Christ Himself is the Firstfruits of the new creation, where all is of God. If Christ, as the true Paschal Lamb, laid the foundation in His death for the glory of God, is it not in Christ risen up from among the dead that God displays His righteousness in power and glory! Therein, also, Christ is emphatically declared to be the fulfilment of the type as the Firstfruits in resurrection. The corn of wheat is a significant figure, being used by the Lord Himself, which as the sower He sowed to produce the wheat, to be duly reaped for the heavenly granary. In John 12 He unmistakably refers to Himself when answering Philip concerning the Greeks wishing to see Jesus. What was then before Him was the solemn moment of His cross and death, when He must be alone with God, for He, the corn of wheat, must die, if others were to be associated with Him, which He most definitely states. “Verily verily, I say to you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
The Sheaf Accepted for You
This fact of itself is the death-blow to those that would propound the erroneous teaching of union with Christ incarnate, for clearly He was alone in His pure, holy, spotless life, as He was in death, where His desire was that the Father’s name might be glorified, as the Father would glorify Him. Yea, the corn of wheat dying points not only to the death of the cross, where all man’s need, even to his moral end, was met. Not this only but it was the direct highway for Christ to become the Firstfruits and the reality of what is presented in type in the wave-sheaf presented to Jehovah, to which is added “to be accepted for you.”
The Lord’s disciples were unaware when eating the last Passover with Him (Luke 22) that He was then to become the reality of the type given in the Passover — He was the Lamb of God. Also, they were ignorant respecting His resurrection as the Firstfruits, although He had plainly told them that the third day He would rise again, thus fulfilling the type of what was to happen the morrow after the Sabbath. Very early in the morning of what would henceforth be called the Lord’s Day, the loved ones ignorantly brought spices to embalm their Lord. But they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher, and when they entered in, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. At the tomb they were challenged, if not rebuked, by angelic voices saying, “Why seek ye the living one among the dead. He is not here but is risen.” The amazing truth that He who died and was buried had become the Firstfruits in the field of resurrection life was the living proof that all was over as to the cross and the grave, and that Christ the Firstfruits from the dead had once and forever triumphed over sin and Satan, death and the grave. Though Mary Magdalene vainly waited at the grave, hoping to find the dead body of her Lord, yet her devoted heart was rewarded by being the first to behold her risen Lord and Savior, though not to handle or have Him as heretofore.
The Resurrection Morning
Is it not a touching intimation and precious aspect of the presentation of the wave-sheaf? The Lord, in following Mary’s confession as Master, said, “Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father” (adding also the truth of association with Himself as the fruit of His death). “But go to My brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.” Not only was it the ascending to the Father after the Lamb was slain, but all the Father’s will in life and in death had been fully completed, so that He was raised by the power of God as by the glory of the Father. Thus is He presented as the wave-sheaf by whom His brethren are set apart and accepted. The application to Christ the Firstfruits is most positive in 1 Corinthians 15:2020But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (1 Corinthians 15:20) and also to His own as associated with Him (vs. 23). Therefore is it that the dead in Christ who have fallen asleep will be raised and with the living be changed into His image, for the divinely-appointed order is, “Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.”
The Risen Lord
When they waved the sheaf of firstfruits, they were to offer in that day, “a he-lamb without blemish, a yearling, for a burnt offering to Jehovah; and the oblation [meal offering] thereof: two tenths of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering by fire to Jehovah for a sweet odor; and the drink offering thereof, of wine, a fourth part of a hin. And ye shall not eat bread, or roast corn, or green ears, until the same day that ye have brought the offering of your God: it is an everlasting statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings” (Lev. 23:12-1412And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord. 13And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savor: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. 14And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. (Leviticus 23:12‑14) JND).
Thus the type is established in its true dignity in the risen Lord, with its presentation, acceptance and divine application, not omitting the accompanying sacrifice of the burnt offering, the meal offering, and drink offering. Such must be offered and accepted with the wave-sheaf before Israel could eat of the corn of the land, declaring beyond mistake Jehovah’s claim and portion first, which in the antitype is blessed and important. To whom should the Lord present Himself, but to His God and Father who gave Him? “I came forth from the Father into the world; again I leave the world and go unto the Father.” In the significant space of His life and death is accomplished the whole will of God. Who could estimate all His devotion, expressed in the burnt offering and the meal offering, as the One to whom it was rendered, with the drink offering in the joy and delight He had in doing it? Blessed be God, the acceptance and estimate rested with Him—not on the one hand with angels, nor on the other with those who share the eternal benefits of the wave-sheaf and the varied offerings, though it will be the theme and adoration of the redeemed throughout eternity. But God has His own delight and satisfaction in the Son Himself, and in all that He has done.
G. Gardner (adapted)