What do the resurrection of our Lord, Moses on the mountain, and Esther coming before her king all have in common? The Firstfruits offering. That's right, the prophecy of the Firstfruits. We're going to make all kinds of biblical connections. Stick with me, you're going to want to, as we discover all the way back in ancient times of Moses what it meant, what it meant in the first century, and what does it mean for us today, right after this. Hello everyone, I'm Jim Staley, Passion For Truth Ministries, and welcome to today's broadcast. Today, we're going to continue our series on God's prophetic calendar. This is the prophecy of the Firstfruits, all about the Feast of Firstfruits. In fact, it's only a day, but we're going to discuss it and how it was prophesied for over a thousand years that the Messiah was going to come out from the grave after three days and three nights, and no one had a clue. They were rehearsing for 1,400 years for their own Messiah, and that's exactly what we're going to dive into. So, as we walk into this third festival on God's seven prophesied feast day calendar, this is probably one of the most exciting hands down, where Passover deals with just the evening of the Passover lamb, where Christ was sacrificed, the lamb was slaughtered for all of Israel, the exodus of the Israelites coming out of Egypt being symbolised of coming out of the bondage of sin, and the Pharaoh being connected to Satan himself that had us under his wrap and being in his jurisdiction. God set us free on Passover. Then he was put into the grave during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, where every single Israelite for 1,400 years was going through their home and getting rid of everything that had leaven in it. Everything that had leaven had to go and be put on pause. Why? Because leaven represents sin. It represents pride. It represents the ego. It represents Satan himself and what caused him to be puffed up and lifted up and ultimately to be thrown down. And so, it is a great reminder to not only get sin out of our house, but to eat unleavened bread, which is sincerity and truth. First Corinthians chapter five, verse eight, it is the word of God. It's humility. It's thinking others greater than ourselves. And so, Yeshua Jesus was put into the grave right at the beginning of the high festival day of the first day of Unleavened Bread, which was a seven-day feast. And then the first Sunday after Passover, no matter what day Passover landed on, could have been a Monday, could have been a Thursday, could have even been a Friday, but it was the next following Sunday after the Sabbath that started the feast of First Fruits and the beginning of the counting of what's called the Omer, all the way to the 50 days of Pentecost, which we'll talk about in the next series. So right now, we're going to dive into this feast and discover all the richness that we've been missing as believers for so many millennia. Let's start off in Exodus chapter 12, verse seven, where it talks about the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which First Fruits normally falls right in the middle of, and it says this, verse 17, you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread for in the self-same day, I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, shall you observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever in the first month on the 14th day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the one and 20th day. That's the 21st day of the same month. And so we're going to talk about the First Fruits and how it connects to prophecy, how it connected to the foretelling of the resurrection of the Messiah. And then ultimately, why aren't we celebrating this today? What did the enemy do to get our eyes off of the prize of God's calendar and onto man's Roman calendar? So we're going to dive right over into the New Testament here real quick and show you the immediate connection between the First Fruits and Yeshua, Jesus. I like to call him by his Hebrew name. First Corinthians chapter 15, verse 20, read this with me. It says, but now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruit of those haven't fallen asleep for since death is through man, also through a man is a resurrection of the dead for as an Adam all died also in Christ, all will be made alive, but each in his own order, Christ, the first fruit afterwards, those at Christ coming. This is an incredible scripture because the author here is making a very obvious connection to the Feast of First Fruits because he rose from the dead precisely on this feast day on God's prophetic calendar. It all starts on Passover, which most of us are familiar with. Like I said, in previous teachings that the Passover Lamb was crucified, was killed, I should say at precisely 3 p.m. at the precise moment that our Lord was crucified, then they had to get them off the cross before that night. Why? Because the Sabbath began. And this is where our Roman friends made their mistake is they saw the word Sabbath and they believed that that had to be Saturday because the Saturday is the biblical Sabbath. It's not Sunday. And so they felt like, well, that means he died on a Friday. We don't know how we're going to get three days and three nights out of this, but the text is clear. It says they had to get him the cross before the Sabbath began. The problem is they didn't know the front of the book as I like to call it. And the Torah and the law of God makes it very clear that the first day of Unleavened Bread is a special Sabbath. It's a high Sabbath on top of the regular Sabbath. And so that year Jesus dies on a Thursday afternoon. They put him into the grave that night. Friday is a high Sabbath and Saturday is the regular weekly Sabbath. And that's why you've got Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, and then precisely at Sunday morning in the fourth watch, according to Mark chapter 16, verse nine, we know for a fact that he rose from the dead between three and 6 a.m. Why? Because the Greek word for early there is proi. And proi literally means the fourth watch of the night. So we know that he didn't rise Saturday night. He didn't rise Sunday morning at 2 a.m., just some random time. It is most probable that he raises from the dead right at the crack of dawn at 6 a.m. Sunday morning. Why? Because this is the moment that the high priest had taken the sheath from the earth and is standing before God and waving it before the Lord asking for a great harvest in the fall. Think of the prophetic significance of this, ladies and gentlemen. For 1400 years, they would take the sickle, a large crowd would go with them Saturday night, right at the end of the Sabbath, as the sun is going down, they would cut the barley from the ground that had already been marked with a crimson cloth, and they would bind it together in a sheath. And then they would hold on to it until right at sunrise Sunday morning, because the Torah says that it has to be offered the day after the Sabbath is over. So in the daytime after the Sabbath, and so right as the day is beginning, right as the sun is beginning to dawn, they are taking what was already cut from the earth and they are waving it before the Lord asking for a great harvest in the fall. They're giving thanks to the Lord because God says, before you eat of any bread that I give you from the earth, you are to bring a sheaf offering to me in Thanksgiving. Give God his first first, then you can have all the rest. We're talking about just one sheaf and they get to have all the rest of the fields of the barley. But the point that I'm making is think of the ramifications of this, that the high priest is doing this and Yeshua, Jesus, is raising from the dead, asking for a great harvest in the fall. Check this out in Colossians chapter 1 verse 18, it says this, And he is the head of the body, the assembly, and he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have supremacy. You see, before the beginning of the year, before a single harvest is made, before anyone touches anything to their mouth, the barley has to be given to God first. It's the First Fruits of all that which would come afterwards. In the same way, Jesus, Yeshua, is coming from the earth and he is the first born. This is a connection to Adam. You see, Adam literally in the Hebrew means divine blood. And this is why Jesus is called the second Adam, is because he comes straight from God as the divine blood. And that's why no one can pay for Adam's sin unless you are like Adam. You must have divine blood. No one with corrupted blood could die for Adam. And because all mankind was in Adam like a domino effect, when Adam sinned, everyone is born into sin. So therefore, Adam is waiting for his sin to be paid for. So when the divine blood comes from God and it's shed and it pays for Adam's sin, retroactively like dominoes, all of mankind that's in Adam then becomes cleansed if we accept that payment. And that's a big if. And that, of course, is the gospel in short. But what I want to show you is this. Let's get into some cool prophecies because we're making all kinds of connections already. Let's go to Leviticus chapter 23 in the instructions where the Torah tells exactly how to celebrate this feast. Watch this. It says, On the day you wave the sheaf, in verse 12, you must sacrifice a burnt offering to the Lord, a lamb, a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two tenths of an ephah, a fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made to the Lord by fire, a pleasing aroma, and its drink offering of a quarter of a hen of wine. Unbelievable. Now, if you're not familiar with what this is appearing and what's really going on here, this is dinner with the king. Look at all the elements that is being required for this First Fruits offering. First of all, you have a lamb completely burnt with nothing left over in the same way Jesus, Yeshua, was the lamb offering. It was the Passover offering and nothing was left over. There was no single flesh left over. It was 100% killed and 100% raised from the dead. Then you have flour for unleavened bread, twice as much as usual. Normally there would only be this amount, but the scriptures say to give twice as much on the First Fruits offering. I believe that's prophetic connecting to it's not just for one person, it's for dinner for two. Check this out. Next is oil that God requires oil to be part of this offering. This is oil to anoint the king, representing the will of God and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Oil was used in ancient times for multiple things, but the most prophetic thing was to anoint kings. And on a very practical level, the shepherds would take the oil, pour it over the head of sheep, and it would cover the ears and the oil itself. It would protect the ears from any flies or any insects that would want to come into the ears. Beelzebub, the lord of the flies, is constantly speaking into our ears and it's the oil of God. It's the anointing of the word of the Lord that protects our ears from that noise, from the enemy that's constantly wanting to get into our head. Lastly, listen to this. God says, I need a hint of wine. He wants wine, which is symbolising of finalising the covenant. It's the blood of the lamb that brings the finalisation, the completion of the covenant, and it represents, of course, his blood. So inside of this offering is literally a meal. You have the lamb, you've got the bread, you have the oil, and you have the wine all connected. Now, where else do we see this exact same scenario where there is dinner with the king, and then there is a three days and three nights scenario? We see this all the way in the book of Esther. Check it out. Chapter 4, verse 16, Go gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan and fast for me, and neither eat or drink for three days and three nights. So she has three days, three nights, and then dinner with the king. What do we have? We've got Yeshua dying on the cross on Passover, and then three days and three nights later is the First Fruits offering where dinner with the king is served. It's the same exact scenario. It's absolutely amazing. Did Esther have any clue that she was forecasting when she called for three days and three nights fast, because she was going to go into the court of the king, and either she was going to live or die depending on his what? On his grace. And so what happens is three days and three nights later, we are coming before our king and either we're going to live or die, and it's all going to be dependent on the blood and our boldness to come before the throne with the blood of the lamb. Let's take a look at Exodus chapter 19. This is another incredible prophetic moment connected to the resurrection, connected to Yom Bikkurim, the day of First Fruits. Exodus chapter 19, verse 10, read it with me. It says, And the Lord said to Moses, go into the people, sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes and be ready for the third day. For the third day, the Lord will come down on the side of all the people amongst Mount Sinai. Do you see the prophetic connection here? That thousands of years ago, 3,400 some odd years ago, God Yahweh comes down and tells Moses, tell the people, get ready for the third day, because on that third day, I am going to reveal myself before the people. I've revealed myself to you, but I'm going to reveal myself in the sight of all the people. And what happened? Three days, three nights, like being in the belly of the whale with Jonah, Jesus, Yeshua raises from the dead and then reveals himself in his true form of who he really was throughout the rest of Israel at that time. Incredible. Now, all this happens on the 17th of Nisan. This is when the First Fruits was in the first century. It happens to be on the 17th of Nisan. Now, that changes each and every year, but on this time, it was the 17th of Nisan on the year that he died. Let's go through the scriptures and show the incredible mathematical impossibilities of these amazing things happening on the 17th of Nisan. Now, before I do, almost every time I mention numbers, because people have been programmed to believe that somehow numbers are pagan, that somehow this is not of God. But listen, God is the master mathematician. He's the one that invented numbers. He's the one that says like three days and three nights in the belly of a whale, so shall the son of man be in the belly of the earth. He makes the symbolic connections using math and numbers because God is incredible orchestrator of everything precise in the universe. And I just want to show you a few of them that are related to the 17th of Nisan that year. In Genesis chapter 8, verse 4, we discover that Noah's ark landed on Mount Ararat on the 17th of Nisan. While Yeshua raises from the dead on the 17th of Nisan, Noah rests on the ark and the 40 days of rain and the tribulation that he was inside the ark, crouched in darkness, finally became light on that day. Unbelievable. Exodus chapter 3, verse 18 talks about Israel crossing the Red Sea on this day. On the 17th of Nisan is when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. Think of the connections here. Jesus is raising from the dead on the 17th of Nisan, freeing his people from the prophetic Egypt of sin and slavery. And God is freeing his people once and for all by taking them past the outer courts of of Egypt and into the holy of holies of the water of the womb of the word of God. And on the other side, they became truly free. That's an amazing connection. In Joshua chapter 5, we see that Israel crossed the Jordan River and it was on this day, the 17th of Nisan, that the Israelites ate from the ground the bread from the earth for the very first time. They had been eating manna up until that point. Think of the prophetic connections to this, is that up until this point, man had been eating regular bread. It's reversed. They've been eating regular bread up until this point. But on the 17th of Nisan, on the year that our Lord raised from the dead, for the very first time since the Exodus, manna from heaven was available to all. So for the first time on Nisan 17, Yeshua, the bread of life, who came from a town called the house of bread. That's what Bethlehem means. It's Bethlehem, house of bread. Jesus, Yeshua, born in the house of bread saying, I am the bread of life. He who eats of me will never be hungry again. And the day he rose from the dead was the same day that the Israelites ate from the bread of the earth that he just came from. Unbelievable. And then 430 years prior to them going into Egypt, they came into Egypt on the 17th of Nisan, according to Exodus chapter 12. We've got so many prophetic things happening. I would venture to say that we need to pay attention to this day. This day has prophetic significance. There's a gravity here. There's a weight here. There's something that God wants us to see. There's a reason why he rose on that day. It wasn't because it was just Sunday morning. No, it wasn't Sunday is why God wanted him to raise. It had nothing to do with the Roman pagan festival of sun's day, the day that all the pagans worship the sun God. It had to do with this was on his calendar. It just coincidentally happened to be on a Sunday, but this day was called the day after the Sabbath. This was the First Fruits offering. That's why it was so significant. This had been practised and rehearsed for 1400 years and the Israelites never saw it. They missed it completely. When he rose from the dead, they never made the connection. It would be much later that the disciples themselves didn't make the connection with finally make the connection that he's the First Fruits offering. He rose on First Fruits and they would pin it into what we would call the gospels and the scriptures today. Now, what are the mathematical probabilities of all of this happening on one single day? Well, there's actually a professional mathematician that calculated those chances. His name is Robert fade. He's a former nuclear engineer and Nobel prize winner for mathematics, and he calculated that all of the chances of all this happening on one single day on Nissan 17 was one in 783 quadrillion. Now that is 783 with three, six, nine, 12, 15 zeros. After that virtually impossible is what I would put it in simplistic terminology. Jesus, Yeshua comes and he dies and he raises from the dead on the same day that Noah opens the hatch and lands on dry ground and all these other things happen. Amazing. Now let's talk about this. Let's talk about what this means to us because we know what it meant to them. They did it every single year for 1400 years. We know in the first century, this was critical for early believers to celebrate the resurrection of their Messiah. And they did it on the same day that he rose the year before, which was not Easter that had not been invented yet. That was a pagan holiday of the Romans that would come hundreds of years later that they would switch the day of the, of the Passover and switch the day of the resurrection. Uh, so that Roman citizens that were used to celebrating Easter would be, uh, it'd be easier for them to convert to Christianity. That would happen hundreds of years later, but the authentic Christianity in the first and second, and even early third centuries found themselves following in the footsteps of the disciples. And that was all about God's prophetic calendar. How do we know this? Check this out. First Corinthians chapter five, verse eight, six through eight, we have Paul telling a Gentile church to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which would include Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. Watch this, read it with me. He says in verse six, your glorying is not good. They're boasting. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast. What feast? The Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Now, I don't know about you, but I've been always told my whole life that these feasts are Jewish feasts. Well, then why is Paul recommending to the Gentile church to keep it? Matter of fact, it's not just him reprimanding them. This presupposes that they've always been keeping it. And these are not Jews. These are Gentiles that are getting saved, that are keeping the feast of Passover to remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. They're keeping Unleavened Bread. They're getting leaven out of their house. They are in symbolism, looking back on what Yeshua did, and they're memorialising it, just like you would a birthday, an anniversary, like many people do with Christmas, reminding themselves of the birth of Christ, even though he was born during the feast of Sukkot. But that's a whole another story. I encourage you to watch When Was Jesus Really Born, if you're interested in that question and getting that answer. But back to the topic at hand, all of the early believers were on God's calendar. It would not be until the fourth century when the Roman pontiff came in and changed God's calendar because he didn't like the Jewish people, and he didn't like the early Jewish Christians at all, and he compromised. And he changed it, and he mixed in the pagan calendar with the original calendar of God, and out came a totally new calendar that we have today. And so we have Paul telling the Corinthian church, keep this feast. This by default means they were keeping all of the feasts. They were on God's calendar. They were in sync with the Lord. Now, many of us have learned that these are Jewish feasts, but that is not the case at all. Even my Jewish friends, sometimes I can see them comment saying, these are Jewish feasts. No, they're not. They're not at all. Read the Bible. It says very clearly in Leviticus 23, which talks about the feast. It says, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, the feast of Yahweh, the feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations. These are my feasts. God says, nobody owns my feasts. These are my calendar. These are the Feasts that I instituted in the garden. When I put the sun, moon, and the stars in the sky, I put them there for signs and for seasons. And that Hebrew word for seasons is not spring, summer, winter, or fall. It's the Moedim. It's the appointed Feasts of the Lord. It's God's calendar. All of the universe was put together so we would know when to meet with him because they all would forecast the first and second comings of his Christ. And that's where we are today, my friends. The original plan of God was anyone that would be called the children of God would be invited to be part of his calendar to meet with him in the days that he prescribed. Now, I know emotionally we're all connected to our own calendar, but at the end of the day, it's not about us. It's not about our memories. It's not about us defending our denominational creeds. It's about us doing Bible things in Bible ways and allowing the Spirit of the living God to penetrate our heart of hearts to get back to the humility of just following God the way that he prescribed. Check this out, and we'll end with this in Ephesians chapter 2. It says this, 11 through 13. Therefore, remember that you once were Gentiles. So he's talking to the Gentiles in the flesh who were called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ. So before Christ, you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. What is he saying? He's talking to Gentiles. He's saying, look, you guys were once outside of the covenant of Israel. You could not be part of the commonwealth of Israel, but through the blood of Christ, you are now allowed to be part of the commonwealth of Israel. And you are now part of the covenants of promise. And the feast day calendar was part of the covenants of promise that the Roman church stripped from us. That's why it says just a few verses down in verse 19. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and aliens, which is another word for Gentiles. That's why he says there's no Jew, no Gentile, no slave, nor free. You're no longer Gentiles, but fellow citizens with the household of God. You are sovereign citizens of God's company in his ecclesia, and he called it Israel. And Israel simply means those who would struggle with God would rule with God. If the Holy Spirit has been working in you to go deeper and farther and to go wider in the breadth of your relationship with him, then let it be known this day that if you're not familiar with God's calendar, this is one of the beginning steps to getting in sync in a more profound and intimate way. I'm going to submit to you that just like the first century early believers, both Jew and Gentile connected together, we're celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and his death, burial, and resurrection through the Passover lamb, through the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the resurrection on First Fruits, and the Holy Spirit coming down on Pentecost, Hebrew, Shavuot, I believe we should be on God's calendar as well. And I believe if you connect with this, if the Holy Spirit is igniting something in you to go past the Protestant forefathers and the traditions and doctrines of men that were passed down to us from the Roman church that was influx of nothing but paganism and compromise so that more people could convert to Christ, but in the process of that compromise, we lost the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. As a matter of fact, if you want to learn more about the prophetic feast days of the Lord, I have a free PDF download that is a cheat sheet that tells you everything you need to know. All you have to do is text the word FEASTDAY to 844-763-9543. That's FEASTDAY to 844-763-9543. And so, I believe that now is the time that we get back to doing Bible things in Bible ways. So, how do we do this? What does it look like? Well, there was two counting methods in the first century of when to count for the festival of First Fruits. How did that happen? The Pharisee way was to count the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread. So, the second day of Unleavened Bread, the 16th of Nisan, would always be First Fruits. But according to the Sadducee's counting method, they always believed that the scripture was very plain and clear, that the day after the Sabbath is the day that you start counting the Omer. The day that you start counting down towards Pentecost was the first day of First Fruits. That's when you're supposed to celebrate it. And they took the Sabbath as very literal, that it's the only Sabbath they have is on Saturday. It's the Seventh day of the week. And that's the counting method that we use today. Traditional Judaism today on their calendar, they celebrate Pentecost on a different day because they use the original Pharisaical counting method that we choose not to use. Jesus rose from the dead on the 17th of Nisan that year, and it was on a Sunday, and we believe that's the right day to celebrate the feast of First Fruits. Before the creation of the heavens and the earth, these dates were already written before time, and their symbolism was secure and in concrete. The day of the resurrection would be the third feast day. Go figure, the third one on his seven-day feast calendar, and all of us are supposed to be on that calendar. God did fulfil the first four according to his first coming of his Son, and that means we should remember those and be passing this memory down to our sons and our daughters through celebrating the resurrection through the feast of First Fruits. I encourage you, when all things come to a close, that we recognise that the feast of First Fruits is all about the resurrection of Christ, the depth of the scriptures are there to support it, and then God says this is one of the pilgrimage feasts. Check this out in Deuteronomy chapter 16. It says this in verse 16, three times in a year shall all the males appear before the Lord thy God in the plates which he shall choose, in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, in the feast of weeks, that's Shavuot or what we call Pentecost, and in the feast of tabernacles, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he gives you. At the end of the day when the sun sets on this topic, this is a critical feast, not only because Yeshua, Jesus became the First Fruits and he gave his whole life, he says in return you are to come before me during this time and don't come before me empty-handed. This is our moment that we make an offering before God. This is the moment that we seed into the kingdom of God. This is the moment that we look into people's lives around us and we feed them the Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth. We look for ways to serve. We look for opportunities to kill our ego, to kill our pride by getting the leaven out of our house. It is a symbolic memorial rehearsal, a reminder that God sent his own begotten son so that we could live and now we have the opportunity to give to others. We have the opportunity to seed into the kingdom of God and the ministry before the kingdom of God. We have the opportunity to see this in people's lives and to get outside of ourselves and holding on to everything so strong and to freely give. Whatever God has given you, freely give back to him into the kingdom. That is the principle of the First Fruits offering. The moment that Noah landed on Mount Ararat was the moment that he gave to the world everything that God had given him. All of the animals, everything that God had put into that boat was then seeded into the earth and the earth was repopulated. Let me ask you a question my friends. What are you seeding into the earth right now? What are you seeding into your family, into your spouse, into your children, into your neighbourhood, into the community? What are you doing to increase? What is the First Fruits offering of your life that you can point to right now and saying this is what I'm doing to be an asset to the kingdom of God? The feast days are incredible. We've gone through Passover, we've gone through Unleavened Bread, we've gone through Yom Bikkurim, First Fruits. Next will be the last one in the first set of the spring feast days of the Lord. It's going to be the feast of Shavuot, the prophecy of Pentecost. We'll talk about that next time my friends. I'm Jim Staley with Passion for Truth Ministries and I'll see you in the next video.