SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/9/2021 9:42 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Coming Consummation of Judgment”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
9:37a
Message of the
verse: “Then
He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful,”
Now as we look at this first part of
verse 37 we can see that Jesus has changed the metaphor from shepherding to
harvesting, however He continues to give His motives for ministry. Let me explain: Jesus ministered not only because it was His
nature to have compassion as we have already spent much time on, but because
the people had a deep need and so He also ministered because they faced God’s
final judgment, and that is a very good reason to minister.
I want at this time to quote several
paragraphs from John MacArthur’s commentary as what we are about to look at is
very important in the interpretation of verse 37.
“Several interpretations are commonly offered for the meaning of the
harvest. It is said to represent all the
lost, the seekers after God, or those who are elected for salvation. It is reasonable to see this harvest as a
salvation harvest (cf. John 4:35; Luke 10:2).
But there is another feature in this imagery. The word for harvest (therismos) is used twelve times in the New Testament, and contexts
refer it to either salvation or judgment—or perhaps both. Looking at the judgment aspect, we see from
other parts of Scripture, including the Old Testament, a different picture of
what the figure of harvest could include.
“God
declared to Israel through Isaiah, ‘for you have forgotten the God of our
salvation and have not remembered the rock of your refuge. Therefore you plant delightful plants and set
them with vine slips of a strange god.
In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in, and in the
morning you bring your seed to blossom; but the harvest will be a heap in a day
of sickliness and incurable pain’ (Isa. 17:10-11). The harvest here was God’s judgment.
“Through
Joel the Lord said, ‘Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather
yourselves there. Bring down, O Lord,
Thy mighty ones. Let the nations be
aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations. Put in the
sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come,
tread, for the wine press is full; the vats overflow, for their wickedness is
great. Multitudes, multitudes in the
valley of decision’ (Joel 3:11-14).
Again the harvest was God’s judgment, and the multitudes faced the
decision of their destiny—before they lost the opportunity to decide.
“In
the parable of the wheat and tares, Jesus spoke of the two plants being allowed
‘to grow together until the harvest,’ when the tares would be bound into
bundles and burned up (Matt. 13:30). In
His explanation of that parable, Jesus said, ‘Just as the tares are gathered up
and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels,
and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit
lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (vv. 40-42). The parable includes the truth that the
harvest will bring the righteousness into eternal blessing (v. 43), but the
emphasis is clearly on judgment. On the
island of Patmos, the apostle John saw a vision of the harvest.
“14 ‘Then I
looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like
a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.
15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to
Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to
reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe." 16 Then He who
sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. 17
And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a
sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out
from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp
sickle, saying, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the
vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe." 19 So the angel swung his
sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the
earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 And the
wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine
press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.’
“Again the unmistakable emphasis is one
of judgment.”
I
think that it is very important for us to understand what Jesus is talking
about here and that is why am taking the time to quote from MacArthur’s
commentary as I suppose like many others who have looked at this passage that
they have had a different understand of it, which is something that I certainly
had.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Knowing what lies ahead for this world and
the people in it, it is my desire to warn them of the upcoming judgment,
something Peter spoke of in his second letter, chapter three.
My
Steps of Faith For Today: I trust that the Lord will give me victory over some
difficult situations in my life.
7/9/2021 10:12 AM
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