First Fruits Coincides with Easter Sunday in 2023

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you have come into the land that I am giving to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf bundle of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Leviticus 23:9-11 MEV)

Today is easter Sunday. We commemorate a unique event in history - the resurrection of Christ. All men are born of two parents. Some grew up to become founders of new religions and eventually died. Jesus was uniquely born of a virgin, crucified, and then resurrected on the third day. This event serves as evidence of Jesus' divine nature, setting Him apart from others who simply made claims that they are gods or buddhas or some other supermen, without any proof to support them.

This year's easter Sunday coincides with the festival of first fruits. Easter Sunday does not always coincide with the festival of first fruits, as you can see from Calendar of Hebraic Feast and Holy Days 2013-2027. The last coincidence was in 2020.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:20 BSB)

The First Resurrection - 2

Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6 NIV)

There will be two resurrections. The first resurrection is the resurrection of life and the second resurrection is the resurrection of condemnation. But is the first resurrection a single event? I believe there are at least three first resurrections.

1. Firstfruits (Leviticus 23:9-11)
   But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:20 CSB)
   Jesus was the first man to be resurrected to life. All the other who was raised from the dead, like Lazarus, died again. But what about Enoch and Elijah?
   
   
2. Yom Teruah (Leviticus 23:24)
   Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 CSB)
   After Jesus was resurrected and at the sound of the last trumpet, all the saints since creation, those who have fallen asleep and those who are still alive will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). These will include Old Testament saints, Christian saints and tribulation saints. They will reign with Christ for a thousand years (Revelation 20:6).
   
   
3. The Great White Throne Judgement (Revelation 20:11)
   I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. (Revelation 20:12 NLT)
   The last group of saints to be resurrected in the first resurrection will be the millennium saints. These are people who will be saved during the millennium rule of Christ. I could not find any Leviticus 23 Feast link to this resurrection. This judgement will have both the first and second resurrection.

Passover 2021

Then I said, "Look, I have come. As is written about me in the Scriptures: I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart." (Psalm 40:7-8 NLT)

Passover is here again. It reminds us once again that Jesus is truly the Son of God.

Unlike founders of other religions who popped into history unannounced, declared themselves to be somebody, then died like anybody, the life of Jesus was pre-recorded in the Law and Prophets.

The seven feasts of Leviticus marked the key milestones of Jesus, the Church and Israel. Jesus died on Passover, buried during Unleavened Bread, resurrected on First Fruits. The Holy Spirit descended on Pentecost and inaugurated the Church age. Jesus will come again during the Feast of Trumpets, Israel will repent on the Day of Atonement and Jesus will stay on earth for the Feast of Tabernacles.

"Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. (Revelation 22:12-13 CSB)

Sukkot, Feast of Tabernacles

Then it will be that all the nations who have come against Jerusalem and survived will go up each year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. And it will happen that if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, then there will not be rain for them. If the family of Egypt does not go up and enter in, they shall have no rain. This will be the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16-19 MEV)

Sukkot, Feast of Tabernacles, will be the most important festival in the millennium. During the millennium, the celebration of Sukkot, Feast of Tabernacles, will become compulsory worldwide.

This day may also be the birthday of the Great King, when He came to earth the first time. It was suggested that He could be born in October, during the Feast of Tabernacles, rightly justifying John 1:14, that the Word tabernacled (dwelt) among us.

And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 YLT)

Yom Teruah And Rapture

"Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. (Leviticus 23:24 NIV)
"'On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. (Numbers 29:1 NIV)

Will the rapture occur on the Feast of Trumpets? Maybe, maybe not, according to this YouTube video.

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:2-3 KJV)

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 ESV)

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 NIV)

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." (Revelation 4:1 NIV)

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (Titus 2:13 KJV)

Passover, Unleaven Bread and First Fruits 2020

The Lord's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord's Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present a food offering to the Lord. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.'" (Leviticus 23:5-8 NIV)

The Lord spoke to Moses: "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you and reap its harvest, you are to bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest. He will present the sheaf before the Lord so that you may be accepted; the priest is to present it on the day after the Sabbath. (Leviticus 23:9-11 CSB)

Passover: 7-8 April 2020
Feast of Unleavened Breads: 8-15 April 2020
Feast of First Fruits: 11-12 April 2020

This year, the Feast of First Fruits coincide with Easter.

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch - as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7 NIV)

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23 ESV)

Pentecost - Inauguration of the Church Age

On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
They were completely amazed. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are - Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!" They stood there amazed and perplexed. "What can this mean?" they asked each other.
But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, "They're just drunk, that's all!" (Acts 2:1-13 NLT)

"From the day after the Sabbath - the day you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted up as a special offering - count off seven full weeks. Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later. Then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. (Leviticus 23:15-16 NLT)

The Lord was resurrected on the day after Sabbath.
The church age was inaugurated on the day after Sabbath.
The Lord's day is the eighth day, the day after Sabbath.

The Feast of the Trumpets

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 ESV)

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ESV)

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." (Revelation 11:15 ESV)

Why God Did Not Protect Modern Israel

Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. (Exodus 34:23-24 ESV)

God had promised that if all Israel were to appear before God three times a year in Jerusalem, no one will attack them during this period. History has proven that Israel was not attacked as God had promised. It was an unnoticed miracle because it looked so natural.

But for modern Israel, things changed. In 1973, Israel was attacked by Egypt and Syria during Yom Kippur. In 2002, there was a suicide bomber killed himself and 25 Israelis during Passover. Why has God fail to keep His promise to protect Israel in modern times?

Some answers were offered:

1. God does not exist and those history were myths;
2. Modern Israel is not true Israel, the true Israel is the Church.

What do you think?

Jesus told her, "Believe Me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:21-24 HCSB)

God's Promise of Protection

Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. (Exodus 34:23-24 ESV)

Some miracles of God went unnoticed because they were not spectacular.

All the males of Israel has to go to Jerusalem three times a year. Yet we noted in history as well as in the Bible that during these period, Israel was not attacked by any foreign country. God had kept His promise to Israel.

Taken from this website:
QUOTE
Thomas Horne once noted that "it is a well known fact, that the Jews constantly attended the ceremonies without any fear of danger, and that their most vigilant enemies never invaded them or injured them during these sacred seasons" (Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Philadelphia: J. Whetham & Son, 1841, II, p. 121). He contended that this constituted a "manifest proof of the divine origin of their religion."
UNQUOTE

Who is like our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, the true and living God?

The Feast of Firstfruits

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Leviticus 23:9-11 ESV)

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23 ESV)

Passover

"These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work." (Leviticus 23:4-8 ESV)

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29 KJV)

Feasts

Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God. (Exodus 23:17 ESV)

Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year. (Exodus 34:23-24 ESV)

Three times a year, all the males of Israel has to go to Jerusalem. Yet during these period, Israel was not attacked by any foreign country.

When a man’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. (Proverbs 16:7 ESV)

Sukkot The Feast of Tabernacles

Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Festival of Booths. Should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, rain will not fall on them. And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter, then rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague the Lord inflicts on the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt and all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Booths. (Zechariah 14:16-19 HCSB)

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16-19 NIV)

Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement

Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. (Leviticus 23:27 KJV)

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:11-14 ESV)

Yom Teruah or Feast of Trumpets

It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. (1 Corinthians 15:52 NLT)

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 HCSB)

When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God's mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:7  NLT)

Feast of Tabernacles

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14 NASB).

When was Jesus was born? Someone proposed that He was born in October, during the Feast of Tabernacles, rightly justifying John 1:14, that the Word tabernacled (dwelt) among us.