How Jesus' Resurrection Fulfills the Feast of Firstfruits

In 1 Corinthians 15:4, the apostle Paul says something that sounds a bit strange. He claims that Christ rose from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures. One might wonder what Scriptures could Paul possibly be referring to. To understand, we need to keep reading. We find a clue in 1 Corinthians 15:20 where Paul says Jesus is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” So what exactly did Paul have in mind here? We have to read about the feast of the firstfruits found in Leviticus to find out. We learn that Jesus prophetically fulfills the feast of the firstfruits in a way that is best explained by divine design.

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[Wesstuntube]

I've always been fascinated by the idea of God fulfilling each Jewish feast and festival with major events in redemptive history. There are so many amazing parallels between the crucifixion of Jesus and the Passover lamb and so much depth that I DO think Jesus's fulfillment of the Passover in and of itself is a strong argument for the truth of Christianity.

The resurrection of Jesus as the very first sign of a greater "harvest" to come is a very interesting fulfillment of the day of firstfruits, and a beautiful picture.

The fulfillment of Pentecost came with another wave of harvesting as God gave His Spirit and 3, 000 accepted Peter's message and were baptized. Since that time, the harvest has continued, but the final harvest of the fall fruits (represented by grapes, pomegranates, figs and olives) is still to come.

I'm certain that the fall feasts where God arrives in association with trumpet blasts (Feast of Trumpets), sin is done away with and sent away (like the scapegoat on the day of Atonement), and God makes his dwelling among men (feast of Tabernacles) will all bring new fulfillment in beautiful and surprising ways as well.

The whole picture leads to a sort of poetic "argument from beauty." It might not be the most rigorous argument, but it does carry some weight. The idea that God commanded the feasts and then fulfilled them, in order, in absolutely shocking ways throughout history telling a beautiful story with our collective history is powerful, even though its rhetorical strength is hard to quantify. It seems strange to me that the early Christians could have made up all of this symbolism ad-hoc, and more likely that they discovered it upon looking closely. I think it's similar to the beauty we discover in the laws of the universe at large. We didn't make the universe up - God did - and we just discover and marvel at what God has done.

[iranianskeptic]

The first thing that caught my attention about the Bible and Christ was the correspondence between the NT and the OT, while people were always talking about contradictions.
You can find Jesus on all Jewish feasts, maybe even his birthday!

[globetrotter]

Just a thought to add here that the fulfillment of the Jewish feasts was the point. Obviously the point of the writers mentioning the timing was not to confirm a "Sunday" or First Day day of worship (even on accident), but the emphasis was to prove his covenant to the Jewish people and the nations through the timing of the feasts. This is super important to emphasize that the timing was so the the Jewish people would eventually recognize Him as the Messiah, if not then, at least every year, they would be literally acting out communion at Passover as a hint to the truth! Our God is Amazing.

[VideoBible]

Very nice video! Thanks for making it!

[petery]

That's such a cool undesigned coincidence with the Old Testament. And yeah, the fact that the Gospel authors didn't connect the dots makes the deliberate fulfillment hypothesis a lot less likely.

[amsterdamGG]

Jesus Himself identifies the Sabbath and the Lord's Day in Matthew 12:8, a remarkable passage. There Jesus says that the Sabbath : "The Son of man is  even of the Sabbath." Now some, without really thinking it through, have told us that the Sabbath is Jewish and therefore is not for us. But Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man.” And that means all men. The Saviour Himself made the Sabbath two thousand years before there was a Jew. He gave the Sabbath along with marriage, and the Sabbath is no more Jewish than is marriage. Woman was made for man. Did you ever hear anyone say, “I can’t get married because it’s Jewish?” Did you?

[ggpt]

I'm glad for this video for explaining what can be the easily misunderstood book of Leviticus. But also thanks to God for this video, there is even more evidence from the Levitical passage used. The Israelites were to give of the first fruits, and Christ gave himself as the fruitfruit, and being made the High Priest according to Hebrews, would have "waved himself" as the first fruits, according to this passage. There is also further hope and evidence for the Christian that as Jesus is the firstfruit from the dead to never die again, so too is there a holiday to celebrate the fullness of wheat, represented by all the Christians who will ever be saved by Christ's first fruit status.

[bridejesus]

Fantastic presentation thank you so much for sharing this insight into scriptures!

[GoldenRuffian]

Great video. Just some pushback on Acts 20:7 - they are already gathered on the Sabbath and since the Biblical day begins at night, they gathered together on "the first day of the week" to eat. They met most days and some set aside the Lord's day for their own observance, but no one "gave up" the Sabbath for quite some time - "officially" in the 4th century, but there were some like Marcion and other heretics who were already rejecting the Old Testament Law (Torah).

[heberfrank]

Why don't you believe Jesus was actually in the tomb for three days and three nights as he predicted? The last day would not have to be a full day. But a Friday crucifixion and Sunday resurrection clearly do not include three nights. "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." --Matt 12:40

[calebjore]

Excellent presentation of this line of evidence.

[russfrancis]

His GUILTY sentence and DEATH could ONLY occur sometime AFTER the 13th day of the moon.

Here is a secret:

YASHUAH said the ONLY SIGN would be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.
The Pharasees and Sadducees knew what this meant.
YASHUAH had just sealed his death sentence to be ON THE PASSOVER.

The Pharasees and Sadducees KNEW that YASHUAH as HIGH PRIEST was required to WAVE THE SHEAF on the DAY AFTER FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD in the HEAVENLY TEMPLE.
So if they waited until the 14th to kill HIM, it would be IMPOSSBLE FOR THIS "ONLY SIGN" to occur!!!

There are only 2 days and 2 nights from PASSOVER TO WAVESHEAF!

HNOW, HOW COULD YASHUAH BE THE PASSOVER LAMB on the 14th AND THEN ON THE 16th BE THE HIGH PRIEST!?!?

They thought they had him!

But YHWH saved HIM.
YHWH provided a SUPERNATURAL SIGN by shading the earth from sunlight for 3 hours on the Passover DAY.

THIS FULFILLED THE WORDS OF YASHUAH.

3 DAYS AND 3 NIGHTS.

[BelieveOnlyJesus]

I believe everyday is the Lord’s day (Romans 14:6) but in my American life it is typically Sunday.

[simonfalk]

Ever heard Dr John Bergsma talk about how Jesus fulfills the year of Jubilee OT law? It's very good and similar to this video!

[Nov_Net]

Wow you can draw really fast! Also this video is pretty interesting justbas I thought I saw all the parallels of Jesus in the old Testament

[myroic]

Shalom to you, my brother in Messiah. I would like to say that part of your teaching is rooted in replacement Theology. I’m sure it is not deliberate. Let me explain…. A thorough reading of Acts as well as other supporting early documents show that the first century believers in Yeshua (Jesus) assembled everyday, not just on Sunday. The LORD’s Day is, was and forever will be the 7th day, which is Saturday, more specifically from sundown Friday evening until sundown Saturday evening. This is How The Father reckons time. Leviticus 23 lists the MOEDIM (appoint times, set times or Holy Convocations.). The FIRST of these days is the weekly Sabbath which clearly says is FOREVER (caps for emphasis, not shouting). So when John says his vision occurred on the LORD’s Day he was not speaking of Sunday, but the Sabbath which again God says is FOREVER. The beginning of Revelations states, Yeshua speaking, that He is the first and the last, beginning and the end, the One who is, was and is to come. He simply changes not. Revelations purpose is the revealing of the Jewish Messiah to the Jewish people…and then to the nations THROUGH the Jewish people. Therefore John did not have to clarify which numbered day, or what Greek day of th week because it was understood he was speaking of the Sabbath, or 7th day. Hopefully this is clear. B’rachot! (Blessings!)

[Supernaturalseamoss]

First day of the week in greek is Mia ton sabbaton meaning first or one of the sabbath. He rose on the sabbath

[jenbot]

Can I use this for my Sunday school class?

[SugoiEnglish]

No biblical warrant for talking about Resurrection at the end of "time." The general resurrection was to occur at the judgment which was during 67-70 CE.

[MatthewFearnley]

I like this argument, but I’m unsure how strong it is.

It seems like the point is, if it had been a myth, the authors would have made more of a big deal about it.

But it feels like someone could also argue: if Jesus had been resurrected on that day, the authors would again have made a big deal about it.

I guess there might be some kind of hypothesis that gains plausibility due to this omission in the Gospels, but I’m not really sure what it would be.

Or maybe I’m just thinking about this in the wrong way..