Wisdom's Corner
The New Harvest

Many of the people in the world who have read the Bible are familiar with what happened at the beginning of the church. It is recorded for us in Acts 2. It occurred on the Day of Pentecost. But many may not realize part of the significance of God creating the feast of the Day of Pentecost.

God created the Feast of Weeks in Exodus 23:16 and later gave the word to keep the feast in Exodus 34:22 and Leviticus 23:15-16. In the Leviticus passage we learn that this feast was to be held exactly 50 days after the Passover. This feast was to celebrate the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest. God had a reason for ordering this exact celebration.

By New Testament times, wheat had become the most desired grain in the Roman empire. In fact, almost all of the wheat that was grown in Palestine was shipped to Italy for the Romans. Those in Palestine had to settle for barley for their food. There was nothing wrong with barley but they would have preferred to have the wheat. Therefore, the wheat was the most highly prized grain for those in Palestine as well.

In Acts 2, we have the beginning of the new covenant. The new harvest is beginning and the old harvest is ending. The old covenant is no longer valid and that harvest is ended. Of course, we are talking about the spiritual harvest of souls. The picture we get is that the old covenant harvest was barley. And the new covenant harvest is wheat.

God set up this wonderful picture of the beginning of the church hundreds of years before it ever took place. And He started the church on the exact day which He had set up those hundreds of years before.

There is so much you can learn by studying God's Word. Until next time, keep reading your Bible and get the wisdom of God.

Mark McWhorter

Copyright 1999

Published by The Old Paths Bible School
(http://www.oldpaths.org)