This article is an upgrade of article # 24. Index and summaries of all articles is here:

https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1403-index-and-summaries-of-articles/

The Firstfruits and the Harvest 2.0

Part 1: The Heaven-Bound

Under the Mount Sinai Covenant, all firstfruits were to be given to God: not just the firstfruits of the Spring grain harvest, but also of the Autumn harvest of fruit, wine and oil. Likewise, all the firstborn/firstfruit-of-the-womb of both livestock and men were to belong to God. Firstborn sons were redeemed with a substitute offering. Ex. 34:19-20, 22, 26; Lev. 23:10, 17; Deut. 26:1-4, 10b; Neh. 10:35-39

This law applies spiritually under the Covenant of Christ. God established the pattern in Israel, and He will fulfill that pattern in Christ’s Church and in Israel.

Under the typology of the Mosaic Law, only the best of the harvest, the firstfruits, were/are to be taken up to God’s Tabernacle. In the End Times, the Tabernacle of God is “the true Tabernacle which the Lord erected…in heaven.” Heb. 8:1-2; Rev. 11:19; 15:5

The Heaven-Bound: Israel

The Latter Day firstfruits of men’s souls out of the tribes of Israel are the 144,000 of Revelation 7 and 14:

Revelation 14:4 These were redeemed from men, a firstfruit to God and to the Lamb.

Like the 70 Israelite elders on Mount Sinai on Pentecost, and the 120 Israelite disciples of Christ in the Upper Room on Pentecost, the 144,000 Israelites will be sanctified for God’s earthly use at the time that the Presence/Parousía of Jesus descends in the clouds of heaven in power and glory. Ex. 24:1, 9-10; Acts 1:13-15; Rev. 7:1-4

The twelve tribes of Israel are a soulish assembly of people. This is because all ethnic groups are bloodlines, and “the soul of the flesh is in the blood.” Lev. 17:11

Like the 70 elders and the 120 disciples, and also like Mordecai in Esther’s day, the 144,000 will initially ‘come down from the mountain/Upper Room’ to work in God’s service on Earth; but they are later to ascend to the heavenly “Mount Zion…before the throne of God.” Rev. 14:1, 3, 5; cf. Heb. 12:22.

The Heaven-Bound: The Church

Now, upon Mount Sinai and in the Upper Room, the elect/chosen firstfruits consisted solely of Israelites. At Christ’s coming in the clouds of heaven, however, there is another group, one of predominantly Gentile firstfruits, called “the Church of the Firstborn.” Heb. 12:23 This body, the elect/chosen firstfruits of Christ’s Church, is prophetically represented by the wedding-going virgins – the “ready” ones – of Matthew 25:10; and also by the fairest-only virgins, selected out of “all the provinces of [the] kingdom,” gathered into the king’s house in the days of Esther. Esth. 2:3ff. (Note that the 144,000 are also called “virgins.” Rev. 14:4)

The Church is a “spiritual house [assembly]” of people. 1 Pet. 2:5

Like the virgins of Esther’s day, the Church of the Firstborn will ascend to and dwell in the King’s house; that is, in heaven. Rev. 7:9-17

The Heaven-Bound: The Manchild(ren)

Under the Torah of Israel, there were two kinds of firstfruit offerings:

1) an offering of two large loaves of bread baked from the year’s first harvest (grain), which offering was made at the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost, and

2) the very special “first of the firstfruits” offerings, such as the “sheaf of the firstfruits [brought] to the priest” on the first Sunday after the Passover. Lev. 23:10-11; Ex. 23:19; 34:26 That was the very day in the religious calendar on which Yeshua ascended to God after His resurrection, He thereby becoming “first out of the resurrection of the dead.” Acts 26:23

To clarify: under the pattern of the Exodus-era Torah, the first day of the first week after the Passover was the day of the “first of the firstfruits;” whereas seven full weeks later, on Pentecost, came the prototypical fulness of the firstfruits. Lev. 23:15-17

In the End Times, the spiritual fulfillment of the “first of the firstfruits” will be that of the Manchild of Revelation 12:5, who is to be “caught up to God and to His throne” before the Woman has fully escaped into the wilderness with her people. Rev. 12:6; see Part 2.