Old Testament believers were a small remnant - a precious few - while the Church Age is God's main harvest, the great majority of His total harvest.
Les Feldick teaches that the Old Testament produced only a small remnant of true believers because the Gentile world had no knowledge of salvation and even in Israel very few were genuine believers. He points to the 7,000 in Elijah's day, the eight souls at the flood, and the 120 believers in the upper room as evidence. By contrast, the Church Age is God's main harvest - during the last 2,000 years God has garnered the greatest percentage of His total harvest.
1 Kings 19:18 — God's word to Elijah shows that only 7,000 in Israel remained true to Him - a tiny remnant out of millions.
Acts 1:15 — Records that after Christ's three-year ministry, about 120 believers gathered in Jerusalem - evidence of how few true believers there were.
1 Peter 3:20 — Reveals that only eight souls were saved in Noah's day, the earliest example of the small remnant.
In the Old Testament record, God's faithful people are consistently shown as a small number rather than a majority. When the flood came, only Noah and his family - eight souls - were saved (1 Peter 3:20; Genesis 7:7). In Elijah's day, God told him, 'Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal' (1 Kings 19:18). After the Lord's resurrection, about 120 believers were gathered together in Jerusalem (Acts 1:15). Scripture's harvest laws also separate a small portion from the full crop: the sheaf of firstfruits was a sample brought to the priest (Leviticus 23:10), and the corners and gleanings of the field were left unharvested (Leviticus 19:9). The Apostle Paul describes an ordered resurrection: 'But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming' (1 Corinthians 15:23).
Les Feldick teaches that God has never enjoyed the majority - it has always been a small remnant. In the Old Testament, the Gentile world had no knowledge of salvation, and even in Israel relatively few were true believers; many went after Baal and other pagan gods. He shows the remnant principle from the flood, where only eight remained true to God, to Elijah's day, where 7,000 out of six or seven million - about 1 percent - had not bowed to Baal. At Christ's first advent, only a few such as Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Mary were true believers; the rest were cloaked in a dead religion Jesus called whited sepulchers. After three years of Christ's ministry, the believers in the Jerusalem and Judea area numbered only 120. Les then contrasts this with the Church Age, which he calls the 'main harvest.' During the last 2,000 years God has garnered the greatest percentage of His total harvest, especially through the Reformation and the great evangelists. The Church - the true, born-again Body of Christ - is the main harvest, while Old Testament and Tribulation saints are merely the gleanings and the corners of the field.
Les teaches that true believers before the Church Age were precious few. Only eight remained true to God at the time of the flood. In Elijah's day, God said He had 7,000 in Israel who had not bowed to Baal - about 1 percent of six or seven million, a drop in the bucket. Even at Christ's first advent, only a few such as Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Mary were true believers. After three years of Christ's ministry, the believers in Jerusalem and Judea numbered only 120.
Les compares the Church Age to the main harvest of a field, while Old Testament believers and Tribulation saints are the gleanings and the corners left after the main harvest. He teaches that during the last 2,000 years God has garnered the greatest percentage of His total harvest, especially through the Reformation and the great evangelists, whose ministries saw great gatherings of souls. The Church - the true, born-again Body of Christ - is included in this main harvest regardless of denominational label.
Les teaches that the Jewish saints who were resurrected right after Christ comprise the firstfruits of resurrection, and that Church Age saints are not part of the firstfruits group. He connects this to the Old Testament feast of firstfruits, where a sheaf of many stems was brought to the priest as a sample of the coming harvest. Paul says every man will be resurrected within his own company: Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His coming.
The Firstfruits Resurrection
Les teaches that the Jewish saints raised right after Christ form the firstfruits of resurrection, and that Church Age saints belong to a later resurrection company - distinguishing Old Testament saints from the Church Age harvest.
A Precious Few in the Old Testament
Les teaches that Old Testament believers were 'precious few' because the Gentile world had no knowledge of salvation and even Israel had very few true believers, while the Church Age has produced the main harvest.
Elijah's 7,000 and the 120 Believers
Les teaches that Elijah's 7,000 was about 1 percent of six or seven million - a drop in the bucket - and that after Christ's three-year ministry only 120 believers gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem.
The Church Age as the Main Harvest
Les teaches that the last 2,000 years have been God's main harvest - the greatest percentage of His total harvest - gathered through the Reformation and great evangelists, and that the true born-again Body of Christ is included.
A Little Remnant at Christ's First Advent
Les teaches that even at Christ's first advent only a few true believers remained - Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Mary - while the rest of Israel had a dead religion Jesus called whited sepulchers.
God Has Always Had a Small Remnant
Les teaches that God has never enjoyed the majority: only eight were true at the flood, and only a few in Israel ever responded and believed - the remnant principle runs all through Scripture.
120 Believers and Why Numbers Are Small Today
Les teaches that 120 was the sum total of true Jewish believers in Jerusalem and Judea after Christ's ministry, and he connects that smallness to the shrinking number of true believers today.
The Main Harvest vs. the Gleanings and Corners
Les teaches that the Church Age is God's main harvest while Tribulation saints are only the gleanings and corners of the harvest - which is why he disagrees with Tim LaHaye that the 144,000 might see more converts than the Church Age.
1 Kings 19:18: Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
Shows God's own testimony that only 7,000 in Israel had not bowed to Baal - the small remnant principle.
Acts 1:15: And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)
Records the 120 believers in Jerusalem after Christ's ministry, the number Les cites for the Jerusalem area.
1 Peter 3:20: Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
Shows that only eight souls were saved in Noah's day, the earliest example of the small remnant.
Genesis 7:7: And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
Names the eight people who entered the ark with Noah.
Leviticus 23:10: Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
Describes the sheaf of firstfruits, a small sample of the full harvest that was to come.
Leviticus 19:9: And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
Contains the corners and gleanings imagery Les applies to the few believers outside the main harvest.
1 Corinthians 15:23: But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
States the resurrection order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His coming.
Matthew 23:27: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Jesus' description of Israel's dead religion as whited sepulchers.
Luke 1:6: And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
Shows Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous true believers at Christ's first advent.
Les Feldick teaches that the Gentile world had no knowledge of salvation, and even within Israel very few were true believers. Most followed Baal and other pagan gods or were cloaked in a dead religion, so God's people were always a small remnant - the eight souls at the flood, the 7,000 in Elijah's day, and just 120 believers in Jerusalem after Christ's ministry.
According to Acts chapter 1, about 120 believers gathered in the upper room in the Jerusalem area. Les Feldick says this was the sum total of true Jewish believers in Jerusalem and Judea after three years of Christ's ministry, and he sees it as evidence that the majority of Israel had rejected Jesus.
The Church Age is God's main harvest. Les teaches that during the last 2,000 years God has garnered the greatest percentage of His total harvest, while Old Testament believers and Tribulation saints are the gleanings and the corners of the field.
Tim LaHaye suggested the 144,000 Jewish evangelists in the Tribulation might see more converts than the Church Age has in 2,000 years. Les disagrees because he sees the Church Age as God's main harvest, with Tribulation saints merely the gleanings and the corners of that harvest.
Watch the Teaching: The Three Stages of Resurrection — 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 Explained