We ought always ter thank Skipper fer you, me hearties, because of yer belief in his truth. You stand firm in the Son. You be one the firstfruits of the harvest. More’n that, you be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Aye, the Son himself be the very first fruit of the new harvest, fer he always goes before us. Now as ter the purpose of firstfruits we need ter look back a wee little bit ter Skipper’s Covenant Code.
The Son Fulfills All the Holy Feasts
The Sabbath
On the seventh day of each week, in honor of all Skipper done fer us, we be commanded ter rest. Only a skeleton crew ‘ill go ’bout tending ter sails and lines and such. Rest of the crew be ordered ter lounge about on deck or in thar bunks.
The Passover
Passover Lamb Foreshadows the Son’s Sacrifice
- In 1 Corinthians 5:7 Paul says of the Son, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
- John the Baptizer calls the Son, “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29).
- Peter says, “We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect (1 Peter 1:19).
- In Heaven’s throne room, the disciple John hears the twenty-four elders saying, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:12).
The maiden voyage fer the Israelites who sailed away from Egypt on dry land occurred the day after the first Passover. The term “Passover” means the Angel of Death “passed over” the bunk of those with the blood of a lamb on thar doorpost. Skipper ordered ever crew ter slit the throat of an unblemished lamb, drain its blood, and roast its meat. In the same fashion, Skipper passes over all who accept the Son’s shed blood on the main mast as a sacrifice fer thar sins.
What Credentials Doth the Son Have ter be Our Sacrificial Lamb?
- The Son whar born in Bethlehem. Passover lambs be traditionally tended in pasture on the hills around Bethlehem .
- He be an unblemished male in his prime, young and vigorous.
- He whar subjected ter various trials and found ter be without blame or spots.
Festival of Unleavened Bread
This grand celebration includes the Skipper’s Passover supper and commences at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month, with the Festival of Unleavened Bread, startin’ on the fifteenth day of the same month. During this time, all crew be commanded ter feast on bread without the yeast fer seven days. On the first day of the week, we be commanded ter hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Fer seven days, we be expected ter present a bountiful food offering ter Skipper. On the seventh and last day, again the crew be commanded ter avoid regular work. This feast works best while we be in port and not at sea whar waves and wind and storms might disrupt the holiness of this somber remembrance of how Skipper sails us through tough times.
Leaven represents sin. Unleavened bread represents moral purity and holiness. Unleavened bread be the symbol fer pure food untainted by filth. Fer us, the Son as unleavened bread, be pure food untainted by sin.
The Son be the “bread of life,” (John 6:35) and feedin’ on his righteousness be the way we live righteous, upright lives. The Son promises, “he who comes to Me will not hunger” (John 6:35). He says, “Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6).
During the Passover Feast, the Son took the matzah bread and broke it. And as he did this, he said to his disciples, “This is my body given for you” (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 24:19).
The Son offered his body on the main mast fer the salvation of the world. When we “eat his flesh” we be takin’ in his Holy Spirit. He himself compared his death to the unleavened bread during the Passover feast.
“Matzah,” the word fer unleavened Passover bread, must be “pierced and striped” ter prevent it from becomin’ puffed up with leaven. The Son whar pierced and striped with the lash before nailed ter the main mast. Here is how Skipper commanded his people to eat the matzah.
Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast. From the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day you are to eat bread made without yeast. For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.” Exodus 12:17-20
The Son appeared alive, up from the grave, the first day of the week and showed himself alive again seven days later, proving ter all that he conquered sin and death.
Offerin’ the Firstfruits
Once the first children of Skipper set foot in the promised land and reap the fruits of thar labor, they whar commanded ter bring the priest a sheaf of the first grain we gather. The priest raised this sheaf high before Skipper as a symbol of his acceptance of thar first harvest.
Fer us the Son became the Passover lamb, the matzah fer the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and the day of rest fer our Sabbath. The Son fulfilled all these feasts during his last Passover week.
- He supped with his mates the night before he died, feasting on matzah bread and wine.
- He became the lamb without blemish that whar offered as a sacrifice.
- He became the bread of life that takes away the sins of the world.
- He rested in a grave on the Sabbath. On the first day of the week, he appeared ter his mates as the sheaf of first grain come up from the harvest: a seed planted as dead, but alive once more as a living man by the Spirit of Skipper.
This be how the Son fulfilled all these feasts and now we be part of his new harvest.
Purpose of the Firstfruits
From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath (Pentecost), and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. (Leviticus 23:15-17)
From Seed to Harvest
After his death on the main mast, when the Son rose from the depths of Davy Jones’ Locker, he became the firstfruits of all who die and rise again into new birth. Fer since death came through the first man who sinned, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man, but this one without sin. Fer as in the first man Adam, all sink ter the briny deep, so in the Son, all will be brought back ter the surface, alive by the Son’s Spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:20–22)
Fifty days after the Son come up alive and showed himself ter be the savior of the world he poured out his Spirit upon his mates. This be the new Firstfruits and we be counted in that harvest.
Ingathering of Sheafs
If we received life through the Good News of the Son, then we are gathered into him as if sheafs bundled fer a harvest. And if this be so, then we ‘ill stand in his glorious presence, you may lay her that.
Stand Firm in the Son
So then, me hearties, knowing all that the Son done so we can go into the grave as seed and come up alive in new bodies, stand firm and hold fast ter the teachings we passed on ter you. Don’t let others steal yer hope, faith, and love. Whether by word of mouth or by letter, keep ter Skipper’s Covenant Code and the knowledge that the Son unlocked Davy Jones’ Locker so all can surface and be saved.
May our Lord himself and Skipper our Father give us eternal encouragement and strength fer every good deed and word.
2 Thessalonians 2:13-17