The Grape Harvest

This is the last article on the three harvests of souls...

Here is the link to the Barley Harvest and the Wheat Harvest.

The three agricultural-related mandated feasts that all Jewish men who, more than likely, are 20 years of age and older, had to attend are:

the Passover Feast at the Barley Harvest time...

the Feast of Pentecost during the wheat harvest.,,

the feasts of Trumpets, Yom Kippur and Tabernacles which were dependent on the grape harvest. (cf. Exodus 23:14-17; Deuteronomy 16:16)

As a review: Each of the grains had to separate the chaff from the grain...

Mature barley goes through a time of separation or winnowing... “fanning with a fork" where they threw the barley against the wind... It was a fairly gentle and easy process... Some people especially children have such a tender heart it only takes a little wind from the Holy Spirit for them to separate themselves unto God simply because of the Love of Jesus..

Mature wheat goes through a time of separation or crushing/threshing a process, using wood, a sled and oxen... The harder shells of the grain made it more difficult to separate the grain.. Some people have a hard outer layer who want demonstration and proof of God. They want to know that He is worthy to follow before they will surrender to His Lordship.

The final harvest is the grapes.

The significance of grapes in the Feast of Tabernacles was each day of the feast grape juice from the fall harvest was poured out before the Lord as a drink offering (Numbers 29).

To obtain the juice from the grapes they must be trodden under foot. Grapes do not have chaff, but they do have “flesh” that must be pressed severely in order to obtain the wine.

The Grapes Harvest represents the unbelievers who, for the most part, believe there is a God but won't yield to him until they are crushed or squeezed.

They have heard the Gospel but made a choice to not make the Gospel a part of their lives—they chose not to accept Jesus the Christ as their Lord and personal Savior. But maybe if they get squeezed hard enough they might soften their heart and turn to Jesus.

In terms of these three crops:

1. barley is the easiest, since it is winnowed by blowing on it to release the grain from the chaff;

2. wheat is next, since it is threshed or beaten to release the grain from the hull;

3. grapes are the more difficult, since they are trodden under foot to break the hull and squeeze the pulp in order to release its tasty juice.

Unfortunately, some things are so entrenched in a person that they are like the thick hull of a grape. These things must be trodden under foot, a more severe crushing before they will finally see and hear the truth of the gospel.

Which one of the harvests do you fit into?

No matter which one remember that Jesus declared that He came to save the world, not condemn it (John 3:17).

Why? Because God so loves the world!

God's love is in action because He doesn't want even one to perish.

Whether they are like a barely hull with a tender heart that comes easily to the Lord.

or like a wheat stock with a hard out shell that takes some convincing.

or like a grape with thick skin that needs to be tromped upon before yielding takes place.

Remember Timothy 2:4 God desire for all men to be saved.

Are you ready to make a confession of faith today?

Do it before you get to the grape harvest... because God will do whatever it takes to save you because He loves you.