Harvest is something that some churches celebrate to give thanks to God for blessing the ground to produce plentiful harvest for us all.

In my childhood years harvest time was something I look forward to because it provides the opportunity for us to dress up in our best outfits and to eat as much as we can as there is usually plentiful food and fruits available. However, now in open eyes of the spirit, I see the concept of harvest from a very different perspective. Harvest for me is central to divine life principles and as such, it is important that we fully understand the real concept of harvest from a spiritual perspective. Life is all about continuous productivity and from a divine life perspective to say we have harvest is to say we have perfect growth and in perfect growth multiplications. To multiply is to increase and increase for harvest sake can only take place when there is progressive maturity growth. God created us to multiply us in goodness however; the fall of man into sin subtracted man from life and placed man in darkness world of evil death. In darkness dungeon of evil, man has no opportunity of having any good returns and to afford man the opportunity of good returns, God renewed His covenant of multiplications along His chosen covenant trail. The first on this covenant trail is Noah. God in His covenant renewal statement to Noah stated in Genesis 8:22 that "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease".

The bible is a book of principles and we can only understand biblical principles when we see things from a whole contextual perspective. From a divine principle perspective, God's reference to all the seasons here is a symbolic reference to conditions. Darkness symbolises evil and day symbolises light and goodness. The word harvest here refers to both the normal harvest in the era of time and the ultimate harvest at the end of days. God made the natural harvest possible through His replenishing of the ground and as such, so long as the earth continues man will enjoy natural harvest from natural seeds plantations. In the fall of sin, God cursed the ground and as such, man lost the benefit of spiritual multiplications and was not able to enjoy goodness harvest from the earth ground. God gave the benefit of natural harvest again to man through blessing the ground following the renewal of His covenant with Noah. However, from a divine perspective the renewal of God's covenant of multiplications with man is not just for natural harvest. The whole essence for God enabling man to have natural harvest on the earth is to sustain man on the earth for perfect regenerations of our souls.

At the end of time, God as the creator of all will have His own harvest day and He will only harvest on this final day of harvest the good and matured seeds. God is a God of productivity. To make us His good produce he gave us Christ for us to have a spiritual new birth and in perfect spiritual birth, grow, mature, and become His perfect harvest. Until the day of final harvest good and evil, which is symbolised by day and night will operate side by side on this earth and this is so because the earth is the ground for regenerations. In Matthew chapter 13 Christ likened the kingdom of God unto a man, which sowed good seed in his field and while men sleep an enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and as the good seeds grew and brought forth fruits so also appeared the tares. When the savants went to ask the master whether they should gather up the tares the master in verse 30 responded by saying, "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn". This parable is confirmation of God's covenant statement to Noah that night and day meaning good and evil will continue on the earth until judgement day. In Revelations chapter 20, we find that on the final day of judgement God will call every spirit into order and reward them according to their deeds. Any spirit whose name is not found in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire just as Christ said in His parable. However, the good seeds of the Lord will enjoy a New heaven and Earth where there shall only be day meaning goodness and no more darkness meaning no more evil trials or tribulations. To be the Lord's harvest is to dwell in the everlasting holy peaceful presence of God and the whole objective of bad seeds of darkness is to prevent man from having perfect spiritual growth to deny them godly spiritual harvest. Every man became a bad seed in the fall of sin however through Christ; we have benefit of regeneration and through perfect regeneration, the opportunity of becoming God's own eternal harvest. Since the good and the evil will continue to live together until the day of harvest the repentant man on the earth will undergo extreme tough conditions however, this tough conditions will only work in our favour if our spirit is in unity with Christ

In the natural context, bad seasons and conditions can hamper the growth of a seed hence to have good harvest it is necessary to plant our seeds in the right season and amidst perfect conditions. Just as bad conditions can hamper growth and development of a natural seed and by so doing adversely affect harvest outcome, so also can conditions and circumstances debilitate a man and adversely affect his spiritual growth and development. As the creator of all God is always in good harvest and it is to place us in his eternal life harvest that He gave us His only begotten Son for the remissions of our sins. The principalities bad seed that God threw away before the foundations of the earth knows very well that conditions dictate moods and what they are after is to focus the mind of man on natural conditions or circumstances to disable the spirit from having spiritual growth and maturity. The end time world is full of darkness agents. Their main task is to deceive man to distract them from focusing on their real spiritual soul objectives, which is to seek spiritual growth and maturity to become the Lord's harvest. This darkness agents are dead seeds and as dead seeds lack good spiritual will and conscience. With many hell agents that lacks good conscience around, human beings in the end time are bound to undergo extreme bad conditions. However if we are in Christ, all season and condition will only condition and position us perfectly to be the Lord's harvest. The harvest reward in the Lord's kingdom is plentiful but the labourers are few and they are few because man in the world in blind eyes of the spirit is only interested in world harvest. Matthew 9 from verses 37 says "Then said he unto his disciples, The harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Verses 38 says, Pray ye therefore the Lord of harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest" God as the creator of all has finished His work of harvest and He is in His eternal rest. We enter into God's rest through Christ. Christ is God's perfect seed and soil of growth and it is only in Christ regeneration that we can become perfect fruits and as perfect fruits God's own harvest everlastingly. I count it as highest honour that God has made me a labourer in His harvest vineyard for His eternal life reward purposes. No matter what I go through on this earth, I know that so long as I remain in the Lord's goodness labour ward all things shall work together for eternal goodness of my soul. In Christ, my soul knows that the Lord that called me into labour is a God of eternal rewards hence my harvest joyful dance will not just be for a day in time era but will surely last forever. I wish you all a life journey that ends in eternal harvest in heaven.

Pastor Olabisi Kufeji

Senior Pastor

Freedom House International Ministries UK.

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