Seed Time and Harvest
/There are numerous references to harvest in the Bible. Oftentimes harvest surrounds fields of grain, but the reader must also remember that Israel was also full of vineyards and revelation 14:14-20 describes two personages each having a sickle, representing two harvests. One reaps because the harvest of the earth is ripe— rapture [15]. The other reaps the vine of the earth and that harvest is placed in the winepress of the wrath of god—judgment [19].
Matt 3:12 says: His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” The idea is that there is a separation coming. He will separate goats from sheep, good fish from bad fish and here, grain from chaff. Jesus said that during this part of the kingdom age, the tares and the wheat will grow together, but there comes a day….
Matthew 13:30
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Luke 10:2
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
John 4:34-37
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, One sows and another reaps.’
Luke 12:16-21
16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
the candle
In the OT, Leviticus 23 speaks of firstfruits/ Pentecost. these feasts were harvest feasts: 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
The book of Ruth takes place in Bethlehem during harvest time
Bethlehem—house of bread
The book of Ruth takes place during the barley harvest. Where after a famine in Bethlehem, which means house of bread, there is a great barley harvest and Ruth, a gentile becomes the bride of Boaz, a Jewish man, whom the Bible calls a kinsman redeemer. Hebrews 2:14 states that he [Jesus] became flesh and blood, because we were flesh and blood. In Hebrews 2:17, it is stated that he is our brother. A kinsman is a blood relative. He became like us, so he could die for us, so that we could be part of the harvest of God.
Jesus is seed planted by God, that seed went into the ground and died and rose and the truth of that seed is the seed of the gospel. The seed of the gospel is sown and is producing a harvest for God. There is a harvest coming. This harvest is the fruit of the seed sown by Christ.
John 12:23-26
23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
For him to be glorified, that means he must die. Then he will receive his glorified body. He was God in spirit who became flesh. He died as a man and was raised as the glorified god/man.
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
In order to reap a harvest of glorified humans that will inherit eternal life, he is planted as seed, which will produce a harvest of human souls.
25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself
26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. He didn’t say my Father will honor the one who loves me. He said, “My Father will honor the one who serves me.
Serve/Servant— διακονέω/διάκονος this is where we get the English word deacon. Serving is what you do and a servant is who you are. The first deacons, Phillip, Stephen… were table servers, waiters. One of the sentences in the definition in Strong’s Greek dictionary was…to supply food and drink. Imagine that…supplying food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty. Jesus said that he was the bread of life and that he was living water. People are dying of starvation but not just physically. People are dying without Jesus.
Mark 4:1-29
Parable of the sower
1 And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. 2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, 3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: 4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: story of the Venezuelan watermelon. Two miles wide and two inches deep. 6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. 9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. 11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any
Isaiah 6:8-10
time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables? 14 The sower soweth the word. 15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
Taketh away-Take up or away, sail away “I will be taking that- thank you!” Is what Satan says. You can’t have that seed. That seed will mess up my plan for your life.
This part of the parable is very reminiscent of Genesis 15:3-14, where god made covenant w/ Abraham. In that story fowls attempted to eat the carcasses of the covenant. Within that covenant was the promise of the seed, which ultimately was Jesus. And the seed of the parable of the sower is the gospel or good news about Jesus. Satan never stops what he does. He will always try to steal the promise of the seed. Just like Abraham shooed away the fowls off the carcasses, you better learn to shoo away Satan off this word. Get off my word you lying devil! You can’t have this seed! God gave it to me and I’m going to cling to it like a treasure.
Well, how do I do that preacher? Listen, write, study, pray, worship, engage yourself in everything god and do your best to reject everything that is the world.
16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
They receive it w/ joy but don’t want to give it a good environment to grow.
17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
Watermelon story
A seed needs earth for root. Without root there is no stability, because it’s like a foundation. People put roots in the world. They go to school and get better jobs. Invest in friendships. They will even find themselves a church that is good for their social life, but Isaiah talked about a root of Jesse and the book of revelation talks about the root of David and both those passages are talking about Jesus, and they won’t really put that root in their heart. Isaiah says that the spirit of the lord anointed him to bring good news to the meek, bind up broken hearted, set at liberty those that are captive, beauty of ashes, oil of joy for mourning. the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. ______________________________________________
18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, 19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
Choke— strangle and cut off the flow. in Jiu Jitsu prevents blood flow to the brain, resulting in an inability to think properly before you finally pass out. When these other things take root on the side of the gospel and start to choke the blade of grain that is the word, God’s word in us is choked and it begins to affect the way we see and think spiritually, ultimately, with time if allowed to continue, it will choke the life of the gospel out of us.
The world is hostile to God’s seed, but God created it to receive seed
The sower did his part. The seed does what it’s supposed to do. It’s the earth that we live on and the way that we allow it to affect us that’s the problem: fowl, stones and thorns they are the problems. The earth, in its current condition, is hostile to God’s seed.
20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
It is extremely important for believers to understand that they must treat the seed of God’s word with special care in their hearts. The Holy Spirit will reveal to us the things that are hostile to God’s word in our lives: addictions, relationships, entertainment… once revealed, they must be removed by the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot afford to allow things to remain in our lives that jeopardize the seed of the gospel.
|James 4:7] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.|
the candle
Mark 4:21 And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?
|Matthew 5:14-16] Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.|
Sharing the gospel and good works that are done in the name of Jesus are some of the ways that we sow seed for the harvest.
22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.
The disciples wanted to understand the parable. Locked within this parable is the mystery of the kingdom. Jesus wants people to know God’s truth, but only those that treat truth like a treasure will truly receive.
The light of god reveals gods truth but also exposes darkness:
|John 3:19-2119 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”|
23 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
There is always a response to the word: do we listen to it? Receive it? Do it? Vs ignore, reject or sit on it?…
Heed- look, turn the eye, beware, perceive
24 And he said unto them, Take heed [care] what ye hear: with what measure ye mete [measure], it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.
1. Mete- measure, the amount you measure to what you hear, is the amount that will be measured back
2. Hear- to give ear to a teaching.
3. The response you give to the word, is the response you get back
25 For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.
1. God rewards those that believe Him and he is His word & takes away from the unbelieving
2. When seed is received, there is evidence. Seed results in fruit. A woman that receives seed will begin to show.
4. Diligence causes the seed to grow; whereas, negligence destroys it
26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;
God casted seed into the ground. The evidence is growth.
Jeremiah 2:21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?
27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.
We don’t really always understand exactly how seedtime and harvest operates under God’s heavenly laws. We just simply know that if we will cast/ sow, godly seed, there is great potential, that seed will be received.
Gail’s testimony
Glen’s testimony
I’m starting to realize that I don’t need to understand everything. The way my mind works, I will try. I want to know God and His ways, and the best way for that to happen is for me to understand His word, but sometimes things happen that I don’t understand. In those moments, I’m going to look at the fruit and say, okay, is this God’s DNA springing up from the ground or another DNA? If it’s God’s, then I’m going to learn how to accept it.
28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
If you’re uncertain whether something or someone is of the Lord, sit back and watch it grow. It’s/their fruit will be revealed
The NASB uses some words that are more understandable: blade, head vs ear, mature grain in the head vs full corn in the ear
29 But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.
1. In the end, the farmer may not understand exactly how it all works, but he understands harvest time. God definitely works on the seed principle. God is going to reap a harvest, and He has and is sowing seed in the fields of the world. The seeds that He sows are kingdom seeds. As believer’s we study God’s word and believe that God gave the seedtime and harvest principle to earthlings. Therefore, we must be faithful and diligent to sow seed, water seed and believe with faith that He is the Lord of the harvest.
2. There are multiple types of spiritual seeds:
a) there are gospel seeds [good news],
b) seeds of prayer, for deliverance, healing, faith to believe God for miracles, “Faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain.”
c) there are financial seeds. When we give to the kingdom of God financially, there is a reciprocation from heaven. I am not trying to take your money out of your pocket. Seriously, it’s your money, well, technically, the Lord said that you can keep 90% of it and the 10th belongs to Him, but I will let you work that out between you and God. I just want you to know that there is a spiritual financial principle that works on earth. If you give to the work or God, He will in return bless your finances!
Vision. A single man with a sickle in a grain field where the heads of grain are so full that the stalks are bent over. The wind causes the grain to sway. The farmer grabs an armful of wheat and thrusts in his sickle and then, as though now, seeing through my eyes, I look up and see either 6 or 7 harvesting combines rolling through the field and coming to help.