartz show or the Phil Simon show. There were no book deals, no articles in the Jerusalem Inquire, a magazine for inquiring minds! There were no movie deals for them. What did they get? They got persecution, lost their jobs, were outcasts of society, some were even put to death because of it. Thus, if it wasn’t true, if they didn’t see the risen Lord, there was no profit for them to lie, no benefit, only trouble and they might as well come clean, but they did see the risen Lord and they were willing to die for the truth they witnessed!
It is as James Warwick Montgomery said:
Note that when the disciples of Jesus proclaimed the resurrection, they did so as eyewitnesses and they did so while people were still alive who had had contact with the events they spoke of. In 56 A.D. Paul wrote that over 500 people had seen the risen Jesus and that most of them were still alive (1 Corinthians 15:6 ff.). It passes the bounds of credibility that the early Christians could have manufactured such a tale and then preached it among those who might easily have refuted it simply by producing the body of Jesus.
- Montgomery, HC, 78
And lastly, H. D. A. Major tells us: “Had the crucifixion of Jesus ended His disciples’ experience of Him, it is hard to see how the Christian church could have come into existence. That church was founded on faith in the Messiahship of Jesus. A crucified messiah was no messiah at all. He was one rejected by Judaism and accursed of God.” You see, the evidence is overwhelming that Jesus rose from the dead, but it is up to you whether you want to believe it or not. It doesn’t change the fact that He did, but if you reject it, you are the one who loses out because you refuse to believe the evidence that is before you!
Now, remember that I said the Feast of Firstfruits was the first installment of the coming harvest. Thus, as Christ rose from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits it indicates to us that something bigger is coming, something bigger is going to take place, a bigger harvest of souls, the rest of the crop you might say will be taken in. Look at I Corinthians 15:20-21 again. We read, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.”
Christ is the beginning; He was the firstfruits of the coming bountiful harvest of souls, the resurrection from the dead. You see, Paul’s point is that we are born into this world in Adam, dead in our trespasses and sins. We are separated from God. But then Jesus stepped in, God became flesh and dwelt among us to pay in full the penalty for our sins and thus, as we receive Him as Lord and Savior into our lives we are born again, the spirit is alive again in us and we are not controlled by the body appetites any longer.
Paul makes this point in Romans 5:12-21, as he said, and this is from The Amplified Bible, “Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as the result of sin, so death spread to all men, [no one being able to stop it or to escape its power] because all men sinned. [To be sure] sin was in the world before ever the Law was given, but sin is not charged to men's account where there is no law [to transgress]. Yet death held sway from Adam to Moses [the Lawgiver], even over those who did not themselves transgress [a positive command] as Adam did. Adam was a type (prefigure) of the One Who was to come [in reverse, the former destructive, the Latter saving]. [Gen 5:5; 7:22; Deut 34:5.] But God's free gift is not at all to be compared to the trespass [His grace is out of all proportion to the fall of man]. For if many died through one man's falling away (his lapse, his offense), much more profusely did God's grace and the free gift [that comes] through the undeserved favor of the one Man Jesus Christ abound and overflow to and for [the benefit of] many. Nor is the free gift at all to be compared to the effect of that one [man's] sin. For the sentence [following the trespass] of one [man] brought condemnation, whereas the free gift [following] many transgressions brings justification ( an act of righteousness) . . .
. . . For if because of one man's trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God's] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). Well then, as one man's trespass [one man's false step and falling away led] to condemnation for all men, so one Man's act of righteousness [leads] to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all men. For just as by one man's disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness, and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners, so by one Man's obedience the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him). But then Law came in, [only] to expand and increase the trespass [making it more apparent and exciting opposition]. But where sin increased and abounded, grace (God's unmerited favor) has surpassed it and increased the more and superabounded, So that, [just] as sin has reigned in death, [so] grace (His unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord.”
But now that we are alive in Christ we await His coming. The word “coming” in the Greek is PAROUSIA and in general terms it speaks of a person’s appearance, but when it is spoken of Christ, it refers to His return. In Matthew 24:27 we are told, “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Now in speaking of resurrection, God does things in order and that is what we see here in regards to the resurrection. First of all Jesus is the Firstfruits, He is the first to be raised from the dead with an immortal body, a body that would never fade away. Then there is a bountiful harvest of souls, which, like I said, has an order. First of all from Pentecost till the Lord comes for His Bride, the Church, we call it the Rapture where the Lord meets us in the air prior to the start of the seven-year tribulation period. All believers, dead and living at that time will receive their resurrected bodies. When we die now, our spirits and souls go to be with the Lord, and during the rapture our spirits and souls will be joined to the body that God has put together for them to live in. So just as the Lord received His resurrected body, so too will every believer one day, as Paul tells us in I Thessalonians chapter 4 and I Corinthians chapter 15.
The next group of people who will receive their resurrection bodies are those who come to Christ during the tribulation period and are put to death for their faith in Christ. This group of people will receive their resurrection bodies at the end of the tribulation period as Revelation 20:4 tells us.
What about the Old Testament saints? Some feel they will receive their resurrection bodies at the time of the rapture while others feel it will occur at the end of the tribulation period as Daniel 12:2 seems to indicate.
Lastly, we have those who enter into the Millennial Kingdom, the 1,000-year reign of Christ after the tribulation period and these are those who came to Jesus during the tribulation period and were not martyred for their faith in Christ. Also, there will be those who are born during the Millennial Kingdom. Thus, after the Millennial reign of Christ, after Satan is loosed for a season, all believers who went into or were born during the Millennial reign of Christ will receive their resurrection bodies. And so, as you can see, this will be a bountiful harvest of souls!
I like the way that Theologian Erich Sauer put it. He said, “The present age is Easter time. It begins with the resurrection of the Redeemer and ends with the resurrection of the redeemed. Between lies the spiritual resurrection of those called into life through Christ. So we live between two Easters, and in the power of the first Easter we go to meet the last Easter.”
As you look at the life of Jesus please understand that He was not some radical that got to big for His britches and was arrested and put to death and then made into some god to be worshiped. In the first coming of Jesus there are over 300 prophecies that were fulfilled down to the tiniest detail. Just look at the feasts and how He fulfilled them. He is our Passover Lamb being crucified on Passover for the sins of the world. He was placed in the tomb on the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And he rose from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits giving us the assurance that God will raise these bodies of flesh one day and we will receive resurrection bodies for our spirit and soul to dwell in.
As I begin to close this morning listen to this story that deals with our journey to eternal life with Jesus. We are told:
The pyramids of Egypt are some of the most famous structures in the world. Most of us probably know that they served as burial chambers for the Pharaohs. But archaeologists report that preparation for death was important right across Egyptian society, not just for Pharaohs. For the Egyptians the path to eternal life was fraught with dangers, demons, and false trails. One must be well prepared. The Book of the Dead provided instructions, tips, and incantations for the soul on their journey to the underworld. The book was often excerpted on coffins and tombs, or the complete scrolls might be placed in the tomb.
The last ordeal on the path to eternity was the weighing of the deceased’s heart. This would determine their fitness for joining the land of the gods. Applicants who passed were welcomed by Osiris; a too-heavy heart laden with evil was devoured by a monster and the spirit banished into darkness. Christian faith of course sees death very differently. The path to eternal life is not fraught with danger, but has been made simple and open by Christ. And while our hearts may be weighed, it is not the degree of evil found within them that will matter but the presence of faith in Christ, who forgives all our sin and welcomes us into his presence.
- Source Unknown
For many today, they don’t know the way, they are lost, they are unsure but they don’t have to be. You see, Jesus said in John 14:6, “ . . . ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” You see, the way to heaven, the way to the Father is Jesus, He is the way! To know the truth you don’t need to go to the world because Jesus tells us that what He says is truth and thus, His words of eternal life are based in Him and that is the truth! Many run to find life and they run to and fro and in the end, they still miss out on finding it. Jesus says that He is the life, not just existence, but abundant life, eternal life that is only found in Him. You see, if you want to enter into life with God, you must come through Jesus, it is that simple and yet it can be that hard as we let pride keep us from entering in. Humble yourself before Him and receive Him into your life!
May you be encouraged, assured that what God has promised us He is able to bring to pass, that we will receive resurrection bodies one day and enter into His presence for eternity. Remember, the tomb is empty won’t you come and see and receive the risen Lord into your life, may you be prepared to meet your Maker and as I have said, that is only done through Jesus Christ!
Let me leave you with these words from Resurrection morning found in Matthew 28:1-8, “Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.’ So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.” May you go and tell others that He is risen!