The Feast of FirstFruits - The Resurrection of the Messiah

Years ago, the devil had me down, shackled and chained to the dark side of town — slave to sin and all of its fall, living in bondage to the world. Woe to me, a man of unclean lips. In the distance was my Damascus trip. So I traveled through the desert's hand; troubled in faith, I grasped His hand. On the Sabbath day, in the twinkling of an eye, a sinner in darkness saw the great light. Born again, the Holy Spirit came — salvation found through His name.

If the Son sets free, I'm free indeed. Liberated at Calvary. I am free for eternity. The morning dawn, a new life began. Released from chains to my promised land. He cleansed my life and closed all the doors, delivered me from the evil stronghold. The key of David locked them tight — now the devil has no legal right. Greater is He who lives in us than he who tempts with worldly lust. Now the devil is on the run; he's no match for the beloved Son. To and fro he may roam, but my way is finished and done. If the Son sets free, I'm free indeed. Liberated at Calvary.

I travel from the crooked way; You led me to my street made straight. With my future secure, the past is a ghost. I lean on the staff of the Lord of Hosts. Once a slave to sin, now to righteousness — freedom is found in Jesus Christ. Shackle my heart, Lord. Prison my soul. Burn my lips with Your burning coal. Lord, here I am — call on me, send me now to my destiny. Your will be done. Every breath the same, shouting Your praises in Jesus' name. I am free because of Your love for me. I am free because of Calvary. You broke the chains off of me — no longer in captivity. I am free.

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Shalom, everybody. My name is Chadwick Harvey. You have reached Faithful Performance. Thank you very much for joining us tonight as we celebrate the Feast of First Fruits — the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah. Three days and three nights after Passover: the sign of Jonah is what He said. And here we are tonight, three days and three nights after Passover. This is the night of the resurrection. Sometime after tonight, in the morning, He was resurrected before the first day of the week dawned, as we read in the scriptures. We are going to go through all the scriptures tonight — the calendar, and the trajectory that the Father has been on with His Son's divine appointments, as we have discussed throughout the last couple of weeks. It is very important to identify with these things, because this is the trajectory He is on.

There is no date mentioned for the Feast of First Fruits or the resurrection. Why? Because He wants us to count with Him — from Passover, through the tomb, to the resurrection of the Messiah. Thank you, everybody, for joining us on this holy night on God's calendar, through His feast days, as we celebrate and proclaim the Feast of First Fruits. He is the Feast of First Fruits — the firstfruits of the dead, the firstfruits of the resurrection, the firstfruits of mankind, and the only begotten Son. And since He was raised for the Feast of First Fruits, that means we will all be raised with Him.

Just as the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:23 — this is totally amazing. Unless we understand the calendar and the feast days, we will not grasp the understanding that Paul wants us to have, because throughout the entire letter to the Corinthians he is speaking about Passover and the firstfruits. First Corinthians is really about Passover — Christ crucified — and also the Feast of First Fruits. Once we understand the calendar, the feast days, and how Paul would have written his letters to the churches, we have a better understanding of what this messianic Jew wanted us all to receive.

If we do not understand the Feast of First Fruits, when we read 1 Corinthians 15:23, we will not have a complete understanding of why he wrote it the way he wrote it. The Messiah was the firstfruits — the fulfillment of the Feast of First Fruits. After this, those who belong to the Messiah at His arrival — at the second coming — will follow, being resurrected as well. That is why it is called the Feast of First Fruits: He is the first fruit, and since He is, all who believe in Him will be resurrected after Him at His second coming, just as the Apostle Paul wrote. It is very important to understand how the Apostle Paul was writing. He was writing from a Torah-based gospel — through the calendar, through the feast days that Yeshua was going to fulfill, and those He will yet fulfill at His second coming. Paul also understood the everlasting covenants.

The revelation Paul received was possible because he was a Torah scholar. He went to Mount Sinai after his road to Damascus — you can read that in the book of Galatians. He came back to Damascus, and that journey took roughly three years. Then he went down to Jerusalem and met with James and with Peter. We have to understand the trajectory the Lord had Paul on — Rabbi Shaul on the road to Damascus — after which Paul received all of the revelation he would go on to explain to us: the hard understandings of the Torah, grace, the one new body, the one new man, the commonwealth of Israel, and what that includes for Gentile believers. All of these things are very important. But we would be as lost as a sailor at sea without a compass if we do not understand the calendar, the feast days, and the covenants He was prophesying through — also the Psalms, the Prophets, and the Gospel accounts. We must have that foundation to understand how the Apostle Paul was writing.

Again, First Corinthians — the entire letter. If we do not understand Passover, the Feast of First Fruits, and the calendar, we will not have a full understanding of where Paul was coming from. We will have only a very basic understanding, and people will replace it with Good Friday and Easter. That is what happens when someone reads 1 Corinthians 15 without this foundation — and that is totally against what Paul was aiming for. He was pointing us to the Feasts of the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 he said to keep the feast of Passover, and then he goes forward from there. By the time you reach 1 Corinthians 15, he is addressing the firstfruits — the resurrection of the Messiah. His entire letter is about Passover, the Feast of First Fruits, and Christ crucified.

We cannot replace that with Christianity's feast days — that is replacement theology. We cannot replace what the Lord has written through the Apostle Paul or what He spoke through him. We must be in alignment with the Apostle Paul, which means we must understand what Paul would have understood. He would have understood Genesis 1:14. He would have understood the calendar. He would have understood all of the feast days very deeply. That is why throughout First Corinthians he explains Passover, First Fruits, and Christ crucified. We cannot replace that with Good Friday — it is against what the Word of God says.

So we must get back to the Word of God, back to what the Father has spoken through His Son's divine appointments. When we do that, it just flows beautifully throughout the entire Holy Bible. When we get to Paul, he gives us deeper revelation. He does not come against what came before — he gives us a deeper understanding of what the Torah, the Prophets, the Psalms, and the Gospels were explaining. He gives us greater clarity in commentary, drawn from the revelation he received at Mount Sinai and throughout his journey to Jerusalem. The Lord was not going to replace everything that — unfortunately — both Christianity and Judaism have wanted to replace. We must have the true intent of the scriptures: the true intent of the calendar, the true intent of Leviticus 23, the feast days of the Lord, the festivals of the Lord, and Yeshua's divine appointments on this earth.

We have to get back to that in order to understand what the Apostle Paul was truly writing about in 1 Corinthians 15. His foremost foundation was the calendar — he was a Torah scholar, and he absolutely understood the divine appointments of the Lord. Please read First Corinthians — the entire letter — with this in mind, and it will give you an entirely different reading. It will be a whole different letter once you read it through the lens of Passover and First Fruits, because that is the lens the Apostle Paul was writing through, giving homage to his Savior, his Messiah, his God, and his King.

We really need to get back into how the Apostle Paul — and all of the Prophets — were writing through these things. In that sense, the New Testament should be approached as the dessert: read the Torah, the Prophets, and the Psalms first, and then read the New Testament. It will be an entirely different reading from what most have been taught through Christianity. To be fair, both Christianity and Judaism are out of alignment with the scriptures. We must get back in alignment with the Word of God alone — not religion, not church, not synagogue. Only the Word of God. We can confirm this in the Gospel accounts, the book of Acts, the letters of Paul, and the book of Revelation. It is very smooth, very consistent, and very cohesive.

Paul was also writing from the everlasting covenants — the Abrahamic, the Davidic, and the New Covenant — all concerning his Master, his King, his God. It is truly amazing. So when we read that the Messiah was the firstfruits of mankind's resurrection, and that after this all who belong to Him will follow at His arrival, we understand why the Feast of First Fruits and the resurrection are at the very heart of everything. That is what this is all about, and we are going to go very in-depth with the Feast of First Fruits — beginning with Him first, and then focusing on what follows.