THE FIRSTFRUITS

WHATA DOES FIRSTFRUIT MEAN?

First fruit is the beginning of a thing, and the first thing that opens up or a new beginning. It is a precious thing to embrace the first day of the New Year just as people celebrate when the first baby that opens the womb is born.  In the Old Testament God commanded His people to bring the first fruit of their gatherings and the first fruit of the male child was to be redeemed either with a sheep or a lamb. That which opened the womb, the first fruit of the harvest were the Lord’s (Exod. 23:16) “And the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when you gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.” Here the people celebrated their harvest and the first fruit of their labor, and not only celebrations but also giving back to God a portion of what they had received as a gratitude to Him. God commanded His people to bring an annual offering of first fruits to the house of the Lord before they took anything for themselves. And by doing so, they dedicated the whole harvest, first fruit to the Lord, and the Lord on His side or on His part was certifying that the rest would come. When we honor God with our first fruit beloved, He releases more blessings on our way and He again grants us all round rest. He also destroys the devourer for our sake. With this in mind beloved, let us not celebrate and forget to honor God with that which we have gathered in the course of the year 2021 for God to open up and bless the year 2022 for us. Many of us do experience hardship from January till March because we fail to consider this aspect of honoring God with that which we have gathered in the previous year.

FIRSTFRUITS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

The New Testament however, uses first fruit as a symbol: (a) Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection, vouching that His people would also someday rise again (1 Cor. 15:20, 23) “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep; but each one in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.”  (b) The early Christians were first fruits, certifying both that a great number of people would eventually follow as born-again believers and that the entire creation would be renewed (Jas. 1:18) “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.” (c) The Holy Spirit as our first blessing (Rom. 8:23) “Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” (d) Each Christian has the Holy Spirit as personal first fruit from God (2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14), “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee”; “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”  “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory,” guaranteeing that He will accept believers, for whom He paid the price through Christ, and that someday, though we know suffer, we will be welcomed into the Father’s house if we faint not!

GOD’S GIFT OF RENEWAL TO HIS PEOPLE

The Holy Spirit indwelling in believers helps and equips believers to the things and the promises of God that are ordained to us. God promised His people a new heart and a new Spirit (Eze. 36:26-27) “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.”  Here Ezekiel is describing the experience of regeneration which will take place in the nation (that is, in individuals in the nation) when they are gathered according to the promise of God. Ezekiel notes that the work of regeneration comes from God. And it is God who gives a new heart. It is God who gives a new spirit. It is God who transforms the stony heart to flesh. It is God who blesses and prospers those who love and honor Him with their first fruits. The doctrine of God’s work is repeated many times in Scripture. Man is not regenerated or saved by his works. See (Eph. 2:8, 9) “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of woks lest anyone should boast.” Regeneration is a gift of God bestowed sovereignly by Him. Nothing that a man does can bring him to sinless perfection, which is the only way that a man can stand before God. Only by having the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed in his account can the believer be perceived by God as sinless. God sees the believer through the righteousness of Christ. Apostle Paul wrote to (Titus 3:5) “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Now it is by the grace, mercy of God and the help of the Holy Spirit that we are saved and attain the things of God and not by our own righteousness. James the Apostle added (James 3:18) “Now the fruit of righteousness is sown by peace by those who make peace.”  Just as the fruit of righteousness is sown by the peacemakers, the same way those who sow their first fruits as we begin the New Year will by all means reap its fruits before the end of the year and thereafter.

FIRSTFRUITS TO BE DEDICATED TO GOD

Firstborn son were to be dedicated to God as He commanded Moses (Exod. 13:1-2) “Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, “Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both man and beast; it is Mine.” As God commanded all that opens the womb is the Lord’s and should be consecrated unto Him. The first fruits of crop and harvest also belongs to God as we had seen in the first paragraph and also (Lev. 23:9-11, 14) “And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: ‘When you come to the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.”  First fruits of grain, wine, oil and wool (Deut. 18:4) “The first fruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give Him.” See how the Israelites did it while the believers of today have difficulty in doing so (2 Chr. 31:5) “As soon as the commandment was circulated, the children of Israel brought in abundance the fruit of grain and wine, oil and honey, and all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundance the tithe of everything.”  First fruits of fruit trees (Lev. 19:23-24) “When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you will count their fruit as an uncircumcised. Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten. But in the fourth-year all its fruits shall be holy, a praise to the Lord. And in the firth year, you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase; I am the Lord your God.”  The preacher admonishes us to honor the Lord with the first fruit of everything grown (Prov. 3:9-10) “Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.”

RULES AND REGULATIONS

GENERAL

The general rules and regulations in the laws of Moses: (Lev. 2:12, 14) “As for the offering of the first fruits you shall offer them to the Lord, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet aroma. If you offer a grain offering of your first fruits to the Lord, you shall offer for the grain offering of your first fruits green heads of grain roasted on the fire, grain beaten from full heads. And you shall put oil on it, and lay frankincense on it. It is a grain offering. Then the priest shall burn the memorial portion: part of its beaten grain and parts of its oil with frankincense, as an offering made by fire to the Lord.” The rules and regulations after the exile: (Neh. 10:35) “And we made ordinances to bring the first fruits of our grounds and the first fruits of all fruits and trees, year by year, to the house of the Lord.”  There was also a general rule and regulation in the new temple (Eze.44:30) “The best of all first fruits of any kind, and every sacrifice of any kind from all your sacrifices, shall be the priest’s; also you shall give to the priest the first of your ground meal to cause a blessing to rest on your house.”

MUST

The first fruits must be brought to the Lord’s house: (Exod. 23:19; 34:26) “The first of the first fruits of your land you shall bring in the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”  There must precede eating of harvested crops (Lev. 23:14) “You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.”

“Knowledge is indeed power; may we receive the grace to honor the Lord with our first possessions and with the first fruits of all our increase; for our barns to be filled with plenty and our vats to overflow with new wine in Jesus Mighty name Amen.

“Grace to you and Favor of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with us all Amen and Amen and Amen.”