The Feast of First Fruits

Part 3 of 6 in The Feasts of the Lord

Parte 3 de 6 de la serie The Feasts of the Lord

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Brian Hunter · May 4, 2025

Scripture Referenced

Recap

Opening a new series on the seven feasts of the Lord outlined in Leviticus 23, Brian introduced the Feast of Firstfruits, the third of Israel’s annual celebrations. Starting in Deuteronomy 26, he described the practice of bringing the earliest harvest to the priest as an act of worship and gratitude, then turned to Leviticus 23:9-14 for the specific instructions: a sheaf of the first cutting waved before the Lord as a way of saying, in effect, “look what your people brought you”, presenting the fruit of their labor for God’s attention and blessing before keeping any of it for themselves.

Brian used volunteers to physically act out the ceremony, with one person representing the harvest and another the priest lifting it up, to make vivid what “waving” or “lifting up” an offering actually looked like in practice: a visible, public gesture of surrendering the first and best portion to God as an act of trust that the rest of the harvest would follow. He framed this ancient agricultural practice as a “family tradition” of the church at large, worth understanding on its own terms before applying its deeper meaning to the church today.

Brian set up the following week’s message by noting that Firstfruits points forward to something greater than a literal harvest, a connection the series would draw out fully in the next teaching.

Touch Points

1. The Feast of Firstfruits involved giving the very first, best portion of the harvest before keeping any for yourself. What would it look like to give God your “first and best” in a specific area of life?
2. Brian described the wave offering as saying to God, “look what your people brought you.” Is there something in your life right now you’d want to lift up to God that way?
3. This ancient practice combined worship with trust that more harvest would follow. Where do you struggle to trust God with what comes first, before you know what comes next?
4. Brian called this a “family tradition” worth understanding on its own terms. What’s one Old Testament practice you’d like to understand better?

Read the full transcript · Leer esto en espanol