Redemption by First Fruits

The Word is first...
1 Corinthians 15:20 (NIV)

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984

Beginning in Genesis and continuing throughout Scripture we see a consistent requirement that God receive the first fruits of our lives. Not just of our labors, nor just of our money but in every matter be it of the heart, the soul, the mind or the body, God deserves and expects that our very finest be given unto him.

The matter between Cain and Abel was a matter of the intentional setting aside of first fruits versus the haphazard giving of whatever was laying about. It was the willingness to give of the best, the first choice so to speak that elevated Abel's sacrifice to the level of acceptability to God.

Abraham was called to give his first-born Son as a sacrifice and he purposefully set about to do that very thing. Yet in the final moment, God intervened and spared the life of Abraham's son. Nevertheless, it was Abraham's willingness to give his first fruits to God that allowed him to find favor in the sight of God and he was accordingly judged faithful.

When God revealed The Law to the nation of Israel, he set forth the penalties of sinfulness to be a sacrifice; a sacrifice of the first fruits. And when God set forth the requirements for tithing, it too was to be of the first fruits.

And so we see God's expectation. We know that God reconciled us to himself by the sacrifice of his own first fruit and it is by that sacrifice that we have the surety of salvation. As further proof of our redemption, he has placed his seal upon us in the form of The Holy Spirit. From our own experience we can testify to the reality of the indwelling Holy Spirit and by it's proddings, groanings and guidance, we know with certainty that we have been adopted into the family of God and are claimed as his own. This work was accomplished, finished by Jesus as he died upon the cross as the vicarious sacrifice for our sins.

In my mind, this is but half of the mystery. It is by the sacrifice of God's first fruits that I have been redeemed, freed from the bondage of sin. I do not believe that it was the death of Christ Jesus that secured my eternal life. It is the resurrection of Christ Jesus that, his victory over death, that assures me of eternal life. Inasmuch as I participate in his death by dying to myself, I participate in his resurrection by being reborn in him the surety of which is the new life which I now live, yet not I but Christ lives in me.

By Jesus' sacrifice, the penalty for sin has been satisfied and I have been declared worthy in the sight of God. By Jesus' resurrection, death has been defeated and all those that have died in Christ shall also be resurrected in the final days and will then live forever in God's presence. The resurrection of Christ is the firstfruit which enables all believers to be included in the resurrection.

So then I live my life in constant remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross which freed me from sin. And I celebrate the empty tomb which testifies to the resurrection of my Lord and gives me faith that I too shall be resurrected in the next life into his presence.

In His Grip,
Carl