Firstfruits must precede the Weeks. Our Lord had to die before He could rise from death and the grave, and He had to be glorified before the Holy Spirit could come (John 7:39). The coming of the Holy Spirit on the day o f Pentecost marked the beginning of the Age o f Grace, or, as it is often spoken of, the Age o f the Holy Spirit. Apparently, the main feature of the ritual was the presentation of the two “ loaves” unto the Lord (Lev. 23:17). Keep in mind that throughout the fifty days between Firstfruits and Weeks, the har vesting of the grain continued. The grain of First- fruits had been crushed into flour and had become the loaf, a symbol of the unified Body of Christ. Such was the work of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as indicated by the Apostle Paul when he wrote, “ For by [in] one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles . . .” (I Cor. 12:13). This is the true New Testament Church formed on the Day of Pentecost by the coming of the Holy Spirit. The baptism into the Holy Spirit is a present experiential fact in every true believer, just as the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is an accom plished fact of history. Dr. Roy L. Laurin has said, “When we are bom of the Spirit, the life of God comes into us. When we are baptized by [in] the Spirit, we are put into the Body of Christ. When the baptism of the Spirit is spoken o f today, people think of it as something that comes into them. That is not so. It is we who are put into something. Being bora of the Spirit gives us a new life. Being born of the Spirit gives us a new place. This new place is in the Body of Christ. Both the birth and the baptism are simultaneous but they are not similar.” Notice how that the loaves were two in num ber. Let me suggest that two loaves prefigure the two component parts o f the Church, Jew and Gen tile. Acts 2:9-11; 10:1-48; 15:8, 9 make it quite clear that the Jewish and Gentile constituents went into the forming of Christ’s Body. It is a recog nized fact that before Pentecost the Jew enjoyed special privileges as the people of God. Paul lists some o f those privileges, “the adoption, and the glory, and the convenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises . . .” (Rom. 9 :4 ). But no longer does the Gentile occupy a subordinate place of blessing, for in Christ Jesus “ there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek [Gentile]: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him” (Rom. 10:12). Believing Jew and Gentile, washed in the same Blood, indwelt by, and baptized into the same Spirit, “are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26-28). Read carefully Ephesians 2:14-18, and you will see that a wall of partition no longer exists between believ ing Jew and believing Gentile. Pentecost introduced a new order. There are two loaves, but the bread 20
is one, “ For we being many are one bread, and one body” (I Cor. 10:17). This new order, this new organism, is referred to in the type as “ firstfruits,” the same as in the preceding Feast. But why? There can be but one answer. Is not the Church the firstfruits of Christ’s redeeming work and of the Spirit’s coming? The saved in the present age will not constitute all the harvest since many will be saved during the Tribu lation after the Church is caught up to be with the Lord, but all the redeemed of this present dispen sation, commencing with Pentecost, do constitute this second “ firstfruits.” Is it not probable that the Apostle James had this type in mind when he wrote, “Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18)? Matthew Henry says, “Christ is the firstfruits of Christians; and Christians are the firstfruits of creatures.” To state it more compactly, Christians are God’s firstfruits of all of the creatures of the earth. Paul spoke of the house of Stephanas as the “ firstfruits of Achaia” (I Cor. 16:15). The sheaf o f Firstfruits was offered as a part of Israel’s holy convocation. Then upon entering Canaan the Israelites were to offer the firstfruits of the Land (Deut. 26:2). The consecration of the first part was an earnest guarantee of the conse cration of the whole. The Father was pleased with His Son who was the “ first” firstfruits. Is He pleased with those of us who are His “ second” first- fruits? “ If the firstfruits be holy, the lump [mass] is also holy” (Rom. 11:16). Positionally the believer is identified with the first wave-sheaf, or the first “ Firstfruits” which is Christ. The two loaves were made o f flour from the same crop from which the first “ Firstfruits” was gathered and presented to the Lord. Christ is the “ Firstborn” ; we are “His brethren” (Rom. 8 :26), “ the Church o f the firstborn” (Heb. 12:23). We are now one with Christ, “ accepted in the Be loved” (Eph. 1 :6), “ complete in Him” (Col. 2:10). And all of this has been consummated by the com ing o f the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We are “ the firstfruits of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:23), “ sealed with that Holy Spirit” (Eph. 1:13). Let us not overlook the significant fact that the two loaves were “baken with leaven” (Lev. 23:1 7 ); this in contrast to the Passover which was to be eaten with unleavened bread. We have already shown that the Passover typifies Christ and that in Him there is no sin. There was no leaven in the meal offering because that offering was a type of the perfect manhood and character of Christ (Lev. 2:11), but the loaves speak of Christians, and right here the essential difference between Christ and the believer is seen. He the Passover Lamb was slain and raised to be offered to the Father without spot, but in every believer there is leaven. The Holy THE KING'S BUSINESS
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