The Harvest - Bible study notes

3.      The Harvest

a.      The harvest is the end of the age,

Matthew 13:39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

b.      Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Gal 6:7

c.       James 2:12-13 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

d.      A Harvest of wickedness 

Revelation 14:17-19 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath.

e.      A Harvest of righteousness  Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

f.        Harvest of souls for God 

Matthew 9:37-38 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." NIV

Jesus Our Savior

Jesus Our Savior

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 1 John 4:14

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you,which you received and on which you have taken your stand.By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:1-2

        When I first became a Christian many people told me that believing in God was a crutch.  Real independent people could look at things and say ‘We can fix it’ or ‘I can deal with it’.  The ‘idea’ of God was a crutch for the weak.  Our response to this was often to say, ”If God is a crutch, give me two!”  The fact that Jesus is my savior is becoming a fact that encourages me nearly every day.

          Jesus our savior. We need saving. Why? Why do we need someone to save us? From what?  From our sins, our human nature.  Have you ever read the book The Lord of the Flies ?  Under this veneer of ‘civilization’ lurks a Hitler, a Pol Pot, all done in the name of order.  Philosophers have told us that to survive as a species we must have a despot in control.  Naturally speaking they are right.  One problem.  Who picks who is in charge?  All systems fail at this point. Everyone who has tried to escape their nature knows what I am talking about.  Ever try to stop sinning?  Hurting someone by your behavior?  If you have, you know you need help.  Ever try to figure out God?  Have you had a broken relationship with God?  Jesus provided for our salvation on every level. Do we need a Savior? Look at the world! Can man solve the problems? One day we will be offered a solution, but without Jesus. It will be a deception. The only way man will bring peace is by killing off the opposition until only one is left. Sin is like that.

          The Father sent Jesus to be the Savior of the world.  Yet it is evident that not all are saved, but only those who believe.  This saving must be received.  Remember all those verses in the Gospels where Jesus said “Your faith has saved you”?  Like the 10 lepers who were all healed.  Only the one who returned to give glory to God was made whole.

          Why do we need a savior? Because we cannot save ourselves.  We are unable to know God unless He reveals himself. He can only be 'seen' by those who humble themselves, admit their sin, are honest about themselves before God and man, admitting that we need saving.  “To the humble who know their littleness, call on God with contrite hearts, and follow his will (Ps. 24:5; 34:6; 119:155), God grants his general help and salvation.”

          OT theme: false gods cannot save – go to your block of wood, see if it will save you.  Is 43:11-12, 44:6-20  “He who carves the Buddha does not worship it.”

Verses:

• Jeremiah 14:8 O Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress,
• Isaiah 63:8-9 He said, “Surely they are my people, sons who will not be false to me”; and so he became their Savior. 9 In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
• 1 Samuel 14:6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.”
• 2 Samuel 22:3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent men you save me.
• Psalm 68:19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.
• Psalm 106:10 He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.
• Psalm 107:13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
• Romans 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
• Psalm 39:8 Save me from all my transgressions; do not make me the scorn of fools.
• Psalm 72:13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death.
• Psalm 89:48 What man can live and not see death, or save himself from the power of the grave?
• Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
• Mark 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
• Luke 1:77 (John) to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,

So what do we need to be saved from?  Sin, distress, enemies, death, God’s wrath, for starters.  Saved from sin, what does this mean?  We hurt people when we sin.  God can save us from that by first of all teaching us about forgiveness and then by the fruit of the Spirit leading us in a life away from sin.

Distress?  Why not shorten it to a more common word: stress.  Anyone have a problem with stress?  Jesus can save you from stress.  How you might ask?  Through faith in Him and His promises.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Nothing.  Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you.  I remember the time where I was in great distress because I could not break off a relationship where the young lady had obviously and repeatedly told me that the relationship was over.  I was in deeper than I could handle by counseling or self discipline.  God shouted the words “Give her up” inside me and it was over.  I was delivered.

Enemies?  War?  Many Christians have been martyred through the centuries.  The peace the Lord gives is not the kind of peace that the world tries to pass off as peace. Their peace is purely circumstantial.  Ours can never be shaken.  We know that death and all these bad things that happen to people here on earth is not the end of the story.  Our story will not end with the cessation of our mortal bodies.  Our view is much bigger than one confined to this transitory temporal world. 

The fact that Jesus is our savior needs to impact us more than just when we first were saved.  Jesus wasn’t our savior for only one day.  He is our savior, today and every day!

For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2

If now is the day of salvation, this means that God is our savior today.  What do you need?  Are you in distress?  Have enemies?  Are ill?  Believe on the Lord, He is your savior. 

How To Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens

I have been looking at a book entitled How To Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens – A Guide to Christ-Focused Reading of Scripture by Michael Williams, professor of Old Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary (PhD University of Pennsylvania). In this book Michael Williams endeavors to take the reader through all the books of the Bible and give us a glimpse, a suggestion, as to how that book reveals Jesus.

In a very short introduction, Williams likens the content of the Bible to a jigsaw puzzle, while Jesus is the picture on the box that shows us what the finished product will look like. As we all know, assembling a jigsaw puzzle without that picture is a daunting task indeed. Consequently when the Bible is understood (assembled) correctly it will present to us a picture of Jesus. The justification for such an approach is based on such New Testament verses as Jn 5:39 NIV – “These are the very Scriptures that testify about me” and Luke 24:27 NIV “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Since we know that it is about Jesus ahead of time it will help us to understand what the Holy Spirit is communicating to us through scripture.

Each chapter follows the same pattern. He begins by giving us the “overarching theme of each book”, followed by how that theme “finds its focus in Jesus”. He then “explores how this focus in Christ is subsequently elaborated upon in the New Testament.” “Finally, [he] consider[s] what that fulfillment in Christ must necessarily entail for believers.” (pg.10). He also throws in a memory passage for good measure, evidently intending for this book to be not only a guide, but to be a study guide.

For my review I have chosen the chapter on the book of Numbers. Michael Williams names the book of Numbers as the Promised Rest. The theme of this book is that “God chastens his disobedient people but  reaffirms his intent to bring them into the Promised Land”. With this in mind he gives us a memory verse of Num 14:18 NIV 'The Lord  is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.

Williams writes that in Numbers we see that God has a problem bringing his people into the Promised Land. There are disobedient and at times quite faithless. They rebel against their invisible God as they see the physical superiority of the opposition who already dwell in that land. “This situation raises a theological problem that will ultimately find its resolution only through the Jesus lens: How can God punish the rebellion and faithlessness of his people and still bless them?” (pg. 26) In other words “ how could God’s holiness and justice allow him to bless his people whose faith always wavers and whose obedience always falters?” (pg. 26)

Now we apply the Jesus Lens. With this lens we see that only Jesus was fully obedient. He was the only one who had the ability to pay the price for our sin. “When we believe in our trusting, obedient Lord and what he has done for us, the way is clear for us to enter God’s promised rest.” (pg. 27) At this juncture Williams quotes Heb 4:3 NIV “We who have believed enter that rest”.  It is only through Jesus that we can claim and experience the promised rest of God.

The next section is the one that considers the contemporary implications of what was seen through the Jesus lens. “We, as God’s people today, also have a Promised Land before us. It is a place of fellowship with God that characterizes our salvation in Jesus Christ. When we, like the Israelites, allow the big challenges of life to cause us to forget the even bigger power of God, he disciplines us so we don’t stray far from the real peace, security, and fulfillment that are found only in our relationship with him.” (pg. 27) Williams’ point is that God’s “discipline leads us to the place of rest” (pg.27)

His final section he calls “Hook Questions”. These are questions that are to be asked of ourselves as we try to incorporate into our lives the implications of the book of the Bible we are studying. One of these is “In what ways have you already begun to know God’s rest?” (pg.28)

This book will be a help to those who are just beginning to think about the meaning of the Scriptures. The attempted scope of the book necessarily limits its impact. This is too bad because I have a passion for this topic and sincerely hope that Christians will read the Bible as God’s Word to us. But the oversimplifications, the truncated manner of dealing with the topics, can at best only touch the surface.

Deception

2.      The Danger is Deception

a.      Deception will be the tool that divides those who believe from those who don’t. Over and over again the Spirit says regarding the last days “Don’t be deceived” Lk 21:8, 1Co 6:9, 2Co 11:3, Gal 6:7 2Tim 3:3, Jas 1:16, 2Thes 2:3

b.      False signs and wonders   Dt 13:2, 2 Thes 2:9, Mk 13:22, Jer 4:10, Lk 21:8, Rev 13:14, Mt 24:4, Mt 7:21-23

c.       False doctrine  1Tim 4:1, 2Tim 3:13, 2 Peter 3:17, Jude 4,18 etc.

d.      False Prophets and false Christs Mt 24:23,24, 2 Thes 2:3,9, 1Jn 2:18, 4:3

e.      Falling asleep Parable of the 10 virgins Mt 25:1-10, 2Peter 3:4 Remember Lot’s wife Lk17:32  Materialism lulls people to sleep. Those choking weeds.  How do we know we are not deceived? By definition no one knows that they are or are not deceived.

f.         Receive a love for the Truth. 2Thes 2:10 The whole epistle of 1 Jn is so that you might know. Believe and do.

The day of the Lord – Wrath, Deception, Harvest, Hope

Here are my notes for the 1^st section of this topic for the Bible study on Tuesday nights.

2 Peter 3:3-15

1. The Wrath of God     John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." Rom 1:18-19 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, Rom 2:5-6 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done."
1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ Rev 1:1  (Story of six men and the elephant)

                                                               i.      God is Spirit: Jn 4:24

                                                             ii.      God is Light: 1 Jn 1:5

                                                            iii.      God is Love: 1 Jn 4:16

                                                           iv.      God is a Consuming Fire: Heb 12:29, Dt 4:24, Is 66:15

                                                             v.      God is the Judge: Ps 7:11, Jer 51:56, 2 Thes 1:6, 2 Ch 12:6, Gen 18:25, Is 2:4,11:3,4, Acts 10:42, 17:31, Rom 2:16,3:6, 2Tim 4:1,8, Heb 12:23, 1Peter 4:5, Jas 4:12, Rev 6:10

1.       Jesus said that he came not to bring peace but a sword. Mt 10:34

2.       That is to say Jesus came to make a division. Gen 1:3-4, Jn 1:3-5, Mt 13:25-30 Wheat and the weeds.

                                                           vi.      Marcion, a heretic from the 2nd century (c.80-c.155), couldn’t believe that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament were the same. [He rejected OT and much of NT. His canon included only an edited version of Luke and 10 Pauline letters (excluding the pastorals) It was partly in reaction to Marcion’s canon that the church in that day clarified their own canon]. After all, would the God you know command genocide? Yet they are the same!

1.       The God who is love is also the God “who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

2.       Who “will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.” 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10 Yet He is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9, Jn 3:16, Lk 13:3

2.  The Day of the Lord

                                                               i.      The day of the Lord begins and ends with Jesus.

1.       “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:12    

2.       Luke 3:7-9 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

                                                             ii.      The day of the Lord is salvation to those who believe that Jesus is and tells the truth and judgment upon those who judge God a liar. It is a time of wrath and judgment on those who disbelieve and a time of deliverance and salvation for those who do believe. How you relate to Jesus determines your destiny!

1.       Destroy sinners - Is 13:9,

a.       You will receive as you gave -  Obadiah 15,

b.      False security  Deut 29:18-21 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord  our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison. 19 When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, "I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way." This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.a  20 The Lord  will never be willing to forgive him; his wrath and zeal will burn against that man. All the curses written in this book will fall upon him, and the Lord  will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 The Lord  will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

2.       Saved from wrath by the blood of Jesus that justifies - Ro 5:9, 2 Thes 2:1-1o

                                                            iii.      Matthew 25:34,41 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” Mt 23:33, 18:6

                                                           iv.      “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son”. 1 John 5:10, 1 Jn 1:10, Jn 3:33

                                                             v.      Acts 17:31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. 2 Cor 5:6-10

Love Never Fails

The church isn't necessarily a group of hypocrites. I think of it as more like a group of students who are trying to learn. I know that this viewpoint can be tied to Pollyanna, but so what? Jesus told us that there would be tares sown among the wheat and not to try to uproot them while the wheat is still maturing. Why? So that we don't accidentally destroy some wheat in the process.

There has been a long discussion about Jesus' parables. One that is especially interpreted in opposite ways is the one comparing the kingdom to a woman who put yeast into a large amount of dough. Some people see this as explaining the mystery of how the kingdom extends its influence over all society, or, as in some other interpretations, the church as the kingdom growing within society.

180 degrees from this is the view that the kingdom will be rife with false teaching by the end. This is based on how the concept of yeast is used throughout the Bible. Jesus taught that there the yeast of the Scribes and Pharisees was their teachings. Paul even warns us about getting rid of all the yeast so we can celebrate the feasts, especially Passover, with pure hearts.

I tend to agree with the latter interpretation more. I am not surprised or even shocked at the dumb things that Christians do either in word or deed. It is not for me to call them all to account. I believe Jesus Himself will clean up the mess. Paul wrote in his letter 2 Thess 2:11-12 "For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." The great "falling away" or rebellion will be God's way of clearing out all those tares before the harvest.

2 Thess 2:10 "They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved." I find that my only way of avoiding deception is to love the truth. So I don't preach against people. Those other people are not responsible to me. I have no authority over them. I help people discern by showing them what a love for the truth looks like. The best way something can be seen as bent is to put a something straight next to it.

It is still true that NT prophets will hold the church accountable to the New Covenant. It is a covenant based in believing Jesus, and thereby believing in Him. We are given only one command in this covenant, to love both God and man. So NT prophets will remind the church of her agreement and urge them to fulfill their part of the agreement through faith in the power of the Spirit to change and transform our hearts.

How this is best done is left to the individual prophets in their relationship to God and to the churches that these people are apart of. Like when Paul wrote that who are we to judge another man's servant? To his own master he either stands or falls. And God is able to make him stand.

Yes, and God is able to make him stand. 1 Cor 13:4-8 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.