THEME: THE GREAT HARVEST
LESSON: Five
TOPIC: Understanding the Agenda of God (Understanding the Manner of the Harvest) – Part 2
TEXT: Matthew 28:18-20; 1st Chronicles 12:32; Exodus 23:1-44
MEMORY TRACK:
By God’s grace, we saw from the last lesson that the different levels of the harvest respond to and can only be reaped through different allocation of the word of God. We learnt that some, unknowingly, with a sincere heart, have tried to use the same word for all the harvest. This ought not to be so (Revelation 14:14-16). Our growth in handling greater word/sword of the Spirit is what positions us to be better harvesters in the hands of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
THE TWO TYPES OF HARVEST
From the scriptures, particularly the Old Testament writings of Moses to the children of Israel, we see that there were seven feasts that the Lord spoke of to the children of Israel namely; the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of First Fruits/Harvest, the Feast of Weeks (later called Pentecost in the new testament), the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:1-44).
In the course of these seven feasts (festivals or celebrations), there are two major harvests that the Lord spoke about:
- The Feast of Seeds/Grains (like wheat, barley) (Leviticus 23: 9,10; Exodus 34:22); and
- The Feasts of Fruits (from trees) (Leviticus 23:39-41).
These two harvests in the Old Testament are symbolic of the type of harvests that we now have in the New Covenant, THE HARVEST OF SOULS AS BABIES (as a result of the new birth), and the harvest of souls as sons (fruits) – James 5:7.
The New Birth: In a sense, we can say the new birth is the harvest of our spirits into the kingdom of God in Christ, and that would suffice (Ephesians 2:4-8). But in the true sense, the new birth is not a harvest so to speak, because we only harvest what is “sown or planted”, we only harvest what goes through the process of growth – which our spirit did not experience. Our spirit as believers was born instantly into its present estate of Life instantly (Romans 8:10; 2Corinthians 5:17’; Ephesians 2:8) Hallelujah! But while our spirits came into being by or as a result of the new birth, our souls (which is the inseparable kinfolk of the spirit) were automatically harvested into the kingdom as a SEED/GRAIN (1 Corinthians 3:1-2).
The Harvest of Seeds/Grains: At the new birth, our souls were harvested as “seeds/grains” into the house of God just has the children of Israel bring their grains as first fruits to the Priests in the Old Testament (Leviticus 23: 9-10, Exodus 34:22). These seeds are what Apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 3:1-2 calls Babes.
At massive crusades and every other avenue for to “win souls or get people born again”, grains are harvested into the kingdom. Below are some characteristics of the harvest of grains/babies:
- Harvest of grains/seeds does not take so much work when compared to harvest of fruits which are children (product of babies that have been fed with milk), Sons (products of Children fed with meat), and Fathers (products of Sons fed with strong meat).
- When one gets born again, God adds such “a soul” (or Babe/Seed) to the church to be processed and nurtured for to grow. Hence, churches are God’s basket to receive the harvest of seeds newly brought to God. In the history of the Church on the earth, a lot of seeds/grains have been brought into the Churches over the centuries and millennia. Hallelujah!
- Such harvest is still ongoing as the Lord leads and supplies grace across the earth, but there is another harvest which is very pivotal to the culmination of all the plans and purposes of God, The harvest of fruits. These we will further explore God’s Grace in Our next lesson. Praise The Lord Jesus Christ.