As we have already mentioned, sleep was one way to talk about death. Paul is declaring that Christ was the first of many to experience resurrection from the dead. The term “first fruits” is borrowed from the old Testament. It is the name of one of the major Jewish feasts. Each year the males of Israel were required to assemble before the Lord to celebrate several feasts. All work was suspended in order to provide time for worship. Many of these feasts related to the harvest calendar. First fruits began this calendar with the wave offering of a small amount of grain, a sheaf. On the day after Passover Sabbath, a sheaf of new corn or barley was brought to the priest and waved before the Lord (Leviticus 23:9-14). This offering was a pledge and assurance that the remainder of the harvest to be gathered was also the Lord’s. Until this ceremony had been performed, no grain could be eaten and no harvest work could be done, according to Josephus the historian.  

 This feast was also a type of Christ’s resurrection. Until He was resurrected and accepted by the Lord, no other harvest could follow. Historically, Christ rose from the grave on this very day-the day of first fruits. Paul understood the theological implications of this. Christ is the head of a whole new harvest. Just as Adam was the head of a whole race of men born in death, so Christ was the head of those who would likewise experience resurrection from death. Christ’s  resurrection was the first fruits or guarantee that we too will be raised from the dead. Listen to Paul’s words to the Corinthians:  

 “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits 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 “(1 Corinthians 15:20-22).  

The fact that Christ became our first fruits has a threefold significance:  

 Jesus is the sample of the resurrection we will experience if we belong to Him. 

He is the source of a new kind of life-a life that overcame the doom of death and expresses the glory of God.  

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is “ (1 John 3:2).  

 Jesus gave His life in order to communicate it to many others. 

Had He not died for us. He would have been alone in having eternal life.  

“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24).  

 “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5, 6).  

 Jesus is the first in a series of resurrections.

He is the pledge and guarantee of more to follow. He is like the sheaf waved before the Lord at first fruits which represented the entire harvest that would follow.  

“But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; 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 (1 Corinthians 15:23, 24).