Summertime

Matthew 9:37-38

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

In the natural, we are currently in the grip of a very cold spell here in the Western Cape, with very low temperatures and heavy rain combining to keep us indoors as much as possible! But spiritually, the entire world is finding itself in summertime, the time of year in Israel when the Feast of Pentecost, or Shavuot, has just been celebrated.

What happened next in ancient Israel was that the Hebrews went out from their cities into their fields to gather the harvest. They laboured at this throughout the summertime until the Feast of Trumpets, a date in autumn, when they would finish their harvest and gather before their Lord in Jerusalem.

This is exactly what happened spiritually two thousand years ago, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles on the Feast of Pentecost and they were sent out to bring in the harvest of souls into the Kingdom of God. This is what Jesus meant when He said to them in John 4:35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” He showed that the fields are the world, and the harvest is the ingathering of lost souls. It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word for harvest is kayitz, which also means summertime.

This then is the season we are living in now. Jesus fulfilled all the Feasts of the Lord up until Pentecost, and we find ourselves eagerly anticipating the fulfilment of the next Feast, which will include the Rapture of the bride of Christ, gathering us to appear before our Lord. Until then, we are meant to be workers in the fields of the world, bringing in the harvest of new believers in Jesus. We are also meant to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send even more workers to work alongside us.

Pearls to ponder:

We are living at the end of the age. Harvest time is limited; there is not a lot of time left to gather people to Jesus. We have to go about our work in the fields with a sense of urgency! What does that mean?

It means that we have to actively look for opportunities to spread the Gospel. It means that we have to be ready to obey the voice of the Lord when He sends us out, even if it is to places that make us feel uncomfortable. It means speaking when we need to speak because Holy Spirit guided us to, not keeping quiet to ‘keep the peace’. It means maintaining an uncompromisingly holy lifestyle, so that what other workers of Christ have built up in people’s lives, we do not break down again.

Ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you what He wants you to know about your own particular situation, and where your own field of harvest is.

Bringing in the sheaves