Easter
The Sheaf is the first bundle of barley from the harvest. In Leviticus 23, the Lord told the Israelites to bring the first fruits in a sheaf to the priest. The priest was to wave this sheaf before the Lord so that the sheaf would be accepted by God for all the people. This waving would occur on the day after the Passover Sabbath. This was the first harvest of Barley in early April. Jesus rose from the dead on this exact day, as the Sheaf, or the First-Fruits. Coincidence? I think not. If you keep in mind that the Old Testament points to what Jesus has done on the cross and at the tomb, it makes perfect sense. The Old Testament contains beautiful fore-showings of Christ. If you take Christ out of the Old Testament, then it makes no sense at all. Paul refers to Jesus as the First-Fruit. We are accepted by God because of the Sheaf. Jesus died for our sins and rose again as the first gathering of the harvest. This assures us of our own resurrection, if we believe. The rest of the harvest is waiting to be gathered by God. One day God will take the grain and put it in His barn. But the chaff? That’s another sermon.
Suffice it to say that you do not want to be chaff. 1st Corinthians 15:17. Legalists cannot understand this verse. But those who believe the gospel can - the gospel being the simple sentence that saves - i.e. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, he was buried, and on the third day he rose from the dead according to the scriptures. Faith in this simple sentence plus nothing equals salvation. This is all we must do to be saved and stay saved. Let this be a gage for you to measure the accurateness of your beliefs. If Christ is not raised, our faith is futile, and we are still in our sins. But since Christ is raised, our faith is profitable and we are not in our sins. Do you see it?
Our faith in the work of Jesus takes us out of our sins. We do not work our way out of our sins by being good people. We are all in our sins and we can do absolutely nothing about removing our sins. Even if we could sin less somehow, we cannot take away the sins we’ve already committed. We are stuck in our sins, and in our enmity with God. But our faith in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus takes us out of our sins. We can do something. We can do one thing. We can believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose again. This will take us out of our sins, and put us in the righteousness of Christ. So at the same time we can do nothing, yet we can do one thing. Nothing because Jesus did all the work of salvation, one thing because we can trust in all his work. The work of God is to believe in the one he has sent. I
t is Easter. I did not plan to talk about this verse beforehand. But here we are, reading the verse that speaks of the resurrection on Easter. 1st Corinthians 15:18-19. Since Jesus is raised from the dead, those who have fallen asleep in Christ are not lost. Our faith and hope in Jesus is not only in this life, yet Jesus does help us in this life. He gives the best standard of living. Not necessarily in material things, but always in the quality of our inner lives. Poor Christians are happier than rich heathens. Our faith doesn’t stop when we die. Otherwise we are ultimately miserable people. Our faith goes on. We live in Christ after we pass away. We live because Christ lives. We do not die as believers, we slumber. Our bodies sleep in the ground, but our spirits go to be with the Lord. To be apart from the body is to be present with the Lord. But one day we will rise from the grave like Jesus did, in incorruptible bodies of the heavenly kind. All this is because Jesus rose as the first fruits. 1st Corinthians 15:20. Christ is indeed risen. This is proven. If you don’t believe it, it is only because you have not looked into it. It would take an entire library to show all the wonderful evidences of the resurrection of Jesus. If you think Jesus is nothing, if you think He cannot help, if you think He is just some archaic teacher who is unconnected with your everyday life - this is your own fault.
I know someone who laughs when I say Jesus’ name. He discounts Jesus as a joke. For this person, Jesus is a joke. But not for me. I know who Jesus is. I know that He is my Savior, and He helps me in every detail of life. Who is Jesus to you? Is He nothing or is He everything? It’s really up to you. One day, when Jesus is revealed in His glory, you will wish you believed in Him in His shame. So Christ is risen, and one day every eye will see Him. Something wonderful happened 2000 years ago, and by faith it can be real for you today. God came down into the world as a Man, He started the human rac e all over again through the virgin birth. This separated Him from sinful man, so that He could be the perfect Lamb of God.
Jesus was not half-Mary, half-God. God created the fertilized egg inside Mary, and so Jesus is all of God - the last Adam. Jesus was sort of an entire human race, in and of Himself. He came to make real manmade righteousness, and then He went away. He gives His goodness to all those who believe in Him. Jesus already rose. It is a thing of the past. He can do it. He has done it. Be glad that we have a faith that has verified its claims. Now we can know for sure it will happen to us. Christ is the first one who was raised to life, but did not die afterwards. Jesus actually rose on the same day as the Jewish first fruits. In Leviticus 23:10-11 it says that the Israelites were to offer the first fruits sheaf before the Lord. It was the first harvest of the season. They were to wave this sheaf before the Lord so that the sheaf would be accepted on their behalf. We are accepted in the Sheaf, the First-Fruit, Jesus the Savior. God has proven this in many old testament scriptures. We have a real hope. Jesus is alive, and we will live because of Him. Happy Easter everyone! Happy Resurrection Day!
