1. Revealing Messiah in First Fruits and Shavuot

2. יהוה = translated as ‘LORD’, the name of our Heavenly Father
First Fruits
What is it?
The first of your barley crop.
A person would go to the standing harvest of their field and take one sheaf and bring it to the priest. The lone sheaf was called the “sheaf of First Fruits.” The priest would then take the sheaf and wave it before יהוה in the Temple at Jerusalem. No one could eat of the bread or roasted grain of the barley harvest until the “sheafs of First Fruits” had been presented to יהוה and accepted for Israel. 
יהוה = translated as ‘LORD’, the name of our Heavenly Father

3. First Fruits
Lev 23:9-11 And יהוהspoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When you come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before יהוה, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

4. First Fruits
This “First-Fruits” offering before יהוה would have included other offerings such as a burnt offering and a meal offering. It was to be presented in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem (where יהוה has put His name) during the feast of Unleavened bread. According to scripture, this offering would have taken place on a Sunday, the day after the regular Sabbath which would fall during the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is also the day to begin the “Counting of the Omer”; a fifty day counting that leads to the next feast day, Shavuot.

5. First Fruits When does this take place? The day after the Sabbath.
During the time of Passover, there is a Feast called “Unleavened Bread” in which unleavened bread is eaten for 7 days in remembrance of what יהוה did in bringing out His people from Egypt.
During those 7 days, there will be one day that falls on a weekly Sabbath. Following the Sabbath, at sundown, begins the next day. That day begins the appointed time of ‘First Fruits’.

6. First Fruits First Fruits Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
First Fruits

7. First Fruits = ‘Reshit Katzir’
This moed, commonly mis-translated as Ha-Bikkurim, is not what Leviticus says.
Lev 23:10 “…then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits [H7225] of your harvest [H7105] unto the priest:”
‘Reshit’ has the meaning of not only ‘first’, but more importantly, a BEGINNING.
H ראשׁית rê'shı̂yth
BDB Definition:
1) first, beginning, best, chief; 1a) beginning; 1b) first; 1c) chief; 1d) choice part
H קציר qâtsı̂yr
BDB Definition:
1) harvest, harvesting; 1a) process of harvesting; 1b) crop, what is harvested or reaped; 1c) time of harvest

8. First Fruits
Once the barley sheaf had been waved by the High Priest in the Holy Temple before יהוה, then the people would be able to harvest their fields.
Why is this significant? Because it would point to the Messiah!!

9. Fulfillment of Messiah: First Fruits
Messiah said that the people in his day would only be given the sign of Jonah. “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Mat 12:40
Paul writes [1st Cor 15:3-4]: For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

10. Fulfillment of Messiah: First Fruits
What scriptures was Paul talking about? Here is a clue-
1Co 15: But now is Messiah risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Messiah shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Messiah the first fruits; afterward they that are Messiah's at his coming.
First Fruits = RESURRECTION !!

11. Fulfillment of Messiah: First Fruits
1Co 15: ‘firstfruits’ [G536]
G536 ἀπαρχή aparchē
ap-ar-khay'
From a compound of G575 and G756; a beginning of sacrifice, that is, the (Jewish) first fruit (figuratively): - first-fruits.
The Hebrew equivelant to the Greek word ‘aparchē’ is the Hebrew word ‘Reshit’
Putting this all together, I believe Paul was saying that just as the first fruits (Lev 23:10) were the ‘beginning’ of the barley harvest in Ancient Israel, so too is Yeshua the first fruits (1 Cor 15:20-23) and the ‘beginning’ of the resurrection harvest!
First Fruits = RESURRECTION !!

12. Crucifixion Week
God’s reckoning of time: Sunset, not midnight, begins the next day [Genesis 1:5].
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
14TH
15TH
16TH
17TH
18th
Passover
Matzah
Messiah in the
One Full
Two Full
Three Full
First Fruits
tomb right
day and One
days and Two
days and Three
before sunset
Full Night
Full Nights
Messiah was raised from the dead towards the end of the Sabbath (Saturday) fulfilling the sign of Jonah!
Messiah is the Lord of the Sabbath: (Mat 12:8, Mar 2:28, Luk 6:5)

13. Fulfillment of Messiah: First Fruits
Joh 20: Yeshua saith unto her, Woman, why do you weep? whom do you seek? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Joh 20:16 Yeshua said unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and said unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Yeshua said unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
Why did Yeshua not want Mary to touch him?

14. Fulfillment of Messiah: First Fruits
Why did Yeshua not want Mary to touch him?
Could it be because Yeshua needed to present himself as High Priest in the Heavenly Temple with the wave sheaf offering?
Key point to remember: First Fruits = Resurrection

15. Fulfillment of Messiah: First Fruits
Thoughts on scriptures: Matthew 27:50-53
Chronological Gospels pg. 261
Mark 16:9, John 20:17
Chronological Gospels pg. 264
Matthew 28:1,8-9, Mark 16:2-4
Chronological Gospels pg. 266

16. Shavuot /Pentecost/The Feast of the Harvest/The Feast of Weeks
From First Fruits, we are to count 50 days (seven complete weeks + 1 day) to Shavuot (Feast of Weeks).
It is a day of rest, no work to be done… (Lev 23:21)
…a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. (Lev 23:21)
Shavuot is the second of the three pilgrimage feasts that all adult Israelite males were required to attend at Jerusalem (Exodus 23:14,16).

17. Shavuot
Deu 16:9-11 “Count seven weeks for yourself. Begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. And you shall perform the Festival of Weeks (Shavuot) to יהוה your Elohim, according to the voluntary offering from your hand, which you give as יהוה your Elohim blesses you. And you shall rejoice before יהוה your Elohim, you and your son and your daughter, and your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are in your midst, at the place where יהוה your Elohim chooses to make His Name dwell.

18. Shavuot Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (1) 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 (2) 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 (3) 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 (4) 29 30 31 32 33 34
35 (5) 36 37 38 39 40 41
42 (6) 43 44 45 46 47 48
49 (7) 50
Shavuot

19. Shavuot = Yom HaBikkurim
On the 50th day, is the day of Shavuot.
Lev 23: Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits [H1061] unto the LORD. And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits [H1061] for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest [H1061 = Bikkur(im)]

20. Shavuot & Mt Sinai
Exactly 50 days after the Exodus out of Egypt, יהוה revealed Himself on Mt. Sinai. All of Israel heard יהוה speak the commandments from the mountain. Moses receives the instructions (Torah) from God.
In Jewish interpretation, Shavuot is referred to as the ‘marriage day’ between God and His people. יהוה is the Heavenly groom who said ‘Accept Me’, the people represent the beloved bride, and the Torah represents the ‘ketubah’ (marriage contract).

21. Shavuot & the Messiah
Just as the waving of the First fruits (barley) points to the resurrection of Messiah representing the First fruits of those who have died (1 Cor 15:20), - so the waving of the leavened loaves (wheat) on the day of Shavuot points to the giving of the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) to the body of believers.
IMO- the two leavened loaves being waved by the High Priest represents Yeshua, as our High Priest and King, unifying both Houses (all 12 tribes of Israel as one) before our Heavenly Father.
The 1st Shavuot = God gives the Torah in written form on tablets of stone
Future Shavuot = God gives the Torah on the tablets of our heart!

22. Shavuot & the Messiah
Just as Moses was appointed by יהוה to bring down from the mountain the commandments (Torah) written on stone to the people.
So too, Messiah Yeshua the only begotten Son of יהוה who is the living word (Torah) is sent down from Heaven to teach the people.

23. Shavuot & the Messiah
On the 40th day of counting, Messiah Yeshua told his disciples to not leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard from me.
That promise, is that of receiving the Holy Spirit –Luk 24:49, John 14:16,26, Acts 1:8
Shavuot after resurrection = Giving of the Holy Spirit

24. Sinai and Jerusalem EXODUS 19
1.)At the foot of Mt. Sinai: thunder and lightning.
2.)YHWH descends on the mountain with fire and smoke
3.)3,000 people killed later on for the sin of the golden calf.
ACTS 2
1.) There came from heaven, a noise, like a violent rushing wind that filled the house (Temple)
2.)Fire appeared in tongues descending on the heads of those who received the Ruach HaKodesh
3.) 3,000 people saved
Shavuot after resurrection = Giving of the Holy Spirit

25. Shavuot & the Messiah
Shavuot after resurrection = Giving of the Holy Spirit
Act 2:1-4 And when the day of Pentecost (Shavuot) was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

26. Future Shavuot & the Messiah
There will come a day when the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit will be given:
Eze 39:25-29
Eze 11:17-20
Joel 2:28
And the renewed covenant will be fulfilled according to Jeremiah 31.
Jer 31:31-34
Key points to remember: Shavuot = Giving of the Holy Spirit, unification of the whole house of Israel under Messiah Yeshua, our coming King.

27. First Fruits & Shavuot Are these Feasts of יהוה done away with? NO
Col 2:16-17 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath day: things which ARE a shadow of things to come; but the body of Messiah.
Should we still observe these feasts?
YES
In Leviticus chapter 23 we're told four different times that these feast days are to be a "statute forever, throughout your generations" (Lev 23:14, 21, 31, 41). And יהוה did not change His mind.

28. First Fruits & Shavuot
Messiah had this to say concerning the Torah which includes the Feast Days…
Mat 5: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil (G4137). For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
G πληρόω plēroō
…to fulfil, i.e. to cause God’s will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as it should be, and God’s promises (given through the prophets) to receive fulfilment.