Is the Church Age or the Old Testament the largest harvest of people in God's plan?
The Church Age is the larger harvest in God’s plan. The Old Testament economy produced relatively few believers: Israel never exceeded about ten million, only a remnant believed, the flood left eight souls, and about 120 gathered in the upper room. By contrast, millions have come in through the Gospel of Grace over the last 1900 years.
Les teaches that the Church Age is the largest harvest. Using the wheat-farmer analogy, he says the main part of the field fills bins with thousands of bushels, while the corners left for gleaning are only a small fraction. In the spiritual realm, Christ as firstfruits is accomplished, but the greatest number brought into God’s harvest comes during the Church Age. By comparison, the Old Testament economy had few believers: Israel never had more than about 10 million people, and only a few were true believers. Before the flood there were precious few, and by the flood only eight souls remained. Throughout Israel’s history very few Jews percentage-wise were believers. Even in Christ’s earthly ministry, only 120 Jewish believers gathered in the upper room in Acts chapter 1, though there may have been a few in Galilee. This is small compared to the millions brought in through the last 1900 years of preaching the Gospel of Grace.