Every farmer or gardener likes to see that their crop is growing plentifully, and that the prospects of a nice harvest is good. It is a happy day when that first fruit of his crop is seen. Often the farmer or gardener will break off that first fruit, whether it is an apple, a berry, ear of corn, or whatever it is, and sample it, to see if it is good, to see what the prospects of the remainder of his crop will be like. In our New Testament Scripture passage for this week, Paul speaks of Jesus being our spiritual first fruit. Let’s look into these verses and see what he means by this.
In Biblical times the people of God had a Festival of First Fruits, which was when the people brought some of the year’s first crop to God with prayer that He would make the rest of the crop bountiful. Paul tells us that in the same way Jesus is the first fruit of the resurrection (vs. 20). We can have full confidence that just as Jesus was raised from the dead, we can be sure that we, as believers and followers of Him, will be raised as well (Romans 8:23).
Jesus was not the first to be raised from the dead. The prophet Elijah raised a widow’s son (I Kings 17:17-24). The prophet Elisha raised the Shunamite woman’s son (II Kings 4:18-37). A man was raised from the dead when his body touched the bones of Elisha (II Kings 13:21). Jesus raised several people from the dead, including His good friend Lazarus (John 11:1-44), Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8:49-56), and the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:11-17). However, Jesus was the first to never die again. Each of the others had to die again a second time. Jesus is the forerunner for us, proof of our eventual resurrection to eternal life.
Sin came into the world through Adam’s fall (vs. 21-22). Adam’s sin brought death to all people. That is a curse which we all inherited from him. Death came to each of us because of Adam’s sin. However, we have eternal redemption through Jesus Christ, who gave His life for us. Jesus’s resurrection will bring resurrection to all who believe Him. We can choose to remain in sin or accept the forgiveness Jesus offers. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we can trust that God will also raise our bodies again when He returns a second time (vs. 23). Jesus was the firstfruit from the dead, a sign of a bountiful harvest to come.
God hates sin. He also hates death. God hates it so much that He sent His Son Jesus to destroy death by dying and rising again. Satan has held the power of death ever since the fall of Adam in the Garden. Jesus has broken the power of Satan, who held the power of death, at the Cross (vs. 26-27). The resurrected Christ will permanently conquer all evil, including death. Jesus defeated sin and death on the cross, and in the Last Days He will defeat Satan and all evil (vs. 24-26). Death is called our last enemy. The Lord will have the last word on this fight.
The fruit that led to the Fall of man was hanging on the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. That fruit was beautiful to look at, and led to Adam and Eve’s temptation, sin, and their fall. The tree that led to our redemption was brutal and certainly not pleasant to look at. That was the Cross of Calvary. Jesus hung upon that Cross, bloody and bruised, as He suffered a horrific death. That was certainly not a pleasant sight, so different from the Forbidden Fruit in the Garden of Eden. The one fruit, though pleasant to look at, brought death. The other, from Calvary’s Cross, brought salvation and life.
No comments:
Post a Comment