Yeshua is the FIRSTFRUITS from the Dead!

Paul said, "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have died" (I Cor. 15:20). This corresponds to the Feast of Firstfruits - "... bring a sheaf of the firstfuits [of barley] of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it ..." (Lev. 23:10-16).

Yeshua was crucified and died at the moment the Passover lambs were slain, at 3:00 p.m. on Nisan 14. The next day began a seven-day feast, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The first day, Nisan 15, was a Sabbath. Then there was the weekly Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. The Feast of Firstfruits was "on the morrow after the Sabbath" (the weekly Sabbath), so that Feast day fell on Sunday. That was Resurrection Day! In order to account for "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth," as Yeshua said would be the "sign of Jonah" who was three days and three nights in the whale's belly" (Matt. 12:39-40), the Feast of Firstfruits, fulfilled in Yeshua's Resurrection, would have to be Nisan 18.

This calculation would cause the Crucifixion to be on Wednesday, and Yeshua would be in the tomb for three days and three nights and rise on the third day, Sunday, Nisan 18. It is very significant that in Hebrew the number 18 stands for LIFE! Chai! You may have heard the expression, "L'Chaim," meaning "To Life!"

The humorous aspect to this is that the Pharisees and the Sadducees did not agree on whether the Feast of Firstfruits happened on Nisan 16 or Nisan 18. The Sadducees were the temple priests and were the ones to pick the first sheaf of grain and wave it before the Lord as the firstfruits of the harvest. But guess what? The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection from the dead! The day they waved the sheaf, Nisan 18, symbolized LIFE! It is funny that those who opposed the resurrection didn't see the LIFE in the days they lived!

Jane Diffenderfer wrote a marvelous article, explaining all this very clearly. Please read it at Firstfruits and the Resurrection.