MEETING HIM AT THE THRESHING FLOOR

MEETING HIM AT THE THRESHING FLOOR

                “Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? And now is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight.” Ruth 3:1, 2

                The Bible is oh so very pregnant with depth and meaning and because we know so little about the feasts of Israel, we tend to miss the significance of things that are said. Ruth 2:23 tells us that Ruth stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest…” Ruth 2:23a

                First of all this is at the early harvest of the Barley, corresponding to Passover. But here we also have a picture of the many maids of Boaz that harvested in his field, but among them was one who would become his bride.

                In Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins we see ten bridesmaids. This parable has always intrigued me. Jesus tells of ten bridesmaids, but where is the Bride? In the Jewish wedding, the bridesmaids wait with the Bride for the trumpets to sound and the wedding party of the bridegroom to arrive at what was usually the midnight hour. But in His parable, Jesus says nothing about the Bride, but only the bridesmaids among whom five were foolish and five were wise. The Bride is apparently already in the wedding chamber

                It would appear that in this parable, the bride has already been taken into the wedding feast, just as Ruth went to meet Boaz at the threshing floor during the barley harvest. All of the other maids of Boaz had harvested the fields together, but only Ruth was destined to come to Boaz during the barley harvest. Among all of the maids, she was the one destined to be His Bride. She was among the first fruits of the Barley harvest.

                Naomi instructed her to uncover Boaz’s feet and to curl up at his feet. Likewise those who desire to be part of the bride of Christ spend time at His feet. We hunger for intimacy. We press in to know Him. Just as Ruth came secretly (verse 3:7) so we must spend time with Him, not only at church and in public, but we must spend intimate time with Him in our prayer closet.

                “Then it happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward; and behold a woman was lying at his feet. And he said, “Who are you? “ And she answered, “I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative.” Then he said, “May you be blessed of the Lord my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after the young men, whether poor or rich. And now my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence.” Ruth 2:8-10

                When Boaz asked Ruth who she was, she answered that she was his close relative and she immediately asked him saying: ”Spread your covering over me.”  Likewise the bride of Christ will seek for the robe of His righteousness as a covering so that He will know her and she will have become close to Him.

                It is also interesting that this encounter happens at the threshing floor at the time of the barley harvest.

                Some years back I did a study of the spring feasts of Israel from a perspective of three phases of the harvest at the end of the age. The Barley harvest represented the harvest of the Bride, the Barley… the first fruits of the Lamb. It is interesting to observe that barley is harvested by winnowing. The barley is tossed up into the air and even a gentle breeze will blow away the husks. Likewise those who are living in a constant relationship with Jesus only need the breeze of the Holy Spirit to blow the chaff out of their life.

                Later we see the wheat harvest. These represent not the bride of Christ but the Body of Christ. They are saved, but in order to be taken into the Lord’s barns, they must be threshed. Threshing is more violent for the chaff must be pounded and threshed violently in order to separate the chaff from the wheat. These are saved yet as through fire.

                Then there is a third harvest at the end of the harvest season and that is the grape harvest. Grapes must be thoroughly crushed in order to bring forth the wine. These must endure great tribulation in order to be harvested and indeed they must give up their lives. We see this final harvest in Revelation 20: 4. They have been beheaded for their faith. They were not caught up in the rapture, but they simply come to life and reign with Christ for 1000 years here on earth. And John lets us know that they are included in the first resurrection. They have refused the Mark of the Beast. They have given their lives rather than to betray their Lord. They therefore qualify to reign with Jesus.  So even out of the grapes of God’s wrath there is some wine extracted.

                Does this represent three different harvest points at the end of the age? The Bride, Ruth met Boaz at the threshing floor (The harvest) at the time of the barley harvest. Naomi had told her to dress in her Sunday best and to anoint herself. (Ruth 2:3) In other words, she is a bride that has made herself ready.

                Rev. 19:7 says: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready and it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

                So Ruth had dressed in her best and anointed herself, but she also asked the Lord to put His covering over her. And Boaz accepted her and blessed her. And so the angel said to John: “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”  Rev. 19:9

                Now as for the possibility of there being three harvests at the end of the age, we look to Revelation chapter 14.

                `”And I looked and behold the Lamb was standing on Mt. Zion and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His father written on their foreheads.”

                Some say that this group of 144,000 is the same group mentioned in Revelation 7 as 12,000 Israelites from each of the 12 tribes and that they are standing with Jesus in the earthly Mt. Zion in Jerusalem in Israel. Personally I don’t think so, for if we go on down and read the description of these people we see some striking differences:

1.       They have His name and His Father’s name. They are married to Him. They are His bride.

2.       It says in verse 3 that they had been purchased from the earth. In other words they are no longer on the earth for they have been purchased from the earth.

3.       These are described as celibates for they have not been defiled by dating or sleeping with other gods. They have had eyes for only One. Just as Ruth had not gone after the younger men whether rich or poor, but had clung only to Boaz.

4.       It says that these have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. Likewise Ruth was taken from among the maids who harvested in the field. All of the maids belonged to Boaz, but only one became his bride. First fruits refer to the Barley harvest even as Ruth went to meet Boaz on the threshing floor at the time of the Barley harvest.

                Now then if we want to see the other two harvests we only need to keep on reading in Revelation chapter fourteen. In verses 6-12 we see God’s people being called out of Babylon. This speaks volumes to us for they are God’s people, but they are still in Babylon, or Babylon is still in them. They correspond to the wheat that must be violently threshed so that they can be separated from the world system. They have been living by the flesh more than by the Spirit.

                There are millions of people in the church today, but only a small percentage of them are preparing as a Bride adorned for her husband. So few of them have totally forsaken their other gods in order to curl up at the feet of Boaz. So few of them are actually taking part in the harvest. They have not anointed themselves with the sweet perfume of the Holy Spirit or dressed in the righteous acts of the saints. They have not truly asked Jesus to cover them with His covering for Jesus cannot place His white robe over those that have not first been washed in the blood of the Lamb. His robe does not cover those who keep on willfully sinning and dating other gods.

                So we see a second harvest… the harvest of the wheat. They have come out of Babylon and so the angel comes out and calls to the Son of Man who sits on the white cloud saying: “Put in your sickle and reap because the harvest of the earth is ripe. “And the harvest is reaped and taken up to heaven, for the next place we see them is standing on the Sea of Glass before the throne. This then is the wheat harvest and there is yet one final harvest.

                “And another angel, the one who has power over fire came out  from the altar; and he called with a oud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, ‘Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe. And the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God.” Rev. 14:18, 19

                So there you have your third harvest, the grape harvest which is the final harvest of God’s wrath. The Bride, the Barley harvest is seen in heaven with the Lamb. The Body of Christ is seen in the sickle harvest of the wheat, while those who never came out of Babylon are harvested and cast into the wine press of God’s Wrath.

                In Jesus parable of the ten virgins, five of them were offered an open door, while five of them found a closed door and so they had to go into outer darkness and buy oil with their lives. The Bride is not mentioned in this parable which may mean that the Bride is already with the Lamb as a first fruit of the harvest. These may be represented by the 144,000 seen with the Lamb in Rev. 14:1. They have been harvested by winnowing. It only took the breeze of the Holy Spirit to separate them from the chaff. AS such they are already in the marriage chamber.

                The second group, the wheat harvest had to be called out of Babylon and they had to be threshed more violently to separate them from their chaff, for they tended to cling to the things of this earth and for them it took a great shaking to separate them from the fleshly things of this earth. In this great shaking many fall away from the faith altogether and join with the Beast.

                The third group, the grape harvest was reaped and tossed into the wine press of God’s Wrath.

                There is a pretty consistent agreement between the true prophets and the prophecy teachers today in saying that we have entered the time of the harvest. The journey of the final harvest has begun. And by harvest, I am referring to a very specific day of the Lord harvest at the end of the age. From now on the heat will grow hotter, the pathway narrower and steeper, the issues more defined, the separation of wheat from the tares more pronounced, the great shaking  and threshing more violent and even nature is going to start reacting more violently even as we are seeing it even now.

                But the good news is that the Holy Spirit is going to be poured out upon God’s Remnant people with the greatest display of power ever seen by mankind. The harvesters will be clothed with power from on high. We will once again do the works of Christ and even greater works in the world, thus demonstrating the Gospel of the Kingdom and the powers of the age to come.

                The choices that we are making daily right now are vitally important in determining where we will be in the harvest. Are we still hanging out in Egypt? Are we still drinking from the cup of Babylon? Do still have a secular world view or do we have a biblical world view?  Have we separated ourselves unto God to be sanctified by His Word? Have we forsaken all of the gods of this world in order to have eyes only for Him? Have we curled up at the feet of Jesus and asked Him to cover us with His robe?

                Have we allowed the Holy Spirit to circumcise our hearts? Are we allowing the gentle breeze of the Holy Spirit to take away the chaff from our lives? Are we allowing the Lord to winnow us and to separate us from our sins? Are we learning to live by the Spirit and not by the flesh?

                When Israel left Egypt they had first been circumcised, then covered by the blood. Then they had eaten the whole lamb in hast to make their escape. They were required to eat all of the Lamb and not just the parts they liked and they ate it with bitter herbs. If we wish to be His disciples, we must take up our cross and follow Him. They had done away with the leaven in their homes and lives and then they had entered into the death of Christ in the Red Sea and then been born again by the power of His resurrection on the other side and having done this, there could be no turning back for a closed sea now lay between them and Egypt and now they would move only forward to Mt. Sinai to learn God’s will and His ways. Talk about being clean through and through… and there was not a feeble one among them.

                Has our new birth so thoroughly circumcised us, covered us with the blood of Jesus, filled us with His flesh and clothed us for the journey that we have become a bride adorned for her husband? Have we actually entered into His death and resurrection? Have we removed the leaven from our lives? Has His law been written in our hearts? Are we living in obedience to His instructions?

                Today the church is being offered a false Gospel that skips this thorough cleansing and separation and new Birth. Many have been offered a form of grace in which none of this preparation matters… God loves us anyhow so why go through this whole Passover bit? But such people are in for a big shock and a devastating surprise. The tares are going to be weeded out and they are going to find themselves joining the Beast system and taking his mark and as such they are going to share Satan’s destiny. There is a sanctification and holiness required without which no one will see the Lord. Heb. 12:14

                There are two churches in the last days. The Philadelphia had set before them an open door. Like the wise virgins, they were invited in. The other church is the Laodicean church. It has a closed door and Jesus stands on the outside knocking. These people are still in Babylon, or at least partly so. But even for this group Jesus gives an individual invitation saying, “If any man hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and sup with him and he with Me. He who overcomes I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Rev. 3:20, 21

                I don’t think we should try to build a doctrine out of the three harvests even though there are many indications of it in types and shadows. But we can determine to be like Ruth and we can curl up at the feet of Jesus and ask Him to put His robe over us and we can let His Holy Spirit prepare us as a bride adorned for her Husband.