Those called to salvation in this life—as part of that spiritual firstfruits harvest—are called to do something no others will be required to do. It was what Adam was supposed to do, and what Christ did do: qualify to replace Satan as ruler of Earth—by utterly rejecting his government and completely embracing God’s.

The firstfruits calling is unique and magnificent because it more closely parallels Jesus Christ’s life: As Christ had to overcome Satan, so do the firstfruits. No one else will have to conquer Satan that way. No one else will be fighting for the establishment of a new order, a new government, a new world. Only Christ and the firstfruits.

The parallels between what Christ had to do and what the firstfruits are called to do—as well as what Christ’s rewards are compared to the firstfruits’ rewards—do not end there. These parallels are embedded throughout the Bible, and perhaps they can help us grasp the magnificence and vision of this calling.

The Apostle John, seeing these parallels, exhorted the firstfruits to become more like Christ—to “walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2:6); to purify themselves, “even as he is pure” (1 John 3:3); to become righteous, “even as he is righteous” (verse 7).

The Apostle Paul encouraged Church members to let the mind of Jesus Christ be in them (Philippians 2:5).

The connections God’s firstfruits have with our Savior, Jesus Christ, are many, and they are deeply inspiring!

First of the Firstfruits

At the beginning of the spring harvest, God commanded the Israelites to bring “a sheaf of the firstfruits” to the priest. He would wave it before God “on the morrow after the sabbath” (see Leviticus 23:10-11).

Christ is pictured by this “sheaf of the firstfruits,” also known as the first of the firstfruits. The “morrow after the sabbath” refers to the Sunday during the Days of Unleavened Bread. This is the day that the risen Christ was accepted before the Father (John 20). Jesus Christ is the first of the firstfruits.

“And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings” (Leviticus 23:14).

Anciently, until the wave-sheaf offering (picturing Christ) was waved before God, the spring harvest could not begin. Likewise, the spiritual spring harvest could not begin until Christ had qualified to replace Satan, been beaten and crucified for our sins, and resurrected—or born into the God Family—making possible our birth into God’s Family.

Several weeks after the wave-sheaf offering, on the day of Pentecost, two wave loaves (picturing those called by God during both Old and New Testament times) were offered before God (verses 15-17, 20). The end of verse 17 states that they are firstfruits too!

The firstfruits, those called out today, are part of the same spiritual harvest as Jesus Christ. God does not consider it a separate harvest. The spring harvest began with Christ, and it will end when the firstfruits are also born into the Family and accepted before God the Father!

These Old Testament verses show that Christ considers Himself part of the firstfruits. He is the first of the firstfruits. A New Testament scripture also shows these amazing parallels: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits [Greek: a firstfruit] of them that slept. … But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits [or Christ, a firstfruit]; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Corinthians 15:20,23).

Christ, through these scriptures, does not distance Himself from His firstfruits. Since He came in human form—conquering Satan’s government for all humanity, making human salvation possible—He was considered the first of this firstfruits group. He is the firstborn among them (Romans 8:29). He is their pioneer—their leader.

All One Vine

In John 15:1, Christ uses a vine and a husbandman to draw an analogy about the Son and the Father: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” Where does the Church fit in? Is it another, separate vine? “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (verse 5). Christ is the vine, and the firstfruits are part of the same vine. This is how connected Christ considers us with Him.

And why is there such a connection between Christ and the Church? “… As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me” (verse 4). If there was no such connection, we could do nothing.

All One Body

Another closely related analogy is found in 1 Corinthians 12. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many” (verses 12-14). The rest of the chapter continues with the various functions of these many members. A body, though having many parts and members, is still one body—Christ’s Body.

Christ and the Church make up the same Body. Notice an important distinction here, as was the case also with the vine-and-branches analogy: “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18). Just as you cannot separate a head from a body and have the body continue to live, so also is the strong connection between Christ and the Church of called-out ones! He is the “firstborn from the dead,” Paul writes here—alluding to our spiritual birth at the end of the same harvest. As the firstborn, Christ is therefore the Head of the Body—the one with “preeminence” over the other firstfruits.

Ephesians 1 carries this analogy further: “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (verses 22-23).

Same Spiritual Temple

Paul then moves into another compelling parallel in chapter 2. “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord” (verses 19-21).

Thus the Church is all part of the same body with Christ, the same vine with Christ, the same firstfruits harvest with Christ, and the same spiritual building with Christ. Of course, in all these things, Christ has “the preeminence”—being the Head of the Body, the main vine, the first of the firstfruits harvest in time sequence, and the chief cornerstone of the foundation. Still, the firstfruits are part of the same structure with Christ!

“One Flesh”

Later in Ephesians, Paul goes back to the head-and-body analogy to draw another amazing connection—perhaps the most astounding of all: that the Church is the Bride of Christ.

“For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones” (Ephesians 5:30). This is referring back to Adam and Eve, when Eve was made out of Adam’s flesh and bones (Genesis 2:22-24). This is how close this connection is between Christ and His Church—how much the Church IS His body, His flesh, His bones!

“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body” (Ephesians 5:23). The husband-wife relationship, though showing the important distinction between Christ and the Church, still also draws many strong connections between the two.

“So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh” (verses 28-31).

What is this “one flesh” concept really about? “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (verse 32). What the husband and wife typify physically is only a type of this great unity between Christ and His Bride.

Same Battle

What inspiring parallels concerning our connection with the living Christ! But why?

Because Christ came in the flesh to do what man should have done in the first place! He came as the second Adam and qualified to replace Satan as ruler of Earth. And those called as firstfruits are also called upon to qualify to replace Satan—and thus rule with Christ.

Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in Mystery of the Ages: “… In order for Christ to restore God’s government over the Earth, He would need with and under Him a qualified and organized personnel of God beings—all having rejected Satan’s false way and having proved their loyalty to the government and righteous ways of God! God’s Church was designed in His supreme master plan to prepare that dedicated and organized personnel of God beings.”

Christ qualified throughout His lifetime to replace Satan the devil as Earth’s ruler. There was one defining moment to that qualification—a battle which Mr. Armstrong in Mystery of the Ages called “The titanic battle of the ages.”

Mr. Armstrong wrote about Jesus’s victory in this battle: “Now the Son of God resisted and conquered Satan—had qualified to reestablish God’s government and set up the Kingdom of God on the Earth! But now the Church must also qualify to rule with Him!” Mr. Armstrong also wrote, “Satan slunk away defeated. But Satan did not give up. Nor has he given up yet. He battles against God’s Church still today!”

We face the same battle Christ faced—another remarkable, more sobering parallel. As Christ qualified to restore God’s government to Earth through a titanic battle of the ages, the same battle still rages on in the Church of God—in our individual lives. Though not on the same scale, of course, we have our own titanic battles, as did Christ!

Satan’s dethroning is sure. We battle not to ensure Satan’s dethroning, but to ensure our place with Christ and the others who have already qualified as that trained personnel of God beings.

Kings and Priests

Astoundingly, Scripture shows that while God requires us to battle as Christ did, He also rewards us similarly!

A specific group of the firstfruits are promised this: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21). This is to those who overcome the Laodicean rebellion and remain Philadelphian. They overcome and qualify, it says here, as Christ did. Thus, they sit with Christ in His throne!

A throne denotes a government. These people had to conquer Satan’s influence—his ways. And because they did that, showing submission to God’s government, they are rewarded with rulership in that government—on the same throne as Christ.

Another such reward is found in Revelation 1:6: “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” Though it says Church members are already kings and priests, this will be completely firmed up when they are born into God’s Family as spirit beings.

The parallels should be evident. Elsewhere in Revelation, Christ is called the “King of kings” (Revelation 19:16). He is a King, and the firstfruits are kings! In Hebrews 4:15, Christ is called our High Priest. He is a Priest, and the firstfruits are priests!

Co-Saviors

In Mystery of the Ages, Mr. Armstrong highlighted a most stirring reward shared between Christ and His Bride: “Jesus Christ is the first of the firstfruits. He is the firstborn of many brethren (1 Corinthians 15:23; Romans 8:29). The Church is being called to be changed, developed in character, and finally born at Christ’s Second Coming as God beings, to be kings and priests under Christ when He will set His hand to save the world. In a sense, then, the Church shall become co-saviors with Christ.”

Mr. Armstrong explained how the Church will fulfill this responsibility: “Two things basically were required of Christ to save the world. First it was necessary for Him, who was the Maker of us all, to die for all, thus paying the death penalty in our stead. No one could do this but Jesus Christ alone.

“But many have not realized that we are not saved by the blood of Christ. … [W]e are reconciled to God the Father by the death of Christ, but we shall be saved by His life—by the resurrection. … But the world must look for salvation through His life after His resurrection. … After we [the firstfruits] have attained to the resurrection of the dead, as the wife of the Son of God, and members of the God Family, we shall be not only heirs and co-heirs with Christ, but in a sense, co-saviors. …

“As kings and priests, the Church in the resurrection will be co-rulers under Christ in restoring the government of God over all nations. But we shall also be, as priests, co-saviors with Him in saving the world” (ibid.). How utterly wondrous!

Christ wants us in that close relationship with Him. He exalts His Bride. He wants us to overcome as He did. He wants us to share His throne. He wants us to turn completely away from and conquer Satan’s way, accepting His perfect way. Then the spring harvest will be complete, and God will be ready to begin the great fall harvest. God can set His hand to save and harvest the world through Christ and those co-saviors.

Joint-Heirs of All Things

Hebrews 1:2 calls Jesus Christ “heir of all things.” Because He succeeded in what He came to Earth to do, He qualified to inherit the entire universe.

If all these parallels are true to this point, could it be that the firstfruits will receive the same reward—to inherit all things as well?

“But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? … Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him” (Hebrews 2:6, 8). The firstfruits are soon to inherit all things, just as Christ is inheritor of all things!

Paul draws these inspiring parallels for Church members in Romans 8: They will be resurrected by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (verse 11), and they are children of God, as Christ was also the Son of God (verse 16).

Now notice the paramount of all parallels between Christ and the firstfruits: “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (verse 17).

That is what both the Days of Unleavened Bread and the feast of Pentecost are all about! Notice, as joint-heirs with Christ, the connections go even into the kind of trials we have—as we have seen. We “suffer with him”—which certainly would include overcoming as Christ did, battling Satan as Christ did, qualifying as Christ did.

And because we suffer together, we will also be Glorified together! And not only to be given the same glory as Christ, but the same inheritance: “all things”! The universe!

What inspiring parallels between Christ and the Church—in purpose, responsibility and reward. What a vision. Let us strive to be more like the Being with whom we have so much in common—the sheaf of the firstfruits, the vine, the Head of the Body, the chief cornerstone, the Husband. To walk “as he walked,” to become pure “as he is pure,” as we await our glorious harvest—a time when we no longer will be joint-heirs, but rather joint-inheritors with Christ!