For the past several decades, the study of ‘last things’ ~ the last days ~ has gotten a much sharper focus than it seems to have had in past decades and even centuries.
There have been specific times in history when Christian circles have looked more closely at Biblical prophecies concerning the last days, because times of tribulation had come, causing Christian leaders and thinkers to say, ‘maybe this is the time’.
There were many who, during World War II, thought that Hitler was the Anti-Christ, and that the end was coming soon.
But the picture I get in my reading of past times, is that Eschatology, or the study of last things, has been largely neglected until the past century.
With the popularity of the “Left Behind” series of novels (which I’d like to remind you here, are fictitious), and especially since the events of September 11, 2001, that focus is re-sharpened, and Believers all over are agreeing that the technology is finally in place, and the world situation such, that we may very well be seeing the final ‘snowball roll’ that will lead to Christ’s second coming and the great tribulation.
In the midst of all this sky-gazing and excited speculation about the turmoil in the Middle East and whether Christ will rapture the church first, or whether the church will stay on earth through the first half of the tribulation, and who the False Prophet will be and, ‘is the Anti-Christ already living on the planet, and how old might he be right now’, and what do all of the weird creatures in the book of Revelation really symbolize...?....
I’d like to call you to rest from that today, and do a bit of a turn around to look, not at ‘last things’, but ‘first things’.
Not Creation. Not the beginnings of the universe; but the One who is both first and last, beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, and who, because of His atoning work, is the Firstborn among many brethren, and the Firstfruits of the resurrection.
(read text here)
When Paul talked about Christ being the first fruits, he had something very specific in mind, that hearkens back to the Jewish Feast of Firstfruits.
In fact, apart from Christ’s death and resurrection, that ancient feast loses all of its meaning, as the feast, along with all the other Jewish feasts and ordinances, were types, or foreshadowings of the Messiah’s work and His relationship to His people.
I want to spend a few minutes explaining this particular feast to you, for fuller understanding of what Paul was saying to the Corinthian believers and to us in our text verses.
I’ll begin with a paragraph taken from the book “The Feasts of the Lord”, co-authored by Kevin L. Howard and Marvin Rosenthal. quoting:
“Firstfruits marked the beginning of the cereal grain harvests in Israel. Barley was the first grain to ripen of those sown in the winter months. For Firstfruits a sheaf of barley was harvested and brought to the Temple as a thanksgiving offering to the Lord for the harvest. It was representative of the barley harvest as a whole and served as a pledge or guarantee that the remainder of the harvest would be realized in the days that followed.”
Now, the spring feasts in Israel, started with the Passover, which is celebrated on the 14th day of Nisan, on the Jewish calendar, which coincides with March/April on the Julian calendar. We see God’s own establishing of this date, in the 12th chapter of Exodus, as He prepares to deliver His people from slavery in Egypt. Verses 1 - 6 read as follows:
“Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight’.”
From that day, through the 21st day of the month ~or, for seven days~ they were also to eat unleavened bread, which is a teaching in itself, and this is officially the second spring feast, although the first and third feasts are included in the same time period of these seven days.
On the 16th day of Nisan, two days after the Passover, falls the feast of Firstfruits, which came later. If you read the 23rd chapter of Leviticus you’ll see the Lord, through His servant Moses, reconfirming these things to the people; and verses 10 and 11 read,
“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 ...”
This wave offering of the first fruits of the harvest, was to thank God for His provision, and the promise ~represented by this first fruit~ of a later harvest. It was all part of the same harvest of the season, but the crops would continue to yield, and this first fruit was indicative of the bounty of the rest that would come.
First things are an often repeated theme in the scriptures; both Old and New Testaments.
God declared that the firstfruits of all agricultural produce belonged to him, and were to be offered in wave offerings. This included barley, wheat, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates. Even the firstfruits of bread dough belonged to Him and were to be offered in a ‘heave offering’.
“Of the first of your dough you shall lift up a cake as an offering; as the offering of the threshing floor, so you shall lift it up. From the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord an offering throughout your generations.” Numbers 15:20,21
The first born males of all animals, and even the first born of the Israelites themselves, belonged to Him. (Ex 22:30, Ex 13:2, 12:15, 34:19,20 Lev. 27:26, Num. 3:13, 18:15,16)
At one month of age Jesus was taken to the Temple to be presented to the Lord as the first born, according to the Law as quoted in Luke 2:23, “EVERY FIRST-BORN MALE THAT OPENS THE WOMB SHALL BE CALLED HOLY TO THE LORD”
When God redeemed Israel out of bondage to the Egyptians, He did so through the blood of the Passover lamb. All firstborn were under the curse of death and judgment. Escape was possible only through faith in God, demonstrated by the placing of the blood of the Passover lamb on the door of their homes and going inside to eat the roasted lamb, in obedience to God’s instructions.
In a spiritual sense, all men are first born. All are sinners, and are therefore under the curse of death and in need of a Savior. This brings me finally to my first main point.
I. One man brought death to all
Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned...”
When God placed the man and the woman in the Garden, He breathed life into them. Genesis 2:7 says that God breathed the ‘breath of life’ into the man’s nostrils, and he became a living being ~ or, “living soul’~. Although it does not specifically say this about the woman; verse 22 tells us He used a rib from the man to fashion her; I would assume that He then breathed His life into her as well, since all life, ultimately, is God-breathed.
Now we all know that Eve was deceived, and ate of the forbidden tree and then offered to her husband and he ate.
But we have to agree that the sin was Adam’s primary responsibility, for several reasons. One, God gave him this one law, “...from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die”, before Eve was created.
So the teaching of that one law to Eve, was the responsibility of her husband, and either he neglected to teach it properly, or lacked the intestinal fortitude to lead her in the right way ~ because Genesis tells us that after she ate, “...she gave also to her husband with her...”
He was with her! So what was he doing all this time? Reading ‘Sports Illustrated’?
Making nachos?
What was he thinking? “There she goes; talking to that serpent again. I wish she wouldn’t do that. He gives me the creeps. He’s so...so...crafty.”
Adam was the head. He was given the woman. She was given to him; not he to her. She was a gift.
She just had to deal with the situation. (“and the beat goes on....”)
So the responsibility fell on the man.
Now, at the moment they sinned and died spiritually, there was no life in her but her own. But in Adam’s loins was all of mankind. So when Adam sinned and died, all of mankind inherited a sin nature. A fallen nature.
All of mankind died, in Adam. The first born brought death to all. Therefore, all are in need of a Savior.
Remember Romans 5:12.
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned...”
So...
II. One Man brought life to all
Romans 5:18,19 “...even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”
Jesus Christ is the first born of all who believe in the gospel.
Let’s look at just a smattering of verses, that refer to Him as such:
Revelation 1:5 “...and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”
Hebrews 1:6 “And when He again brings the first-born into the world, He says, ‘And let all the angels of God worship Him’.”
Colossians 1:15,18 “And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. (18) He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.”
Now let me point out from this passage in Colossians, that as Adam was head of the woman, so Christ is Head of the church, which the scriptures refer to symbolically as His ‘body’.
Adam failed in his responsibility as head over the woman, to protect her, instruct her, lead her and love her.
Christ, Head of His body, the church, perfectly saves, protects, instructs, leads, and loves her to the uttermost.
And finally, Romans 8:29 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.”
Through one man’s disobedience, sin and death entered into the world. Grace and truth were lost. When Adam and Eve sinned, they fell from God’s grace, and they lost the ability to discern and understand truth, through spiritual death.
But through the One Man’s obedience, that is, the obedience of Christ to the work the Father gave Him to do, Grace and truth were restored;...or rather, all who believe are restored to grace and truth.
“...but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:20,21
and John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
So Jesus is our ‘Firstfruits’, in that He rose again on the third day...the third day of the Passover season, Nisan 16, the day of the celebration of Firstfruits.
The resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee and the beginning (firstfruits) of the final harvest, or resurrection, of all mankind.
This brings us to the point of talking about:
III. The Order of Resurrection
The order is very significant you see, as Paul asserts here in our text verses, all mankind will be resurrected as a result of the harvest begun by the Firstfruits, Jesus Christ.
Let’s look once more at verses 22 and 23 before we go on:
“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,...”
So I want to break down part three of my sermon into two sub-points.
a. the bad news and b. the good news
You see, very many people go about with the impression that those who do not belong to Christ, when they die, will just go in a spiritual sense into Hell and be tortured there forever. Some who are a little bit more familiar with their scriptures know that at some point those will be brought to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and then cast into Hell.
Many of those who are entirely ignorant of the scriptures, believe that they will simply die and cease to exist altogether.
And there are varying shades of all these misconceptions.
But the bible makes clear that all will be resurrected.
The bad news (a), is that those outside of Christ will be resurrected only to stand in judgment and then hear their terrible sentencing and be cast out of God’s presence for eternity.
Daniel 12:2 says, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.”
And just in case Daniel doesn’t carry much weight with you, listen to the words of Jesus Himself, in John 5:28,29:
“...for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth, those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”
Quoting Howard and Rosenthal again;
“Just as there are two parts to the harvest, the wheat and the chaff, there will be two parts to the final harvest. Some will inherit eternal life and dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Others will inherit eternal separation from God, confined forever to the Lake of Fire.”
Hear Matthew 3:12 “And His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Through the centuries man has cooked up and dreamed up every fable and myth imaginable, to skirt around this terrible truth. The idea of the unrepentant being brought forth from the dead in order to be finally judged and for punishment to begin is so terrible; so mind-boggling, that men would rather convince themselves of an obvious lie than acknowledge the inevitable.
But there is no reincarnation; there is no sweet, merciful oblivion...no impersonal blending with the cosmos, no purgatory, no second chances.
“...it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” Hebrews 9:27
and the only escape from an eternity of punishment and separation from God, is through repentance, and faith in the shed blood, burial and bodily resurrection of God’s only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord...Firstfruits of the resurrection.
But there is still sub-point b. The good news.
The good news is only for believers. There is no good news for the unrepentant.
If you’re here today, (or reading this sermon later) and you have never acknowledged the need to turn from sin to God; never come, hands empty, and surrendered yourself, and ceased your rebellion and placed your faith and trust in the shed blood of Christ to pay the penalty for your sin, then there is no good news for you. Point b doesn’t apply.
But if you will do that now...if you will confess that you are of Adam’s race and therefore a sinner in need of a Redeemer...if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,...
...then for you, this message becomes very good news, indeed. The best news you will ever hear!
For you see, this resurrection we’ve been talking about has already begun.
It is not something we hope will come at some future date. It is not a promise that we say is ‘sure’ yet still ‘undelivered’.
Christian, listen to me.
We, as believers in Christ, are all a part of the very same harvest that began with our Firstfruits rising from the dead.
It is not as though we are patiently waiting for some symbolic ‘winter’ to run it’s course so the new crop can be sown, watered and harvested.
We are of the same crop as our Firstfruits, and our resurrection...our bearing fruit...the time of our harvesting...is sure and inevitable, because the Firstfruits has been harvested and waved and offered to the Father; an acceptable offering to Him.
Jesus explained this same fact to Martha in chapter 11 of John’s gospel, when she said, “I know that he (Lazarus) will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” and He answered,
“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Christian, do you believe this?
Has this truth gotten into your very heart and taken root?
Do you realize that even now, in God’s economy, as One who is eternal and sees eternity to eternity at once, you are the final part of a harvest that has already begun, and that your place in Heaven is as assured and as secure as the Throne of Christ?
“And when He again brings the first-born into the world, He says, AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM’ And of the angels He says, ‘WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS, AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE’. But of the Son He says, THY THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER,...”
I Thessalonians 4:16 says,
“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...”
And our text says,
“But each in his own order; Christ, the firstfruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.”
Take heart, believer. Be encouraged. These days are short. They are like a mist in the wind, and less than that compared to eternity.
The harvest has already begun, and we too will soon be gathered in, to the eternal safety and security of the Father’s house.
“Comfort one another with these words”
