What Is The Feast of First Fruits?
In 2024, the Day of First Fruits is Sunday, April 28.
Following Passover is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a seven-day feast during which nothing is eaten that contains leaven.
This is a commemoration of the exodus when the Israelites left Egypt, leaving in a hurry without enough time to wait for their bread to rise.
During the Feast of Unleavened Bread there is always a Sabbath (Saturday). The day after the Sabbath we are told to bring the “first fruits” of the harvest (the first ripe barley in the field) and raise it as a wave offering; this is the Feast (or Day) of First Fruits.
Today, there is no Temple nor earthly priesthood, but we can observe the spirit of the First Fruits offering. It was given from the first harvest of the year — not knowing if any more crop would spring from the ground. It was, and still represents, a “faith” offering; a declaration that you trust the Almighty to to provide for you throughout the coming year.
Learn More about The Day of First Fruits
Has First Fruits Been Fulfilled?
Yes! The year Yeshua was crucified, the Passover sacrifice (and the sacrifice of our Savior) occurred on a Wednesday. As the Bible states in Matthew 12:40, he was in the ground for three days and three nights (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights; Thursday, Friday and Saturday days).
That leads us right to the end of the Sabbath and the beginning of the “morrow after the Sabbath,” the day of First Fruits! Yeshua, our Messiah, was raised on the Sabbath and then, as the day of First Fruits began, he raised the First Fruits saints whose graves were opened at his crucifixion and presented them in the Heavenly Temple to YeHoVaH; this was the fulfillment of the Feast of First Fruits.
How To Give Your First Fruits Offering
There is no Temple and no priest serving in the Temple now to which we can bring our first fruits, but we can remember this command in other ways. The Bible instructs us to care for the widow, the orphan, the stranger and the Levite (Deuteronomy 26:12).
Consider donating money off the top of your budget (your “first fruits” before you spend money on anything else) to an organization that benefits those who need it. Or you may like to double a meal you make and give the first batch to someone who needs it, or buy someone’s groceries at the grocery store before purchasing your own.
When you celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the First Fruits, remember that, as 1 Corinthians 15:20 says, “Now is Messiah risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.” He was the first born from among the dead (Revelation 1:5) and with the keys of death and the grave (Revelation 1:18), he raised the saints who were his First Fruit offering to his Heavenly Father.
