Jesus Christ in the Offerings, Part 2
Estimated reading time: 14 minutes
First Fruits and Resurrection
Matthew 28:1 APNT:
Now in the evening of the Sabbath [the weekly Sabbath, Saturday], as it was twilight [on] the first of the week [the day started at sunset], Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the grave.
Jesus was buried at sunset on Wednesday, the 14th of Nissan. He was in the grave for three days and three nights. He was raised about sunset on Saturday.
When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the grave right before sunset on Saturday, he had not yet been raised.
John 20:1 APNT:
Now on the first of the week, Mary Magdalene came in the early morning while it was dark to the tomb. And she saw the stone that it was taken away from the grave.
Mary Magdalene came back to the grave again, but this time early Sunday morning, and saw that the stone had been removed
Matthew 28:2–4 APNT:
2 And behold, a great earthquake occurred, for an angel of the lord came down from heaven and came near [and] rolled the stone from the opening and he was sitting on it.
3 And his appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white like snow.
4 And those who were watching [the guards], trembled with fear of him and became like dead [men].
Now we’ll read the record in John of what happened while it was still dark.
John 20:1–9 APNT:
1 Now on the first of the week, Mary Magdalene came in the early morning while it was dark to the tomb. And she saw the stone that it was taken away from the grave.
2 And she ran [and] came to Simon Peter and to that other disciple whom Jesus loved and she said to them, “They have taken our Lord from the tomb and I do not know where they have put him.”
3 And Simon went and that other disciple and they came to the tomb.
4 And both of them were running together, but that disciple ran before Simon and came to the tomb first.
5 And he looked in [and] saw the linen clothes laid [there], but he did not indeed enter.
6 Now Simon came after him and entered the tomb and saw the linen clothes laid [there]
7 and the cloth that had been bound around his head, not with the linen clothes, but folded and placed aside in a certain place.
8 Then that disciple who had come to the tomb first entered also and he saw and believed,
9 for they did not yet know from the scriptures that he was going to rise from the dead.
The other gospels provide the detail that the angels said: “He is not here for he is risen” (Matthew 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:6).
John 20:11–18 APNT:
11 Now Mary was standing by the grave and was crying. And as she cried, she looked into the grave.
12 And she saw two angels in white who were sitting, one by his pillows and one at his feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid.
13 And they said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have put him.” [she thought they had stolen the body]
14 She said this and she turned back and saw Jesus standing [there]. And she did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you crying and whom do you seek?” Now she thought that he was the gardener and said to him, “My lord, if you have taken him, tell me where you have put him. I will go [and] take him away.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” And she turned around and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbuli,” which means Teacher.
17 Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brothers and tell them [that] I ascend to my Father and your Father, and [to] my God and your God.”
18 Then Mary Magdalene came and declared to the disciples that she had seen our Lord and that he had told her these [things].
Mary Magdalene first saw things when it was still dark, but then she returns with the women while the sun was rising.
Mark 16:1–3 APNT:
1 And when the Sabbath had passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary [the mother] of James and Salome bought spices that they might come to anoint him.
2 And early on the first [day] of the week, they came to the tomb while the sun was rising.
3 And they were saying among themselves, “Who [will] roll the stone from the door of the tomb for us?”
Mary Magdalene had already been there while it was still dark and seen that the stone had been rolled away and the tomb was empty. I don’t know how to solve this apparent difficulty, though it’s possible that the details that are included and excluded make it difficult to understand the exact timing.
Mark 16:4–9 APNT:
4 And they looked [and] saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great.
5 And they entered the tomb and saw a young man who was sitting on the right [side] and wrapped around [him] was a white robe, and they were amazed.
6 And he said to them, “Do not be afraid. You seek Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold the place where he was laid.
7 But go [and] tell his disciples and Peter that behold, [he goes] before you to Galilee. There you will see him as he said to you.”
8 And when they had heard, they fled and went out of the grave, for amazement and trembling had taken hold on them and they did not speak anything to anyone, for they were afraid.
9 And early on the first of the week he had risen and appeared first to Mary Magdalene from whom he had cast out seven devils.
Matthew 28:7–9 APNT:
7 And go quickly [and] tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, [he goes] before you to Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you.”
8 And they went away quickly from the grave with fear and with great joy and ran to tell his disciples.
9 And behold, Jesus met up with them and said to them, “Peace to you.” And they came near [and] clasped his feet and worshipped him.
Earlier, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and told her not to touch him because he had not yet ascended to his Father (John 20:17), but later, as he appeared to the women on their way to tell the disciples, Jesus allowed them to touch him. In between those two time periods, Jesus fulfilled the first fruits offering.
In other teachings, we learned that Jesus was the Passover lamb, and what happened to the lamb on Passover also happened to Jesus at the same time. So it should be no surprise that he fulfilled the rest of the feasts.
The feast of unleavened bread was seven days long and started on Passover, the 14th of Nisan. In the middle of the feast, on the day of the first fruits, was the wave offering.
Leviticus 23:9–14 ESV:
9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “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, 11 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. 12 And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. 14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
The priests had a procedure where they would go out the night before the wave offering would be presented, and they would cut the grain offering and prepare it during the night. Then, at the morning sacrifice, they would present the flour that had been made during the night from the first fruits they had gathered after sunset that preceding evening.
Yeshua was laid in the tomb just prior to sunset on Wednesday. Three days and three nights later brings us to sunset at the end of the weekly Sabbath. Was there anything important going on exactly at sunset on the end of the weekly Sabbath? Yes! The first fruits of the harvest were being cut at that time.
What wonderful rehearsals God had prepared for those who are able to hear them. Here is the first of the first fruits rising out of his grave at the exact moment in time that the wave sheaf is being cut free from the earth.
The way they practiced this during the first century included many rituals that the Pharisees and Sadducees had for how they do things.
It was probably about the same time at the end of the Sabbath that a noisy throng prepared to follow delegates from the Sanhedrin to the ceremony of cutting the Passover sheaf. This Passover sheaf was reaped and gathered the evening before it was offered. And it was to witness this ceremony that the crowd had gathered around the elders.
Already, on the 14th of Nisan, the spot where the first sheaf would be reaped had been marked by tying it together in bundles.
That’s like how Jesus’s grave was marked—exactly where he was going to be “reaped” (raised) from.
Usually, they reaped the first sheaf from the Kidron Valley area.
When the time for cutting the sheaf had arrived, that is, on the evening of the 17th of Nisan, even though it was the Sabbath, just as the sun went down, three men, each with a sickle and a basket, got to work. Clearly, to bring out what was distinctive in the ceremony, they first asked the bystanders three times, each of these questions: Has the sun gone down? Yes. With this sickle? Yes. Into this basket? Yes. And on this Sabbath? Yes. Shall I reap? Yes.
Having answered each time in the affirmative, they cut down the barley to the amount of one ephah.
The way they determined when the end of the Sabbath was if they saw three stars in the sky. And this would have been the time of the full moon. At the exact time when they saw three stars and reaped the sheaves, that was the exact time that Jesus Christ was resurrected.
People often wonder why the priests could “work” (reap the sheaves) on the Sabbath. Temple work could be performed on the Sabbath day.
Matthew 12:5 ESV:
Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?
The priests were allowed to do certain work on the Sabbath, but not other people.
The wave sheaf offering was performed the morning following the cutting of the barley sheaf. The tenth part of the flour was taken for the wave sheaf offering, and this amounted to an omer [a little more than a quart]. It was prepared like any other meal offering, with a bit of oil added to it and a handful of frankincense. And then it was waved before the Lord, and a handful was taken and burned on the altar, and the remainder was eaten by the priests.
They would bring it forward and back, then side to side, so it covered all the distances and directions, because it was representative of all the people bringing their offerings.
Once the wave sheaf offering had been accepted by God, the general barley harvest could begin.
About the time the barley harvest was completed, the wheat harvest would start. The day of the first fruits started what they called “counting the omer.” They counted exactly 50 days from the time that they waved the sheaf offering to the day of Pentecost.
Remember that Mary Magdalene could not touch Jesus, but by the time the women came they could touch him. It’s because during that time between Mary Magdalene early in the morning and the women coming later, is when Jesus Christ ascended to the Father and presented himself as the first fruits.
A priest could not go on duty at the temple unless he was ritually clean. This was accomplished by each priest being immersed in a specially constructed laver, like a baptism immersion pool.
So when the sacrifices were offered, part of the ritual usually involved sprinkling blood on the altar, and they would purify their garments. During the time between when the priest was purified and the time he presented the offering, he was not allowed to touch any person. Otherwise, he would become unclean.
That is the reason why Jesus told Mary Magdalene not to touch him. Jesus had been purified and was ready to present himself at the altar of God; he couldn’t allow anyone to touch him before that.
But then, once he had ascended to the altar in heaven to be accepted by the Father, it was for this reason that he used words similar to those of the priest on his way to the altar. The priest would say, “Touch me not for it is not yet ascended to the altar.”
Jesus was literally speaking as our high priest when he said,“Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father.”
1 Corinthians 15:20:
APNT: But now Christ has risen from the dead and has become the first of those asleep.
KJV: But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.
NLT: But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
NET: But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 5:21–23 APNT:
21 And as by way of a man came death, so also by way of a man came the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all men die, so also in Christ all live,
23 each in his order. Christ was the first [and] after that, those who are of Christ at his coming.
The rest of us can now be reaped now that Christ, the first fruits, has been reaped.
1 Corinthians 5:24–26 APNT:
24 And then will be the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when every ruler and every authority and all powers cease.
25 For he is going to reign, until he places all his enemies under his feet.
26 And the last enemy, death, will be abolished.
Part of the significance of the resurrection, when Jesus Christ presented himself to God as the first fruits from among the dead, was that he was accepted by God. Ephesians tells us part of what he did while he was up there.
Ephesians 4:8–10 APNT:
8 Because of this, it is said, He ascended to the height and captured captivity and gave gifts to men.
9 (Now what is it that he ascended, unless he had also first descended to the depths of the earth?
10 He who descended is he who also ascended higher than all the heaven, that he would complete all.)
Verse 10 in the NLT reads:
He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
When he ascended, he captured everything that would hold us captive in our lives. When he came back down, he brought gifts: salvation, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
1 Corinthians 15:51–57 APNT:
51 Behold, I am telling you a mystery. Not all of us will sleep, but all of us will be changed,
52 suddenly, as the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet sounding, and the dead will rise without corruption and we will be changed.
53 For this [one] that was going to be corrupted will put on incorruption. And this [one] that [was going to] die will put on immortality.
54 Now when this [one] that is corrupted puts on incorruption, and this [one] that dies, immortality, then the saying will happen that is written: Death is swallowed in victory.
55 Where is your sting, death? Or where is your victory, grave?
56 Now the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.
57 But blessed [be] God who gives us the victory by way of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verses 55 and 56 answer the question from Hosea 13:14.
And that’s the story of the first fruits.
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Download a PDF outline of the resurrection appearances to the women.
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See Also:
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