Page 43 - Christ in You - The Hope of Glory

Exodus 23:15
And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.

God looks for fruit in the lives of men. Tragically, there will be those who appear
before God without any fruit to show forth from their lives. These will receive a curse rather
than a blessing, even as Yahshua cursed the fig tree that did not have any fruit on it when
He came to inspect it.
Even as the fruit was gathered together and the firstfruits brought to Yahweh three
times in the year, so will Yahweh send out His angels into the earth to gather together from
all mankind those who are mature and fruitful.

Matthew 24:31
"And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather
together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

As we saw in the previous chapter, there are vast differences between the three
resurrections of men and women to stand before God. There is a preeminence that belongs
to those who attain to the first resurrection. The resurrections that follow will be of a lesser
glory, honor and dignity. These differences are foreshadowed in the three harvests.
This first resurrection is associated with the barley harvest. Barley is an early ripening
crop. It ripens about fifty days before wheat, and is therefore harvested earlier, not having
to undergo all the heat of the summer. This is a parable. The overcomers who attain to the
number of the firstborn will come to maturity quicker than the rest of the body of Christ.
Because they gave themselves eagerly to pursue God’s will for them of becoming like Christ,
they will not have to experience the heat of the Great Tribulation and the Lake of Fire, even
as barley doesn’t have to go through the heat of summer.
Barley differs from wheat in a very critical way. Barley contains little gluten, while
wheat has an abundance of gluten. Gluten is the component of grain that reacts with yeast
to make the bread rise. Because barley lacks gluten it is often baked as an unleavened bread.
This is a parable, for bread represents man’s flesh and leaven represents sin. The barley
crop speaks of a people whose flesh does not rise up at the presence of sin, for they have
crucified the flesh with its affections and desires. These are the overcomers, and like Christ,
they rule over the flesh.
Wheat contains an abundance of gluten and it is baked as a leavened bread. This is a
picture of God’s people who have not removed the sin from their lives; whose flesh reacts
strongly in the presence of sin. The action of the yeast in wheat bread continues to cause the
bread to rise until the bread is placed in the oven and baked. The heat of the oven stops the
reaction between the leaven and the gluten in the bread, and it ceases to rise. This is also
a parable of this latter group of Christians who will only turn away from sin, and learn
righteousness, as they go through the heat of the Great Tribulation and the Lake of Fire.
These first two resurrections speak of those who are the people of God. Not all those
who are God’s people walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Many are living lives of ease and
comfort, sin and impurity. Only a remnant of the people of God will attain to the first
resurrection. The rest will have to await the next resurrection after the thousand years are
over.
Paul wrote of the order of the resurrections, and those who attain to them in the
following words.