If it Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

Series on Old Testament Festivals and Sacred Days – Feast of First Fruits
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Leviticus 23:9-14; 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 

[Many of the festivals and sacred days from the Old Testament don’t seem to be relevant for us today. They may have been significant for the Jews at the time, but not now. In this series, we’re going to take a closer look at the festivals and sacred days to learn what the significance was for the people of Israel at the time. And to learn what the significance is for us today.]

  

Change is hard. At least for me it is. When I was working in insurance my boss changed our data management system multiple times. This meant that our daily operations changed because we used the system in every aspect of the job.

 

Because he changed the system, I had to relearn everything. This resulted in a learning curve that seemed so unnecessary. After all, the old system worked just fine. Why did it need to change? As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

 

The Israelites may have felt the same way while waiting at Mount Siani to enter the Promised Land. For centuries, their ancestors had lived as nomadic herdsmen. From Abraham to David, their geo-socio-economic society was based on it.

 

But now they were facing a change from nomadic herdsmen to resident farmer. To that end, Moses presented many laws from the Lord that were based on farming which the Israelites knew very little about.

 

For example, the Lord instituted the Feast of First Fruits as a “lasting ordinance” when they entered the Promised Land.

 

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land, I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. ¹¹ He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.     NIV

 

This is known as a wave offering. It was one way that Israel was to worship God. It was to acknowledge that he had provided the harvest and would continue to do so. It was to show that they trusted the Lord for his provision for their livelihood. But, if they truly believed this, they would have to learn how to farm.

 

However, the Canaanites, who lived in the Promised Land, already knew how to farm. Theirs was an agricultural society, and they believed that their gods had provided years of successful harvests. In some ways, this was a recipe for failure for the Israelites.

 

Knowing the risks of changing something so basic to their lives, the Feast of First Fruits gave the Israelites structure that would help them to “keep the faith”; to stay strong in their covenant relationship with the Lord; to not give in to the temptation of worshiping the gods of the Canaanites. Unfortunately, Israel failed miserably.

 

In addition to the wave offering, the Feast of First Fruits included a burnt offering. They were to take a spotless, year-old lamb and sacrifice it to the Lord. Like the Passover lamb, this was a foreshadowing of Christ, the lamb of God.

 

The bottom line is that the Feast of First Fruits was a metaphor for the resurrection of Jesus and a promise for the future harvest that includes all who have believed and follow him. Paul put it like this in his letter to the Corinthian church.

 

²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.            NIV

 

Here’s how a devotional from Ligonier explains it.

 

“Just as the firstfruits offered to God under the old covenant anticipated the fuller harvest to come, the resurrection of Jesus anticipates the bodily resurrection of His people first promised under the old covenant”.

 

Sometimes, if it ain’t broke… it still needs to be fixed.

 

Copyright 2026 Joseph B Williams

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