First fruits or Sfirat Haomer

The Purpose

First fruits or Sfirat Haomer (Counting of the Sheaf or Omer) signaled the ripening of barley grain in Israel. Barley was the first grain ready for harvest after the winter planting. Firstfruits, like the principle of the firstborn, (either man or beast) belong to GOD. A firstfruits is a time of looking forward with anticipation for what is yet to come. For the sheaf of barley represented the whole harvest to come. It served as a pledge to the faithfulness of GOD.

The Time

Firstfruits is the 16th day of Nisan (March-April) and is considered a Sabbath.

Celebrated

An elaborate ceremony consisted of lifting the sheaf of grain high in the air and waving it before the LORD and acknowledging HIS blessings. There was an elaborate processional into the Temple filled with music and singing and dancing.
Firstfruits is also a time marker, as a “count-up” to the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot (Pentecost). Beginning with Firstfruits, forty-nine days were counted and on the fiftieth day, Shavuot was celebrated.

The Spiritual Focus

Firstfruits, contains a powerful depiction of the resurrection of Messiah. It speaks of a bountiful harvest - the grain of wheat that fell to the ground and died, but rose to produce a great harvest (John 12:23-24). YESHUA, was raised on the third day of Pesach (16 Nissan) to become the firstfruits of all those who die trusting in HIM for their resurrection. As declared in I Corinthians 15:20: “But the fact is that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have died.”
YESHUA’s resurrection is the guarantee of that final great harvest!