The Christian Letter, Volume One: Chapter 30
Sorrowfully I only know of one gathering, outside our group, who keeps First Fruits. Jew or Christian. I have found no books on it, and very little documentation on it. It is a forgotten treasure of insurmountable wealth. Several years ago, I went to a gathering of the unleavened and was awoken to a great and missing part of the festival, an invaluable key of Faith.
The sign: “But He answering, said to them, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Yonah. For as Yonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the great fish, so shall the Son of Adam be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’” (Matthew 12:39-40). Does the Christian “world” deny the sign that Yahoshuah is the Messiah?
Many trade the joy of First Fruits for the goddess easter or rabbinic counting. The Scriptures, time and time again, prophesied that Yahoshuah would be in the grave three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17, Matthew 27:45, Mark 9:31, Mark 15:29-30, John 2:19, and Exodus 10:22-23). This amazing miracle of miracles is traded for not so good friday and easter sunday. 3 days and 3 nights? Let’s take a look. If He was crucified on “friday night” and was placed in the grave we’d have 1 night. But, just to be sure we will give Him that day, too. 1 day. He was there all daylight of “Saturday” 2 days. There all “Saturday” night. 2 nights. He rose on “Sunday” before Mary got there but I will go ahead and give it the whole day. 3 days and … uh oh! Where is the third night? The pagan “world” and the Jewish “Word” do not line up together. They are contrary to one another. We must choose to exist knowingly in lies, or thrive in the Spirit’s Truth.
“For there shall be a time when they shall not bear sound teaching, but according to their own desires, they shall heap up for themselves teachers tickling the ear, and they shall indeed turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Prophecy? Jonah was in the belly of a great fish for three days and three nights, and while the time is indeed a symbol, so too was the journey. Jonah was swallowed whole, and inside the dark tossing and turning stomach were half digested fish and schools of swallowed living fish in a torrential wave that would partially wash the digestive juices off his partially digested skin. Going down and coming up would have given Jonah the bends making him deathly ill, if the stress in and of itself would not have done the same. He had no water, certainly no sleep, and was in the darkest hell. The Messiah, too, descended and was in the darkest hell. He was swallowed whole, but, unlike Jonah, the Messiah had no sin. When the great fish was commanded, and so did release Jonah, we know he was unclean, and like the Messiah, he was not to be touched. A Law seldom cared for, the Messiah stood for. Yet, I dare say, we too have been swallowed by this world, and are thus unclean. If only there were someway! Our crop has been polluted, hybrid, and diseased! If only there was a First Fruits! If only the world could know of Love by our actions, rather than the stench of a great fish’s belly by our walking in opposition.
“And Yahoweh spoke to Mosheh, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Yisra’el, and you shall say to them, “When you comeinto the land which I give you, and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest to the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before Yahoweh, for your acceptance. On the morrow after the Sabbath the priest waves it. And on that day when you wave the sheaf, you shall prepare a male lamb a year old, a perfect one, as a burnt offering to Yahoweh, and its grain offering: two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to Yahoweh, a sweet fragrance, and its drink offering: one-fourth of a hin of wine. And you do not eat bread or roasted grain or fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your Elohim—a law forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.”’” (Leviticus 23:9-14).
Yahoshuah is the Priest, and He is the Sacrifice. So what do we do on First Fruits? Well, this may sound out of line to some people, but I say we do what the Messiah did on First Fruits! Rise and proclaim the Kingdom to those who are in distress. He is the First Fruits risen from the dead, but indeed there are others who are dead in this world needing to rise. Yahoweh provided our Lamb but this is an offering we can offer up. Let us always do what we can, and let us always do so by His Spirit of love.
“Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares the Master Yahoweh, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wrong, but that the wrong turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Yisra’el?’” (Ezekiel 33:11).
Since a sheaf in the Bible is used to typify a person or persons (Genesis 37:5-11), a sheaf spiritually represents people who accept the Messiah into their hearts. So, to offer praise for the year’s harvest of first fruits, let us invite the harvest to the entire Festival of the Unleavened. Let us stand, bearing sheaf’s of grain (fellow believers and Matzah) in our hands outside, and let us stand side by side, hand in hand, and wave with the Wind, as the wave offering before Yahoweh of Hosts!
So let us this day not only bring our new brothers and sisters, but also grain, seed, vegetable, fruit, wine, to even the first born children and animals, and offer them to Yahoweh. Not in the fire that consumes and leaves ash, but in the fire of the Holy Spirit that bears much fruit. Anoint your guests with fragrant oil, and toss the grains fit for birds on the ground so that they might take them higher than we can. Let us eat our harvest in celebration unto Him, but let also us give large sums of foods, or whatever your first fruits might be, to widows, orphans, and to those who tend the flocks if they are in honest need. I will write to you next concerning tithing in greater detail.
“Dear Yahoweh, thank You for Your gift of Yahoshuah to us, our First Fruits risen from the dead. We lift our hands to You with the matzah, symbolizing Your First Fruits offering. Please Guide us to walk in the First Fruit’s steps as we offer ourselves up as living sacrifices, as first fruit offerings, unto You. Thank You that so many are here with us today. Guide us so next year’s harvest will be even greater.”
The Wind, His Holy Spirit. The waving, our offering of thanksgiving. What a glorious harvest. Indeed, there is no garden that can compare to the garden of Yahoweh, the giver of seed, soil, and Living Water. Sing. Sing your merriment. Sing HalleluYah. Raise each other’s hands in praise. Rehearse, and remember it well, for someday it may be your mother’s hand you lift in the Kingdom of Yahoweh, as an offering, the finest of all grains, unto our Saviour.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24).
“For if the dead are not raised, then neither Messiah has been raised. And if Messiah has not been raised, your belief is to no purpose, you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Messiah have perished. If in this life only we have expectation in Messiah, we are of all men the most wretched. But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, and has become the first-fruit of those having fallen asleep. For since death is through a man, resurrection of the dead is also through a Man. For as all die in Adam, so also all shall be made alive in Messiah.” (1 Corinthians 15:16-22). Paul saw the Messiah as worthy of celebration, and I hope you do as well. When Paul called the Messiah the First Fruits, this wasn’t some made up phrase he used. Yahoshuah is our First Fruits Offering, just like He is our Passover Lamb, and He is worthy of remembering on the first Day 1 after Passover.
“When I say to the wrong, ‘You shall certainly die,’ and you have not warned him, nor spoken to warn the wrong from his wrong way, to save his life, that same wrong man shall die in his crookedness, and his blood I require at your hand.” (Ezekiel 3:18).
Witnessing does not involve going door to door or person to person, casting pearls before swine, but rather having an answer for those who ask about the hope within us. And when they know us by our love, and ask, and seek first His Kingdom, then let us not forget that we have been called, not to convert, but to discipleship.
Yet, no one is ministered to by embracing the world’s / church’s doctrines, like easter. Ministering is only accomplished by placing our feet in His true footsteps. “let him know that he who turns a sinner from the straying of his way shall save a life from death and cover a great number of sins.” (James 5:20). Let us, therefore, pray for His Spirit’s leading, not just in our hearts, but also in the hearts of other. Call out their name to Him, as well your own. Pray, for it is a sweet offering unto Yahoweh.
The Messiah talks to one person, and would never call it going out of the way to do so. He speaks to those already following Him, to the synagogues, and to those who are in need. We’re spoiled when we don’t appreciate what is given to us, but we’re rotten when we don’t share it by living it. I yearn to tell people! But I also know, and proclaim: Faith cannot be force-fed. Again, I tell you: Faith cannot be force-fed.
For those who are lost, we pray, and we place our hope and trust in Yah. Our duty has been given to us, hence any success, is His alone and for His glory.
The Messiah proclaimed in Matthew 5:13-16 that good deeds are seen so that the Father may be praised. He then speaks about the Torah, and how we can look to Him to see how we ought to keep the Word of Life. So let us be meek doers of His Goodness’s all the time, so that whether alone or in front of others—we do not shine—but the love of the Messiah shines through us.
“To him, then, who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17). We speak to those who are hungry to hear. If they are not interested, I do not press on, but pray on, knowing they now know who they can talk to if they become interested. But make no mistake: They will now view my life as my testimony of Yahoweh. … Not always a great testimony, but always striving to be nonetheless! Will they know me, by His Love? Or will they know me as someone who acts like everybody else in the world? Am I presenting the true Gospel of the First Fruits risen from the dead … or am I promoting a church?
Some claim this is only for His people, thus, secretly claiming to not be His people. Yet, I am an Israelite. And why not? I have a wave of trouble to my left and to my right and the world right behind me, trying to kill me forever, but, oh, up there in the front is freedom, and the Fire and Cloud of Yahoweh is right above me. By Torah I know that Moses cannot take me to the Promised Land, and, by Torah, I know that Yahoshuah will, for by His shadow, who is often called Joshua, but was actually named Yahoshuah, I have been told. The Torah shows the Messiah!
But did you also know the Torah shows the Holy Spirit in the location? Caleb was the only one to leave Egypt, besides Yahoshuah, who ever entered the Promised Land. Now we know that Yahoshuah shadows the Messiah of the same Name, but consider Caleb, whose name means, ‘All Heart,’ and consider the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of Yah, of Love. “‘And now, give me this mountain of which Yahoweh spoke in that day, for you heard in that day how the Anaqim were there, and that the cities were great and walled. If Yahoweh is with me, then I shall dispossess them, as Yahoweh said.’ Yahoshuah then blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb son of Yephunneh as an inheritance. So Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb son of Yephunneh the Qenizzite to this day, because he followed Yahoweh Elohim of Yisra’el completely.” (Joshua 14:12-14). The Holy Spirit follows Yahoweh Elohim completely, and the Messiah walked in all of His desire. I will be known … but for what? What will Yahoweh Elohim say of me?
It’s Easter, and I felt compelled to come to this finished letter to add a note. Today the churches are filled to the brim. Most congregations expect twice as many people as normal. Those who show up often only do so at Christmas and Easter. They want to hear about His Birth and Resurrection, not about His Life or Plan. Yet, do they see? Can they hear? And how many have been deceived? I go to my favorite news web site, and look at their pictures for the day, where I behold priests dying eggs blood red. Does no one ask why? Millions standing in awe of a pope. Does no one wonder why? Nation after nation—photographs of people worshiping. It would have caused tears of joy to fall down my cheeks, rather than tears of sorrow, had they been celebrating First Fruits … but they weren’t. Hear me. Hear me, dear people: This is no different from the Israelites worshipping a golden calf unto Yahoweh. None. If you can consider what you would feel like if almost the whole world were bowing to a golden calf, then you would begin to be able to see how the Sovereign feels as He looks and sees people value tradition, but not His Word.
We have a choice to make, an epic choice. We must choose between the world and His Way.
Looking at the photographs of millions … I weep. I weep, for I know my Rabbi weeps. So many are lost. So many think they know Him, but, if they did, then they would know how much Yahoweh of Hosts despises being treated like this. Being treated like a fictional pagan idol.
Who do you say He is? … Who do you say He is, not by voice, but by your life lived? Is He the Passover Lamb, the First Fruits risen from the dead? Or is He a nursery story?
By the blood causing tree we fell, by a tree causing blood we were picked up. The Torah, the Word Who became flesh, yes He teaches us this. He will teach anyone who does not despise His Word. Who despises His Word? Atheists reject Him, but much of Christianity fights Him, calling the Laws burdensome and of no value. A Law, like the celebration of First Fruits, is a joyous jubilee of His Grace.
“Where there is no vision, the people are let loose, but blessed is he who guards the Torah.” (Proverbs 29:18).
Haman was defeated on First Fruits, and First Fruits was the first day the children of Israel ate the first fruits of the Promised Land. Yahoshuah is the First Fruits for He is the First (and also the Last), He first loved us, and we seek first His Kingdom where He is enjoying this festival, longing to celebrate it with us someday, where He will lift our hands and present us as a wave offering.
So let us make merry this day, and bear the faces of joy expressed by those who first saw the First Fruits risen from the dead, Yahoshuah, the Master of Sabbath. “And they performed the Festival of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for Yahoweh caused them to rejoice, and turned the heart of the sovereign of Ashshur toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the House of Elohim, the Elohim of Yisra’el.” (Ezra 6:22).
“Esteem Yahoweh with your goods, and with the first-fruits of all your increase; then your storehouses shall be filled with plenty, and your vats overflow with new wine.” (Proverbs 3:9-10). May you be a blessing this First Fruits, and may you be blessed.
Be Blessed and be a Blessing
Shalom
-Valentine Thalken Billingsley
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Additional Scripture References:
Nehemiah 13:30-31, Jeremiah 8:7, Psalms 104:19, Ezekiel 44:30, 2 Chronicles 31:5, Numbers 15:20-21, 1 John 4:9
