[The Harvest Parables: Foundational Paradigm to
Understanding the End Time “Rapture”]
We need to
understand God's end-time pattern for the "harvest" if we are going to
fit the pieces into the over all picture. Jesus emphatically declared in
Mt. 13:39 that "the harvest is the end of the age (not "world," as it is
in the King James version). It is quite common for the word "harvest" to
be used to denote the "winning of souls" to Christ. From a limited perspective, I believe this is a
legitimate analogy. However, scripturally speaking, we are dealing with
epochal events which consummate six thousand years of human history, and
open a new cycle and dimension of God's dealings with the earth and its
inhabitants. The very metaphor of a "harvest" implies that seeds have
been planted, and have grown to maturity over a process of time under
the right conditions. Then follows the reaping and threshing that they
might be transported to another place. Even so, the Lord's harvest
involves the planting of His word-seed in the soil of human hearts
(Mt. 13:19,23) followed by the right conditions for growth to maturity, in order that a great multitude of
humans will be prepared for transport to another realm (the heavenly
Kingdom) by having their physical bodies glorified at the close of this
age.
- [Three Stages of Salvation Revealed in the
Parable of the Sower]
In several of His
parables, Jesus used the figure of the harvest to portray truths of His
spiritual Kingdom. Mt. 13:3-9 records the parable of the Sower and Jesus
gives the interpretation in Mt. 13:.8-23. I will not go into
detail, but simply state that the parable speaks of the different kinds
of soils (human hearts) and the different degrees of response
to the Word of God, typified by the 30, 60 and 100 fold. In Mark's
account of the same parable, Jesus follows with the statement, "Do you
not understand THIS parable? How then will you understand all parables?"
(Mk. 4:13). In other words, this is the KEY parable. It unlocks the
other parables.
For my purpose
here, I will just focus on one verse - Mt. 13:23, where Jesus states
that the seed on the good ground brought forth "some a hundred, some
sixty, some thirty fold." Thus declaring that there are THREE groups or
categories of Christians and each of these three groups has a different
destiny. This can be established and amplified on by numerous other
teachings of Jesus, as well as seen in many pattern truths in the Old
Testament. That is beyond the scope, however, of what I want to cover in
this article, I will just quote one more parable given by Jesus to focus
on the "maturity" question raised by the Canadian reader. I will quote
in part Mark 4:26-29: "The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter
seed on the ground. . . for the earth yields crops by itself; first the
blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But, when
the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the
harvest has come." Notice the three groups again. The "blade"
corresponds to the 30 fold Christian, "the head" (but still green and
partially filled) corresponds to the 60 fold, and the "full" (ripe)
grain in the head corresponds to the 100 fold. Not only do we have
pictured here the three categories of Christians, but also three stages
of progress or growth.
In order to
better understand the end time harvest picture, and just WHO is to be
"harvested," I want to share briefly what takes place in the life of a
believer in Christ in each of these progressive stages. The "thirty
fold" or "blade" Christian is an intellectual believer only. Those in
this category give "mental assent" to the truths of Christ, and believe
that they should at least TRY to live somewhat of a respectable life.
This group forms the bulk of church people in the world today. But there
is no "seed" in a blade; therefore the thirty-fold have NOT been "born
of the incorruptible seed" of Jesus Christ (I Pet. 1:23). Theirs is but
a provisional salvation, conditioned upon
their continued going TOWARDS Christ. Such, said Jesus, would by no
means be cast out (John 6:37). However, they can (and many do) "drawback
to perdition" (He. 10:39) returning to their former ways (II Pet.
2:20-22). The blades who fail to follow through are pictured in the
parable of the Sower as those which "sprang up," but were either
"scorched out" by tribulation or persecution (Mt. 13:5-6, 20-21) or
"choked out" by the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches
(Mt. 13:7, 22).
The "sixty-fold"
are the HEART receivers (John 1:12-13). They have come to a deep seated
repentance and have invited Christ to "come in" (Rev. 3:20) being "born
anew" (John 3:3) of His deathless life seed, which is engrafted into the
soul (James 1:21) causing them to pass from death to life (John 5:24).
Theirs is a secured salvation which can never be lost (John 10:28-29).
But pause now and THINK! This second stage in Mark 4:28 is called the
"head" (or "ear" as it is rendered the King James Version). But in the
context the clear implication is that the head of grain is yet
green and not fully developed. It is not
ready to be harvested (removed) from the earth realm (either by
translation or out-resurrection) into the heavenly or glorified realm.
The salvation of the thirty-fold or sixty-fold groups has nothing to do
with heaven. Theirs is but to be preserved to remain on earth, or to be
resurrected back to earth to continue to progress in God's plan.
Their harvest from physical to glorified bodies is yet far into the
future (a thousand years or more). The exception will be those now
living who let the Lord prepare them in the coming tribulation for the
harvest at the close of this age, now near at hand.
It is the
hundred-fold who have the potential to become the full (ripe) grain in
the head (Mk. 4:28) Christian, ready for harvest. That which introduces one into the
hundredfold estate is the Holy Spirit baptism (Mt. 3:11, John
1:33). No, I am NOT referring to speaking in tongues, although that gift
may or may not accompany the experience. The one who is immersed in the
fire of God's Spirit does not need a special sign as an evidence of
something that is in itself a life-transforming encounter with the
living Christ. When properly understood
and received according to the Divine pattern
and intent, this infusion sanctifies the
human tabernacle with the glory of the Lord (Ex. 29:43), purging the
heart from bondage to carnality, being the "circumcision made without
hands by the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, by the
circumcision of Christ" (Col. 2:11).
This estate of Spirit-sanctification, however, must
be maintained by whole-hearted devotion to Christ and separation to Him. There must also be continued testing,
proving, overcoming, and spiritual growth before being approved for the
harvest. That approval is spoken of in James 1:12, "Blessed is the man
who endures temptation, for when he has been proved, he will receive the
crown of Life which the Lord has promised to those that love Him." That
"CROWN of life" is life on the glorified plane, in contrast to the
earthly. Read I Cor. 9:24-27, and note that Paul indicates he is
"running" and "fighting" for that crown, lest he should be disqualified
and lose out on that prize.
[The Two-Stage Rapture Defined by the Harvest
Principle]
Look with me
briefly at a parable in Mt. 13:24-30. Jesus speaks of the tares (the
counterfeit) growing together with the grain until the harvest. Then the tares are gathered
in bundles to be burned (in the vials of wrath at the close of the
tribulation), but the wheat is gathered into
the heavenly barn. Notice it is only the ripened wheat (100 fold) that
is taken, not the blades (30 fold) or the partially filled green heads
(60 fold). Do you go out to your garden or field and pick blades that
are just sprouting up? Or pluck half filled ears or heads to take into
your house? Or do you wait for the ripe
grain, corn, etc. to harvest for use? Is not God at least as smart as
man? You answer that! The ripe grain (100 fold) will be gathered into
the heavenly barn (kingdom) in two groups. First the "first fruits" at
the beginning of the tribulation, and then the "main harvest" at the
close of the tribulation.
This two-fold
harvest is graphically portrayed in Rev. 14:1-5 and 14:14-16. In between (14:6-13) there are three angels who
give three proclamations relating to the great tribulation
conditions:
1. the preaching
of the everlasting gospel,
2. the fall of
Babylon, and
3. the warning
against being subservient to the beast and his image.
Notice that only
after the main harvest has been gathered (14:14-16) do we see the vine
of the earth (the wicked) cast into the "wine press of the wrath of God"
(14:17-20). This encompasses the seven vials of wrath described in Rev.
16:1-21.
[Paul’s Limited Rapture Teaching Seen within the
Harvest Paradigm]
With the
foregoing background in the foundational teachings of Jesus, I believe
we can now fit Paul's "in part" understanding into the whole picture,
keeping in mind that when Paul wrote, the complete picture of
the end-time harvest had not yet been given by the One who is "The First
and the Last" (Rev. 1:11). What Paul writes in I Thess. 4:13-18 must be
placed at the end of the tribulation when
the main harvest takes place, for at that time a great multitude of the
elect (100 fold) will be glorified, both of those whose bodies are
"asleep in Jesus" and those who are alive and remain (having survived
the great tribulation). In the chronology of the harvest in Rev. 14,
this would be encompassed in 14:14-16.
It becomes
evident by the visions given to John in the book of Revelation that
there will be martyrs during the great tribulation. I point this out here because it relates to the main harvest picture. In Rev.
20:4-5 John says, "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, AND I saw
the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and
for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and
had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they
LIVED and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. This is the FIRST
resurrection."
Now please notice
carefully. The first statement in Rev. 20:4 would refer to those
translated and glorified without experiencing death. Then in the next
statement in the same verse, John sees the SOULS of those who had been
martyred; that is, he saw these saints clothed in their saved
(preserved) soul bodies, before their
physical bodies are restored to them (compare Rev. 6:9). But in the
next statement he says, "and they LIVED."
The Amplified version says, "and they LIVED AGAIN." This would refer to
the resurrection and glorification of their physical bodies. Then in
Rev. 20:5, John says, "This is the FIRST resurrection." It is obvious
there can be more resurrections after the first, but certainly none before. The context of Rev. 20:4-6 clearly
shows that this first resurrection comes AFTER the tribulation. I point
this out because of the teaching of many evangelical
fundamentalists that the resurrection and translation which Paul
describes in I Thess. 4:13-15 takes place at the beginning of the
tribulation. Impossible!! Otherwise the resurrection described in Rev.
20:4 would NOT be the first! This becomes conclusive, as far as I am
concerned, that Paul's Thessalonian passage must be placed at the end of the tribulation. It also reinforces the
fact that the "first fruits" of Rev. 14:1-5 are to be taken from among
the LIVING only.