During the Feast of First Fruits in ancient Israel, the Israelites would take the first fruit of their spring harvest and offer it to God, thus sanctifying their whole harvest (Leviticus 23:9-14). Consider this, in the spring, the earth that looked dead during the winter, suddenly comes to life! In the same way, Jesus was dead, but supernaturally came back to life (on First Fruits) and ascended to the Father as “the first fruits of those raised from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:20,23).