Hi, John and Doves,
Here are my thoughts about the Harvest phases
for redemption.
1.
As much as there as two comings of Christ,
and two resurrections (which have phases because the first
resurrection is subdivided in different times), I believe
that there will be two raptures (not including the rapture
of the Two Witnesses – “2W”). The Barley Harvest (the
sheaf of The first fruits) was Christ, probably
accompanied by the saints that were resurrected in Mt 27)
going to Heaven. I say that because the word Firstfruits
is in the plural, and I believe that Christ didn’t present
Himself to the Father alone. In Lev. 23:9-14, the Priest
had to offer and wave a Sheaf of Barley to God (that is,
not only a kernel symbolizing Christ, but a GROUP of
recently ripened grains of barley), on the morrow after
the Sabbath after Nisan 14th (Passover), that is, on the
first day of the week after Passover, Resurrection Day, in
which morning, at the exact time that the Priest was doing
that gesture in the field waving the Sheaf to God (or in
the Temple, I don’t know exactly where), Christ was going
up to the Father, with other saints. That would be the
antitype of the Sheaf of Grain (the type), which included
more than on kernel alone. In my opinion (based on
scriptural hints – which of course might be wrong), the
other that were presented to the Father with Christ, on
Resurrection Day, were the 144.000 Hebrew men, 12.000 from
each tribe.
Scripture says in Rev 14:4-5, about the 144K: “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.”
I believe that it’s a strong possibility that
these 144K COULD be babies and infants that were
slaughtered by Herod’s decree, or even joined by other
innocent babies that were killed or even aborted in other
times. Only that seems to justify the fact that they are
without fault before God and are virgins. With the
exception of Jesus, no other grown up person is sinless.
It’s a possibility that these 144k saints are without
fault, never told a lie and are virgin because they didn’t
reach the adult age.
So this is the first part of the Firstfruits of the
Harvest of Souls. Barley is the first type of grain
to get ripe in the agricultural practices in Israel in Old
Testament times. Isn’t it interesting that the 144K have
been with Jesus since He went to the Father a little while
after talking to Mary Magdalene on the same day He rose
(by the way, Jesus told her not to touch His body before
He went to the Father, but let Thomas touch Him before He
came back for the disciples). In Heaven, it seems that the
144K have been with Christ all the time. After all, “they
follow the Lamb wherever He goes”.
Regardless of this theory about the identity
of the 144K being feasible or wrong (of course I could be
wrong, it’s of paramount importance to remember that the
redemption process (which use the Harvests as analogy)
take place in a certain order (“tagma” in Greek, as
explained in 1 Co 15:23), which have phases. This
agricultural order is key for us to study and understand
the remainder of the redemption process – the remaining
harvests.
“For as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order (“tagma”): Christ the
firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his
coming.”
2.
The “falling away” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is
an inappropriate translation of the greek word apostasia,
which means a “separation”, a “departure”, and can even be
used (and is used in other passages about
marriage) to mean “divorce”. What I understand that Paul
means in the passage:
“Now we
implore you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ and our gathering together unto Him, for you not
quickly to be shaken in mind, nor to be troubled, neither
by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as if by us, as that
day of the Lord (which happens during the Tribulation – a day
of much suffering and tragedy on Earth and a day of much
joy and celebration in Heaven) is present.
No one should deceive you in any way, because it is not
until the apostasia (departure, Rapture) shall have
come first, and the man of lawlessness shall have
been revealed”… etc.
Note: above, between parentheses are my own
words
In short: First, the Departure or Rapture of
the Church. After that, the Man of Sin is revealed. Later,
some time after that (about five or six years), the Day of
the Lord.
In my view, the Bible clearly teaches a
pre-tribulational Rapture for the Church.
Scriptures say that the Church was not
destined to Wrath.
3.
I believe that The Wheat Harvest represents
the harvest of the Church (the Main Harvest),
the Bride of Christ, in a pre-tribulational rapture. I
believe all true believers who are alive will raptured
in this glorious and powerful event, when Christ Himself
will come to the clouds to receive us. The saints who are
dead will be resurrected before that. Pentecost
is the end of the Barley AND the Wheat Harvest. It
concludes the grain harvests. Check the Book of Ruth,
which the Jews even today read on the day they celebrate
Shavuot (Pentecost). Scriptures says, in Ruth 2:23: “So she kept
fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of
barley harvest AND of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her
mother in law”. Boaz is a type of Christ. Naomi is type of
Israel (who, by the way, before the marriage of her
daughter in law, never met Boaz in person during the story
in the book of Ruth, she heard about Boaz through Ruth’s
mouth). Ruth is type of the Bride or Christ - the
Church, mostly comprised by gentiles. The Book of Ruth is
clear that Ruth was at the feet of Boaz the Kinsman
Redeemer at the end of the harvest AND of the wheat
barley. That means Pentecost! Not the Feast of
Trumpets!
4.
Christ is the Lamb of God and the
Firstfruits. Today, it’s very easy for us to realize that
OF COURSE the Lamb of God would die on Passover (Nisan 14th),
be resting (His sinless body dead) on the Day of
Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15th) and be risen on
the Day of Firstfruits of the Barley Harvest (Nisan 16th),
because Christ is the Firstfruits. All these feast days
are in the Spring. Those were types perfectly
fulfilled. The following prophetic Feast is Pentecost.
Now comes the intriguing fact: Pentecost nowadays
is incorrectly counted. For many reasons, the
true scriptural calendar has been changed centuries ago.
Pentecost used to be a SUMMER feast. The wheat
harvest in the northern hemisphere has NEVER been in
Spring. It always happens by the last days of the 4th
Hebrew month. This is NATURE and can be confirmed by the
Department of Agriculture, for example. Pagan festivals
(“Lanmas”) for the wheat harvest are in the beginning of
August and can happen during the entire month of August. There
is no Wheat Harvest (of the seeds planted in Spring,
not Winter) in May or June, but in the end of July or
in the beginning of August, that is, in Summer. It
takes 4 months (not 3) for the wheat seed to get ripe.
Jesus Himself said in John 4:35: “Say not ye,
There are yet FOUR months, and THEN cometh harvest?
behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the
fields; for they are white already to harvest.”
Jeremiah also mentions SUMMER, not Spring: “The harvest
is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” There is no Wheat Harvest in Spring! Pentecost is the Feast the concludes the grain
harvests. The following harvests are fruit harvests.
5.
The reason that the Pentecost counting
nowadays falling in the 3rd month is the fact
that the lunisolar calendar has been abandoned, it has
only been used to calculate and set the beginning of the
months - period. The true Hebrew Sabbaths used to be
regulated by the phases of the moon, and also, there
used to be an extra day (which wasn’t neither a Sabbath
nor a work day, but a third category of day), called New
Moon day. This is scriptural. But everything has been
deturpated and the Sabbaths ended up being confounded with
the “Saturday” of our present Gregorian Calendar, which
has absolutely no relation to the phases of the moon.
With this happening, another issue that was also changed
was the counting of Pentecost. First, seven
(lunar) Sabbaths have to be counted. AFTER that,
from that point, 50 days should be counted. THEN, only
then, the day of Pentecost is FULLY come. This
only takes place in the end of the FOURTH Hebrew month.
Pentecost could fall on the 28th or the 29th
of the 4th Hebrew month (“Sivan”).
References:
http://creationcalendar.com/CalendarIssue/17-FeastOfWeeks.pdf
http://creationcalendar.com/CalendarIssue/17-3WitnessCalendarCount.pdf
http://www.creationcalendar.com/CalendarIssue/16-QT-WhatSeasonWheatHarvested.doc
http://lunarsabbath.info/id4.html
http://lunarsabbath.info/id20.html
http://lunarsabbath.info/id6.html
http://lunarsabbath.us/id9.html
http://lunarsabbath.info/id15.html
- This year (2019), the true
scriptural Pentecost will fall on JULY 31st or
AUGUST 1st (I'm not sure if it's on the 28th
or the 29th of the 4th Hebrew month - it depends
on there being an extra day in the previous months). I’m
not setting any date here, as we don’t know the
year. I’m just saying that these Hebrew dates (the 28th
or 29th of the Fourth Hebrew month) are, in
my perception and sincere understanding after much
study, the most probable dates for the Wheat Harvest,
i.e., the Rapture of the Church before the Tribulation,
whichever the year.
7.
I strongly believe that the Bride of Christ,
as Ruth, will be at the feet of her Redeemer by the end of
the barley AND wheat harvest, that is, I believe that, as
it was OBVIOUS that first three feasts were fulfilled precisely
on their respective Feast dates, it seems highly
probable for me that the Rapture of the Bride of Christ
will be fulfilled on the Feast of Pentecost (its
true scriptural date, not the wrong date that the Jews or
the Roman Catholic Church keep nowadays), the Fourth
Feast, in continuation of the prophetic calendar. One
might say that Pentecost was fulfilled by the birth of the
Church. But the birth of the Church on Pentecost in Acts 2
was not the final fulfillment of the Feast. Let’s
remember: The Priest had to offer and wave two
loaves of bread, made of leavened wheat from the new
grain. When the Church was born, nothing went UP. The Holy
Spirit came DOWN. But when the Church is raptured, the
Bride will go UP to Heaven (the antitype), just like the
type.
8.
I agree that the Feast of Trumpets will also
have a resurrection and rapture taking place. But that
other resurrection + rapture will be during the
Tribulation, probably one or two years before the Second
Coming of Christ, just before the unleashing of God’s
Wrath on Earth. Whilst Christ Himself will come to rapture
His bride before the tribulation (which I believe will be
on a Feast of Pentecost), the Tribulation Saints will be
resurrected and, together with those who live to the end
of tribulation without taking the mark of the Beast, will
be taken by Angels just before the pouring of
God’s Wrath, on a Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets
is not for the Church, who will be taken to Heaven long
before that day.
The second rapture will be prewrath, right
before the sixth trumpet, and will be for the Tribulation
Saints. I believe that because I truly believe that God
wouldn’t pour His wrath on tribulation saints that will be
still alive on Earth before He unleashes His Wrath. Every
time a country decides to declare war to another country,
its president first calls their ambassador and other
diplomats back, before any attack. Many tribulations
saints will die during the Tribulation, but that is not
God’s Wrath yet, it’s the wrath of Satan (Rev 12:12). God
will not unleash His Wrath while there are His people on
Earth. Those who are alive just before the pouring of
God’s Wrath will be rescued. That day is the Day of the
Lord on Earth. A day of extreme tragedy and sorrow for
evil men. But in Heaven, that day is the Day of Christ, a
day of immense joy and celebration for all the saints,
when The Judgment Seat of Christ will take place.
9.
In my opinion, Scriptures indicate that the
first Rapture will take place on the Feast of Weeks
(Pentecost), which has to do with the gentile Bride (Ruth
at the feet of her Kinsman’s Redeemer, Boaz, in the end of
the Wheat Harvest). The second Rapture (again, not
counting the Rapture of the 2W which appears to be only
for them – we don’t know), for the Tribulation Saints,
will be on a Feast of Trumpets. This is the only way
that so many passages that appear to be
pre-tribulational and others that appear to be
post-tribulational (but prewrath) reconcile. There
being (at least) TWO main raptures explains it all and
everything fits in harmony. Jesus even talks about a man “returning
from his wedding” (Luke 12:36). In this passage the
first rapture has already taken place and the Tribulation
Saints that are still alive at that point should be
watching, waiting for their rescue, which will be the
Second Rapture (Pre-Wrath). The passage even mentions a “third
watch”. Maybe other saints are rescued at the same
time that the 2 Witnesses (this exact point in the middle
of the Tribulation would then be the Second Rapture) and
the Prewrath Rapture would be the Third and final Rapture.
We don’t know, this is just speculation. We should always
remember that the redemption process takes place in
phases. After the Rapture of the Bride, other people will
be born, other people will come to Christ and will not
take the Mark of the Beast. This redemption process must
be dealt with.
10. By the way, I was reading the Book of Ruth
again, and came across the following verse (Ruth 4:9): “And Boaz
said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are
witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was
Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of
the hand of Naomi.” Notice that Boaz (a type of Christ) redeems
not only what belonged to Elimelech and Mahlon’s, but all
that was Chilion’s too (Orpah’s deceased husband). If Ruth
is a type of the Bride of Christ, it is possible
that her sister in law Orpah is a type of the Tribulation
Saints. I don’t know if that was the intention in the
story. It seems to be saying that Orpah was rescued and
redeemed too!
I believe that between the date of the
Rapture of the Church (which I’m calling the First
Rapture, for all true believers) and the beginning of the
Tribulation, there will be a gap of some weeks or even
months. The world will be very confused after the
disappearing of so many people, after the all its
consequences and also the operation of error (maybe
unbelievers supposing that it was an UFO abduction or
something like that), that they will probably appoint a
world leader to help manage all the confusion. I believe
this person will only emerge as obvious after the Church
is gone.
Let’s continue to watch, get right with God
and bring more people to Christ before the main Wheat
harvest, which appears to be when Pentecost is fully
come (28th or 29th of the Fourth Hebrew
month – “Tammuz”), be it this year or any other
coming year. I’m not saying that the Rapture
is going to happen in such or such year. Although it could
be very near, even this year. Let’s be ready anytime!
May God strengthen us with His power, mercy
and grace.
Please pray for me.
Eliane B