There is a strange connection between New Beginnings and First Fruits and Nisan 17th. Yeshua was resurrected 3 days after his death on Nisan 14th on Nisan 17th on the 8th day. First Fruits and Resurrection Sunday was the greatest of all New Beginnings…

Let us consider the other New Beginnings

• Nisan 17, Noah’s Ark safely rested on Mt. Ararat (Gen 8:4) Note that the seventh month was later designated as the first month at the time of the Exodus (Ex. 12:2).

• Nisan 17, Hebrews entered Egypt (Exo 12:40-41) 430 years before deliverance.

• Nisan 17, Moses led the Israelites through the Parting of the Red Sea (Exo 3:18, 5:3)

• Nisan 17, Israel entered and ate the first fruit of the Promised Land (Joshua 5:10-12)

• Nisan 17, The cleansing of the Temple by Hezekiah (eight hundred years after entering the promised land. (2 Chronicles 29:1-28)

• Nisan 17, Queen Esther saved the Jews from Elimination (Esther 3:12, 5:1)

• Nisan 17, The Resurrection of Messiah

The odds of just two of these events both happening accidentally on the same day of the Hebrew year (360 days) are one in 129,000. The odds of these events all happening coincidentally on the same day of the Hebrew year are one in 783 quadrillions, 864 trillion, 876 Billion, 960 Million (783,864,876,960,000,000).

1. Noah’s Ark

Genesis 8:4 dates in a Hebrew Word Study: The Hebrew New Year begins in the month of Nisan (April of the contemporary calendar). However, there is another calendar that may have been used to account for the days of the Flood. This account is documented in an ancient Jewish commentary on the Genesis passage.

According to this ancient calendar, the ark rested on the mountain on precisely the same day that Jesus was resurrected from the tomb. Yes, that’s right. Thousands and thousands of years before the resurrection, God engineered history to point toward the pinnacle event of salvation. Just as the ancient judgment ended on the day the ark touched the ground, so the judgment of the restored world ended on the same day of the year when the tomb could not hold Him.

2. Entered Egypt

The Hebrews entered Egypt 430 years to the day they excited Egypt.

3. Crossing the Red Sea

Moses recorded the fact that Israel crossed the Red Sea and physically left the land of Egypt on the 17th of Nisan in Numbers 33:1-8: These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.2 And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. 3 And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; (Nisan) on the morrow after the Passover (still the 15th) the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. (Remember, Israel’s days start at sunset) 4 For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.5 And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. (Evening of the 15th) 6 And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. (Evening of 16th) 7 And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon: and they pitched before Migdol. (Evening of the 17th) 8 And they departed (morning of the 17th) from before Pi-hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah.”

4. Ate Fruit in Promised Land

Nisan 17 in 1445 BC (BR). On this same day, Israel makes the first camp at Succoth beginning the Exodus and their first day out of Egypt on the evening of Friday Nisan 17 as stated in Exodus 12:37-39. On this same date, 40 years later, Joshua would meet “the Commander of the army of the Lord” which begins Day 1 of the 7 day Battle of Jericho according to Joshua 5:13-6:5.

On Nisan 16 last day God rained Manna. On Nisan 17 Israel ate the first fruits of the promised land.

5. Hezekiah

Immediately upon becoming king, Hezekiah commenced a great religious reform. In eight days they had re-opened the great Temple of Solomon and cleansed it of defilement (2 Chronicles 29:1-17). The cleansing of the temple was not completed until the sixteenth day of the first month (Nisan)

6. Queen Esther

Haman had convinced the king to sign a decree to destroy the Hebrews (Esther 3:1-12). The decree went out on the 13th Nisan (Esther 3:12). Esther then proclaimed a three-day fast (Esther 4:16) for the 14th, 15th and 16th. On the 3rd day (5:1) Esther approached the king saying to herself ‘If I perish, I perish!’ (an attitude of death or resurrection… it’s in God’s hands!) On the 17th Nisan, the tables were turned on the enemy Haman and instead of the Jews being destroyed, his own life was taken!

7.Yeshua the Messiah

With the death of Jesus, all looked lost to His disciples and followers. Their Messiah was dead! The one they had placed all their hope in was gone and two of them headed out of town to Emmaus. The disciples, being Jewish, knew that God had told Moses that the first Sunday following the Sabbath after Passover would be the feast of Firstfruits. (See Lev 23:9-14). It was on this day that they were to offer to God the first-fruits of the harvest. And yet, even the disciples didn’t see that God was starting a new ‘first fruits’ on this day, the 17th Nisan. A ‘first fruits’ of those that would be raised from the dead!

Luke 23:1-8 “On the first day of the week (17th of Nisan), very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words.”

1 Cor 15:20-23 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

Like the defeat of the Egyptians and the death of Haman on this same day previously, this Sunday morning on Nisan 17th saw the resurrection of Jesus and the defeat of Satan!

Death had been turned into the life and defeat into victory! Like the two travelers on the road to Emmaus on that fateful Feast of First Fruits, could the opening of the scriptures cause our “hearts to burn.” Could this day not be an annual New Beginning for each of us?