the Fourth Week after Easter
Click to donate today!
Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 1 of 5
Leviticus 23:15-22
Fifty days separated the feast of firstfruits from that of weeks or Pentecost. Both took place the day after the Sabbath, that is to say on the first day of the week. We know that after His resurrection, before ascending to heaven, the Lord appeared on several occasions to His disciples to comfort them, to encourage them, and to send them out to preach the Gospel. Then, Acts 2 shows us how the Holy Spirit came down from heaven on the day of Pentecost to dwell in the Church. The two wave loaves mentioned in v. 17 are a symbol of this Church, composed of Christians, both Jews and Gentiles. But those who form part of it are still on earth; that is why leaven, a type of sin, was to be present in the loaves.
Such are the "firstfruits" of the work of the cross, presented to God by the priest. And Jesus, speaking of Himself as the "corn of wheat" which must fall into the ground and die, could add, ". . . if it die it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). The sheaf of firstfruits was the promise of a rich harvest (v. 22). Christ, the risen Man, will not remain alone in the glory. He will come again with rejoicing, bringing His sheaves with Him (Psalms 126:6).
