My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
| 149 |
| FIRST FRUITS |
| 1 Corinthians 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. |
| Paul has been arguing convincingly that the resurrection of Christ is a fact, and now he is simply stating this truth. Jesus has been raised from the dead. Note that Paul describes Jesus by the act of resurrection, and then hangs on the Lord the description of His being firstfruits. Surely he is hearkening back to the Old Testament for his Jewish readers. Let’s consider the Old Testament background Paul uses when speaking of first fruits. What might Paul want us to understand? Old Testament Background To my surprise, this term refers to more than simply an apple or banana. It isn’t restricted to fruits in the way I default to. The first fruits in the Old Testament included grain, olive oil, new wine, sheep wool, herds and flock, and of course fruit as I originally thought. It seems the common theme in this list is that it is the bounty of the people that was considered fruit, fruit of the field, and fruit of the animal. Fruit that the people relied on for sustenance. Timing Ok so I understand fruit, yet he refers to the first fruits. What is the significance of first fruits? At the risk of stating the obvious, this reference was related to time, to the earliest produce on the farm. Consider Deuteronomy 18:4 The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. As the Lord directed the believer to provide a sacrifice of his first bounty, the farmer would be sacrificing early harvest produced on his farm. An act of faith, since his family may be depending on food from the field. Quality But let us continue. To be firstfruits is not simply a timing designation, but a quality designation! Numbers 18:12 All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, the firstfruits of what they give to the LORD, I give to you. So we have the first in time, and the first in quality. How may this may apply to the name of God we are considering. For the faithful Hebrew who has converted from dead works to the Living God, this spoke of the Messiah in both time and quality. He is the first out of the grave, but as the Hebrew would know, much more fruit would come from the field. Paul implies this strongly by associating Jesus as first fruit of those who have fallen asleep. The harvest would continue from the field of those who had fallen asleep. This implication for the Hebrew must have been a strong encouragement. But note that it is God that is providing the first fruit, for He is the One offering the Son in His resurrection. Jesus was the first chronologically to be raised from the dead. Do I hear some speaking of Lazarus, or the little girl Elisha raised, or of the child raised by Jesus between two little towns in Israel? My friends, those who rose prior to Jesus were destined to return to the grave. They would die again, and this is where the idea of quality comes into greater focus. The first fruits were the best of the early harvest. In this regard, the resurrection of Jesus is the best possible fruit to be offered, for His body will never perish, He will never to die again. He has a non perishable body, immortal, never to visit the grave again. Timing (again) By the way, I can’t help but offer one additional truth about the topic of timing relating to first fruits. The Feast of First fruits in the Jewish calendar occurred two days after the Passover. “Coincidentally“, this is the very day of the resurrection. So many coincidences when it comes to the Lord fulfilling prophecies. I write that with extreme irony, for if you have an interest in prophecies fulfilled in the person of Jesus, I would refer you to a series of 351 blog posts on this site called Old Testament Messianic Prophecies. A download link has been provided for the full list with each post. If you have any trouble downloading it, please contact me. I would be happy to send it to you. He is truly the First Fruits of those who have fallen asleep, and the truth of this name is so far greater than the shadow we read of in the Old Testament. May His name be praised in the congregation and in our lives! |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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