The First Satisfying Bite

On a crisp September morning in Yakima Valley, Washington, orchard foreman Miguel Ruiz walks between rows of Honeycrisp apple trees and plucks a single fruit from the earliest ripening branch. He polishes it on his sleeve, takes a bite, and nods. That one apple tells him everything he needs to know. If this first fruit is sweet, firm, and ready, then the thousands of apples still hanging on every tree around him will follow. The harvest is guaranteed. One fruit promises the whole orchard.

Paul reaches for exactly this image when he calls the risen Christ "the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." In ancient Israel, the firstfruits offering wasn't just a nice gesture of gratitude — it was a declaration of certainty. You brought the first sheaf to the temple because it represented the entire harvest still coming. It was a down payment, a living guarantee.

When God raised Jesus from the dead on that first Easter morning, it wasn't an isolated miracle. It was Miguel's bite of the apple — the proof that the whole harvest will come in. Because Christ rose, every person united to Him will rise. Death, that last stubborn enemy, is not permanent. It is an orchard still ripening, waiting for the Owner to bring in every last fruit.

The firstfruits have been tasted. The Almighty has declared the harvest good. And what He starts, He finishes — in order, in fullness, until every enemy lies beneath His feet.