Billy P Eldred

Just as when wheat is ready for harvest, it does not matter how great the crop is, if not enough workers are available to bring the crop in, weather and time will cause the crop to be wasted because it was not harvested in time. Jesus was telling his followers that there were many people ready to accept Him at that time due to His ministry on Earth which was soon to end. 

Can you imagine the talk that was going on everywhere He had been. People were being healed, demons were being driven out, blind were given sight, the lame were walking. Never again would so many be ready to believe. But just like in Luke chapter 8 where the Ethiopian Eunuch was searching the scriptures but said "how can I understand unless there is someone to teach me", the people needed to be told that all the hubbub they were talking about was because the Christ of their Scriptures had come and He was Jesus. They also needed to know what that meant to them personally. They needed to be saved. 

Thayer Bible dictionary says the word translated "the harvest" figureitivly means the gathering in of souls into the kingdom of God. Here the word is used in that way. And just like time and weather will ruin a crop if not harvested in time, the cares of the world can rob those ready to receive the good news of Jesus of that readiness if no one is available to preach that good news to them at the right time. 

The fact that Jesus was soon to be leaving the earth and the talk would die down made the urgency that much greater at that time, but the principle still applies today. For whatever reason, the Holy Spirit has been working on an individual and they are more open right now than they will be next week, they need a "worker" to help bring in the harvest. They need someone to tell them about Jesus before the cares of this world rob them of that readiness. There will come a time it is too late.

February 19 2015 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

Harvest according to Easton’s Bible Dictionary is the season for gathering grain or fruit. But figuratively it is used in Matt. 9:37; 13:30; Luke 10:2; John 4:35 to refer to “converts” [Wiersbe], or “people who need to hear the Good News and be gathered to God’s presence.” (NLTSB)

Most NT uses are figurative - the harvest of converts or saved souls (Mt 9:37-38, Lk 10:2). Wiersbe adds John 4:36 and Romans 1:13. But my all-time favorite is John 4:35. In John 4:35 Jesus says to his disciples, “Don't you say, 'There are yet four months until the harvest?' Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.”

And the NLT Study Bible would have us compare Isaiah 27:12. 

"In that day from the River Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel."

So, “In the Gospels, Jesus frequently refers to the harvest of souls (Mt 9:37-38; 13:30, 39; Mk 4:29; Jn 4:35.” --ISBE

Lo! the golden fields are smiling,
Wherefore idle shouldst thou be?
Great the harvest, few the workers,
And the Lord hath need of thee.
Go and work, the time is waning,
Let thy earnest heart reply
To the call so oft repeated,
“Blessèd Master, here am I.” --Fanny Crosby

Let's get busy reaping the harvest and praying for helpers!

November 12 2022 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report