Firstfruits and Pentecost: Foreshadow of Deliverance

I really did intend to have this article written around Pentecost, especially since this is the message that I gave as a sermonette on Pentecost! But now, as I find so many other articles begging to be written in my mind, it's time that I eat my vegetables first and finish this up. As I pointed out in the first part of this series on firstfruits, the firstfruits were commanded to be brought before God at two different times: once on the Feast of Firstfruits and then again on the Feast of Weeks (i.e., Pentecost). The Feast of Firstfruits occurs during the Days of Unleavened Bread, the primary theme of which is deliverance from sin, just as God historically had delivered Israel from Egypt during those days. Perhaps it should not be surprising then that the offering of firstfruits, which occurred both on the Feast of Firstfruits and on Pentecost, was also a reminder of God's deliverance:

Deuteronomy 26:2-10
“You shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground... and say before the Lord your God: ‘My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers... So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand... and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.’

While the message of deliverance in the firstfruits may be clear for the Feast of Firstfruits (during the Days of Unleavened Bread), how does this deliverance factor into the message of the Day of Pentecost as we understand it in the New Covenant? In this article, I'll examine the link between the Feast of Firstfruits, the Day of Pentecost, and the theme of deliverance that unifies their incredible message!

Firstly, recall that the Feast of Firstfruits is the day which in the New Covenant commemorates Jesus' resurrection and ascension to the Father, thus becoming the first of the firstfruits of God's spiritual harvest. Additionally, God reveals that His Church today will also be firstfruits of the same spiritual harvest as our Savior! The events of Acts 2 make it clear that Pentecost celebrates the giving of the Holy Spirit to God's Church, and it is well understood in the Churches of God that Christians today are in the process of maturing to be the firstfruits of God's spiritual harvest along with Christ (James 1:18, Revelation 14:4).

In the case of Christ in the Feast of Firstfruits, the message of deliverance is clear: Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection from the dead give us living hope that we, who were once dead in our sins, can obtain redemption from our sins and the gift of eternal life. But where does deliverance factor into Pentecost? Who is being delivered, and who is doing the delivering?

The Bondage of Corruption

God's creation has been until now, and continues to be, "subjected to frustration" (Romans 8:20) and "under the bondage of corruption" (Romans 8:21). God has allowed sin, death, and unrighteousness to flourish, and it has not produced anything of lasting value, but has rather produced only frustration and corruption, leading to all of the pain and suffering that we see today, and even causing the inhospitableness of the earth itself.

Isaiah 35:1
The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.

God has allowed Satan to influence every nation on earth to do evil and to make war, and holds the whole world captive to the bondage of corruption. The amazing truth, however, is that the day is coming when that will change, and also that this was done with a great purpose in mind: to show the mighty power of God in carrying out the goodness of His mercy toward mankind. The incredible truth is that God is going to right every wrong and fix everything that has been broken - including the planet itself, which has also suffered because of man's sins. And if God heals even the deserts of the earth, and if, as Isaiah 35 goes on to say, He will also heal men from every physical ailment and sickness, then how much more will He heal men from the toxic spiritual consequences of their evil ways? 

Not only that, but even the way God intends to bring about this deliverance is designed to show all people everywhere His great love for them by providing an example of exactly what kind of existence He desires for them also.

The Glorious Liberty of the Children of God

If you read closely in Isaiah 34 and 35, you'll see that the healing of the earth happens under the stewardship of God's people. This transformation of the earth into a more pure, more abundant, and even more life-sustaining planet is something that the whole creation groans for:

Romans 8:19-22
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans with birth pangs until now. 

People everywhere have groaned for a better way: even though have not known God's living way, it has long been evident that something better lies beyond mankind's grasp because of our natural inclinations to do evil, despite our best efforts. God's people will be "revealed" as powerful and glorified spirit beings (1 Corinthians 15:42-44), showing the entire world what God has in store for them also, even as they bring the entire world out of bondage and into glorious liberty!

The Firstfruits: God's Agents of Deliverance

Who are these "children of God," who bring not only mankind, but the whole creation, into this glorious liberty? Who are these people? 

Revelation 14:4-5
These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.

James 1:18 makes it clear that these "firstfruits" are the people that God has called at this time to be part of His Church. And as I've endeavored to show throughout this series, the fact that they are firstfruits implies that they are only the beginning of God's harvest of mankind. These are the "children of God" who will bring the creation into a more glorious state, and who will deliver all mankind from sin - who will work, in God's time, to right every wrong and to fix everything that has been broken.

This completes the explanation of why God commanded that the firstfruits be brought at both the Feast of Firstfruits as well as at Pentecost as a sign of deliverance. The Feast of Firstfruits pictures Christ's deliverance of mankind from sin, but for now this deliverance at the hands of Christ, who is the first of the firstfruits, is limited to the church of God, who also become firstfruits by being the first to take hold of the deliverance He has wrought. But Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, pictures the maturing of God's holy people, the firstfruits of His spiritual harvest who will deliver the creation from futility and usher in that spiritual harvest in which all mankind will have the opportunity to take hold of the deliverance the Christ died to give.

Though Pentecost is now over a month past, the message is one that applies to those in the church of God every day of our lives: that God is ripening us and bringing us to maturity, so that we will be ready for the time when God reveals us to the entire world. And even greater still is that this revealing is precisely what God's next Holy Day, the Feast of Trumpets, pictures - the time when, having been fully ripened and then perfected by God and raised from the dead into powerful spirit bodies, the children of God are revealed to the entire world to begin the next step in God's plan to reconcile all people to him.