3rd Day: First Fruits & Resurrection

The LORD will reign forever and ever. – Exodus 15:18

By the early morning of the third day since the Passover night, the Israelites were hemmed in between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s charging army. They were terrified, crying out to God, and bewildered at why He had taken them this way. But God told Moses to lift his staff over the sea because He was fighting for them. The pillar of fire moved from in front of Israel to behind them, blocking the way between Pharaoh’s army and Israel, and giving light to the Israelites but darkness to the Egyptians. In the early morning hours as the sun began to rise, Moses lifted his staff and the waters parted to reveal dry ground. The same Creator God who had separated the waters from dry ground on the third day of creation was now working a miracle for the deliverance of His people on the third day since the Passover. Approximately two million Israelites walked through the waters on dry ground, but when the Egyptians with their chariots tried to pursue them, the waters crashed in on them and not one of them survived.

Israel sang the Song of Moses, celebrating God’s miraculous and resounding victory over Pharoah, his army, and all the gods of Egypt. At the end of the song, Israel declares, “The Lord reigns forever and ever!” If the Lord reigns, it means that the Lord is King! He is King! He is King over Israel and He just proved that He is King over the whole world. The news of these events spread throughout the world with reverent fear of Israel’s God. Israel was the first nation redeemed by God and His purpose was to redeem the rest of the nations through Israel, in accordance with His promise to Abraham.

Each year, in the generations that followed these events, it was on this same day in the early morning hours that the sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest was offered by the priest as an act of dedication and expectation for the full harvest to come.

Many years later, it was on this very same day that Jesus was resurrected from death. In the early morning hours, Jesus walked out of the grave in an incorruptible, resurrection body, having conquered sin, death, the grave, and the evil one. This proves that JESUS IS KING! The world threw its most powerful weapon against Jesus: death. The evil powers thought they had triumphed. But Jesus reigns even over death, which He proved by His resurrection! Jesus is King and His Kingdom has begun! God says of Him in Psalm 2, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” and the apostle Paul said in Romans 1 that Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God in power through His resurrection from the dead”, meaning that the resurrection proves Jesus to be the rightful firstborn inheritor of God’s authority (over the whole world) and property (the whole earth). Everyone who believes Jesus by submitting to His reign has been redeemed from sin and death, and God’s purpose through us who believe is to redeem the rest of the world by us spreading the good news of His reign as King! Worthy is the Lamb that was slain! The Lamb has been made King!

Jesus is the sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest of the resurrection, which will take place at the end of the age when Jesus’ followers are raised to eternal life and those who reject the reign of Jesus will be raised to eternal torment. Through the final resurrection, death will be conquered forever, and Jesus’ Kingdom will be finally and fully established when death, the grave, and the ancient serpent are thrown into the lake of fire. All of creation will sing the eternal Song of Moses, glorifying God Almighty as Creator and sovereign King over all.

Revelation 11:15-18 ESV - 15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying, "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. 18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth."

Revelation 15:3-4 ESV - 3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! 4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."

So today, let us rejoice and be glad in the day that the Lord has made! The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone! The Lamb that was slain has been crowned as King! If you truly believe this, then demonstrate Jesus’ reign as King in your own life by applying His teachings and following the Lamb wherever He goes. He is worthy! Jesus is King!

Third Day Scriptures

The Original Passover: Exodus 14-15  

First Fruits: Leviticus 23-:9-14; Deuteronomy 26:1-11

The Resurrection: Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20-21

Note: This day is the day observed as Easter in some churches.