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"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept"
(I Cor. 15: 20).
"Christ the firstfruits" (I Cor. 15: 23).
"Ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia" (I Cor. 16: 15).
"That we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures" (James 1: 18).
"The firstfruits unto God and the Lamb" (Rev. 14: 4).
The term "firstfruits" is taken from the O.T. and Leviticus 23: supplies us with its
setting. The firstfruits followed Passover:--
"Ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest; and he shall
wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: and the morrow after the sabbath
the priest shall wave it" (Lev. 23: 10, 11).
The first day after the sabbath! that was the very day of the Lord's resurrection.
Following the Firstfruits came Pentecost (Lev. 23: 17), and at Pentecost a new meal
offering was offered "baken with leaven, they are the firstfruits unto the Lord." As the
resurrection of the Lord Himself fulfilled the type of verses 10 and 11, the believers at
Pentecost and during the period of the Acts were "firstfruits" according to verse 17, with
Rom. 16: 5; I Cor. 16: 15; and James 1: 18. It is noteworthy that just as the firstfruits
in Lev. 23: is preceded by Passover and followed by Pentecost, so I Corinthians
observes the same order:--
"For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us" (I cor. 5: 7).
"Christ the firstfruits" (I Cor. 15: 23).
"I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost" (I Cor. 16: 8).
It will be observed that every occurrence of the word is limited to those Scriptures
which were written with reference to Israel and the kingdom; the term is never found in
Paul's Prison Epistles.
AT HIS COMING.--The word "coming" is the Greek word parousia. The following
sixteen references are all the occurrences of the word as used for the Lord's coming:
Matt. 24: 3, 27, 37, 39; I Cor. 15: 23; I Thess. 2: 19; 3: 13; 4: 15; 5: 23;
II Thess. 2: 1, 8; James 5: 7, 8; II Pet. 1: 16; 3: 4; I John 2: 28. Again we observe that
every quotation is taken from those Scriptures written with reference to the people of
Israel and the kingdom. The term is never so used in any of the Prison Epistles.
THE END (To telos).--It is noteworthy that the portion of Scripture wherein we find
the word parousia for the first time supplies us with the first occurrences of the words to
telos (Matt. 24: 6, 14 and 26: 58). As the verses are read with their context it will be
seen that the words have a special meaning when used eschatologically. Marl 13: 7 and
Luke 21: 9 compelte the references in the Gospels, and the remarkable thing is that they
all refer to one and the selfsame exclusive period. The next chronological occurrence is I
Cor. 15: 24. Let us read the references together:--
Matt. 24: 6.
"The end is not yet."
Matt. 24: 14.
"Then shall the end come."
Matt. 24: 58.
"To see the end."
Mark 13: 7.
"The end not yet."
Luke 21: 9.
"The end not immediately."
I Cor. 15: 24.
"Then cometh the end."