Barley, Wheat, and Grapes: Biblical Harvests and the Last Days

BIBLICAL HARVESTS AND THE LAST DAYS:
A diligent study of the Scriptures will eventually introduce the student to the biblical harvests, but all the attention given to barley, wheat, and grapes may be puzzling initially.

However, further study will reveal some very interesting things about these harvests.

For some, there are even correlations between the process of how the harvest fields were managed and the sequence of events in Bible prophecies concerning the Last Days.

But before we dive into the details…
Let’s start with a movie recommendation.

The Story of Ruth

The reason why this movie is relevant to the discussion is that it is filled with references to biblical harvests.

Important Harvest Lessons…

Besides being a great love story, The Story of Ruth contains repeated references to harvests and harvest festivals. Watch it from that point forward and pay close attention to the dancing at the barley harvest festival.

If you are in a hurry watch it from this point in the story.

YOU PROBABLY KNEW THIS, BUT…
If you are like most people who seriously study the Word of God, then you know what it is like to arrive upon a passage that you know has significance beyond what you presently see, but you just don’t know what it means yet.

IF YOU WATCH THE WHOLE MOVIE…
If you like, watch the entire movie. If you do watch the movie in its entirety, notice the references to the harvest. In particular, notice the references to the barley harvest.

There are DIFFERENT harvests in the Bible…
1) The Barley Harvest
2) The Wheat Harvest
3) The Grape Harvest

Note that the process is different for each harvest.

In the Interest of Time…

We will summarize the key surface-level observations.
(See the video playlist below for more details.)

BARLEY. The barley is winnowed. That simply means that it is thrown up into the air, because it is easy enough to remove the chaff from the grain in this manner. This is traditionally done by repeatedly tossing the grain up into a light wind. And the wind gradually blows the lighter chaff away.

WHEAT. The process is different with wheat. Throwing it into the air would not be adequate to remove the chaff. So it is threshed. In other words, it is beaten because it requires more effort to remove the chaff from the grain.

GRAPES. The process with grapes is different.
Grapes are crushed.

Harvest References in Bible Prophecy

While some would quickly dismiss any correlation between the “natural” or “practical” aspects of how the biblical harvests are to be conducted with a more “spiritual” or “prophetic” understanding of these harvests, the correlation is most definitely supported in the Scriptures.

In fact, the prophetic relevance of the biblical harvests is found repeatedly in both the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament of the Bible.

We will start with one of numerous Old Testament prophecies concerning God’s judgment on the nations in the Last Days. This passage is from the prophet Isaiah. It is found in chapter 63, and we will read verses 2 through 4 specifically:

2 Why are Your clothes red, and Your garments like one who treads the winepress?
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them underfoot in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and all My clothes were stained.
4 For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redemption had come.

Now let’s consider an example from the New Testament. Here is a related passage from the book of Revelation. It is found in chapter 14, and we will read verses 18 through 20 in particular:

18 Still another angel, with authority over the fire, came from the altar and called out in a loud voice to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the vine of the earth, because its grapes are ripe.”
19 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.
20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood that flowed from it rose as high as the bridles of the horses for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

In the above passage, the imagery used is that of a grape harvest. But that which the imagery represents is clear enough. The angel swinging his sickle over the earth and gathering the grapes of the earth is harvest imagery associated with the grape harvest that represents the judgment of God upon the nations. These “grapes” are thrown into “the great winepress of God’s wrath.”

Some people get tripped up on references to “the bridles of horses” and “stadia” and completely miss what the imagery clearly conveys.

Even the American novelist John Steinbeck perceived a relevant application of the imagery when he chose as the title of one of his books “The Grapes of Wrath,” which eventually became a movie about the Great Depression.

Yet John Steinbeck’s usage of this theme of grapes being associated with wrath in order to convey the hardships of the Great Depression does not even come close to yet-future events in Bible prophecy, and while we use “yet-future” as a qualifier, the manner in which current event headlines are resembling themes in Bible prophecy would certainly seem to convey that “near future” or “very near future” would be more accurate.

Therefore, when we speak of this correlation between the biblical harvests and Bible prophecy concerning the Last Days, we are not reading into the Scriptures anything that has not already been plainly stated.

Moreover, you don’t have to be an expert in linguistics to recognize how the Bible sometimes uses the imagery of different kinds of harvests to reveal things prophetically.

Biblical Harvest Laws and Models…

There are certain laws associated with them. Some believers (myself included) believe that these laws (and the harvest models they form) are prophetically significant.

Especially worth noting is that there are DIFFERENT harvests, and this could be extremely significant.

Now watch this…

If you also believe that there is a prophetic pattern in what the Scriptures reveal about the DIFFERENT harvests, then you may find yourself completely fascinated with the following…

5-part video series…

Understanding the RAPTURE:
“Irrefutable Proof for a Pre-Tribulation Rapture”

Direct links to each video…

PART 1: https://youtu.be/sZXaDC4Xq0s

PART 2: https://youtu.be/csHiEOSpn8w

PART 3: https://youtu.be/TOnGIC50yeQ

PART 4: https://youtu.be/Kuot26YojGM

PART 5: https://youtu.be/mKOYaAcR6tE

One last thought on this…

Remember that the Story of Ruth contains themes that resemble what would later be revealed in the new Testament of the Bible, not the least of which is an beautiful foreshadowing of Christ and the Church. So, of course, you might expect it to contain treasures that are waiting to be discovered.

But hurry.
Because the time is short…