The harvest of our garden reminds me of another Harvest.
It is interesting to note that sometimes Biblical Harvest represents the gathering in of the righteous and other times it represents the cutting or trimming of the wicked. Examples of the latter:
"And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sad on the could, 'Thrust Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for you to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.' So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped." -Revelation 14:14-16 (More in verses 17-20)
"For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor when it is time to thresh her; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come.' " -Jeremiah 51:33
When we were at the garden on Monday, I was circumspectly picking the outermost Arugula leafs when Luke came over and starting ripping them off in a much harsher manner than I. He then stated that the Arugula was tremendously overgrown and needed to be immensely truncated in order to grow back smaller leaves that are good for salads.
When sin gets overgrown in our life, we need to be pruned or harvested. It hurts and is uncomfortable but when it is over, we can grow back tender Godly characteristics that are perfect for His salad of work.
And now for some examples of the former type of Harvest:
"Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labors.' " -John 4:34-38
"Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.' " -Matthew 9:37,38
"And He said, 'The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.' " -Mark 4:26-29
Then let the Harvest continue!
"For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by who it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned." -Hebrews 6:7,8
A vision of the church: "Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. they will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine." -Ezekiel 47:12
5 comments:
This is a powerful message that we can not overemphasize - I was able to get a much more real picture of that harvest in Peru which has inspired me. We have two responsibilities: we need to be harvestors and we need to pray for more labourers because, the work will never get finished with the number of labourers that are currently in the fields.
What a wonderful Autumn analogy :)
I like the idea of drinking in rain... there are neat spiritual applications.
One of them being: if we don't drink in the rain we won't grow - and there won't be much harvest...
thanks for taking the time to harvest these your thoughts ;)
SAU has a community garden??
awesome post.
the more we help with the harvest, the quicker we'll get harvested.
Christy, that's really inspiring. I want to be one of Christ's harvesters. An interesting note: the passage you quoted from John about the fields being white for harvest can be translated a couple different ways. The word "white" can be rendered as "gleaming," "bright," or "shining." All of these terms, coupled including "white," conjure up a mental image of purity. God's people will stand out in this world of weeds.
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