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Feast of Firstfruits

The Feast of Firstfruits (Bikkurim), at which the priest waved the first sheaf of the barley harvest before the LORD as a wave offering (Lev. 23:10-11), is identified by Jones, Nee/Lee, and Warnock as a type of Christ’s resurrection. Paul makes the typological connection explicit: “Christ has been raised from the dead as the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1Cor. 15:20). Jesus rose on the eighth day after Passover — the day of the wave offering — thereby fulfilling this type. Warnock describes the Church at Pentecost as “firstfruits” of the greater end-time harvest typified by the Feast of Tabernacles.

Biblical Anchoring

Reference	Context
Lev. 23:10-11	Institution of the Feast of Firstfruits: waving the barley sheaf on the day after the Sabbath
Lev. 23:9-14	Requirement: the new harvest may not be eaten until the offering is brought — Christ’s resurrection as prerequisite
1Cor. 15:20, 23	”Christ as firstfruits” — Paul’s explicit type-fulfillment claim
Matt. 28:1-6	Jesus rises on the first day of the week, after the Sabbath — the day of the wave offering
Jas. 1:18	”That we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures”

Typological Treatment by Author

Jones

Jones calculates that Jesus rose on the eighth day — the day of the wave offering — and identifies this as the fulfillment of the law of the firstfruits sheaf. In The Biblical Meaning of Numbers he describes the significance of this pattern:

“Eight is the number of new beginnings. Circumcision on the eighth day (Gen. 17:12); Jesus was raised from the dead on the eighth day to fulfill the law of the wave-sheaf offering (Lev. 23:10-11); Pentecost: seven weeks + 1 day = fiftieth day = eighth day (Lev. 23:15-17). Jesus spoke on the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:37-39) about the outpouring of the Spirit.”¹

Nee/Lee

Lee develops the barley-type symbolism as a type of Christ’s resurrection. Barley and wheat together form a double type: wheat for the incarnation and death, barley for the resurrection:

“All Bible students acknowledge that the firstfruits of the harvest typify Christ as the firstfruits of the resurrection.”²

“Wheat points to His incarnation, death, and burial, and barley follows to point to His resurrection, the resurrected Christ. In His incarnation He is extremely limited, but in His resurrection He is so immeasurably rich. There is no limit to Him as the resurrected Christ.”³

Warnock

Warnock situates the Feast of Firstfruits within the broad harvest typology: the Church at Pentecost receives the firstfruits of the Spirit, but the full harvest is expected only at the Feast of Tabernacles. The firstfruits are a pledge of the greater harvest:

“Pentecost signifies a great harvest, that is true. But compared to the coming glory, it is really but a harvest of firstfruits… Pentecost is but the firstfruits of great and mighty things awaiting the Church of Jesus Christ in the Feast of Tabernacles.”⁴

Related Types

• Connected: feast-of-weeks (Feast of Weeks comes fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits and builds on the same harvest cycle)
• Connected: passover (Passover precedes the Feast of Firstfruits — crucifixion before resurrection)
• Connected: feast-of-tabernacles (Feast of Tabernacles as the completion of the harvest of which the firstfruits are now available)
• Via number symbolism: 8 (Eighth day as the number of new beginning; Christ’s resurrection on the eighth day)

Footnotes

Footnotes

1. Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, number 8 — Christ’s resurrection on the eighth day as fulfillment of Lev. 23:10-11; eight as the number of new beginning. ↩

2. Nee/Lee, The All-inclusive Christ, ch. 5 — Firstfruits of the harvest as type of Christ’s resurrection. ↩

3. Nee/Lee, The All-inclusive Christ, ch. 5 — Wheat (incarnation/death) and barley (resurrection) as two-part type of Christ. ↩

4. Warnock, The Feast of Tabernacles, ch. 5 — Pentecost as firstfruits harvest; Feast of Tabernacles as the full harvest. ↩