Very interesting Jfelts. This scripture comes to mind.
Rev 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and [see] thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
During the Tribulation, the 3rd angel on the black horse, was told not to touch either the “oil or wine.” This means they are being grouped together, and spared for a later harvest time. "Tribulation saints." Sounds like a kind of gleaning of those who become Christians after the rapture.
“In that day the glory of Jacob will fade;
the fat of his body will waste away.
5 It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
gathering the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
It seems to me that something catastrophic will happen to both Syria and Israel where only a few "gleanings" will remain. It's a really sobering thought.
By the way, I've been watching this Feast of Tabernacles celebration in Jerusalem which ends today. I didn't know that this feast is also a feast of harvest. Here's the link:
Indeed the rapture is a harvest of sorts. But however described, and however the rapture is accomplished, it still bears witness to also state, that it is also a judgment of God. A judgment against those who did not answer the Lord's call to relationship or convenant life. This then is a universal judgment against believers/church and non. And though not a judgmental act in and of itself, it does usher in the "judgements" of God. The rapture is a judgment of sorts in that it declares a decision made by God. In that sovereign decision, He chooses those that are declared worthy to spend eternity in His presence, and those that have chosen Christ. Analogies aside, as they are for the sake of our understanding of His purposes, again it is a sovereign decision, made by God.
