Apocalypse Revealed # 623
623. Being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. This symbolizes the commencement of a Christian heaven that acknowledges one God, in whom is the Trinity, and acknowledges that the Lord is that one.
Firstfruits mean something that is produced first, and something gathered first, thus a commencement, here the commencement of a new heaven formed of Christians. God and the Lamb mean here, as before, the Lord in respect to the Divine itself from which springs all else, and in respect to His Divine humanity, including the emanating Divinity, thus one God in whom is the Trinity.
We will say something here about firstfruits. In the Israelite Church people were commanded to give to Jehovah as sacred the firstfuits of produce - of every kind of grain, of oil and wine, of the fruits of trees, and of wool - and these were given by Jehovah to Aaron, and after him to the high priest (Exodus 22:29; 23:19, Numbers 13:20; 15:17-21; 18:8-20, Numbers 28:26-31).
The reason for this was that firstfruits symbolized something that is produced first and afterward grows, like a child into an adult, or a cutting into a tree, and thus it symbolized every subsequent development until the thing's completion. For every subsequent development is present in the initial one, like the adult in the child, or the tree in the cutting. And because this first development occurs before the subsequent ones, as is the case also in heaven and in the church, therefore the firstfruits were sacred to the Lord, and the people celebrated a feast of firstfuits.
Firstfruits have a similar symbolic meaning in Jeremiah 24:1-2, Ezekiel 20:40, Micah 7:1, Deuteronomy 33:15, 21.
耶利米書 3
1
有話說:人若休妻,妻離他而去,作了別人的妻,前夫豈能再收回他來?若收回他來,那地豈不是大大玷污了麼?但你和許多親愛的行邪淫,還可以歸向我。這是耶和華說的。
2
你向淨光的高處舉目觀看,你在何處沒有淫行呢?你坐在道旁等候,好像亞拉伯人在曠野埋伏一樣,並且你的淫行邪惡玷污了全地。
3
因此甘霖停止,春(原文是晚)雨不降。你還是有娼妓之臉,不顧羞恥。
5
耶和華豈永遠懷怒,存留到底嗎?看哪,你又發惡言又行壞事,隨自己的私意而行(或譯:你雖這樣說,還是行惡放縱慾心)。
6
約西亞王在位的時候,耶和華又對我說:「背道的以色列所行的,你看見沒有?他上各高山,在各青翠樹下行淫。
7
他行這些事以後,我說他必歸向我,他卻不歸向我。他奸詐的妹妹猶大也看見了。
8
背道的以色列行淫,我為這緣故給他休書休他;我看見他奸詐的妹妹猶大,還不懼怕,也去行淫。
10
雖有這一切的事,他奸詐的妹妹猶大還不一心歸向我,不過是假意歸我。這是耶和華說的。」
12
你去向北方宣告說:耶和華說:背道的以色列啊,回來吧!我必不怒目看你們;因為我是慈愛的,我必不永遠存怒。這是耶和華說的。
13
只要承認你的罪孽,就是你違背耶和華─你的神,在各青翠樹下向別神東奔西跑,沒有聽從我的話。這是耶和華說的。
14
耶和華說:背道的兒女啊,回來吧!因為我作你們的丈夫,並且我必將你們從一城取一人,從一族取兩人,帶到錫安。
15
我也必將合我心的牧者賜給你們。他們必以知識和智慧牧養你們。」
16
耶和華說:「你們在國中生養眾多;當那些日子,人必不再提說耶和華的約櫃,不追想,不記念,不覺缺少,也不再製造。
17
那時,人必稱耶路撒冷為耶和華的寶座;萬國必到耶路撒冷,在耶和華立名的地方聚集。他們必不再隨從自己頑梗的惡心行事。
18
當那些日子,猶大家要和以色列家同行,從北方之地一同來到我賜給你們列祖為業之地。」
19
我說:我怎樣將你安置在兒女之中,賜給你美地,就是萬國中肥美的產業。我又說:你們必稱我為父,也不再轉去不跟從我。
20
以色列家,你們向我行詭詐,真像妻子行詭詐離開他丈夫一樣。這是耶和華說的。
21
在淨光的高處聽見人聲,就是以色列人哭泣懇求之聲,乃因他們走彎曲之道,忘記耶和華─他們的神。
22
你們這背道的兒女啊,回來吧!我要醫治你們背道的病。看哪,我們來到你這裡,因你是耶和華─我們的神。
23
仰望從小山或從大山的喧嚷中得幫助,真是枉然的。以色列得救,誠然在乎耶和華─我們的神。
24
從我們幼年以來,那可恥的偶像將我們列祖所勞碌得來的羊群、牛群,和他們的兒女都吞吃了。
25
我們在羞恥中躺臥罷!願慚愧將我們遮蓋;因為從立國(原文是幼年)以來,我們和我們的列祖常常得罪耶和華─我們的神,沒有聽從耶和華─我們神的話。