A Plan from the “Beginning”

Before he created the physical universe (sun, moon, stars) He knew what was going to be necessary. From the cradle to grave for all mankind – it was all planned out.

Even our calling was planned out:

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
Ephesians 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
Ephesians 1:5 having predestined us to adoption as sons [sonship] by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Try to wrap your head around this for a second. We did not just “happen” – we did not just happen to be here today – we do not just happen to be alive today. This is the planning and intimate involvement that God has in the lives of His children.

Many other things were a part of the plan from the very beginning.

Matthew 13:34 All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them,
Matthew 13:35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS KEPT SECRET FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”

Much of this plan for the salvation of mankind can be seen in His Holy Days

The Keeping of Pentecost Commanded

Today is the feast of Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Firstfruits. It is a day rich and full of meaning – even TODAY!

Notice how the Holy days are tied into the harvests:

Exodus 23:14 “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:
Exodus 23:15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);
Exodus 23:16 and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.

Leviticus 23:9 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
Leviticus 23:10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.
Leviticus 23:11 He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Leviticus 23:12 And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD.

Leviticus 23:14 You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

*the rest of the harvesting could not begin until sheaf had been waved before God and the offerings made. Many see things like this in the bible and chalk them up to strange and meaningless rituals – but nothing could be further from the truth as we will continue to see later

Leviticus 23:15 ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.
Leviticus 23:16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.
Leviticus 23:17 You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the LORD.

Leviticus 23:20 The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.
Leviticus 23:21 And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
Leviticus 23:22 ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.’ ”

Why did God Tie these Two Together?

The harvests are tied into the feast days and vice versa – they were both a part of the original plan of God before the creation of this world.

Physical Points to the Spiritual

God is good about showing us physical items, events, persons that point to other parallel symbols in order to help understand some of the spiritual world.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
Romans 1:21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Examples: tabernacle / temple; marriage; family; and today as we will see the harvests.

We are the Harvest

This analogy in revealed in the Bible

Luke 10:1 After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.
Luke 10:2 Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

1 Corinthians 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
1 Corinthians 3:7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
1 Corinthians 3:8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

John 4:35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
John 4:36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

God did all these things purposefully. He did not tie the feast days into the harvest after the fact. He created and designed meaningfully – the Sun, moon and earth are for seasons. There are different harvests, a larger one in the fall and smaller one before that in the late Spring/early Summer time of the year – the time we are in now and of course the ability to harvest a sheaf in the early Spring.

Why the different harvests?

This is how He is Saving ALL Mankind

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

1 Timothy 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
1 Timothy 2:4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

By this we see and know that this is not the only day of salvation!

Order to the resurrections

There is a connection and analogy between the harvests and resurrections.

These three seasons correspond to:

1. Resurrection of Jesus Christ as represented by the Wave Sheaf — which is only a single man.
2. Resurrection of First Called is represented in Pentecost — a small harvest
3. Resurrection of Second Called is seen in the Feast of Tabernacles – the final and large harvest

There is more than one resurrection to accomplish the salvation of all mankind and we can see all three in two sets of scriptures:

First and Second Harvest

1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

That was the first and second harvest – now here we have the second and third

Second and Third Harvest

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Revelation 20:5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection [Those in :4].
Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

Today is not the only day of salvation.

Just like in the world today, there are two major harvests: one at this time of the year and one in the Fall.

An Ordered Plan

What we are seeing is that there is a step by step plan that God is accomplishing.

It is a plan that has been in place since before the world began, it was not an afterthought when mankind and the world went awry. God does everything decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40).

1 Peter 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1 Peter 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
1 Peter 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

This was the beginning of the plan of salvation for us and the beginning of the the Feasts – and the meaning of Passover.

Jesus Christ became first to be harvested and He was the first to be resurrected (as depicted by the wave sheaf offering).

Because He came and did what He did we now have the opportunities that we have:

Luke 24:46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, [and upon ascending to heaven and being accepted by God the Father he became the first of the firstfruits to have been resurrected and become a fully spirit being].
Luke 24:47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Luke 24:48 And you are witnesses of these things.
Luke 24:49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

Having successfully made it through His time on Earth, He was now able make the Holy Spirit available as He mentioned several times before.

Now the risen Christ is telling them to wait in Jerusalem for the fulfillment of this – the receiving of the power from on high – the holy spirit. The apostles remained there and we pick up the story almost 2000 years ago on this very day:

Act 2:1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit….

But who were these people that had this opportunity

So what will begin to see here is that the holy spirit was going to be made available to more than just the Israelitish nations:

Act 2:4 … and began to speak with other tongues [glossa; glossary; literal tongue; or language; not jibberish], as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Act 2:5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.
Act 2:6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. [dialect]

Act 2:8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?
Act 2:9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Act 2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
Act 2:11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”

Act 2:16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
Act 2:17 ‘AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, SAYS GOD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS.

Not just the Israelites.

Act 2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—
Act 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;

Act 2:32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
Act 2:33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

Act 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and [they] said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Act 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Act 2:39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

At this time only the ones that God calls can come to him. It is not always going to be that way though as depicted by the other feasts.

But for now God is calling the first of the harvest: The Firstfruits

The Elect

Matthew 24:22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
Matthew 24:23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.
Matthew 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Matthew 24:31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

This is the harvest of the firstfruits.

Parable of the Kingdom of God

Matthew 13:35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS KEPT SECRET FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”
Matthew 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”
Matthew 13:37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
Matthew 13:38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
Matthew 13:39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. [see Matthew 24:31].

This is Pentecost Harvest. This is smaller first one. It is the harvest of the firstfruits of salvation of man.

Firstfruits

1 Corinthians 15:20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15:23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.

This is what this day depicts and how it ties in with the giving of the holy spirit. This creative, transformative and sustaining power of God, enables us to understand the truth and live by it.

Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Romans 8:23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

This is the part of the plan of God that we now have the opportunity to be a part of. It is a wonderful and awesome plan…let’s rejoice in that and make the most of it that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.