First Fruits

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First Fruits

• Resurrection Day!

2
The Resurrection Story Luke 24

• 1 But on the first day of the week, at early
  dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices
  which they had prepared. 2 And they found the
  stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they
  entered, they did not find the body of the Lord
  Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this,
  behold, two men suddenly stood near them in
  dazzling clothing 5 and as the women were
  terrified and bowed their faces to the ground,
  the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living
  One among the dead? 6 "He is not here, but He has
  risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was
  still in Galilee, 7 saying that the Son of Man
  must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
  and be crucified, and the third day rise again."
  8 And they remembered His words, 9 and returned
  from the tomb and reported all these things to
  the eleven and to all the rest.

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The Resurrection

• Found in TANAKH Daniel 122,3 -
• Many of those sleeping in the dust of the earth
  will awake, some to everlasting life and some to
  everlasting shame and abhorrence. But those who
  can discern will shine like the brightness of
  heavens dome, and those who turn many to
  righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

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By the time of Yeshua, Not all Jews believed in a
Resurrection

• The Sadducees, who only believed in the first
  FIVE books of the Bible (Torah), did NOT believe
  in the Resurrection.
• Matthew 2223-28
• Acts 238

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Yeshuas Response I am the God of Abraham,
Isaac Jacob

• God is the God of the Living, not the dead!
• Matthew 2229-32

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Yeshuas Resurrection

• Essential to our own He is the Firstfruits from
  the dead.
• But each in his own order Christ the first
  fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His
  coming (1 Corinthians 1523)

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In short, if Yeshua did not Resurrect

• We will not either!

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His Resurrection is the Sign of His Being the
Messiah

• Look at Dynamic in Matthew 1222-23

• Healing of the blind/mute man All the crowds
  were amazed, and were saying, "This man cannot be
  the Son of David, can he?"

9
Matthew 12

• 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said,
  "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the
  ruler of the demons."
• 25 And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them

10
Same IncidentNot a New One

• 38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to
  Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You."

It wasnt as if He already didnt give them a
sign! He healed the blind/mute man!
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Sign 3 Days AND 3 Nights

• 39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and
  adulterous generation craves for a sign and yet
  no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah
  the prophet 40 for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS
  AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER,
  so will the Son of Man be three days and three
  nights in the heart of the earth.

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Sign Greek - Semeion

• Strong's Number  4592  (say-mi'-on)
• Parts of Speech - Noun
•  Definition 
• a sign, mark, token
• that by which a person or a thing is
  distinguished from others and is known
• a sign, prodigy, portent, i.e. an unusual
  occurrence, transcending the common course of
  nature
• of signs portending remarkable events soon to
  happen
• of miracles and wonders by which God
  authenticates the men sent by him, or by which
  men prove that the cause they are pleading is
  God's.

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THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS

• The Greek word for AND is Kai (ka-hee) Strong's
  Number  2532 and it means

AND
Not OR
14
More about that

• Next Shabbat!

• In short, the Good Friday explanation of the
  crucifixion is not able to fit the AND criteria
  and the AND criteria is vital for the
  fulfillment of the sign.

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The Pharisees Understood Clearly What He was
saying!

• Matthew 27
• 62 Now on the next day, the day after the
  preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees
  gathered together with Pilate, 63 and said, "Sir,
  we remember that when He was still alive that
  deceiver said, After three days I am to rise
  again.' 64 "Therefore, give orders for the grave
  to be made secure until the third day, otherwise
  His disciples may come and steal Him away and say
  to the people, He has risen from the dead,' and
  the last deception will be worse than the first."
  65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard go,
  make it as secure as you know how." 66 And they
  went and made the grave secure, and along with
  the guard they set a seal on the stone.

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Importance of His Resurrection

• His Resurrection is essential - Or our faith in
  Him is in vain.

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His Resurrection is Critical to our Faith

• If Yeshua did not Rise We are all lost in our
  sins.

• We might as well eat, drink and be merry for
  tomorrow we die

• Why live a holy, moral life if we all end up the
  same and there is no resurrection!

18
Our Faith Rests Upon His Resurrection! 1
Corinthians 15

• 12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been
  raised from the dead, how do some among you say
  that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But
  if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even
  Christ has been raised 14 and if Christ has not
  been raised, then our preaching is vain, your
  faith also is vain. 15 Moreover we are even found
  to be false witnesses of God, because we
  testified against God that He raised Christ, whom
  He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not
  raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not
  even Christ has been raised 17 and if Christ has
  not been raised, your faith is worthless you are
  still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have
  fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we
  have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of
  all men most to be pitied.

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Resurrected Messiah Seen by Many!

• To Mary Magdalene John 2014
• To the women returning from the tomb Matthew
  289,10
• To Peter later in the day Luke 2434
• To the Emmaus disciples Luke 2413-33
• To the Apostles (Thomas absent) Luke 2436-43
• To the Apostles (Thomas present) John 2026-29

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Resurrected Messiah Seen by Many!

• To the seven by the Lake of Tiberias John
  211-3
• Was with them for 40 days! Acts 11-3
• At the Ascension Acts 14-11

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Shaul - 1 Corinthians 15

• 1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel
  which I preached to you, which also you received,
  in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are
  saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached
  to you, unless you believed in vain. 3 For I
  delivered to you as of first importance what I
  also received, that Christ died for our sins
  according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was
  buried, and that He was raised on the third day
  according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He
  appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After
  that He appeared to more than five hundred
  brethren at one time, most of whom remain until
  now, but some have fallen asleep 7 then He
  appeared to James, then to all the apostles 8
  and last of all, as to one untimely born, He
  appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the
  apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle,
  because I persecuted the church of God.

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Witnesses Unto Death

• ALL of the original Disciples of the Messiah
  (except Judas and John) were martyred for their
  faith.
• NONE of them renounced the fact that they saw the
  risen Messiah!

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Martyrdom of Apostles

• Andrew Martyrdom by crucifixion (bound, not
  nailed, to a cross).
• Bartholomew (Often identified with Nathaniel in
  the New Testament) Martyrdom by being either 1.
  Beheaded, or 2. Flayed alive and crucified, head
  downward.
• James the Greater Martyrdom by being beheaded or
  stabbed with a sword.
• James the Lesser Martyrdom by being thrown from
  a pinnacle of the Temple at Jerusalem , then
  stoned and beaten with clubs.
• Jude (Often identified with Thaddeus in the New
  Testament) Martyrdom by being beaten to death
  with a club.
• Matthew Martyrdom by being burned, stoned, or
  beheaded.
• Peter Martyrdom by crucifixion at Rome with his
  head downwards.
• Philip Martyrdom.
• Simon Martyrdom by crucifixion or being sawn in
  half.
• Thomas Martyrdom by being stabbed with a spear.

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In other words

• They all expected to see Him again in the
  resurrection! They all believed His words!

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I am the Resurrection

• 17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had
  already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now
  Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off
  19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and
  Mary, to console them concerning their brother.
  20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus
  was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at
  the house. 21 Martha then said to Jesus, "Lord,
  if You had been here, my brother would not have
  died. 22 "Even now I know that whatever You ask
  of God, God will give You." 23 Jesus said to her,
  "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha said to
  Him, "I know that he will rise again in the
  resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus said to
  her, "I am the resurrection and the life he who
  believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and
  everyone who lives and believes in Me will never
  die. Do you believe this?" 27 She said to Him,
  "Yes, Lord I have believed that You are the
  Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into
  the world. (John 11)

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If Yeshua did not Rise, His claim is not True

• And He is not who He claimed to be!

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Fulfillment of the Scriptures Luke 24

• 44 Now He said to them, "These are My words
  which I spoke to you while I was still with you,
  that all things which are written about Me in the
  Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must
  be fulfilled." 45 Then He opened their minds to
  understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to
  them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would
  suffer and rise again from the dead the third
  day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of
  sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the
  nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

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Yeshuas Fulfillment of Another Holy Day

• He had just fulfilled Passover and Unleavened
  Bread on the cross, now He is to fulfill another
  Moed (appointed time).

29

• We dont need a new holy day (such as Easter)
  to honor the Resurrection! God already built in
  that day in His Moedim!

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The Resurrection Fulfilled First Fruits NOT
Easter!

• 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead,
  the first fruits of those who are asleep.
• 1 Corinthians 15

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First Fruits! Leviticus 23
9 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 "Speak
to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you
enter the land which I am going to give to you
and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the
sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the
priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the
LORD for you to be accepted on the day after the
sabbath the priest shall wave it.
32
Day after the Shabbat

• 15 You shall also count for yourselves from the
  day after the sabbath

33
He Rose on 1st Day of Week After the Weekly
Shabbat (7th Day)

• Now after the Sabbath (7th Day), as it began to
  dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary
  Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the
  grave. Matthew 281

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Conclusion We Dont Celebrate the Resurrection

• With eggs, or rabbits, or other fertility
  symbols...
• With Sunrise services or baskets or candy or hot
  crossed buns

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And, in Fact, We dont Celebrate

• The Feast as they did in the Temple Days,
  because there is NO Temple.
• Many Messianic Congregations dont celebrate it
  at ALL! Since it was expressed in the Temple
  Service as a wave offering as we read in our
  parsha.
• But, we really need to honor this day!

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We need to remember this Moed because our faith
rests upon the Messiah fulfilling it!

• So, Let us honor this Moed with joy, for our
  Messiah rose on this day!
• A promise toward our own Resurrection!

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Because When a Believer Dies, it is different
than when a Non-Believer Dies!

• 1 Thessalonians 4 13 But we do not want you to
  be uninformed, brethren, about those who are
  asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the
  rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that
  Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring
  with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
  15 For this we say to you by the word of the
  Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the
  coming of the Lord, will not precede those who
  have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will
  descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
  of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and
  the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we
  who are alive and remain will be caught up
  together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
  in the air, and so we shall always be with the
  Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these
  words.