The Feast of First-Fruits The Feast of Weeks & The Last Day
William P Goff
June 13, 2024
Scriptures from the KJV
Pentecost is our Feast, it’s the Feast of Firstfruits. It’s the day that The New Testament church began, when the Powerful Holy Spirit of our Almighty Father filled the house where they were sitting. (Acts 2:1-4)
Pentecost is also the day when His church (His little flock) will be raised up; all the way up into the clouds, where they will stand before Him, up on the Sea of Glass. Yes, the first resurrection.
Pentecost is also referred to as the “last day”. It is rarely referred to as “The Last Day” anymore. But in earlier times, including pre N.T. Church times, God’s people were well acquainted with this term. Let’s take a look at that in the Book of John, where the term “Last Day” was referred to in a discussion between Martha and our lord after Lazarus had died.
Lazarus had been in the tomb four days when our Lord arrived in Bethany. Martha went out to meet Him, and she said “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” Jesus replied “your brother shall rise again.”
Now notice Martha’s reply to Him: (John 11:24.) “I know he shall rise again in the resurrection at the “Last Day.” Now Martha is not talking about “The Last Great Day” here. The “last day” spoken of here, is the last day of our count to Pentecost, day 50, the Day all of God’s “First Fruits” will be resurrected, or raised up, and changed into Spirit beings.
Yes, our Lord tells us numerous times that He will raise us up on the “last day” IF we believe on Him, if the Father draws us, and if we partake of the Bread and the Cup, His flesh and blood..
(John 6:40) (John 6:44) (John 6:54).
Now to better understand this, we need to see how the “wave loaves” (which represent the church) were prepared and baked. Our Creator always gives us the physical (which we humans understand quite well) so we can better understand the Spiritual (which we humans don’t understand so well.)
The “Wave Loaves” represent the church, and there are two of them. Two “Wave Loaves” and both were made and baked with the same ingredients.
Let’s take a look at that in (Leviticus 23:17)
“Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.”
Yes, the Wave Loaves represent the Firstfruits. The flour used in these wave loaves is wheat flour. Wheat that was planted by the Almighty Father Himself. (Matthew 13:24-25)
“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.”
(Its wheat that the Father Planted)
And notice the wheat was made into “fine” flour. Fine flour comes from sifting. (Sifting comes from studying the Scriptures, as we go through the many trials in life.)
And let us notice something else that is Very important concerning another ingredient that was included in the wave loaves. It’s something the pulpits in the church of God have been incorrectly teaching for many year’s. It concerns the wave loaves being baked with “leaven.”
Now in the Scriptures, leaven usually represents “sin”. And many pulpits teach that the wave loaves are baked with leaven, because the church is full of sinners.
(Brethren, Nothing Could Be Further From The Truth.”
Not all leaven in the Bible represents sin. There is a good leaven spoken of in the Scriptures, it’s found in (Matthew 13:33).
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like into leaven“. Brethren, you cannot say “The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto sin”. The Kingdom of God has no sin and never will! God never has, and never will, dwell with sin.
This parable is talking about the church being given a portion of God’s Spirit, and how that Spirit is to grow and amalgamate, and bring the entire body of believers into unity with each other, and into unity or oneness with God.
Let’s look at some of the Greek words used in this parable. Matthew 13:33
The woman here represents (as it normally does in Scripture) the church.
That Greek word translated “took” is the same Greek word translated “receive” in Acts 2:37-38, used by Peter on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given.
After Peter addressed the crowd, and after they realized they had crucified the Messiah, their hearts were pricked, and they asked “what shall we do?” Peter’s reply was: repent, be baptized, and you shall “receive” the gift of the Holy Spirit.
That word “receive” is the same Greek word translated “took” in (Matthew 13:33) its talking about God’s Holy Spirit.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven (God’s Spirit) which a woman (the church) took or received, and “hid” in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened. The Greek word translated “hid” means: “incorporate”, meaning to “coalesce” or to grow together into one body. The “whole” being referred to here is the church.
In making the wave loaves, the ingredients are added, and then the baker kneads the dough with his hands. As he does that, the dough begins to rise up. Now it is the leavening agent that is causing the dough to rise up. But do you know why?
Do you know what the leavening agent is doing to the dough to cause it to rise up? The leavening agent is changing the nature of the dough.
The only thing powerful enough to change our sinful natures, is our Heavenly Father’s Holy Spirit.
Now as the dough rises up, the baker beats the dough back down. (That pictures the many trials and tribulations that we go through, as God’s Spirit in us slowly but surely changes our sinful natures into the Holy Righteous Character of the Father.)
Now once the baker gets the dough exactly the way he want it, he bakes it. Once baked it’s a finished product, its permanent, and cannot be changed back.
Our Creator will not bake anyone with sin still dwelling in them. Our old sinful natures have to be changed before baking. That why we are told in (Leviticus 23:15) that we have to be “complete” (unblemished) on day 49 of the count, the day before the day of Pentecost, the day before we are baked.
Now if you had been there on the day of Pentecost in times past, you would have seen the Priest wave those baked wave loaves high over his head. Why? Because the waving of those loaves represented something that is going to happen or transpire up in heaven, not down here on this earth. And take note here: It’s going to happen soon, (Much sooner than Most realize.)
The waving of the wave loaves represents the church being changed from flesh and blood human beings, into “Spirit Beings” (Better put, changed into “God Beings”) Yes, “God Beings” those who are changed will no longer be flesh and blood “human beings” (Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.)
(1Corinthians 15:50)
And they will not (nor ever) be changed into “Angelic Beings” (David made that clear in (Psalm 8:5)
So what kind of being will His resurrected Saints be? (Well the proof is always in the pudding) He tells us in Genesis that seeds can only reproduce after their own kind. Tomato will not produce Potatoes, and God’s seed (which His church receives at baptism and hands) can only produce one kind of Being. Yes, a “God Being” (Or better put, another Member of the “Family of God”.)
On a sobering note, let us digress for a moment, let us remember that our Creator hasn’t placed His seed in everyone, the tares were planted by the enemy, and they do not have the Spirit of God dwelling within them.
And many don’t seem to realize, but some of those tares are right here amongst us. And some right there in front, leading from the pulpit. (Matthew 13:24-25) (Matthew 24:4-5) (2Peter 2:1-2) (Jude 1:4)
That’s why it is important to “try” the spirits, to see whether they are of God or not of God. (1John 4:1)
We are living at the end of the age Brethren. Soon the “Great Tribulation” of (Matthew 24:21) will begin, and God will send His two witnesses who will very Powerfully preach repentance to the inhabitants of this world. (Revelation 11:3)
After the two witnesses finish their testimony, they will be killed, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of Jerusalem for 3 ½ days. (Revelation 11:7-8).
But after the 3 ½ days they will be resurrected, and they will ascend up into heaven, to the Sea of Glass. (Revelation 11:11—12)
And not only the two witnesses will be taken up to the Sea of Glass at that time, but “all” the firstruits, will be taken up at that time, it’s the “first resurrection.” And it’s not far away.
The firstfruits who are alive at that time will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. (1Coerinthians 15:51-52).
Now as we begin to conclude today’s message, let us see “who” will be there in the first resurrection, standing on the Sea of Glass. (Revelation 15:2).
Those six words “Them that had gotten the victory” come from only one Greek word: “conquer” “overcomer” “victor”
Brethren, the church has been called to be the FirstFruits. The priest’s who will be teaching in the coming millennium, during the 1,000 year reign of our Lord and His saints.
But in order to be there, in order to qualify, we have to overcome this evil world. We have to have changed from our old sinful natures, and put on the Holy Righteous character of our Heavenly Father.
Now this is a Tall order, and it is true that we cannot accomplish it by ourselves. But we are not by ourselves IF we have His Powerful Holy Spirit dwelling in us, the Spirit that we received at baptism, at the laying on of hands.
The same Spirit that will raise His Firstfruits up on the “Last Day” the Day of “Pentecost”.
If we want to be there, we have to utilize His Spirit, and let it change our sinful natures, into the Holy Righteous Character of the Father.
So let us do just that, let s keep the Commandments, let us walk in all of His ways, and let us do everything that is pleasing in His sight.