The Master himself will give the command. Archangel
thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in
Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at
the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh,
we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with
the Master. So reassure one another with these words. – 1 Thessalonians
4:16-18, MSG
…To the one who overcomes I will give access to feast on
the fruit of the Tree of Life that is found in the paradise of God. – Revelation
2:7, TPT
…To everyone who is victorious I will let him
feast on the hidden manna and give him a shining white
stone. And written upon the white stone is inscribed his new name, known only to
the one who receives it. – Revelation 2:17, TPT
To everyone who is victorious and continues to do my works to
the very end I will give you authority over the nations – Revelation 2:26,
TPT
And the one who experiences victory will be
dressed in white robes and I will never, no never erase your name from the Book
of Life. I will acknowledge your name before my Father and his angels. –
Revelation 3:5, TPT
For the one who is
victorious, I will make you to be a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, permanently secure. I will write on you the name
of my God and the name of the city of my God—the New Jerusalem, descending from
my God out of heaven. And I’ll write my own name on you. – Revelation 3:12, TPT
And to the one who conquers I will give the privilege of
sitting with me on my throne, just as I conquered and sat down with my Father
on his throne. – Revelation 3:21, TPT
The Bride of Christ (the
collective Body of His Saints) is the prophesied Barley Harvest of Overcomers (Victorious
Conquerors) – the glorified firstfruits who are raptured before the Tribulation
Period begins.
The Non-overcoming Carnal
Believers are the Tribulation Period’s Wheat because they resemble Tares. These
Wheat believers are the ones whohave not cooperated with the Holy Spirit’s sanctification process (have
not allowed Him to gradually change them into the image of Christ).
Prophetically speaking, the Barley Harvest represents the first of God’s three end-time Harvests and, thus, part of the first resurrection. The Scripture refers to these saints as “overcomers.” Additionally, God’s first three feast days – Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits – spiritually represent the three stages of salvation: 1. justification (Passover), 2. sanctification (Unleavened Bread), and 3. glorification (First Fruits). Just as Jesus Christ was the first holy and saintly Barley Harvest Overcomer to be resurrected from the dead as the Barley First Fruits of the greater Barley Harvest to come, the Bride of Christ also represents the rest of the holy and saintly Barley Harvest of Overcomers.
It is written that only Christ’s
holy and saintly overcomers – the spiritually mature believes who are transformed
into the image of Christ – will either be resurrected from the dead as part of the
first resurrection or raptured alive BOTH happening during the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.
These are the saints who will rule and reign on the earth during Jesus Christ’s
millennial reign. Please note that no matter if God is speaking literally or figuratively,
it also is written that the Barley Overcomers (symbolizing the barley grain
that always is planted AFTER the Wheat) is always harvested before the Wheat.
The natural (physical)
and spiritual orders of the grain harvests are why the Wheat Harvest represents
“carnal believers who today are mostly ‘Christian’ churchgoers.” These carnal believers
are the end-time gathered Gentile nations. Indeed, Christ’s Gospels’ description
of the gathered nations is a picture of God’s Wheat Harvest (see Matthew
25:32, Mark 13:27). It is written that all nations will come to know the
Lord and serve Him.
This second harvest speaks of those believers who were justified by faith, but either they did not go through or did not submit to the Holy Spirit’s sanctification process. Many of these carnal believers will also be first resurrection believers, but just barely. They will be saved but have the smell of smoke on them. Furthermore, the alive end-time Wheat (carnal) believers will need to be shifted like wheat in order to become fully sanctified so that they can wear God’s Divine Nature and Character (be glorified). Unfortunately, they will be the beheaded Tribulation martyrs.
Carnal believers who are Wheat still have some rebellion or lawlessness in
their lives that must be purged by the Fire of God (the Holy Spirit). The only
way for this purging to happen is for this Wheat to be exposed to the Antichrist’s
wrath during the prophesied end-time Tribulation. The believers who are part of
the Wheat Harvest will be brought forth in the second resurrection (Tribulation
Period’s Rapture) to be glorified “ yet so as through fire.” The apostle Paul
writes:
Remember, there is only one foundation, the one
already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building
materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or
inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and
rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine;
if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.
– 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, MSG
If Christ’s believers are not saintly overcomers – victorious
over the flesh, the world, and the devil – they are
not Christ’s Barley Bride. It is only with the aid of the Holy Spirit that
saints who become overcomers are able to control their flesh, conquer the
corrupt world systems, and defeat God’s enemy the Devil. Selah (pause and
calmly think about that)!
NOTE: God established that three of His seven commanded appointed times (feast days) would be associated with two different grain harvests and one fruit of the vine harvest that took place annually in Israel. The barley grain ripens first around the time of First Fruits, the wheat grain ripens later around the time of Pentecost, and the grapes from the vine ripen last just prior to the feast of Tabernacles. Moreover, God established that these three crops (barley, wheat, and grapes) would also depict, spiritually speaking, three classes of people. The Barley represents the holy and saintly overcomers, the Wheat represents the carnal believers, and the Grapes mostly represent the unsaved unbelievers.
Many people are familiar with the Bible’s passages that deal with Jesus explaining to Nicodemus why he must be born again, yet many of these same people are still blind about their own born-again condition. They are unaware that being redeemed and being born again are not synonymous. They also simply do not understand that being born again (regenerated) is an imperative. In other words, they fail to understand that their new birth has to be achieved before their salvation can be received.
Jesus teaches Nicodemus that, unless his human spirit is changed so that he can begin his life anew, he will not be able to enter into Heaven. To make sure that Nicodemus thoroughly understands the importance of Jesus’ born again command, Jesus adds, “…The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born again of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven” (John 3:5-6, NLT).
Now although many theologians teach that the “water” Jesus refers to in John 3:5 is the physical birth (human beings’ first birth), which is accompanied by a flow of watery amniotic fluid, in truth, the “water”Jesus is making a reference to is the spiritual cleansing performed by the washing of the Word of God. Since the Word of God also is called the Living Water of Jesus the Christ, then Jesus the Christ is saying that God’s Holy Spirit will use the Living Water to perform the necessary regeneration that human beings must experience before God’s spiritual purification (sanctification) process can continue in them. Thus, human beings’ dead spirits first must be born again before people can become spiritual, but the only way for human beings to be born again is for them to experience the rebirth of their human spirits that only God’s Grace, which is activated by the power of His Holy Spirit, can make happen. Indeed, no man or woman can become spiritualwithout first experiencing the regenerating operation of the Grace of God and the power of His Holy Spirit that work together, simultaneously, in order to create humans’ new birth status.
Unfortunately, there are far too many believers, in Christian churches and ministries, who are using the term “born again” to refer to “something” that human beings do under their own strength, power, and predilection; they insist that being born again is a decision, or a commitment, or a rededication they make. However, as already stated, the new birth that Jesus the Christ speaks about is “something” that only the Grace and Power of Godcanmake happen. Consequently, a person is not born again because he or she confesses, repents, believes and accepts, but a person confesses, repents, believes and accepts because God’s Holy Spirit already has regenerated him or her! Regeneration, then, is solely the work of God’s Grace through the power of His Holy Spirit, and not the work of men and women!
Since being born again is wholly, completely, and supremely because of God’s Holy Spirit power and His marvelous Grace, by God’s design, humans are not participating in their new birth, because nothing they do, say or think can influence their regeneration. Once their human spirits experience the new birth, then the Holy Spirit is able to convict them about their need to be aware of their sins, to accept responsibility for their sins, and to confess (agree with God about) their sin-guilt awareness (an awareness of their born in sin nature). Therefore, it is during the initial and subsequent Holy Spirit convictions that follow individuals’ born again experience that humans become active participants in God’s plan of redemption.
Once again, individuals’ active participation in their own salvation begins immediately after their spiritually dead human spirits (their spiritual hearts) have been regenerated (reborn). It is at this point in God’s redemption plan that people sincerely can confess their awareness of and accountability for their sins, confess their specific sins, repent their specific sins, confess that they believe in the Lord Jesus the Christ, and accept Him as their personal Savior. Their confessions, belief and acceptance will bring about their justification. After they have been justified by Jesus the Christ’s righteousness, which means they have been put in right standing with God, the Holy Spirit who is now inside them is able to begin to sanctify (transform) them into the image of Christ. However, if believers do not cooperate with the Holy Spirit (participate in His sanctification process), the Holy Spirit cannot mature believers’ born-again spirits and, thus, He will not be able to change the way their unregenerate (stubborn) minds think!
So, what does being spiritual really mean? To a true believer, being spiritual means being born again by the Grace of God and the mighty working power of the Holy Spirit so that the indwelling and infilling Holy Spirit can begin and conclude the sanctifying process of spiritually maturing believers in their faith. Once again, no person can become spiritualwithout first experiencing God’s Grace and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, which work in tandem.
Finally, being spiritual means that a born again, saved believer now is more concerned about the well-being of his or her soul, the Mercy and Grace of God, and the importance of eternity, as opposed to his or her carnal concerns about the pleasures of the flesh; the profits of money, fame, and material possessions; the restrictions of time; and/or the limitations of the five senses (seeing, tasting, feeling, smelling, and hearing). In essence, truly spiritual beings are those who have been reconnected to their Creator and Father God through their initial new birth and their subsequent justification. Moreover, their new birth and justification are Creator, Father God’s redemption plan experiences that permit spiritual beings not only to be able to have a Father-child relationship but also to be able to fellowship with their Father God (who is Spirit) by worshipping Him in Spirit and Truth.
