Firstfruits Resurrection

      In the vision of the time of the end given to John on the Isle of Patmos, John gets his first glimpse of the rapture in Revelation 7 as part of the overview of this age. He sees it again in the supplemental-vision replay in Revelation 14. In both cases, John sees the Bride in Heaven before the wrath of that Day is poured out against the Beast, fulfilling the last half of Daniel’s 70th Week.
       To ensure that we recognize the innumerable company before the throne as the raptured Church, an elder asks John if he can identify the multitude. Wisely, John concedes to the elder to tell him. “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb” (Rev. 14:4). The term firstfruits refers to the first harvest of the agricultural season in Israel. James 1:18 explains, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created” (NIV).
        In his letter concerning Christ’s second coming at the rapture, Paul explains, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” A couple verses later Paul adds, “But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.”
          End-Time Lesson: This firstfruits aspect of resurrection is part of the mystery of Christ. Paul wrote in Romans 8:29, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” In Colossians 1:17-18 he confirmed: “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the Body, the Church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy” (NIV). Our Lord, the Head of the Body, was resurrected on the 3rd day. The Church, His Body shall be resurrected on the 3rd Day. It is then that we receive our immortal bodies, as He did at His resurrection. We shall be complete in Him, with our spirit, soul, and body perfected and incorruptible. It’s almost unfathomable, if it were not for the faithfulness of God’s Word.
        At the dawn of the last Day, the Day of the Lord, we shall be judged as being “in Christ.” We shall receive our full redemption. As we stand before Christ’s throne at the right-hand of the Father, we shall receive not only the crown of eternal life as joint-heirs, but also our rewards and ruling assignments over cities and regions. This judgment is a firstfruits judgment so that we can be seated as God’s heavenly court to execute God’s vengeance against evil. Acts 17:31 confirms that we are appointed for this Day to rule with Christ and judge the earth by virtue of having overcoming death.
         At the end of Christ’s millennial reign over the earth from Heaven above, the rest of the people of the earth, including those from the early Days (Old Testament times), those left behind at the rapture, and those born during the final great Day, will be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment. This is the final harvest, when the sheep and goats are separated. It is when the final enemy, Death, is overcome and thrown into the Lake of Fire.