Firstfruits

Last year I talked of my frequent journeys to the local hedgerows to pick what proved to be a bumper crop of blackberries. This year the signs look just as good.

Most of the fruit here in the north-west of England is still green. However, some early ripening brambles have already begun to mature, as I discovered the weekend before last. I had nothing handy to put any fruit in, but still couldn’t resist picking some. Home wasn’t far away, and I took back all I could in my cupped hand.

The first instalment - the firstfruits. These are important in the Bible. Exodus 23 talks of the Feast of Harvest to be celebrated with

“the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field” (verse 16, NIV)

and directs,

“Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God” (verse 19).

The books of Leviticus and Numbers describe how the firstfruits should be brought to God as a ritual offering. But firstfruits need not simply be grain. They could be human as well. Deuteronomy 21:15-17 describes a situation sadly common in early Bible times when a man had two wives, one of whom he came to prefer to the other.

The scenario goes on to assume that the man had boy children by them both. He was not to give the child of the loved wife precedence over the child of the unloved. If the son of the unloved is the firstborn, he must be given

“a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength”.

So “firstfruits” can be extended to mean the first instalment of anything. It is not surprising that the Lord Jesus Christ is described as firstfruits. He achieved many spectacular firsts - most of all when He rose again from death. 1 Corinthians 15:20 goes,

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”, in other words, those who die believing in Him will follow in His footsteps and rise again - that is a promise!

Romans 8:23 talks about believers having “the firstfruits of the Spirit”. The new, spiritual lease of life that is breathed into us when we become Christians is like a down-payment on the eternal glory to come in God’s heavenly kingdom. In a similar way the earliest Christians are thought of in the Bible as the firstfruits of the great multitude of those who will be saved down the centuries by trusting in Jesus.

The firstfruits were collected a long time ago. But, tell me, are you part of that great harvest that follows them, to God’s glory?

I look forward to another bumper crop of blackberries - the first few I held in my hand a couple of weeks ago being just the firstfruits. I won’t be able to keep them in the freezer this time, though. You see, God has graciously given me another opportunity to be the Pastor of a church. Within a few months I expect to be on the move down south. It is wonderful to have this new opening for service. May God give me and all His faithful labourers an abundant harvest.