YIELDING FRUIT AFTER ITS KINDKind After Its Kind
#####################################################################################
We are reminded by the Apostle Peter in his second letter, "To grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever"
(1 Peter 3:18).
This title " kind after its kind." is drawn from two verses in Geneses. " And God said, Let us make
man in Our image, after Our likeness" (Gen 1:26). "And the earth brought forth vegetation, and herb yielding
Seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that
it was good" (Gen 1:12).
"After his kind," is expressed 10 times in the first chapter of Genesis and altogether 30 times in the
five books of Moses. God has harmony in His creative thinking, that is why He said in verse 26, "Let Us
make man in Our image, after Our likeness." Man was to bear God's image, in outward resemblance and
inward resemblance of character. It is a fact of nature that living things do reproduce offsprings that resemble
their parents. God's image in Gen 1:26 was most evident in terms of His spiritual nature.
The Apostle Paul enlightens us to the S.P.S., "Specific Purpose Statement" of this article: "Put on
the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him" (Col 3:10). This is
"kind after its kind!"
When buying God's truth, as we are reminded to do- in Proverbs 23:23,we are accepting His wisdom,
knowledge, and understanding -- and admitting error. Buying truth is spending time in prayer, fasting, and
the study of God's word. Time is valuable--we are not to waste it!! The closer a man comes to his Saviour
and the more he studies the word of God the more his eyes are opened to the real nature of things. 2 + 2 does
equal 4 and God's challenging mysteries become solved.
Developing a clearer S.P.S. of "kind after its kind"-- we need to look at Exodus 23. "Three times you
shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. You shalt keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread: (thou shalt eat
Unleavened Bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it you
came out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:). And the Feast of Harvest, [Pentecost] the
firstfruits of your labours, which you have sown in the field: and the Feast of Ingathering, [Feast of
Tabernacles] which is in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labours out of the field. Three
times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God. You shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice
with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until the morning. The first of the firstfruits
of your land you shalt bring into the house of the Lord your God" (Lev. 23:14-19).
When following God's seven step plan, the Days of Unleavened Bread picture removing sin
out of our lives and putting in the new man, the fruits of the Holy Spirit and character of Jesus Christ.
Christ could not restrain Himself from telling Satan in the book of Luke, that "Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word of God" (Luke 4:4). He was quoting from a statement said earlier in
Deuteronomy 8, "And you shalt remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in
the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep
His commandments, or no. And He humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna,
which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that He might make you know that man doth not live
by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live" (Deu. 8:2-3).
For a better understanding of what the Days of Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost offer as a reward
for removing sin from our life through Christ's sacrificed redeeming blood. You will want to keep in mind
the title of this article, "Kind after its kind!"
We will began by looking at what the Lord said to Moses "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when you be come into the land which I give unto you,
and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the First-fruits [ first harvested grain] 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" (Lev 23:9-11).
Before commenting on these verses, we will notice a quote from an article, written by a Australian
minister, and another quote from Mr Armstrong booklet, "Pagan Holidays or God's Holy Days-Which.
First, the Australian minister article: "The firstfruits harvest of both barley, the first firstfruits, and
the wheat which came later, symbolise all the elect of God, the Firstfruits of the age of the church, both Old
and New Testament saints, prior to Christ's second coming. The wheat harvest is the consummation of the
firstfruits, of this early harvest of souls. The firstfruits harvest was fully gathered at Pentecost, where the
ceremony at which the two loaves representing the Firstfruits (Leve 23:16-17) were also waved before God
was both parallel to, and the fulfillment of the wave sheaf offering. The Pentecost holy day pictures not only
the age of the church, but also its glorification at the resurrection. Grain is use to picture the resurrection
of the dead. The Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering pictures the greater harvest period to be fulfilled during
the millennial age and beyond."
Sharing now the quote from Mr. Armstrong, in the year he changed the day of Pentecost from Monday
to Sunday. This quote is from the 1974 edition of "Pagan Holidays or God's Holy Days-Which?" He wrote
on page 31, "Passover symbolized Christ's sacrifice for the remission of our sin, and the Days of Unleavened
Bread the putting away of sin. Pentecost pictures the first part of the spiritual harvest -- the called out of the
church. The festival of Ingatherings or Tabernacles pictures the fall harvest -- the great harvest of souls in
the millennium."
Reading these two quotes, we get a clear understanding they were speaking of three harvests which
pictures three resurrections. Harvest is Strong's # 7105, meaning: 1). To reap; 2). To process; 3). To gather
in the crop. These three feasts, picturing resurrections, were tied to the harvest times in the land of Israel.
Also the Israelites had very early been introduced to the concept of giving offerings at harvest times.
Offerings were representative of the years harvest to God as a token of thanksgiving for all He had given
them.
Barley was harvested first in the early spring from about - March to April! At the time of Passover
and Days of Unleavened Bread. It was from this first barley grain harvest that Christ the "wave sheaf" was
taken to be the First of the first barley grain harvest!!
50 days later is the wheat grain harvested, in the late spring - near early summer, May through - June
or early July, in the season of Pentecost. It was at this harvest we find two leaven wheat loaves called first-fruits to the Lord being offered. This was the firstfruits of the wheat grain harvest, not the firstfruits of the
barley grain harvest!
The third harvest comes from the summer fruit, that is a general harvest of grapes, olives, dates, figs,
nuts, and vegetables, these are gathered in late August to early- September, right before the time of the Feast
of Tabernacles that some scriptures call Feast of Ingathering.
These feast were to remind God's people of His redemptive work on their behalf. Take for instance,
Unleavened bread pictures the kind of lives God's called out ones should live! Sinless and humble, full of
gratitude according to the blessings God has given them, free from malice and wickedness, just as Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 5: 8. "Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness; but with the Unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." It has been taught over the years, that
barley grain was the grain of the poor! And wheat was the grain of the rich. This also is a symbol of the two
last eras attitudes of Revelation 3. The Philadelphia attitude is one of, "... for thou hast a little strength, and
hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name" (Rev 3:8). And the Laodicean attitude "...is rich and in
need of nothing!" (Rev. 3:17).
As the Passover bread was free from the smallest particle of leaven-- so the character of the truly
chosen of God should be, completely free from the leaven of compromise with evil. Real salvation begins
when all compromise with the leaven of sin is at an end.
These three major harvests were at the time, as said earlier, when God required Israel to give an
offering. God knew this would be the time they, [Israel] would be reaping the reward of their labor. We are
all familiarized with these three major harvest times that high lights the giving of offerings. "Three times in
a year shall all your males appear before the Lord your God in the place which He shall choose; in the Feast
of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, [Pentecost] and in The Feast of Tabernacles: and they
shall not appear before the Lord empty" (Deut 16:16). These three individual harvest times are clearly laid
out for us. These three harvest times picture paying a tribute to God from your harvest blessings and they
also picture the three separate times God has chosen to resurrect His called and chosen ones- to eternal life.
Never to suffer the second death!
Studies find most churches teach combining the smaller early spring barley grain harvest, that Christ
came to be the first waved sheaf of with the 50 day later leaven summer wheat grain harvest, calling this
merger "the first fruits resurrected." It is not found in God's word, we are to mix the leavening found in the
spiritual first-fruit wheat grain loaves, with the spiritual unleavened first-fruit barley grain harvest that Jesus
Christ was taken from. God's creative actions are "kind after its kind" not allowing syncretism! [mixing kinds]
[As a side note-Pentecost is never directly called Feast of Firstfruits in the Old Testament].
Jesus Christ, was the first sheaf of the first fruits taken from the early spring barley grain harvest.
First of the first tells us there's yet more fruit to follow. The barley field resurrection had no leaven in it like
the first-fruit wheat grain crop that is harvested or resurrected 50 days after the first-fruit barley grain
resurrection.
Looking again at verses 9-11 of Leviticus 23. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto
the children of Israel, and say unto them, when you be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap
the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf [ first portion] of the firstfruits [more then one ] of your
[barley grain] harvest unto the Priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted For you:
[speaking of the rest of the barley field harvest] on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it." Did
you notice the wave sheaf [Christ] was the first sheaf from the first fruits barley grain harvest to be accepted
by God for us - at the beginning of the first-fruits barley grain harvest. Said another way these verses are
saying that the wave sheaf [Christ] is just one sheaf of the first-fruits from that barley field that will be
harvested [resurrected].
Notice also this is done during the Days of Unleavened Bread when we are to have removed sin,
"Leavening" from our life and are putting Christ into our life - pictured by eating unleavened bread for seven
days!
This word first fruits [plural] in verse 10, is Strong's # 7225. It has many meanings: 1). Head; 2).
Chief; 3). First born; 4), the first of its kind; 5).beginnings. These express, there is more to follow. Reading
Leviticus 23:10 from the Interlinear Bible is a better translation of Hebrew. "Speak to the sons of Israel, and
you shall say to them, when you come in the land which I am giving to you, and have reaped its harvest and
have brought in the sheaf of the beginning [Strong's # 7225] of your harvest to the priest: then he shall
wave the sheaf before Jehovah for your acceptance on the morrow of the Sabbath shall wave it."
Jesus Christ was the beginning resurrected first fruit from the unleavened barley field, and was
resurrected and accepted by the Father during the days of Unleavened Bread that pictures putting sin out of
our lives and putting Jesus Christ in!
The Apostle Paul was inspired to tell us there is an order of resurrections. "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; [remember He
was taken from the first-fruits barley harvest] afterward they that are Christ's at His coming" (1 Cor 15:22-23).
"Kind after its Kind."
James, the brother of our Lord said, "Of His [Christ] own will begat He us with the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures [created]" (James 1:18). "Kind after its Kind"
The Apostle John gives the firstfruit barley resurrected encouragement in Revelation Chapter 14.
These are they which were not defiled with women [churches having leaven in them by following the
tradition of men] for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb where ever He goes. These
were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb" (Rev 14:4). Who is this
speaking of ? Verse 1, answers that for us. "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with
Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads" (Rev 14:1).
Why do they have the Fathers name in there forehead? Because Christ -- the first, the beginning of the first
fruit and the first to rise from the dead tells us in Acts 26:23, "That Christ should suffer, and that He should
be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light [knowledge] unto the people, and to the
Gentiles."
Christ is dedicated to - and accepted by God the Father. He is the token of those who will follow Him
out of His unleavened spiritual barley grain harvest. God's beginning first fruit that is harvested from the
whiter grain - unleavened barley grain harvest will not be one among equals when resurrected, they will
have a supreme place of honor having on the linen of righteousness like the bride of Jesus Christ will have
on. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the Marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife
has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine Linen, for the fine linen
[character] is the righteousness of saints" (Rev 19:7-8).
The Apostle Paul speaks of these first born in Romans 8. "For whom He did foreknow, He also did
predestinate to be Conformed to the image of His son [unleavened], that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: And whom He called, them He also
justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified " (Rom 8:29-30). This is speaking of being clothed
with the righteousness of God.
One other point that needs clarification about Pentecost. "You shall bring out of your habitations two
wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the
firstfruits unto the Lord" (Lev 23:17). These leaven wave loaves of wheat called first-fruits unto the Lord
is Strong's #1061-- not Strong's # 7225! Strong's #1061, is not identified as being first of the God kind,
nor first born or called beginnings. Strongs #1061 is identified by its definition: 1). The first of the crops and
fruit that ripened, was gathered, and offered to God according to the ritual of Pentecost; 2). The bread made
of the new grain offered at Pentecost; 3). The day of the first-fruits (Pentecost). It has no other meaning like
we find in [# 7225] the first fruits of Leviticus 23: 9-11.
One other thought: Those who represents the two leaven loaves of bread at the time of
Pentecost harvest- are warned! Like the ten virgins were. " Let your loins be girded about,
and your lights burning; And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when He
will return from the wedding; that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him
immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when He cometh shall find
watching: verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to eat,
[at the wedding reception] and will come forth and serve them. And if He shall come in the
second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And
this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he
would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore
ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not" ( Luke 12:35-40).
Remember;"Kind after the God Kind."
James Russell