Are the Jewish saints raised after Christ's resurrection the firstfruits?
Yes. The Jewish saints resurrected right after Christ are the firstfruits, completing the plural firstfruits. Christ is the firstfruit, but the feast of firstfruits required many stems gathered into a sheaf, not one. Those saints were the sampling offering presented to the priest, distinct from the later church-age harvest.
Les teaches that Christ was the first to ever be resurrected, which had never happened before. After His resurrection, these others could come forth and comprise a sheaf indicated in Leviticus, completing the plural word firstfruits. Had Christ come alone, He would have to be the firstfruit of resurrection, but it is not so. The feast day of firstfruits took not just one stem of grain but many, all sampling the crop to come, brought together in a sheaf and taken to the priest as an offering of firstfruits. Les feels these Jewish saints resurrected right after Christ comprise what we call the firstfruits. Later, 1 Corinthians 15:23 says every man is resurrected within his company; church-age saints are not resurrected with Old Testament saints and are not part of the firstfruits because that already happened. The harvest process: firstfruits taken as a sampling; then the main harvest, all but corners and gleanings; then what was left harvested last. Les uses Oklahoma wheat country as an illustration.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
More Questions
Who are the 'firstfruits of them that slept' Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians?
The believers who were resurrected and walked into Jerusalem in Matthew 27:52-53 were a sampling of believers who had died, and with Christ as the firstfruit they altogether became the firstfruits of them that slept.
Why does Paul call Christ the first fruits?
Paul's reference to Christ as first fruits is meant to use the Israeli system of harvest as an illustration of the resurrections that are coming.
What does Paul mean by calling Christ the firstfruits of those who have died in 1 Corinthians 15:20?
When Paul says Christ is 'the first fruits' of those who have died, he is speaking of something plural, not singular, because it involves many who have died.
What does Paul mean when he says Christ has become the firstfruits of those who have slept?
Paul says Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have slept or died.