“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest.” (John 4:35 ASV.)
Very seldom do we see Jesus telling His disciples what NOT to say. Most of the time He was telling them what TO say! This scripture requires some meditation because Jesus is hitting some major truths here, but what stands out is that Jesus is contrasting a natural harvest of, let’s say, wheat; with a supernatural harvest of souls.
Jesus had already planted a word-seed in the woman He was speaking with at Jacob’s well. That seed was a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit, called the word of knowledge (I Corinthians 12:8). He told her things about her past that only God would have known, and she ran back into the village and told everyone about Him, that He must be the Messiah! That seed brought the entire village out to meet Him almost instantly, and He stayed there another two days ministering to them and teaching them. One gift of the Spirit brought a harvest that nothing in the natural could have.
Jesus said, “Don’t say this! Don’t say there are four months until harvest…” Jesus is the Lord OF the Harvest! He is God the Son, and God is always in the PRESENT! He didn’t say “I was,” or “I will be.” He said, I Am! In Ezekiel 48:35, God called Himself Jehovah-shammah, which means, ‘the ever-present One!’ God is always present and ready to go! The harvest is white already unto harvest, regardless of how we see things in the natural. This is why it’s so important that we say what God says, rather than what our eyes see in the natural.
The Bible tells us to “… walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith accepts what God’s Word says regardless of what we see. The most prolific faith scripture in the Bible is Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.” Notice the very first word of the verse is “NOW.” Faith is NOW! Ever-present and always loaded with power, regardless of man’s natural time tables.
Back to John 4:35, Jesus said, “…Lift up your eyes and look on the fields…” The fields He was referring to is the crowd that was approaching from the village who went out to see Jesus, who the woman had told them about! The field to us is the world, which is all those who have no hope beyond this natural world. Jesus knew how to reach those people, and He knows how to reach the people that need to be reached among us. So, if we want to reach people in the most effective way, it’s important to be open to, and be led by the Spirit of God! He’ll lead you to those who might serve as the key to a whole city that needs to know there is a God who loves them and has provided them with an amazing Savior, and a plan for their lives that is greater than anything they could ever imagine!
With Love,
Pastor Tom
(You can also read this story in the life of Jesus in John 4:4-43)
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