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The very first Hebrew word in the bible is B‘resheit. We translate it as “In the Beginning”
and that’s a very good way to begin the Bible, but this is deeper than a “starting point” or
a reference to the time of creation.
Preparing for the coming of Passover in the next few months, we have been looking at
the Passover Story and its meaning to be hopped over, chosen. We are chosen to go
forward, to leave Egypt and become the New Creation, The Bride of Christ. In order to
be that Bride of Christ, we need to be a FirstFruit. So let’s dig into this word for
FirstFruit to understand what it means and how we become FirstFruit.
Let’s read Leviticus 23:4-14 to refresh our minds about these feast days. 4 “These are
the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the
time appointed for them. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at
twilight,[a] is the Lord’s Passover. 6 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.
7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.
8 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.”
The Feast of Firstfruits
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[b] 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.[c] 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 word for Firstfruit is reshiyt ר ֵ אשׁ ִ ית means the first, as in first place, time, order or
rank (specifically a firstfruit): – beginning, chief (-est), principal thing.
The first word in scripture places the letter bet before this word Resheit. As a
preposition, the letter beit can mean, “in – into – within – on – for – as” Translators have
chosen to use “IN” – as in “in the first place”, or “IN the beginning”
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.We could also translate it as “For the Firstfruit” if we reread the Genesis 1:1 replacing
that first word with this translation we read, For the Firstfruit, Yehovah created the
Heavens and the Earth.
If the Universe was created for the Firstfruit, we should know a little bit about this
firstfruit.
Remember the story of the Feast days is our story. It’s the love story between us and
Yehovah, so if He is giving us a picture of these firstfruits, then this has something to do
with us as His Chosen Bride.
Yehovah created the Universe the heavens and the earth, and placed within it Adam- but
Adam lost that position of resheit – firstfruit because he sinned against Yehovah, our
Heavenly Father. Adam was cast out of the Garden and angels were placed as guards
so he could not come back and eat from the Tree of Life.
Genesis 3:22-24
22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good
and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live
forever—” 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the
ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the
garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to
guard the way to the tree of life.
We have a similar story told to us from the Family of Israel. Jacob is father to 12 sons,
and in Genesis 49, before his death, he speaks words of blessing over his sons, words
of prophecy and guidance. This is what He says to Ruben
Genesis 49:3-4
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my might, and the firstfruits of my strength,
preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
4
Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,
because you went up to your father’s bed;
then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!
Reuben was the firstborn, he should have lived a life of dignity and power, that his
descendants would be known as the firstborn of the House of Israel. But Reuben sinned
against his father, he took to bed one of Jacob’s concubines – what should have been a
blessing is now taken from him. The position of Firstborn has been given to another.We were designed to be the Firstfruit, but we too have sinned and lost our position of
firstfruit. Shall we just hang our heads in despair and submit to this breach of
relationship? Or shall we seek to find a way back, a way to restore the relationship, and
thus restore our position as Firstfruit? This is the crux of the message of scripture. This
is the meaning of the word Gospel, that we hear the message and follow the path back
to the restored relationship.
The word Firstborn in Hebrew is בְּכוֹר bekôr as in chief: – eldest (son), first-born (-ling)…
it comes from the root word bâkar meaning to burst the womb, that is, to bear or make
early fruit (of woman or tree); also to give the birthright.
The Feast day mentioned in Leviticus 23:9-14 is called Yom HaBikkurim. Day of the
firstborns. We are either firstborns that have been hopped over at Passover, or we are
firstborns that have been cut down because we failed to put the blood on the doorposts
of our hearts.
Exodus 12:29-32 29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of
Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive
who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 And Pharaoh rose up
in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in
Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 Then he summoned
Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and
the people of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and
your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”
Exodus 13:12-14 12 you shall set apart to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the
firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the LORD
‘s. 13 Every firstborn of a
donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its
neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14 And when in time to
come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand
the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.
Let’s look at this word Fruit – as the FirstFruit, or First Born, the Fruit of the Womb. Fruit
is the word in פְּר ִ י perı̂y – bough, ([first-]) fruit ([-ful]), reward. The root of the word is the
picture of an open mouth, and a head. Combined these mean “open the head”. The
heads of grains are scattered on the threshing floor, a smooth, hard and level
surface.and are trodden upon to reveal the grain within the chaff.We rarely think of grain as being fruit. We tend to think of fruit as being the sweet fruit
from trees, like pawpaw (papaya), guava, or from the ground like watermelon or
pineapple, but these grains are also fruit. They are what opens the head, or opens the
womb of the earth to nourish us.
How do we know if we are the firstfruit of Egypt or the FirstFruit of Israel. We are told we
need to have the Fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:16-24 says 16 But I say, walk by the
Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are
against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are
opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you
are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are
evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife,
jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy,[d] drunkenness, orgies,
and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do[e] such
things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such
things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become
conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
How are we living today? Do we have sweet fruit like that listed in verse 22? 22 But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Or is our fruit that of the flesh in verse 19-21 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident:
sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of
anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy,[d] drunkenness, orgies, and things like
these.
If we have not left behind the Egypt of our past, if we have not let that part of us be
healed; if we continue to walk in this flesh our fruit is bitterness, anger, fear – rotten fruit.
And so while we may have been chosen, passed over, we still walk in the bondage that
we suffered in Egypt. We have not become the Firstfruit that we were designed to be
when Yehovah placed us in the Garden. We have not fulfilled our purpose as the whole
reason for the Creation of the Universe.
Let me show you what happened to the Children of Israel when they came out of Egypt.
They went through the Red Sea, the Egyptians who pursued them had been destroyed inthe sea as the walls of water crashed down on them. They had seen with their eyes
their past destroyed, they had in front of them absolute freedom. But they failed to see
it, for they walked to the waters of Mara in their bitterness. Let’s read Psalm 126
When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
3 The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad.
4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like streams in the Negeb!
5 Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!
6 He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.
The Israelites had survived the Angel of Death, walked through the Red Sea, they had
seen their salvation from Egypt, but they were in a daze, in a dream like state, their
minds were not clear, and they still had the mindset of slaves though they were free. It
was the Nations, who had to tell them they were free. We are like this too. Sometimes
we have walked along the journey of our faith, we have come into the relationship with
Yeshua, been chosen, and even been baptized, but we live still as if in a daze, as if we
still have not realized that we are a new creation in Messiah. We are made in His Image
and therefore should be reflecting His Sweet countenance, the sweet sweet fruit of the
Spirit. That’s when we will know we are the FirstFruit that is to be offered up, to be
redeemed.
Let’s read what happened at Mara.
Exodus 15: 22-27
22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness
of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came
to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was
named Marah.[b] 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall wedrink?” 25 And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log,[c] and he threw it into
the water, and the water became sweet.
There the LORD[d] made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26
saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is
right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put
none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.
”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm
trees, and they encamped there by the water.
That log, that Tree that Yehovah told them to throw into the waters to make the waters
sweet was the Tree of Life, the Torah, The Teaching and Instruction of Yehovah. This is
why we can not claim the Law is done away with, because it is the Law, the Torah that
removes the bitterness and brings sweet sweet fruit to our lives, to our hearts, to our
character.
We know who these verses are talking about and who is bearing this good fruit.
Isaiah 11:1-2
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
Of course this is speaking of Yeshua. Yeshua is the bough, the branch of the stump of
Jesse. How does He bear Fruit? Through the Spirit of the Eternal God resting upon
Him, The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and might and the
Spirit of Knowledge and Fear. It is this same Spirit in us that leads us to produce good
fruit. And our good fruit will get us through the judgment that we might be the FirstFruit
of the Wheat Harvest just as He is the FirstFruit of the Barley Harvest – this is all a
picture of the resurrection.1 Corinthians 15:20 “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”.
Adam opened the door to sin and death for all, while Jesus, the Second Adam, opened
the way to spiritual life and redemption for those united with Him.
1 Corinthians 15:45-49
45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”;[a] the last Adam
became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and
then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second
man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the
dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we
have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall[b] also bear the image of the man of
heaven.
If we want to be restored to the Garden of Eden, to reflect the image of the Man of
Heaven, we must do like the Children of Israel and put the Torah into our chaos, into the
water, into the movement of our daily lives, that the Gospel that we were told comes to
completion and that we are restored to Our Heavenly Father. We must move forward,
away from the Egypt, away from the slavery to sin, and move towards the Wedding
Feast that will bring us eternity with our BrideGroom.
Isaiah 4:2-6
2 In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the
land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 And he who is left in Zion
and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in
Jerusalem, 4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion
and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by
a spirit of burning.[a] 5 Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and
over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by
night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6 There will be a booth for shade by
day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.Remember when we talked about the smoke and the flaming fire as a picture of the
sealing of the covenant after Sukkot? This is why it’s so important to not just “believe”
the scriptures, but to actuall DO them, actually KEEP the Passover, Actually LEAVE Egypt
and Die to sin and be REvived to LIFE – the LIFE Living out the Torah
Isaiah 27:6 In days to come[b] Jacob shall take root,
Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots
and fill the whole world with fruit.
I’m not sure how much of my testimony you all know. As a child I was raised in a house
with abuse. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse. Because of the wound I
carried from this abuse, I had very low self respect and carried a bad reputation. I had
many many boyfriends from a very young age. At 23 I met Stuart and we began to date.
We didn’t do things in Yehovah’s order, we dated, then lived together, then got engaged,
then had a baby, then got married. But just before we got married, while we were doing
premarital counselling, we met Jesus, both of us, same moment. From that moment on,
my life began to change. From that moment until the wedding, 2 months later, we
refrained from intimacy. We were baptized about a year after we met Jesus, but even
though I had met Jesus and had been baptized – I was still living with the shame of the
sin and pain from the wound of my childhood. I was easily angered, very defensive. It
took time to learn that I was valuable and that I deserved to be protected, that I didn’t
need to fight my own battles, that it was ok to let Stuart, and God, defend me and
protect me. It was a process to learn not to seek the attention of other men. Much of
the healing came as I began to forgive my dad – and my mom – for the trauma I had
suffered as a child. But forgiving was not the only thing needed, I needed to repent too,
for though I was sinned against – I also sinned. My behaviour was not lovely. 11 years
later we learned about the Torah, and we began to keep Sabbath and the Feast days,
and my relationship with Yehovah grew deeper and my healing increased even more.
There were new layers of forgiving that I had to do, and new layers of repenting. I do
believe if Yeshua returned today, He would say, well done good and faithful servant. But
I can not rest on that. I can not say that I have arrived. I must keep on doing the work to
get the leaven out of my life. I do spend time self reflecting and looking for any seeds of
bitterness, anger, fear – I look for rotten fruit and do my best to purge it through
forgiveness and repentance. I confess my sins to Yehovah and ask for forgiveness, and
if it’s safe, confess to the one I have sinned against too, and I look to make sure the
steps forward I am taking are free from repeating these sins again. And if I stumble oR
fall, I’m quick to pick myself back up and try again. And I forgive myself. I do not hold
on to the shame and guilt of my past. I release it. I freely accept the forgiveness
Yehovah has offered me.My friends, I encourage you to be doing the same, for this is how we will be the Firstfruit
of the Wheat Harvest when our BrideGroom comes for us.
Article written by Sombra Wilson
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