Saturday, October 19, 2019

Jesus Christ as "Firstfruits"

One of the benefits of re-reading the Book of Mormon is that you see the same verse in a new light based on life experiences and things you've learned since the last time you read a verse.

Such is the case with 2 Nephi 2:9 for me:

9 Wherefore, he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be saved.
The idea of a sacred offering made by giving up the first grain of the harvest to God is symbolic of Christ--he came to earth to dwell in a "tabernacle of clay" (Mosiah 3:5) and "[make himself] an offering for sin" (Mosiah 15:10)

Grain grows from the ground, and in this case the first grain to spring forth from the ground is consecrated for a sacred offering.

Firstfruits were offered to God on 16 Nisan, two days and one sunset after Passover, at the Feast of Firstfruits.  For Christians, there is obvious symbolic reference to the Resurrection. As Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23:

20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.