What is First Fruits?
This moed (appointed time) is described in Leviticus 23 together with all the other moedim. However, it is interesting to note that it is not called a feast or a rest day (shabbathon). Just like Rosh Chodesh (new moon) it is a moed where we are called to mark the time with an offering. When the temple was in Jerusalem, the nation (already in Jerusalem for the feast of Unleavened Bread) would gather in the temple to see the priest present this offering to YHVH.
It is also one of the three in-gatherings that is done during the annual cycle of appointed times. We have the in-gathering during First Fruits (barley), Shavout (wheat) and Sukkot (after the gathering of the crops). The first fruits of agriculture are given to YHVH in offerings in acknowledgment of His ownership of the earth. We thank Him for His provision, and we praise Him for his kindness..
Psalm 24:1
1 The earth is YHVH’s, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.
This transfer invokes His blessing on the rest of the produce. The male firstborn of humans and beasts in Israel become dedicated to YHVH because He saved them from the slaughter of the firstborn of Egypt by the blood of the Pesach Lamb on their lintels. Thus, all the first fruits belong to YHVH.
Proverbs 3:9–10
9 Honor YHVH from your wealth And from the first of all your produce; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.
What are the commandments?
Leviticus 23:10–15
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 YHVH for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 ‘Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to YHVH. 13 ‘Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to YHVH for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. 14 ‘Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your Elohim, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 15 ‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths.
From this scripture we can see a number for commandments that were given to us:
1. We must bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest to the priest.
2. The priest must then present this sheaf to YHVH as a wave offering. A wave offering was not moved from side to side but rather lifted up to YHVH as an offer. This will become more significant as we look at the fulfillment of this feast.
WAVE OFFERING (Heb. tenûp̱â).†The ritual offering of a variety of agricultural products. The Hebrew term is derived from the hiphil form of the verb nôp̱ “move back and forth, swing, shake,†but the Targums’ interpretation of it in terms of the motions “raise, elevate†is more precise. A waving motion seems unlikely since such an action would topple the offering. More likely the offering simply was elevated, thereby dedicating it to YHVH, and then used in sacrifice. Indeed, in the MT the hiphil form of the verb most often occurs in contexts supporting the more logical sense “elevate
Myers, A. C. (1987). The Eerdmans Bible dictionary (1048). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans.
The same word is also used in the following verse (Strong’s H5130) to describe the action of cutting a stone by striking it.
Exodus 20:25
25 ‘If you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it.
3. We are also instructed not to eat from the new harvest before the day that the First Fruits have been lifted up to YHVH.
4. Together with the waving (uplifting) of the sheaf, the priest was also to make an offering that included a lamb, a grain offering and a drink offering.
5. This appointed time is a perpetual statute throughout all our generations in all our dwelling places. We can see that there are no conditions to the statute as it is applicable to all our generations and as one interpretation – wherever we are (dwell – more precise in Hebrew – sit).
Thus, we see no instruction to keep this as a rest day.
When do we celebrate First Fruits?
Leviticus 23:11
11 ‘He shall wave the sheaf before YHVH for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
From this verse of scripture, we get the instruction that the wave offering of the first fruits must be done “on the day after the Sabbath.” This cannot be the first day of Unleavened Bread as it would imply that, in some cases, when the feast of Unleavened Bread start on the 6th day, the nation would need to harvest the First Fruits on a Sabbath. This cannot be, as we cannot be given an instruction to work on a Sabbath. Please refer to our previous article to get some more reasons why this interpretation does not make any sense.
The day that we do the First Fruits offering is also the day that the counting of the omer starts. After seven Sabbaths, we will celebrate the feast of Shavout.
Y’Shua as the First Fruits
A lot of people, especially our Jewish brothers, see First Fruits as purely a temple service with little or no relevance to our lives today. However, we and our Christian brothers see this day as a key date in our walk. This is also the day that Y’Shua was resurrected. If we merely celebrate the crucifixion (Pesach) we are only celebrating the death of our Messiah. Dying on a tree does not make Him special. He was crucified with two other men on the same day. They also died, but He was the one that rose again. He revealed Himself on the day after the Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened bread.
Matthew 28:1–6
1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of YHVH descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Y’Shua who has been crucified. 6 “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.
His disciples knew of His death, but not of His resurrection. In hindsight, it can be found in the Tanakh and He explained it to them.
Psalm 16:10
10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
Y’shua also prophesied His resurrection on a number of occasions:
John 2:18–19
18 The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?†19 Y’Shua answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.â€
John 12:23–24
23 And Y’Shua answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Matthew 12:39–40
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.
The Pharisees went to Pilate to ensure that the grave be guarded to prevent trickery. Pilate then gave an order for the grave to be guarded.
Matthew 27:62–66
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.
And later, after His ascension, His disciples also understood what He had said. During Shavout, Peter makes the following statement:
Acts 10:39–41
39 “We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. 40 “YHVH raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by YHVH, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.
Later on, Paul also saw this as the sign that Y’shua was the First Fruits from the dead (those who are asleep) and that Moses and the prophets knew this.
Acts 26:22–23
22 “So, having obtained help from YHVH, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; 23 that the Messiah was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.â€
1 Corinthians 15:20–22
20 But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah all will be made alive.
In this verse, Paul also starts to explain the reason and significance of Y’Shua’s death and resurrection. Adam was the man who brought sin in this world. The punishment for sin is death, hence all of us who have sinned then deserve to die. However, now that the First Fruits have been offered, the rest of the harvest may also be brought in. Thus, as Paul states, only through Y’Shua we will all be made alive.
Colossians 1:17–18
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
In the last book of Scripture, John, also called Y’Shua the “firstborn” of the dead and stated that we are released from our sins by the blood (death) of Messiah.
Revelation 1:4–5
4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Y’Shua the Messiah, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—
From all these references, we can now see; it was prophesied from Moses, to the last book of Scripture that Y’shua would be resurrected as the first fruits from the death and that His death and resurrection would release us from our sins.
What does this mean for us?
We need to understand all the feasts to get the complete story. The death of Y’shua alone does not make Him different. All people die, but not all people rise up from the dead. Thus, we need to celebrate the day that Y’Shua became the firstborn of the dead. He conquered the result of sin for us. We have been made free from the punishment of sin, that is death, after He had become the First Fruits offering. This was accomplished by His blood as the Pesach Lamb and His resurrection as the First Fruits of the dead. The salvation is only complete if we understand and appreciate both the feasts and can tie their fulfillment together in the life of Y’Shua our Messiah.
We need to understand the feasts to be able to celebrate the resurrection of our Messiah according to the Scripture. We are not to follow the rules of men. The Scriptures determine that we celebrate the First Fruits on the first day of the week, after the weekly Sabbath, following the 15th day in the month of Abib. Men decided at the Council of Nicea in 325 that we should celebrate this on the first Sunday, following the full moon, after the vernal equinox (computus). From Eusebius’ Church History, we also learn that Polycrates of Ephesus (c.130 – 196) mentioned that the people of the province of Asia, celebrated the resurrection of Y’Shua “always observed the day when the people put away the leaven.” The rest of the Christian world at that time, according to Eusebius, held to “the view which still prevails,” of fixing Easter on Sunday (first day of the week, after the Sabbath). Eusebius does not say how the Sunday was decided. Other documents from the 3rd and 4th centuries, however, reveal that the customary practice was for the early followers of Y’shua to consult their Jewish neighbors to determine when the week of Unleavened Bread would fall, and to set Easter on the Sunday that fell within that week.
This is what sets the Messianic movement apart from both our Jewish and Christian brothers. We do believe that all the feasts of Leviticus 23 need to be observed, but that Y’Shua was the fulfillment of all the Spring feasts. His resurrection was on the first day of the week, not because he changed the Sabbath, but because the First Fruits offering was presented on the day after the Sabbath.
1. THE FIRST HARVEST
In the Old Testament, God commanded His people to give the first and best portions of the harvest as an offering to Him (Ex. 23:16; Neh. 10:35). This included grain (Ex. 23:16; 34:22), olive oil (Num. 18:12; Deut. 18:4), new wine (Num. 18:12; Deut. 18:4), honey (2 Chron. 31:5), sheep wool (Deut. 18:4), fruit (Neh. 10:35), and even their herds and flocks (Deut. 15:19).
By giving the firstfruits as an offering to God, the Israelites acknowledged that all the harvest—in fact, everything they had—came from God and belonged to Him. The offering of firstfruits was likewise an expression of faith that something else—the harvest of the rest of the crop—would come later. Therefore, the firstfruits offering acknowledged God’s ownership of everything, expressed thankfulness for His provision, and anticipated what was to come.
Firstfruits were given at the Feast of Harvest (Ex. 23:16), the second of three annual festivals. This feast is also known as the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (Ex. 34:22; Num. 28:26). It was normally celebrated seven complete weeks or fifty days after the Passover (Lev 23:16). In the New Testament it is known simply as Pentecost.
2. ISRAEL
In a symbolic use of the term, Jeremiah called Israel the firstfruits of God’s harvest. “Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest” (Jer. 2:3). Just as the first and choicest crops were devoted to God, Israel was God’s chosen and set apart people. But the fact that Israel was God’s firstfruits, not His only fruit, also anticipated other peoples and nations coming to the Lord.
3. BELIEVERS
In Romans 16:5 and 1 Corinthians 16:15, the first converts of a particular area were called “the firstfruits.” Some translations use the term “first converts,” but literally it is “firstfruits” (KJV), the same word used in 1 Corinthians 15:20.
James 1:18 uses the term with reference to believers: “By his choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” The new birth we have experienced is only a preview of the day to come when He will make all things new in a new heaven and a new earth.
4. THE HOLY SPIRIT
Paul said we “have the Spirit as the firstfruits” (Rom. 8:23). The Holy Spirit is a foretaste, the first installment of our future glory. He is God’s the pledge of more to come in our resurrection life.
5. JESUS
When Paul said Jesus is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20), he was drawing an analogy between the Old Testament offering and Jesus’ resurrection. As the Old Testament firstfruits symbolized and consecrated the entire harvest that was to follow, Christ’s resurrection was the foretaste of the resurrection of all believers yet to come. His resurrection is our assurance that one day all believers will be raised from the dead and will receive new, resurrected bodies.
The Feast of Firstfruits is centered around the barley harvest.
After the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD it was impossible to keep any part of this feast except the counting of 50 days to the next feast. It became an insignificant feast to their worship services. The only part this feast plays in modern Judaism is that it is the time to start counting days to the next feast. Modern Judaism places all their importance in the feast that follows, the Feast of Shavuot “Pentecost”.
Without understanding that Jesus was the Paschal Lamb and fulfilled every detail of Passover it would be impossible to see that every detail in each of the remaining five feasts would be literally fulfilled.
The Feast of the “sheaf of the firstfruits” is called the “Omer rme of the firstfruits” in Hebrew. This makes quite a difference when we search for the details in the fulfillment of the feast.
As you can see on the chart below that shows the time of harvest in Ancient Israel, barley was the first harvest. This is also seen in the plague of hail Moses brought to Egypt.
And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD’S. But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God. And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up. Exodus 9:29-32
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD. And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Leviticus 23:9-14
This feast is not about the death of The Messiah.
It is about His resurrection.
How large is an omer? rme
The Biblical word omer rme is a dry measurement equal to .5 gallon to 0.8266 us dry gallon depending on where you do your research.
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
Luke 24:25-27
Many prophetic passages about the fulfillment of the Feast of First Fruits can be seen in the Scroll of Ruth. Some of these are:
* Bethlehem Judah the place of the Messiah’s birth,
מבית לחם יהודה
* Beginning of the Barley Harvest,
בית לחם בתחלת קציר שׂערים
* The Kinsman-Redeemer,
ותאמר לה נעמי קרוב לנו האישׁ מגאלנו הוא
* The Linage of The Messiah
ושׂלמון הוליד את בעז ובעז הוליד את עובד
ועבד הוליד את ישׁי וישׁי הוליד את דוד
The following photograph is of the entire Hebrew Scroll of Ruth. It was written with a quill on sheep skin with iron gall ink. The Scroll was written in Poland in the 18th century and survived the Holocaust. This Scroll came from Jerusalem to America in 2005.
The Scroll of Ruth is centered around Bethlehem just after Passover at the beginning of the barley harvest which started with the Feast of First Fruits. The story is about Boaz a Kinsman Redeemer of the household of Naomi. Many details about the fulfillment of the Feast of First Fruits in Jesus Christ can be seen in this Scroll.
Ruth 1:22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
ותשׁב נעמי ורות המואביה כלתה עמה השׁבה משׂדי מואב והמה באו בית לחם בתחלת קציר שׂערים
The following photograph shows the view of Boaz threshing floor at Bethlehem.
At Bethlehem Judah on the ground where Boaz threshing floor was located, this woman is holding a parcel of threshed, winnowed, barley grain exactly as Ruth did thousands of years ago.
The story of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz and the child born to Boaz and Ruth is in the linage of Jesus The Messiah. Over a thousand years later Jesus would be born at Bethlehem and would lay in a stone manger.
Ruth 4:21 And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.
ושׂלמון הוליד את בעז ובעז הוליד את עובד
ועבד הוליד את ישׁי וישׁי הוליד את דוד
A vast complex of buildings, presses and animal shelters including an inn have been found at Boaz threshing floor as you enter in to Bethlehem. It is quite possible Jesus was born at this animal shelter which was found under an inn on this complex.
There was very little wood in Israel so all structures were made of cut stone. Around Bethlehem the hillsides are dotted with many limestone caves which made a ready made climate controlled home for poorer families. The more shallow caves offers protection to a few animals.
A travel bureau is advertising the following:
“Escape the heat in Israel’s top 10 caves.
Cool off this summer in some of Israel’s thousands of caves. We’ve picked a few of the ones most accessible to the public.“
This family chose one of the smaller caves to set up a home.
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD. Leviticus 23:9-12
In the 21st. century in a Western society we think of sheaves as something neatly bundled and easy to stack and handle. It may be presumed that a sheaf of barley was brought into the Temple, but that is highly unlikely. In fact the word sheaf in Leviticus 23:10 “bring a sheaf of the firstfruits ” is omer rme threshed, winnowed, clean grain about half gallon dry measure. The photo below shows what a sheaf looked like in Israel before modern machinery was used in the harvest.
The Book of Micah from the Scroll of the 12 Prophets. Micah begins at the bottom right hand side where the yad, pointer, is indicating and ends at the bottom left hand side where the quill is pointing.
The following photograph is from the Scroll of the 12 Prophets showing the book of Micah. In the Hebrew Scroll and printed Hebrew Bibles chapter 5 of Micah starts with these words:
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
ואתה בית לחם אפרתה צעיר להיות באלפי יהודה ממך לי יצא להיות מושׁל בישׂראל ומוצאתיו מקדם מימי עולם
Matthew 2:1-6 1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the (rme) sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD. Leviticus 23:9-12
Messiah Jesus was The Lamb in the Omer
The only way this omer could be brought to the Lord and accepted was with the blood sacrifice of a spotless lamb. That Lamb was The Messiah, Jesus.
The Scripture says He “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:7-11
Remember, the Resurrection is represented in the Hebrew Scriptures as a barley harvest at the beginning of the feast of First Fruits. It is also represented the same way in the New Testament in John 12: 23, 24 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Let’s follow our Lord Jesus Christ in the visual aids of the barley harvest.
The Threshing of The Messiah
Every single detail of the feast of Firstfruits was fulfilled by Jesus The Messiah. Follow the barley grain:
- He dwelt among mankind (the harvest) for 33 1/2 years
- He was separated from the harvest field
- He was threshed (beaten) as grain
- He was winnowed as grain (His Spirit was separated from His body)
- He arose from the dead in His body with many (following Him, about an omer)
- He took the omer (many with Him to the Father to be accepted for the entire harvest which would follow
Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. Isaiah 52:13-15
כאשׁר שׁממו עליך רבים כן משׁחת מאישׁ מראהו ותארו מבני אדם׃
And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again. Matthew 20:17-19
Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. John 19:1
I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
Isaiah 50:6 strike, beat, scourge,
גוי נתתי למכים ולחיי למרטים פני לא הסתרתי מכלמות ורק
Winnowing barley at Bethlehem. Photo 1890s Jesus was winnowed as He was separated from the “shell” of His body. We all have such a “shell” which the Scripture calls a “tabernacle” which we will leave and return to as it is changed.
2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Jesus is separated from His body
And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Luke 23:44-46
And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
John 19:38-42
Golgotha and the garden tomb were both outside the walls of Jerusalem. The distance from the crucifixion to the tomb was less than the length of a football field.
And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. John 19:38-42
When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: Matthew 27:57
This is a very expensive and heavy amount of ointments and linen cloth. None of the common people could have afforded these items. The body of Jesus was then wrapped again and again like a mummy with spices and linen.
Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. John 20:3-8
The following quote by Dr. Lance Wallnau is a very good explanation of the miracle that Jesus body was resurrected through the wrapped grave clothes rather than cutting the cocoon open.
“The Greek words translated, “wrapped together” in John 20:7, actually mean, “twisted together” or “rolled up” –- it speaks of a fixed position – much like a cocoon. The linen cloths were “wrapped” or “rolled together,” however the body was missing. The “linen clothes” had not been unfolded, loosed or disturbed in any way! They just lay there! An empty shell of the linen clothes that had been wrapped around and around the body of Jesus.
THE COCOON WAS EMPTY…
All these liquid spices would soon harden and would cause the cloth wrappings to become an encrusted cocoon around the body of Jesus. All the wrappings followed the contours of the body; it would be a tight solid covering that would protect the body, and from which the body could not be pulled by any human means. The only way, humanly speaking, a body could be removed from such encrusted wrappings, would be by cutting the cloth from end to end and laying back each side so the body could be pulled from its wrappings.
PROOF – THE BODY COULD NOT HAVE BEEN STOLEN”
The shroud of Turin is very interesting however it could not have anything to do with the burial of Jesus The Messiah. The body in the shroud would not be lying flat as it was wound with linen and with each turn of the body spices of aloe and myrrh were added. The amount of linen would have been considerable to accommodate the “hundred pound weight” about 75-86 American pounds of ointments. The body would be crunched together in the cocoon. The details on the body would be obscure by the amount of linen and ointment.
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