In Fact

1 Corinthians 15:20-23 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.  
 
PAUL gets to the truth of his point. Jesus is risen. Case closed. Don’t argue about the obvious. Accept it. Believe it. Live it.
   What does it mean Jesus is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep? It’s a common description of Jesus’ resurrection, used seven times in the New Testament. Firstfruits comes from the first grain offering God commanded the Jews to bring to him in Exodus 23:19 “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.” and Leviticus 23:10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.”  The Feast of Firstfruits celebrated the first fruits of the harvest. They were to be offered to God with the expectation God would bless the harvest with much more. It correlated with Pentecost to remember the giving of the Law. It is no accident the Holy Spirit delivered the firstfruits of the church through the apostles on Pentecost.
   Jesus, of course, is the sacrificial Lamb of God, offered to the Father. His resurrection is the beginning of the harvest of the Kingdom of God on earth into eternity. He is the first, the best offering to the Father. Any who die in Christ are gathered into the same eternal harvest.
   Because Jesus is the firstfruit of the resurrection, he reversed Adam’s curse of death. Jesus’ offering brought mankind into God’s life blessing. Born into Adam’s sin nature, we can now be made alive through the death and resurrection of the one man, Jesus Christ.
          Verse 23 speaks to the order of Jesus’ Second Coming Paul wrote in 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Christ will come with the souls of the saved who are in Heaven. The dead will rise to meet him and be formed anew with their souls. Those alive will then join with Christ and the resurrected bodies. No “rising” or entrance into Heaven will occur before Jesus comes again. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1) including the coming of the Christ and resurrection of the dead. You can trust you will rise into Heaven if you follow the firstfruits of resurrection.