Back to THE TORAH CONNECTION Table of Contents<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Lev 23:10-14 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf a he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD. And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savor: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Eze 44:30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all things,<\/i> and every oblation of all, of every sort<\/i> of your oblations, shall be the priest’s: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Rom 11:16 For if the firstfruit be<\/i> holy, the lump is<\/i> also holy:<\/i> and if the root be<\/i> holy, so are<\/i> the branches. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 1Co 15:20, 23 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and<\/i> become the firstfruits of them that slept. . . . But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 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. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Rev 14:1, 4 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and<\/i> four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. . . . 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<\/i> the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Christ was the first-fruits of them that slept. It was to the glory of God that the Prince of life should be the first-fruits, the antitype of the wave-sheaf. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren.” This very scene, the resurrection of Christ from the dead, had been celebrated in type by the Jews. When the first heads of grain ripened in the field, they were carefully gathered; and when the people went up to Jerusalem, these were presented to the Lord as a thank-offering. The people waved the ripened sheaf before God, acknowledging him as the Lord of the harvest. After this ceremony the sickle could be put to the wheat, and the harvest gathered. <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n So those who had been raised were to be presented to the universe as a pledge of the resurrection of all who believe in Christ as their personal Saviour. The same power that raised Christ from the dead will raise his church, and glorify it with Christ, as his bride, above all principalities, above all powers, above every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the heavenly courts, the world above. The victory of the sleeping saints will be glorious on the morning of the resurrection. Satan’s triumph will end, while Christ will triumph in glory and honor. The Life-giver will crown with immortality all who come forth from the grave. <\/i> YI 08-11-98<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n For further reading on the Wave Sheaf, click here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n