«　WEEK 21　DAY 3　»

　　John 14:19 Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live.

　　Rom. 8:11 And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

　　The firstfruits of the Feast of Firstfruits, after being offered to God for His enjoyment, were to be eaten by the people of Israel [Lev. 23:14]. This signifies that the resurrected Christ, after being presented to God in His freshness (John 20:16-17), is to be dispensed, with all the riches of His resurrection, into us for our enjoyment....According to the record of Leviticus 23, the offering of only one of the seven feasts, the Feast of Firstfruits, was to be eaten. As we have seen, the firstfruits refer to Christ in His resurrection. The firstfruits were not to be eaten immediately after being reaped. This signifies that after the reaping we must first offer Christ to God in His freshness. This is unveiled in John 20. On the morning of the resurrection Mary saw the Lord Jesus. When she tried to touch Him, the Lord said, "Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father..." (v. 17). Christ became our portion only after His freshness in resurrection had first been offered to the Father. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, "The Central Line of the Divine Revelation," pp. 535-536)

　　The word fruit implies eating, indicating enjoyment. Fresh fruits...are all for eating. In resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit for us to drink and the firstfruits for us to eat. Christ today is not merely a teacher; He is the firstfruits for us to partake of. Believers have read 1 Corinthians 15:20 for centuries, but very few have seen that the firstfruits are for eating. Most believers have considered that the word firstfruits in this verse refers only to Christ as the first One raised from the dead. Although Christ is the first in resurrection, the word firstfruits also indicates that the resurrected Christ is to be eaten by us for our enjoyment. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, "The Enjoyment of Christ for the Body in 1 Corinthians," p. 177)

　　Whatever Christ is as our portion to be eaten is related to His resurrection. The blood of the passover lamb signifies the crucified Christ, but the meat of the lamb signifies the resurrected Christ. The blood was from the crucified Christ, but the meat refers to the Christ who is in resurrection. If Christ were not the Spirit in resurrection, we could not take Him in. The crucified Christ alone is not our life supply; only Christ in resurrection can be our life supply. The unleavened bread of the passover was made of grain that had been ground and blended to be one loaf, signifying death and resurrection. Therefore, both the meat of the lamb and the unleavened bread signify Christ as the Spirit in His resurrection. It is Christ in His resurrection who dispenses Himself into us as many items. This is why the offering of only one of the seven feasts, the Feast of Firstfruits, was to be eaten.

　　According to the type of the feasts, what we enjoy and what is being dispensed into us is the resurrected Christ. The resurrected Christ is the consummated Triune God. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, "The Central Line of the Divine Revelation," p. 536)

　　"You shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath; from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering there shall be seven complete Sabbaths. You shall count fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath" (Lev. 23:15-16a). The Feast of Pentecost was the feast of the fiftieth day, counting from the day after the Sabbath, the day on which the sheaf of the wave offering was brought to God, to the day after the seventh Sabbath. This signifies the resurrection of Christ in its sevenfold fullness reaching the realm of the complete fullness, bearing the full responsibility (signified by the number fifty, which is ten times five, the number of responsibility) for the testimony of resurrection.

　　In the sight of God we all are a part of the testimony of Christ's resurrection. (Life-study of Leviticus, pp. 478-479)

　　Further Reading: Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, lsn. 28