The Whitening Harvest (16 of 23)
Series: The Hope of the Gospel
J.D. Jones
John 4:35
And unless I am sadly and utterly mistaken, our Lord uttered these words with overflowing emotion and exaltation of spirit. And what was it that stirred Him to this unwonted emotion? He saw in the distance a procession of the inhabitants of Sychar eagerly making their way across the plain to Him, led by the woman with whom He had spoken by the well. And the sight moved Him to something like rapture, as did the request of the Greeks to see Him on a subsequent occasion. It was a prophecy of the rich fruitage that would yet result from His travail and sorrow.
The disciples had, apparently, been discussing the harvest prospects. The green blade had just begun to appear in the fields. In four months, they had been saying, the whole plain would be a golden sea of waving corn. But while they were thinking of crops, their Lord was thinking of men. While they were thinking of the harvest of grain, Jesus was thinking of the harvest of souls. There were four weary months to wait for the one; the other was ready even now to their hands. 'Lift up your eyes and look on the fields,' our Lord said-and He pointed to the crowd of villagers who were eagerly hastening towards them,-'that they are white already unto harvest.'
Now, as I have suggested, I believe that the harvest the disciples had been talking about was the corn harvest. That was the harvest of which there were as yet but scanty signs, and for which the farmers would have to wait four long and tiresome months. But I am also persuaded that the antithesis in my text between the 'four months' of the disciples and the 'white already' of Jesus, is meant by Him to represent the difference between the disciples' ideas of the possibilities of Samaria and His own. Where the disciples saw scarcely a promise of harvest, the Lord saw fields already white.
The Harvest in Unlikely Places
Take this very case of Sychar. What did the d ...
Series: The Hope of the Gospel
J.D. Jones
John 4:35
And unless I am sadly and utterly mistaken, our Lord uttered these words with overflowing emotion and exaltation of spirit. And what was it that stirred Him to this unwonted emotion? He saw in the distance a procession of the inhabitants of Sychar eagerly making their way across the plain to Him, led by the woman with whom He had spoken by the well. And the sight moved Him to something like rapture, as did the request of the Greeks to see Him on a subsequent occasion. It was a prophecy of the rich fruitage that would yet result from His travail and sorrow.
The disciples had, apparently, been discussing the harvest prospects. The green blade had just begun to appear in the fields. In four months, they had been saying, the whole plain would be a golden sea of waving corn. But while they were thinking of crops, their Lord was thinking of men. While they were thinking of the harvest of grain, Jesus was thinking of the harvest of souls. There were four weary months to wait for the one; the other was ready even now to their hands. 'Lift up your eyes and look on the fields,' our Lord said-and He pointed to the crowd of villagers who were eagerly hastening towards them,-'that they are white already unto harvest.'
Now, as I have suggested, I believe that the harvest the disciples had been talking about was the corn harvest. That was the harvest of which there were as yet but scanty signs, and for which the farmers would have to wait four long and tiresome months. But I am also persuaded that the antithesis in my text between the 'four months' of the disciples and the 'white already' of Jesus, is meant by Him to represent the difference between the disciples' ideas of the possibilities of Samaria and His own. Where the disciples saw scarcely a promise of harvest, the Lord saw fields already white.
The Harvest in Unlikely Places
Take this very case of Sychar. What did the d ...
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