By Kathy Mullens
Every year at Easter, Christians attend sunrise services and churches are filled with Followers eager to commemorate the resurrection of their Savior, Jesus. This is one of the holiest days on the Christian church’s calendar. But when we read the scriptural account of His death and resurrection with an understanding of the Biblical calendar in mind, we readily see that Easter is not the time of Messiah Jesus’ resurrection. The Biblical account of His story as seen from a Hebrew perspective is much more enriching.
We will look at the Biblical festival known as, “First Fruits,” the actual day of His resurrection.
In the Hebrew tongue “First Fruits” is “Bikkurim (Fruits) Alef (First)” But in order to understand the significance of the Festival, we need a brief overview of time from God’s perspective.
We are told in Deuteronomy 16:1 when to start our festivals.
“Observe the month of Aviv, and keep the Passover to Yehovah Elohaycha, for in the month of Aviv, Yehovah Elohaycha brought you out of Egypt at night.”
On our Gregorian calendars, there is no month of Aviv. But there is a way in which Israel is to determine the month of Aviv.
In the fall of each year, a patch of barley is planted on the Mount of Olives in Israel . At the end of the Biblical month of Adar, the Sanhedrin goes to the barley patch to check the stage of growth. If the barley has green ears of grain they will pronounce, at the evening of the new moon, that the new month has begun the month of Nissan. However, if the green grain isn’t present, they will pronounce at the new moon, the month is to be Adar II. In this way, the calculation of when the New Year actually begins isn’t dependent on man but on God.
The barley crop is planted during the month of Heshvan, around October or November on our calendars. It takes about 120 days, or about 4 months, for the barley to ripen and become ready to harvest. It was planted at a time that would allow it to ripen by Passover.
When the Priests went to the Mount of Olives to check on the development of the barely harvest, it would be up to God’s provision of rain and sun to determine when the barley was ripe, or “aviv.”
Now let’s look at the festival, the celebration, the rehearsal, that is known as Bikkurim Alef. The scripture reference is Leviticus 23:9-14
“And YeHoVaH spoke to Moses saying, ‘Speak to the Children of Israel, and say to them:
When you come into the land I am giving you and harvest its ripe crops, you are to bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He is to wave the sheaf before Yehovah, so that you will be accepted; the priest is to wave it after the Sabbath. On the day that you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a male lamb without defect, in its first year, as a burnt offering for Yehovah. Its grain offering is to be one gallon of fine flour mixed with olive oil, an offering made by fire to Yehovah as a fragrant aroma; its drink offering is to be of wine, one quart. You are not to eat bread, dried grain or fresh grain until the day you bring the offering for your Elohaycha; this is a permanent regulation through all your generations, no matter where you live.’”
The Sabbath in verse 11 was referring to the Sabbath of Passover. Verse 7 tells us that Passover is a Sabbath, regardless of what day of the week it falls on.
The Spring Feasts point to Jesus’ first coming and we celebrate them today as anniversaries. The Fall Feasts refer to His second coming, and we observe them as rehearsals for events yet to be fulfilled.
We will examine this festival of First Fruits to see how it relates to Jesus and his first coming and why we celebrate it as an anniversary.
On Nissan 1 the priests declare the month to be Nissan because the barley is “aviv.”
On Nissan 14 is the Festival of Passover and is the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is the day Jesus went to the execution stake and offered His life for your sins and mine.
On Nissan 17 is the Festival of Bikkurim Alef, or, First Fruits.
On Nissan 14, before the Passover sacrifice, the High Priest and the Harvester go from the Temple Mount to the Mount of Olives to the barley patch. The harvester walks through this barley patch to find the best of the barley and ties a red ribbon around a sheaf, or, a handful. Then the two of them return to the Temple for the festivities of Nissan 14 (Passover.)
Two days later, on the 16th of Nissan, at sunset (which is now the 17th), the High Priest and the Harvester, accompanied by a group of witnesses will go back to the Mount of Olives , to the Sheaf of barley that was marked on the 14th. Once the sun sets three questions are asked.
The harvester makes ready to harvest the sheaf of barley, but stops and asks, “Has the sun set?” The group answers “Yes.” He asks again with the same response.
He asks, “With this sickle?” They answer, “Yes.”
“With this basket?” “Yes.”
“On the Sahbbath?” “Yes.”
On this Sabbath ? “Yes.”
“Shall I reap?” “They say, ‘Reap.’”
*(Mishnah pp 753,754)
The harvester cuts the sheaf of barley, hands it to the Priest and the Priest returns to the Temple . The harvester and crowd then reap the rest of the barley and process it. That night the streets of Jerusalem are filled with sleeping men waiting for the Festival to begin.
Then, toward the morning, a flutiest begins to play in the streets as he makes his way to the Temple with the harvester and the men of Jerusalem following. They time their arrival to coincide with sunrise.
The Harvester presents a basket of harvested barley to the Priest who takes the basket in one hand and raises it toward heaven. Then, taking the sheaf of barley he violently hits the rim of the basket. He then raises both the basket and the sheaf and waves them before the Lord.
But what does this have to do with the resurrection of Jesus? It was on the 14th of Nissan, the night of Passover that Jesus became our Passover sacrifice. In I Corinthians 5:7 we find.
“Get rid of the old leaven, so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened. For our Passover lamb, the Messiah has been sacrificed.”
The apostle Paul knew the activities surrounding the Festivals of Passover and First Fruits and recognized Jesus’ fulfillment of each of them.
You will recall that Jesus told his disciples that he would be in the grave for three days and three nights in Matthew 12:40 “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the depths of the earth.”
Jesus, our Passover Lamb, gave up his life at 3:00 in the afternoon of the 14th of Nissan. This is day 1. That night is Night 1. Of course at sunset it was now the 15th, day 2. The sunset of that evening is day 2. The day of the 16th is day 3. The night of the 17th is night 3, and at sunrise on the 17th, He arose. These are the three days He referred to.
The Festival of First Fruits immediately follows the Festival of Passover. He was our sacrificial lamb, and on the appropriate day, He became our First Fruits as the first to arise from the dead. He was the choicest and only appropriate “sheaf” to be offered before the Lord. The red cord obviously speaks of His sacrifice in blood.
Now let’s look at Leviticus 23:10, 11:
“When you come into the land I am giving you and harvest its ripe crops, you are to bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the Priest. He is to wave the sheaf before Yehovah, so that you will be accepted; the Priest is to wave it after the Sabbath.”
The word translated “sheaf” in this set of verses is the Hebrew word, “omer,” and is used 6 times in the scriptures. Another word for “sheaf” is used in other scriptures 8 times. The word “sheaf” is translated from:
ryme aw-meer’ –which means a bunch of grain:–handful, sheaf. This word is found in Genesis 37:7 when Joseph is talking with his brothers about his dream. And in Zecheriah 12:6..
The other word that was translated “sheaf” is from the Hebrew word,
rme o’-mer – properly, a heap, i.e. a sheaf; also an omer, as a dry measure:–omer, sheaf. This is found in here in Leviticus 23: 11, 12 and 15. And it is found in Deuteronomy 24:19 and in Job 24:10. But it’s interesting that when it is used in the Leviticus 23 passages, the word in Hebrew is et-omer. Let’s look at what it says.
11He is to wave the sheaf before Yehovah, so that you will be accepted; the cohen is to wave it after the Sabbath.”
The little word, “et,” is the Old Testament word for Jesus. Unless we offer this Et-Omer to our High Priest to be lifted up, we cannot be accepted.
When Jesus gave up His life on the day of Passover, became our pascal lamb offering. Three days later, operating in the position of our Great High Priest, He sprinkled His redemptive blood on the Ark for the Covenant in Heaven, and presented Himself as our First Fruits from the grave before the Father as the “Et-Omer” so that we would be accepted. He was sacrificed at Passover, and ascended into Heaven to offer His blood on the Festival of First Fruits, fulfilling each of these two spring Festivals on the exact days they were to be observed.
Jesus said,
“As for me, when I am lifted up from the earth, (First Fruits) I will draw everyone to myself.”
When the day comes for the gathering of the harvest of souls, will you be counted among those who have been redeemed by the Paschal lamb, and for whom the Et-omer has been waved?
No, we don’t celebrate Easter, a pagan festival to a man-made god. But we do observe Bikkurim Alef, the celebration of our Risen Lord.
(Hebrew or Jewish calendars are available online as well as at many bookstores.)
* Mishna is the Oral Torah
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