(B) These 144k were redeemed from among men)
(C) Being firstfruits (plural) onto God & to the Lamb. These were the 1st to die on Christ's behalf & after Christ the 1st to be resurrected
There is no Scripture of the firstfruits of Christ being those who first die in Christ.
And the context of the first 144,000 to die in Christ, being all Jews, means the first 144,000 would need die in Christ
before the conversion of Cornelius household. Otherwise, the gospel is once again Judaized to exclude the Gentiles.
And if all the first 144,000 must die before recorded Gentile conversion, in order to be all Jews, then that excludes the apostles that died later. As well as contradcitng their own testimony of also being the firstfruits of God in Christ Jesus:
Jas 1:18
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
We see of course that the firstfruits of His creatures, are all the newborn creatures in Christ Jesus, without respect to Jew or Gentile.
Rom 8:23
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
We see here in the Scriptures, that the firstfruits are of the Spirit,
and of the resurrection of the body. All them that
have the firstfruits, without respect of persons, are also them that
are the firstfruits:
1Co 16:15
I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)
And finally, the resurrection of all the firstfruits includes all that die in Christ, and them remaining alive on earth at the Lord's return:
1Co 15:23
But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
Not at the first 144,000 to die in the Lord.
The Scriptural firstfruits of Christ are: 1. All them receiving the firstfruits of the Spirit. 2. All them begotten of God in Christ Jesus 3. All them at Christ's coming.
(B) These 144k were redeemed from among men)
(C) Being firstfruits (plural) onto God & to the Lamb. These were the 1st to die on Christ's behalf & after Christ the 1st to be resurrected
It is true that all who die in Christ, and them that remain alive at His return, are the first to be resurrected and changed together after Christ Himself. In this, they are the firstfruits of the resurrection of the body after the man Christ Jesus.
Which will include all OT saints that died in the LORD by faith:
1Co 15:20
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
Herod doesn't kill the male children under 2 in Bethlehem only. He has every 2 yr male & under killed in ALL THE COASTS THEREOF.
Rev 14:5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
(PARSING: The 144k were all virgins without fault & in their mouth was found NO GUILE. Remember killed at 2 years old or younger)
Once again, as with all the redeemed saints partaking of the firstfruits of the Spirit, so are all babes in Christ purged of guile, deceit, and without fault before God:
1Pe 2:1
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
Jde 1:24
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Rev 14:4
These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
The 144,000 are the fulness of the body of Christ at His coming, with resurrected bodies of every redeemed, firstfruit, guileless, and faultless saint in Christ Jesus, the Jew first, and also the Greek.
1 Cor 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
(MY NOTE: Christ is resurrected 1st)
Matt 27:50 Jesus dies, Vs 51 the Temple is ripped in two, Vs 52 Graves are opened, Vs 53 After Jesus resurrection MANY CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE!
I believe the 1st that were killed become, not only a 1st fruits wave offering unto the Father. But, the 1st friut's of the many to resurrect after Jesus.
The many, being 144,000. And in the first resurrection of the dead after Jesus Christ.
First: You're calling the OT saints coming out of the graves, a bodily resurrection and redemption of the body. If so, there are several recorded bodily resurrections
before Jesus Christ, most notably Lazarus, but also several others in OT Scripture.
Therefore, since Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of resurrected bodies, then those OT saints coming out of graves after Jesus' resurrection, were not bodily resurrected from the dead.
If the firstfruits are only the first 144,000 Jews dying in Christ,
after His resurrection. Then that excludes all OT saints that also died in the LORD; Which includes the murdered Jewish babes and little children before Jesus' crucifixion. (As well as those Hebrew babes murdered by Pharaoh...)
Second: The first blessed resurrection of the dead in Christ, will also be reigning with Him over the nations for a thousand years. Once again, that includes
all them overcoming in this life, even as He overcame:
Rev 2:26
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Including those converted Greeks of Thyatira.
There is no resurrection of the dead in Christ, before the first resurrection of the dead in Christ, who will reign with Christ a thousand years. And they promise is made to every overcoming Christian of every church of God, not just that of Thyatira, nor that of Jews alone...