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THE SPIRITUAL HARVEST
SO much of sorrow is entailed on fallen man, that his path through life is not improperly called, a vale of tears. But it is not to the ungodly only that this portion is allotted: the man who is regenerate still finds much occasion to weep; and if he have reasons for joy peculiar to himself, so also has he for grief. The Israelites, when restored from their captivity in Babylon, felt, as well they might, that the mercies vouchsafed to them were exceeding great. The very heathen that surrounded them were constrained to acknowledge this. But, when they came to their own land, and saw the desolations that were spread on every side, and reflected on the time and labour that must be employed in rebuilding their city and temple, on the opposition they were likely to meet with in their work, and on their utter incapacity to restore either the city or temple to their former grandeur, they might well weep. They were, however, encouraged with the divine assurance, that God would be with them in their labours, and prosper their endeavours; and that, if they were content to “sow in tears, they should reap in joy;” yea, that every one of them who should “go forth, weeping, and bearing precious seed, should doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
But we must not confine ourselves to the immediate occasion on which these words were written. They refer to every one that is engaged in raising a spiritual temple to the Lord: and they assure to him a happy issue to his exertions.
To elucidate the subject, we shall consider,
I. The events here connected—
Between seed-time and harvest there is in the minds of all a necessary connexion; and as in the natural world the action of sowing has always a reference to that of reaping, so it has also in the spiritual world.
The seed which the Christian sows is “tears”—
[What other can he sow, when he looks back upon the transgressions of his former life? How he, from the first moment that he began to act, lived in rebellion against his God! In no respect has he been subject to the law of God, or regulated himself according to the divine commands. From open and flagrant sins he may be free: but he has lived as without God in the world, making his own will the one rule of his conduct, and his own pleasure the only end of his existence — — — Does not such a life as this call for deep humiliation, and require to be mourned over with floods of tears?
Nor is this contrition less called for by his sins of daily incursion. Let any man compare the frame of his mind with that which his circumstances, and God’s dealings with him, demand: how faint his gratitude for mercies received! how superficial his sorrow for sins committed! how cold his devotions at the throne of grace! how feeble his efforts to glorify his God! Verily, in the retrospect of every succeeding day, he may well sit down and weep bitterly, yea, and mourn before God in dust and ashes.
In truth, this is, in a measure, the habit of the Christian’s mind; he is bowed down under a sense of his own manifold infirmities; and he walks softly before God, under a consciousness of his own extreme unworthiness. If David could say, in reference to the sins of others, “Rivers of water run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy law,” how much more may every man say it, in reference to his own sins! In the days to which we are looking forward, when the remnant of Israel shall return to the Lord their God, it is precisely in this way that they will come up to Zion: “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born [Note: Jer_31:9.].”]
From this seed, however, shall spring a harvest of “joy”—
[In the natural world we expect to reap the very seed which we have sown: but it is not so in the spiritual world. If we sow tears, shall we reap tears? No, never, never, never. Far different shall be the fruit arising from that seed! even joy, yea, “joy unspeakable and glorified.” Look at the very remnant of whom we have just spoken; and see the issue of their humiliation: “They shall come,” says the prophet, “and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their souls shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow [Note: Jer_31:12-13.].” It must be observed, that the first-fruits of this harvest are enjoyed even now: for the very scope of the Gospel is not only to “proclaim liberty to the captives; but to give unto them that mourn in Zion, to give them,” I say, “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord; and that He may be glorified [Note: Isa_61:1-3.].” But, after all, this is only a foretaste of that which they shall hereafter enjoy, a cluster from Eshcol, an earnest of their future inheritance. The time is coming when they shall reap the full harvest in the fruition of their God, in whose “presence there is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore [Note: Psa_16:11.].”]
The connexion between these two periods being marked, I proceed to shew,
II. The certainty and blessedness of this connexion—
And,
1. The certainty of it—
[In the natural world the connexion is not sure: every care may have been exercised in preparing the ground, and the best seed may have been sown in it; and yet, through blasting or mildew, or some other unforeseen calamity, the hopes of the husbandman may be disappointed. But in the spiritual world this can never occur. There may be many events which seem unpropitious, and threaten the total destruction of the life of God in the soul: but God will overrule them all for the final accomplishment of his own gracious purposes, agreeably to his own express engagement, that “All things shall work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose [Note: Rom_8:28.].” The untoward circumstances may continue for a considerable length of time; but God engages, that “though their weeping may endure for a night, joy shall assuredly come to them in the morning [Note: Psa_30:5.].” Extremely beautiful is that promise in the Prophet Hosea: “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. His goings forth are prepared as the morning [Note: Hos_6:3.].” The benighted traveller may be ready to imagine that the morning, as it were, will never arrive. But the sun, though as remote as possible from us, will return, and is actually making a progress towards us; and has its radiance ready prepared to pour it forth, for the benefit of the earth, at the appointed hour. So, in the darkest seasons of desertion is God prepared to lift up the light of his reconciled countenance upon us, and to refresh our souls with his enlightening and invigorating beams.]
2. The blessedness of it—
[The joy of the harvestman may be fitly used to characterize the Christian’s consolations here [Note: Isa_9:3.]: but it will convey no idea of his felicity hereafter; for all that here he sought and tasted shall there be enjoyed in its utmost fulness: and if the feast of which the prodigal was made to partake, on returning to his Father’s house, was so blessed, what must the banquet be which is prepared for us above! Verily, in comparison of that, the sublimest happiness of man on earth is no more than as a twinkling star to the meridian sun. To attempt to speak of the heavenly glory, is only to “darken counsel by words without knowledge:” for, what conception have we of the immediate vision of our God in the full effulgence of his glory? or what idea can we form of that throne and that kingdom which we shall possess above? Suffice it to say, that all which the blood of Christ could purchase, and all that the love of God can bestow, is the portion reserved for us in the realms of bliss.]
Behold, then,
1. How desirable is true repentance—
[I grant that repentance, considered without relation to its consequences, is not a pleasing exercise of mind: nor would a husbandman find any pleasure in casting his seed into the ground, if he had no prospect of a future recompence. But both the husbandman and the penitent sow in hope. Each of them knows, that without sowing he can never reap; and each of them expects, that if he “sow in hope, he shall be partaker of his hope.” Hence the employment is that which each of them affects. But there is this difference between the two: the husbandman is confined to a few weeks for the discharge of his duty, whereas the penitent prosecutes his labours to the very end of life; seeing that there is no day or hour which does not give him fresh occasion for penitential sorrow. He is to go forth bearing “a seed-basket [Note: So it is rendered in the margin of our Bible.];” and exactly as the sower, bearing the seed-basket, scatters the seed as universally as he can over the whole field, so does the penitent, every step he takes in the field of life. And whereas one may sow too early and too much, the other knows that he never can too soon begin the blessed work; and that the more profusely he sows, the more abundantly he shall reap: God having ordained, in reference to this as well as to every other duty, that “he who soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he who soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully [Note: 2Co_9:6.]”. To all then I say, “Be afflicted, and mourn and weep: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness: humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and he shall lift you up [Note: Jam_4:9-10.].” I say, To all, without exception, would I give this advice; for it is by a conformity to it, under the Gospel dispensation, that every child of God shall be known: “In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going, and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward; saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten [Note: Jer_50:4-5.].”]
2. How reconciled we should be to trials—
[To the Christian there may be many storms and tempests, or a long-protracted season of distress, which may threaten the destruction of all his prospects: but as, in relation to the wheat, the frost is even desirable to destroy the vermin, so are diversities of seasons beneficial to the spiritual seed: as St. Peter has said; “The trial of our faith, which is much more precious than of gold, which, though it stand the trial of fire, will perish at last, will be to praise and honour and glory at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ [Note: 1Pe_1:7.].” It is remarkable that our blessed Lord, speaking of himself as the true vine, and of his people as the branches, says of “every branch that beareth fruit, the husbandman purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit [Note: Joh_15:2.].” It might be hoped, that, since it was already fruitful, it might escape the wounds inflicted by the pruning-knife: but that is not consistent with the will of the great Husbandman, who consults its ultimate benefit in proportion to the prospect which it affords of progressive fruitfulness. So are God’s dearest people often most severely tried; and they whose sheaves shall hereafter be found most abundant, are often made to apprehend an entire failure of all their prospects. Consider, thou tempted Believer, how profitable thy trials have been to thee; how they have tended to humble thy pride, to weaken thine attachment to earthly things, to make thee feel thy need of God’s continual help, and to quicken thee in thy way to the heavenly Zion: and learn to say, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; and it is in love and faithfulness that thou hast afflicted me.”]
3. How sweet to the Christian should be the thoughts of death—
[Death is as the waggons that are about to carry home the produce of the field, or as those which were sent to bear the afflicted Jacob to his beloved Joseph. The sight of these made Jacob forget all his troubles, and become indifferent to all that he possessed in this world: “He regarded not his stuff, became all the good of the land of Egypt was his [Note: Gen_45:19-20.].” So then, Brethren, let it be with you. Behold the waggons sent to bear you home, whither you shall “go rejoicing, bearing your sheaves with you.” Yes, the tears that you have shed have been treasured up by God in his vial [Note: Psa_56:8.]; and they shall be recompensed into your bosom a hundred and a thousand fold. Hear the declaration of God himself to this effect: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit: for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them [Note: Rev_14:13.].” Only view death aright, and you will account it amongst your most valued treasures: you will even “be looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day of Christ.” If it “be unto you Christ to live,” doubt not a moment but that “to die will be gain [Note: Php_1:21.].” For this is the irreversible decree of God, that “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap: he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting [Note: Gal_6:7-8.].”]