29
But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle,
because the harvest is come.
Just
a thought. How wonderful it would be to be taken to heaven the moment you are
saved. But, we are reaped in the fullness of time. Many people who are saved
wonder why God took so long to harvest us. Some people arrive at the
understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ as children, some at an advanced age.
The word is planted and each person grows until the time is right and their
hearts are willing to receive what the Holy Spirit is opening up to them.
I
was taken to church as a young child, a few times later on, but faith wasn’t
spoken of much in my home. What the practice of religion in my family had
become was more of how you appeared to others; paying your bills, having nice
things, dressing your children in nice clothing, not associating with riffraff,
not drinking alcohol, keeping your yard nice, and your car washed. Success in
life was a sign of not only God’s blessing but His approval.
Reading
the Bible was rare, in fact, I never remember it being read aloud by my father
or mother in the home. Meeting with other people of faith for worship was not a
priority and eventually abandoned completely. As my parents became more
“sophisticated” and “cosmopolitan” there were a few drinks with friends. The
generation of Americans that came out of the Great Depression viewed what you
could give your family physically as being of far more importance than the
spiritual. There was a sense of shame at not having so any extreme within the
bounds of the law was good to at least appear as if you “had something.” Many
people were deep in debt trying to “keep up with the Joneses.”
I
grew up on movies and television, with fictional characters as my role models
because while the true role models in my life were good people, they did not
fill the void that only God can fill. I learned my manners from characters
played by Humphrey Bogart and Alan Ladd and the like. My heroes were characters
in old movies and television. My spiritual world was empty, or at least I
thought so, but I was being constantly manipulated and driven by forces I did
not understand.
Leaving
home, away from the watchful and often disapproving eye of parents, I became
immersed in evil doings and evil thoughts. I enjoyed the lust of the flesh and
thought only of what pleased me. My peers became of the lower and lower sort of
persons until I finally had gone so far into the swamp that I was sent away to
a very bad place in which, in spite of my surroundings, God protected me from
all of the evils that you read about as happening in such a place. Even the
most evil and vicious of people were kind to me but not others, so I know that
God’s hand of protection was on me. It was through these times that I witnessed
the lives of true, Spirit-filled Christians. These weren’t people who just
focused on acting “good.” Some didn’t even have that option. These were people
who believed and trusted and yearned for Christ’s righteousness. They lived
their lives in faith. Some had the wrong Bibles. Some belonged to the wrong
church. Some also had some screwy doctrines. But, all of them were clearly moved
by the Spirit of God.
Eventually,
the day on March 19, 1986, when my future wife, Beth, asked me if there was any
reason why I shouldn’t pray to surrender my life to Jesus, I simply could not
think of any reason. The proof was there to overcome my atheism, my pagan
idolatry, and my selfishness. I knew that I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
All of the tracts I had thrown away, the Christians I had mocked, the
blasphemous jokes I had made, were overcome by the quiet and steady witness of
faithful Christians whose lives were Scripture. No words, no invitation to
church, no threat of damnation ever affected me more than the simple faith of
common people who trusted a Risen Saviour and showed that every day.
You
should knock on doors. You should pass out tracts. You should invite people to
church. But your testimony day to day is the only Bible some people will ever
read. At a time when you don’t know or even understand the harvest will be ripe
and God will put in the sickle to reap. God’s words, at least to some extent,
were put in the hearts of these Christians and those words were lived out, at
least to some extent, before a vile, vicious unbeliever who worshipped only
himself. But God gave the increase. Of course, there is another story of a long
struggle with sin and selfishness as a Christian, and many setbacks to my walk
with Christ, but that is another story, as the Christian has the Spirit of God
living in him but walks around in a body of sinful flesh.
The
Holy Spirit uses the image of a sickle reaping a harvest in regard to not only
those ready to be saved but those ready to be judged.
Revelation
14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like
unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp
sickle. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice
to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is
come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 16 And he that sat
on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. 17
And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a
sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power
over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying,
Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth;
for her grapes are fully ripe. 19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the
earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress
of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and
blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a
thousand and six hundred furlongs.
Notice
the comparison in Joel 3:13.
Joel
3:9 ¶ Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men,
let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 10 Beat your plowshares
into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves
together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. 12
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there
will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 13 Put ye in the sickle, for
the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats
overflow; for their wickedness is great. 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the
valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their
shining. 16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from
Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the
hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. 17 So shall ye
know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall
Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
Whether
this is a reference to the battle of Armageddon or a reference to Christ’s
return you can see the terrible judgment that will fill the area of Israel.
In
this verse in Mark it appears, though, that Christ is referring to a harvest of
souls for God, the result of God’s word being planted in men’s heart. All
through history this sowing and reaping has been going on with the word planted
in men’s hearts and a new creature being made who no longer hungers for sin but
now hungers for God.
2Corinthians
5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are
passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Galatians
6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor
uncircumcision, but a new creature.
As
well, throughout history, these bodies of flesh have been planted in the
ground, buried at sea, cremated, and in every sense been dissolved.
2Corinthians
5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we
have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2Corinthians
5:4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that
we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up
of life.
2Peter
1:13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up
by putting you in remembrance;
For
no physical body made of the elements of the earth can live forever.
1Corinthians
15:35 ¶ But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body
do they come? 36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it
die: 37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be,
but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38 But God
giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 39 All
flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another
flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40 There are also
celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is
one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the
sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one
star differeth from another star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of
the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown
in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural
body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, The first man
Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and
afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy:
the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, such are they also
that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image
of the heavenly. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
And
our hope is in this resurrection as well. The Adoption is one of the great
Biblical doctrines, not just of a spiritual existence with God but eventually a
physical body.
Romans
8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to
wit, the redemption of our body.
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