Good evening beloved friends and brethren present, and all those in different nations, ministers and their congregations; and also to Missionary Miguel Bermudez Marin there, where he is on this occasion.
May God bless all of you ministers and your congregations, and the ministers present here as well; and may God speak to us tonight by opening His Word to us, opening the Scriptures to us and opening our understanding. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Tonight, we will read in Leviticus, chapter 23, verses 9 to 14; and also First of Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 20 and on. The Scripture says the following:
“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.”
And First of Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 20 and on, tells us:
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”
May God bless our souls with His Word and allow us to understand it.
Our subject for this introduction to our Bible study for next Sunday is: “THE FIRST WAVED SHEAF.”
The Hebrew Feasts, in type and figure, contain the things that God would carry throughout His Program. In other words, everything is coded there in those Hebrew Feasts.
For example, the Passover is a memorial, but it also contains a prophetic element that was fulfilled in the days of Jesus, wherein He, as the Lamb of God (as John the Baptist introduced Him) died for the people, He died for Israel and for everyone who has their name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
He is the Passover Lamb who delivers all the firstborn written in Heaven in the Lamb’s Book of Life from death, from the second death. That is why He had to die. That is what He came for: to lay down His life in atonement for the firstborn of God written in Heaven, in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Therefore, through Christ, every person can obtain forgiveness for their sins, obtain eternal life and live eternally in the Kingdom of God, when it is established on planet Earth.
We also have the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which corresponds to the seven stages or ages of the gentile Church. We have the Waved Sheaf, who is Christ resurrected and preached to the people with the Gospel of Grace, which then came upon the people on the Day of Pentecost; this way, the Waved Sheaf, Christ in Holy Spirit, the Son of Man, has been waved over the people, for the people to be accepted by God.
Then, we have the Feast of Pentecost, which we will speak about on another occasion. And also, after the Feast of Pentecost, we have the Feast of Trumpets of Leviticus, chapter 23, verse 24.
And then, the sixth feast is the Feast of Atonement, which follows the Feast of Trumpets.
There are three feasts there, during the seventh month of Tishrei, there we find three feasts: the Feast of the Trumpets (on the first day of the seventh month), the Feast of Atonement (on the tenth day of the seventh month) and the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths (which lasts seven days, starting from the fifteenth day of the seventh month until the twenty-first day of the seventh month).
All those Hebrew Feasts contain the type and figure of the entire Divine Program He would carry out until humanity enters the corresponding divine cycle to pass over to eternity, where the entire Earth will enter into eternity, with eternal and immortal bodies; and the devil will be cast into the lake of fire and destroyed there in the lake of fire.
And those who didn’t receive eternal life, because they rejected God’s Program in the time they lived, will also be judged in the Final Judgement after the Millennial Kingdom, and condemned to the lake of fire; because they didn’t want to receive eternal life, which was offered by God.
Now, the Waved Sheaf is Christ resurrecting on the first day of the week, and then being waved over the people, being preached and manifested in Holy Spirit in His people.
The first Sheaf, the first Son of God who reached perfection, He died but resurrected and lives forever; and sat at the right hand of God in Heaven. All power was given unto Him in Heaven and on Earth. And sitting on the Throne of God, God is in Him, and through Him, God works and sustains all of the Creation. He is the Waved Sheaf: Christ, the Son of Man. He is the first Waved Sheaf, He is the first Sheaf.
The sheaf was or is, in the harvest of wheat and of other grains, those bundles or bindings, which they gather like this, all those wheat spikes; they gather them and make them into a bundle (bindings) and tie them together.
Remember the story of Joseph, the dream he had, where he saw twelve bundles? Each bundle represented each one of the sons of Jacob, and eleven bundles were bowing down to Joseph’s bundle; and Joseph’s brothers understood the interpretation, they asked him: “Are we to bow down in your presence?” And that is how it was, it would be that way. [Genesis 37:5-11]
When Joseph was in Egypt (because he was sold by his brothers, but he became second in command in Pharaoh’s kingdom), they bowed down before that prince, not knowing that it was their brother. And there, the eleven bundles —which represented Joseph’s eleven brothers— were bowing down to Joseph, represented in the bundle, which the other bundles bowed down to in the dream that Joseph had. [Genesis 42]
They called him “the dreamer”; but as long as the dreams are from God, they are good.
And now, a waved sheaf. That waved sheaf is a bundle of wheat or whatever they may have bound together that way; and that waved sheaf, that bundle represents the Lord.
He is the Firstfruits, the first One to reach maturity, the first Son of God who reached perfection; and the rest of the children of God, in the harvest, will all become perfect, because every one of them will reach perfection; that is the reason for the plan to gather the sheaves, the sons and daughters of God, from age to age.
The Firstfruits, the first One, the firstborn among many brethren, has already come; and He will also take us so that we reach that place. I will get there, and whom else? Each one of you will also reach perfection. That is the Divine Program of eternal life and for eternal life of all the sons and daughters of God, who are written in Heaven, in the Lamb’s Book of Life, since before the foundation of the world.
In other words, you didn’t begin when you were born here on Earth. The part of you that began when you were born on Earth was your physical body; but in terms of your soul, which is what you and I truly are, we were in God. In other words, we have been in God eternally, we are God’s divine thoughts made a reality, made flesh here on Earth.
But notice, the people who are born here on Earth, before being born in a physical body, they were a thought in the minds of their father, and are made a reality through the union with his wife. And the sons and daughters of God are a divine thought that was in God’s mind eternally, that they had to be manifested and brought to Earth in order to make contact with eternal life, with the Divine Program that the second Adam would have in order to restore the children of God to eternal life.
Through the first Adam, everyone dies, they already come without eternal life; but through the second Adam, who is Christ, they are all quickened, in other words, brought to eternal life, to live eternally with God in His Kingdom.
Therefore, God’s children are not afraid to live on this Earth; they know why they are on this Earth. We are going through a very important stage in which we are tested; and we hear the Word of God: the faith of God, of Christ, is born in our souls, we receive Him as our Savior; He forgives us and cleanses us from all sin with His Blood, and He reconciles us with God, He receives us in His Kingdom and places us in His Kingdom with eternal life, bringing forth the new birth; as Christ says in John, chapter 3: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
When we are born on this Earth, we have entered into this earthly, mortal, temporary kingdom; but when we are born again, we have entered into the eternal Kingdom of God, and thus, we have received eternal life, spiritual eternal life; and in the resurrection, we will receive the physical eternal life, when we receive the glorified and eternal body. Those who have departed: will be resurrected in eternal bodies, and those of us who are alive and remain living until that time: will be changed. It is as simple as that.
And no elect will be lost, because his name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and no name can be erased from it. The other section… There is another section from which names can be erased; but the names of God’s elect, God’s chosen ones, of the children of God, cannot be erased. Not one of them will be lost. That is why Christ came: to redeem all those sons and daughters of God.
That is why He came (who came?) THE FIRST WAVED SHEAF, to give us eternal life.
It has been a privilege to be with you on this occasion, in this introduction of next Sunday’s Bible study: “THE FIRST WAVED SHEAF.”
If there is anyone who has not yet received Christ as Savior, you may do so at this time and we will be praying for you; whether you are here or in a different country. Those who are in other countries can also come to the Feet of Christ at this time to receive Him as your only and sufficient Savior.
Let’s stand and pray for those who are coming to the Feet of Christ at this time:
Heavenly Father, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I come to You with all these people who are receiving Christ as their only and sufficient Savior. Receive them in Your Kingdom. I pray to You in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now, repeat this prayer after me which we will be making:
Lord Jesus Christ, I have heard the preaching of Your Gospel and Your faith was born in my heart.
I believe in You with all my soul. I believe in Your First Coming. I believe in Your Name as the only name under Heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. I believe in Your death on Calvary’s Cross as the Sacrifice of Atonement for our sins.
I acknowledge that I am a sinner and that I need a Savior, a Redeemer. I give public testimony of my faith in You and of Your faith in me, and I receive You as my only and sufficient Savior.
I pray that You forgive my sins, and with Your Blood, may You cleanse me from of all sin and baptize me with the Holy Spirit and Fire and bring forth the new birth in me.
I pray to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Your glorious Name. In your Eternal and glorious name, I pray, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
And now, those who have received Christ as Saviorto in different countries may ask: “When can I be baptized?”
Since you have believed in Christ as your only and sufficient Savior, you can be baptized; and may Christ baptize you with Holy Spirit and Fire and bring forth the new birth in you.
Water baptism is typological. Water does not take away sins, but water gives testimony, it is typological. Therefore, it is important to know the typology of water baptism.
When the person receives Christ as Savior, he dies to the world; when he is immersed in the baptismal waters, he is typologically being buried; when the minister raises him out of the baptismal waters, he is typologically being resurrecting to a new life: the eternal life with Christ in His eternal Kingdom.
That is why water baptism in the Name of the Lord is so important. Christ Himself was baptized by John the Baptist. We can see the importance of water baptism.
And Christ Himself said: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” [Mark 16:15-16]. It is as simple as that.
Therefore, you can be baptized; and may Christ baptize you with Holy Spirit and Fire and bring forth the new birth in you. And we will continue to see one another eternally in the Kingdom of God.
And we will see each other here next Sunday, and I will try to be here with you next week as well.
May God bless you, and continue having a happy evening filled with the blessings of Christ our Savior.
I leave Reverend Jose Benjamin Perez to continue with you here, and in every country I leave each minister to inform the people what you must do to be baptized in water in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“THE FIRST WAVED SHEAF.”