Each in his Own Order - The Resurrection Sequence

When Cometh That Thief in the Night - Directory

We are in a season where resurrection is soon to be a reality, not just where a single person is raised from the dead but where many are raised to what is called eternal life with a new spiritual body. Yet, even in this late hour there is so little understanding among the saints of the seasons appointed for resurrection. The Lord has been gracious to grant further insight. This study focuses upon who is involved in a particular resurrection event based on when they live and, if dead, when they died.

There are three resurrections appointed for man that are modeled for us through The Harvest Allegory. These are known by other means but can be simply and accurately referred to as the barley, wheat and grape harvests. (Leviticus 23) Just as modeled so beautifully in this allegory, one follows the other in sequence. Those who are harvested at any given time are the appropriate crop at the fullness of their season of ripening.

22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming,

1 Corinthians 15:22-23

So it is that "those who are Christ's at His coming" are involved "each in his own order." It is not simply Christ, first, then some time later everybody else, all at once. There is an order or sequence in the process of, in Christ, making all alive. Each crop in the field matures to a fully ripe condition at an appointed time. At such an appointed time, all accounted among the season's ripened crop are harvested.

At each resurrection a judgment is made between two kinds of people, just and unjust, or, ripe and unripe. Both the dead and living at the moment of resurrection are judged on this basis. Judgment and resurrection are inseparable because resurrection involves a division among the ranks of the dead and living, and this division requires a judgment to discern between the two. (See The Jericho Scenario for more insight) Another coincident phenomenon is that of a shaking of the heavens and earth, so an earthquake attends a resurrection event.

Barley

The first resurrection in sequence is the Barley harvest. I believe it was first for Y'shua, the firstfruits of all who will rise from the dead with a resurrection body, and it will be again, for the Bride, as before in the Spring of the year at the time of the Barley Harvest Feast. Who is harvested / resurrected / changed? The just, dead and living. This includes all men and women from Adam to the moment of this harvest. I am unsure whether or not this has already happened in part, due to uncertainty about the text of the Bible. Although the two verses below appear in the English Bibles there is debate about whether or not they should be.

52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

Matthew 27:52-53

Consider the following verse from the eighth chapter of Matthew.

I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;

Matthew 8:11

In that verse Y'shua was speaking about a Gentile, a Roman centurion with great faith such as was not found at that time in Israel. Those many who will come from east and west are the Bride, the barley crop, accounted from among both Jew and Gentile alike. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are accounted as barley, as just, and those who recline at the table with them in the kingdom of heaven must also be just. Now, whether Abraham, Isaac and Jacob might have been raised in an earlier phase of barley harvest, according to Matthew 27:52 and 53, I cannot say for certain. I don't believe they remain alive today, even if they had been raised earlier. Those participants in the barley harvest that is yet future will certainly recline with them at the table, in the presence of the Lord Himself.

Wheat

Immediately following the Bride Theft, those who will have been left behind, among both the living and dead, will have been judged as unjust. You may note that this is without regard for whether or not you might have considered them to be "a saved christian," because many will have received the white robe signifying salvation and yet soiled them, being found unworthy of inclusion in the company of the Bride when that judgment will have been made. When the Wheat harvest occurs and another assessment is made that separates the ripe and worthy from the ranks of the living and of those who had died since the assessment attending the Bride Theft, This resurrection event's passage begins the season referred to as great tribulation or distress.

I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 8:11-12

21 For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 22 Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

Matthew 24:21-22

The resurrection that follows in sequence after the Bride Theft is according to the harvest schedule the one known as the wheat harvest, Shavuot, which comes about seven weeks later. We know this because of the primary feature of the feast of weeks, that of the counting of the omer that serves to bind the two harvests rigidly together on the calendar. Among those who are left behind at the Bride Theft, some will procede to ripen and will qualify as worthy in that next round. Some, many, actually, will be martyred, but some will remain alive, preserved for the Lord's purposes, and they will be changed at the wheat harvest.

9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.

Revelation 6:9-11

Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:4

Some who become just during this brief season will have come from the ranks of those who had been "saved" prior to the Bride Theft. The white robe is a symbol of salvation.

9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.' 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, 'Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.' 13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, 'These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?' 14 I said to him, 'My lord, you know.' And he said to me, 'These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. 16 They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.'

Revelation 7:9-17

This is a brief season but one that is very intense, and a large harvest will be produced!

Grapes

The first two harvests occur within about seven weeks of each other, but the third and final harvest appears to follow by more than a thousand years. It is a Sukkot harvest, for the grapes, the gleanings.

The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.

Revelation 20:5a

16 Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 17 And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18 If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

Zechariah 14:16-18

During the millennial harvest season there will be people in flesh bodies who will live a long time. Who are they and where do they come from? These will have survived the dangers of the previous season but had either not yet been born or had not ripened prior to the wheat harvest. They will continue to live in their natural flesh bodies and give birth to others. At the start of this season Satan is bound and sealed in the abyss. (Revelation 20) At the end of the season he is released for a short season and goes out to lead the nations astray. The earth will have repopulated to reach a large number. Being so deceived and led astray, the people gather for battle and march against the camp of the saints and the beloved city. It doesn't go well for them as fire comes down from heaven and devours them. These will then be among the dead judged in the final harvest. Whether there will be any survivers of the population who participates in the final battle, I do not know. At that point, after the final battle, the devil is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, joining the beast and false prophet.

Then it is time for the grape harvest. It is the gleanings of the Lord's harvest field, the final resurrection.

This brief presentation has focused on who is involved in these three events that make up the harvest of all the earth. I pray that you, the reader, will strive to be accounted worthy of an early harvest. Do you feel like you may have "gone to seed," having been left in the field too long? Saint, endure yet a little while.

When Cometh That Thief in the Night - Directory