The Most Important Firstfruit
Notes
Transcript
“This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute.
You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast from your houses. Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off from Israel.
You are to hold a sacred assembly on the first day and another sacred assembly on the seventh day. No work may be done on those days except for preparing what people need to eat—you may do only that.
“You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread because on this very day I brought your military divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent statute.
You are to eat unleavened bread in the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day.
Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a resident alien or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel.
Do not eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”
Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day when you came out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, for the Lord brought you out of here by the strength of his hand. Nothing leavened may be eaten.
Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.
When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your ancestors that he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you must carry out this ceremony in this month.
For seven days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the Lord.
Unleavened bread is to be eaten for those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you, and no yeast may be found among you in all your territory.
On that day explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
Let it serve as a sign for you on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the Lord’s instruction may be in your mouth; for the Lord brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand.
Keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.
“When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your ancestors, and gives it to you,
you are to present to the Lord every firstborn male of the womb. All firstborn offspring of the livestock you own that are males will be the Lord’s.
You must redeem every firstborn of a donkey with a flock animal, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. However, you must redeem every firstborn among your sons.
“In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘By the strength of his hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.
When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of humans and the firstborn of livestock. That is why I sacrifice to the Lord all the firstborn of the womb that are males, but I redeem all the firstborn of my sons.’
So let it be a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead, for the Lord brought us out of Egypt by the strength of his hand.”
“These are the Lord’s appointed times, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times.
The Passover to the Lord comes in the first month, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the month.
The Festival of Unleavened Bread to the Lord is on the fifteenth day of the same month. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any daily work.
You are to present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day there will be a sacred assembly; do not do any daily work.”
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.
On the day you present the sheaf, you are to offer a year-old male lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord.
Its grain offering is to be four quarts of fine flour mixed with oil as a food offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma, and its drink offering will be one quart of wine.
You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or any new grain until this very day, and until you have brought the offering to your God. This is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations wherever you live.
“You are to count seven complete weeks starting from the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the presentation offering.
You are to count fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord.
Bring two loaves of bread from your settlements as a presentation offering, each of them made from four quarts of fine flour, baked with yeast, as firstfruits to the Lord.
You are to present with the bread seven unblemished male lambs a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offerings and drink offerings, a food offering of a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
You are also to prepare one male goat as a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a fellowship sacrifice.
The priest will present the lambs with the bread of firstfruits as a presentation offering before the Lord; the bread and the two lambs will be holy to the Lord for the priest.
On that same day you are to make a proclamation and hold a sacred assembly. You are not to do any daily work. This is to be a permanent statute wherever you live throughout your generations.
When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap all the way to the edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the resident alien; I am the Lord your God.”
Now if the firstfruits are holy, so is the whole batch. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.
But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.
For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ.
Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be abolished is death.
For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says “everything” is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception.
When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.