the harvest festivals (firstfruits, weeks, tabernacles); 1 corinthians 15

Read 1 Corinthians 15 at Bible Gateway.

“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.” 1 Cor 15:20-24

The resurrection of Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrections to follow (vs. 20-22). The resurrection of Jesus happened to take place on the very day of the Feast of Firstfruits as well, and this was not by accident. The LORD’s annual feast cycle is prophetic and reveals the Messiah. There are three harvest festivals included in the annual cycle (Lev 23):

1) Firstfruits – spring festival celebrating the barley harvest, the first crop to be harvested in the agricultural year (Lev 23:9-14);
2) Shavuot, Weeks, or Pentecost – summer festival celebrating the wheat harvest (Lev 23:15-22);
3) Tabernacles – fall festival celebrating the fruits harvest, the final crop to be harvested in the agricultural year (Lev 23:33-41).

We know that Jesus compares salvation, being restored to Father God in resurrection life, to a harvest (Joh 4:35, Rev 14:15). So I believe the harvest festivals prophesy of salvation, new life, and resurrection. The first is Firstfruits: Jesus was raised from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits, and likewise He is the firstfruits of the resurrection from the dead. The first harvest was His life from the dead!

The second is Weeks or Pentecost (Shavuot in Hebrew). The Holy Spirit was given to the ekklesia on the Feast of Pentecost (Act 2:1-4). On the day that we are filled with the Holy Spirit of promise, we are made a new creation, born again with new life (Col 2:13, 2 Cor 5:17). This is our life from the dead. We might even say that this is Israel’s life from the dead. In the intervening years between the first and second advents of Messiah, He is seeking His brothers (Gen 38 and  45). It is Israel who are sealed first (Rev 7). Who is Israel? Those who seek God, who seek His face (Psa 24:6). We are the wheat fields that are white unto harvest (Joh 4:35).

The third is the Feast of Tabernacles, which Messiah will fulfill at His coming. At His coming, the final resurrection will take place. What is that final fruits harvest? Possibly the life of the world from the dead:

I say then, have they [Jews] stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Rom 11:11-15

This is why I believe that an enormous world wide revival will precede or coincide with His coming at the fulfillment of the fall feasts. The earth is already experiencing a great revival that is sweeping the earth – even in the 10/40 window. This follows the pattern previously established in Scripture: for a great revival of repentance at the preaching of John the Baptist occurred to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus’ coming in His first advent, also

But then on the day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the resurrection of the physical Body of Messiah shall also take place. Those who have fallen asleep (died) in Christ, will be raised bodily from the dead, as He was. The graves all over the earth will open! Those who are still alive in the body at His coming, shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, from corruption to incorruption; from mortal to immortal (vs. 51-53)!

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!