…the servants of the householder came and said unto him, ‘Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath come the tares?’ He said unto them, ‘An enemy hath done this.’ The servants said unto him, ‘Wilt thou then have us go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ~ Matthew 13:27-30, KJ21

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.  I have fed you with milk and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal. For if there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? ~ 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, KJ21

The Word of God teaches believers—in Christ’s day and in this century—about how important Barley is to the Kingdom of God’s economy (God’s sovereign plan for mankind). Several Scriptures imply that Barley is the perfect representation of the first resurrection’s firstfruits (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:23), which would include the raptured Bride of Christ—both the resurrected dead in Christ and the alive saints at His coming. Furthermore, since Christ arose from the grave on the Firstfruits feast day—the same day that the Jewish Temple priest waved a sheaf of Barley before God for His acceptance—this Divine Truth is why Barley also represents the resurrected Christ who is the firstfruits of those who have died (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20).

Now during biblical days, what was matchless about Barley was that it ripened in the spring before any other grains, and it did so without help from the Latter Rains. Barley also was a hardier grain than Wheat, because Barley was able to endure its harshest conditions—poor soil, less water, intemperate weather, and so forth—much better than Wheat. Perhaps the above facts are why Barley grew everywhere and in large amounts, or why Barley also was a healthy grain that resisted diseases. In fact, because of its early maturation, Barley wasn’t prone to pests and infestations like Wheat was.  No doubt it was because of all the ancient health benefits in Barley that made Barley the grain that symbolizes perfection—the perfect firstfruits offering, the perfect sacrifice, and the perfect Bride of Christ.

Harvested a month earlier than Wheat, mature Barley—the seeds of which were planted in Israel the same time as Wheat’s—easily was separated from the chaff and the refuse. Surprisingly, mature Barley’s winnowing involved no crushing or threshing, even though it grew wildly and in abundant amounts. Barley only needed the wind, which effortlessly separated the chaff (husk, hull) from the grain.

Something else to note about both Barley and Wheat is that they also are used in the Word of God to symbolize types of believers. For this reason, it should be expected that what is true about Barley will be true about Barley Christians. Likewise, what is true about Wheat will be true about Wheat Believers.

For example, broken and multiplied by the Lord’s hands, the Barley bread—what He feeds the 5,000 and later His disciples at His Last Supper—represents how saved and born-again believers first must be broken so that the Kingdom of God work they will do can be multiplied. Christ is their example, for His body would be broken for many.

This last truth is why, on the day the Lord feeds the 5,000, He demonstrates the multiplied measure of Barley principle/miracle to His disciples and the multitudes, by causing each loaf of Barley bread in the His hands to be multiplied 1 to 1000 men. This multiplied measure of Barley principle/miracle first is seen in the Old Testament, as Barley is multiplied 2 to 1 over Wheat (cf. 2 Kings 7:1), with Barley costing the same amount as Wheat. Then again in the New Testament, the measure of Barley is multiplied 3 to 1 over Wheat (cf. Revelation 6:6), with Barley and Wheat once again costing the same amount. People certainly will get more bang for their buck from Barley, but not so much from Wheat.

There can be no doubt that the multiplied measures of Barley over Wheat suggest that in the Kingdom of God it is, and always has been, more Barley Christians than Wheat Christians who are spreading the Gospel of Christ, and rightly so. More later on this point. Then too, in the times of famine and scarcity, which often are the results of war—as in the case of the siege of Samaria during the prophet Elisha’s day and in the case of the seal judgments that happen during the Tribulation Period—God designed it so that the poor, who would only be able to afford Barley, would remain healthier than the wealthy who would buy Wheat. Why? Well, it is because Barley is considered to have a near-perfect balance among its nutrients.

Now concerning Christ’s broken Barley loaves symbolizing believers’ brokenness, with genuine Christians their brokenness is the removal of all self-righteousness, jealousy, envy, strife, impatience, and so forth. This brokenness is achieved through the filling of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing sanctification process—the process of sanctifying (perfecting) them so that they effectively can feed the Gospel of Christ to the world’s unsaved multitudes. Once the Holy Spirit fills believers, He then is allowed to begin His progressive sanctification, which transforms believers into the image of Christ—changes their personalities and mindsets, more and more each day, until they become Christlike. Put differently, Barley Christians only need to be exposed to the Wind of the Holy Spirit in order for them to respond by walking right, talking right, speaking right, and thinking right. They truly are the sons and daughters of God who want to be pure (holy) and righteous.

Another example of how what is true about the Barley grain is true about the Barley Christians is in the way the Barley grain ripens before the Wheat grain matures. This early maturation of Barley represents saved and born-again Barley Christians’ spiritual maturity. There can be no doubt that Barley’s early maturation agricultural truth means that the corresponding spiritual truth happens the same way—Barley Christians and Wheat Believers who are saved (sown into the Kingdom of God) at the same time also will mature at different speeds. In particular, the Barley Christians will mature quicker than the Wheat Believers.

What is irrefutable is that the firstfruits Barley grain harvest in the Scriptures is symbolized as the first resurrection’s overcomers—the saints (i.e., Barley Christians) who are resurrected and raptured (winnowed or thrown up in the air against the wind)—translated; caught up; snatched off of this Earth—at the time of the Rapture of the Bride, but before the alive in Christ firstfruits are raptured. Put differently, there is no doubt that the raptured Bride of Christ is represented as the Barley sheaf wave offering that is lifted up and then waved before God for Him to accept it as a firstfruits offering.

In contrast, the Wheat Believers are symbolized as the Tribulation Period’s left-behinders—the rest of the believers. Unlike the mature Barley Christians who are raptured before the start of the Tribulation Period (the Wrath of God), the left-behind Wheat Believers who ripen during the Tribulation Period are in the Tribulation Period to experience the kind of separation or crushing/threshing that will cause these believers to be separated from their much harder husk (chaff, hull)—the world systems and doctrinal errors they trusted more than they trusted the Lord and/or Father God, when they were on the other side of the Tribulation Period.

All of the above was said so that the following can be said about why the Wheat Believers gathered at the end of the Age of Grace are NOT the Barley Christians and therefore not the Bride of Christ. In order to be the Bride of Christ (Barley Christians) or a Loaf of Barley that is to be broken for many, believers in Christ cannot have lost their first love, cannot be listening to and/or following the teachings of Balaam (idolatry and immorality), cannot be listening to and/or following the Nicolaitans and the Jezebel prophetess (more idolatry and immorality), cannot have passion that is dead, cannot have incomplete works, cannot be lukewarm, cannot be proud, cannot be ignorant of the Word of God, and cannot be spiritually blind.  For sure, the believers who have lost their first love, and etc., are the Wheat (Wheat Believers) that must go through the Tribulation Period.

Once again, the Wheat gathered at the end of the Age of Grace actually will be carnal Christians who finally reached their spiritual maturity during the Tribulation Period. God made this point clear when He mandated that the firstfruits of the Israelites’ Wheat Harvest, from which the two loaves of Wheat were made and then waved on the Day of Pentecost, should contain LEAVEN (cf. Leviticus 23:17). Now that is so interesting, especially since God makes it clear in many biblical passages that leaven represents a type of carnality and sin. This Divine Truth only can mean that the Wheat Believers who go through the Tribulation Period had to do so because of the carnality and sin that were still in their lives.

In contrast, the Barley bread was made without leaven, and this fact is another reason why Barley—NOT Wheat—symbolizes perfection—the holiness and righteousness of a pure spiritual life. Moreover, the difference between unleavened Barley Christians and leavened Wheat Believers should make it understandable that the Wheat gathered at the end of the Age of Grace will NOT be the Bride of Christ. Indeed, Jesus Christ definitely is letting His Bride know in the parable of the Wheat and Tares that the surviving Wheat Believers at the end of the Tribulation Period were never His true believers who—on this side of the Tribulation Period—humbly were growing in Grace through faith in the hope, love, wisdom, understanding and knowledge of God’s Will for their lives. That is why it is the surviving Tribulation Wheat Believers—NOT the Barley Christians—who have to be separated from the Tares and then stored in the Lord’s barn.

Certainly a barn or storehouse is a far cry from the Bridal Chamber the Bridegroom (Jesus Christ) has prepared for His Bride (Barley Christians) in His Father’s House. That’s why the barn image also lets the true Bride of Christ (Barley Christians) know that the Tribulation Period’s Wheat Believers are not the Lord’s firstfruits overcomers, because these Wheat Believers are not gathered into Heaven but rather into the Lord’s barn. That is to say, these alive Wheat Believers no longer have one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom of God. They are now fully in the Kingdom of God, but that doesn’t mean they also have received their glorified bodies. The only thing that being put in the Lord’s barn means is that the Wheat Believers are completely safe and out of the reach of God’s enemies—Satan and his imps!

Now here begins the main point of this blog entry, which for many will be an uncomfortable truth. Be that as it may. Also in the Wheat and Tares parable, Jesus Christ is making it clear that the reason why His spiritual servants are not able to tell the difference between the Wheat Believers and the Tares (unbelievers) is because Wheat Believers are the leavened carnal believers. In other words, it is the carnality in the Wheat Believers that makes them look too much like unsaved worldly people (unbelievers)—makes them look too much like the Tares! This last point is why, until the agricultural Wheat bows—becomes mature—it is almost agriculturally impossible to tell the difference between the Wheat and the Tares. Likewise, until the weight of the spiritual Wheat Believers’ fruit causes them to bow humbly before their Lord, it will be nearly impossible for other spiritual believers to tell the difference between the leavened carnal Wheat Believers and the Tares (unbelievers).

No doubt this last fact is why leavened carnal Wheat Believers are in the Tribulation Period. It is obvious that God is giving them time to mature and finally get separated from the chaff—to have what is godly in them completely separated from what is ungodly.

There also can be no doubt that carnal babes in Christ—on  this side of the Tribulation Period—will become the sold out for Christ Wheat Believers who were once on milk. As the apostle Paul declares, carnal believers cannot be fed the meat of the Word of God. If they can’t eat meat, then their milk diet will be the reason why they do not grow up fast enough—spiritually speaking.

Carnal believers’ slow spiritual growth keeps them from being prepared and ready (sanctified, Christlike), when Christ comes for His Bride, who is without spot, wrinkle or blemish. Therefore, the Bride of Christ is His ripened and harvested Barley Christians.

It is very unfortunate that the hard truth for some Christians to swallow is that Jesus Christ will leave behind—close the door/portal/gateway to Heaven—on the carnal babes in Christ who are not spiritually mature. Why? Well, the obvious truth is that they are carnal believers instead of spiritual believers! As such, there was no way the Holy Spirit could finish the work God began in them—no way He could give them their completely sanctified spirits, souls and bodies so that they could receive their glorified bodies!

That’s right! Today’s carnal believers are not becoming Christlike because they are not being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, who cannot initially fill them (baptize them in Him) so that the sanctification process can begin. If these believers in Christ do not cooperate with the Holy Spirit so that He can give them His filling—His Baptism that is corroborated, first and foremost, by the speaking in tongues—then these carnal believers (Wheat Believers) will continue to look the Tares until these carnal believers either physically die—on this side of the Tribulation Period—or until they become completely faithful and obedient to Christ during the Tribulation Period. However, by then, they either will be martyred (beheaded for their love of Christ and God, and for their holy and righteous living) or they will survive the Tribulation Period and become the holy and righteous individuals who—like Noah and his family—repopulate the Earth.

In contrast, neither the Barley grain nor the Barley Christians resemble Tares. This truth no doubt is why Barley Christians represent genuine Christians. Moreover, Barley Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit, as well as empowered and endowed by Him. As a result, these believers will be producing the fruit of the Spirit and living righteous and holy lives that will make them standout instead of making them bear a resemblance to the Tares. This truth is why ONLY the carnal babes in Christ will be the Wheat that is growing right alongside of the Tares—both on this side of the Tribulation Period and during the Tribulation Period—at least until they become sold out for Christ followers.

The bottom line is this: In the Word of God, there are two grain harvests that belong to the Lord—the firstfruits harvest and the subsequent harvest (the Barley harvest and then the Wheat harvest), with the latter being larger than the former. Now that should be no surprise, since the Word of God reminds true Christians that only a few of people—a remnant—of all of the world’s people will find the narrow path that leads to the Kingdom of God gate,  enter through the gate to the Kingdom of God, and continue walking on that path. This Divine Truth is why the Word of God also promises there will be two spiritual harvests—the harvest of Barley Christians and the harvest of Wheat Believers. 

Just like the agricultural Barley harvest comes first with the agricultural Wheat harvest following, the Barley Christians or Bride of Christ’s pre-Tribulation spiritual harvest will come first, and it will be followed by the Tribulation Period’s finally sold out for Christ surviving Wheat Believers’ end of the Age of Grace spiritual harvest. Clearly, the Barley Christians and the Wheat Believers are not the same people, and that is why both of these groups of believers cannot be the righteous, pure (holy), and unblemished believers who, after being sanctified, are given glorified bodies and then admitted into Heaven as the Lord’s Bride.    

Lastly, the reasons why Barley is important to the Kingdom of God are what follows. The first reason is because Barley’s multiplication principle/miracle represents how swiftly The Way—in the first century—and today’s real Christianity spreads. Put differently, Barley signifies just how often God has added another follower of Christ to the Lord’s ekklesia—the emphasis should be on GOD being the One adding genuine followers of Christ to His ekklesia and NOT on men and women adding new converts to their “church” rolls. Secondly, since Barley grows everywhere, tolerates the harshest conditions, and endures inclement temperatures, it should be obvious by now that ONLY Barley represents all of the persecuted Christians from the first century until the Rapture of the Bride of Christ, and all of the centuries of Christian missionaries—whether apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. In short, Barley is important to the Kingdom of God, because Barley symbolizes the Age of Grace’s pre-Tribulation raptured perfected Bride of Christ.

A word to the wise should be sufficient. Amen.