The Feast of Firstfruits (Bikkurim)



		The Feast of Firstfruits (Bikkurim)
		The Feast of Firstfruits falls on the day after the weekly Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On this day throughout Biblical history, God has always done amazing acts of salvation and redemption. On this day Noah's ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, Israel crossed the Red Sea as a nation delivered from the land of bondage, Israel tasted the firstfruits of the Promised Land, and Haman, who plotted the destruction of the Jews described in the book of Esther, was defeated. All of these events teach us about God's power to redeem and save. Accordingly, this is the exact (Hebrew) calendar day that Jesus, our Passover sacrifice, rose from the dead and defeated the death sentence that was upon Him and upon all humanity. This is even more significant because on the Feast of Firstfruits, the priest would literally take a sheaf of barley and wave it before the Lord, sanctifying the entire crop. In the same way, Paul refers to Jesus as the "firstfruits of our resurrection," sanctifying all of humanity who would accept him so they can join in His resurrection unto eternal life. God set this specific day aside to reveal to us His redemptive and victorious nature over and over again. (For clarity, it was not on the day that is calculated and called "Easter," which was a later adaptation, whose day is calculated and celebrated somewhat differently.)