The Great Harvest; Or, The End Of The World.

Adapted From a Sermon By

George Burder

The harvest is the end of the age.

(Matthew 13:39 ESV)

Our text morning is from Matthew 13 verse 39: The harvest is the end of the age. And from the context we see that the end of the age clearly refers to the end of the world, the great day of Judgement.

Now, it has pleased God to establish a striking analogy (or likeness) between worldly things and spiritual things. Perhaps it is impossible for us, in our present state, to rightly conceive of them without such means. And so in a sense the universe itself is a system of theology.

Our Lord, however, in his own ministry, often made use of common objects, as emblems of those spiritual blessings which he came into the world to bestow on mankind. In this chapter we have several parables:---The sower---the weeds and the wheat---the net---the mustard-seed---the leaven---the hidden treasure---the pearl of great price: all intended to represent the different effects of the gospel on the different hearers of it; and the mixture of true believers and of false professors in the church, until the great day of judgment, which is here compared to the harvest.

The text is part of our Lord's own explanation of his parable of the wheat and the weeds. "The kingdom of heaven;" that is, the reign of God on earth by his gospel, "may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat:"(Matthew 13:24-25) at length, behold, to the surprise of all, wheat and weeds mingled together covered the whole field. The servant proposed to his master to pull out the weeds; but as there would be danger of pulling up the wheat with the weeds, the owner gave orders that they should be let alone; and then, at harvest time, the weeds should be bound up in bundles and be burnt; and the wheat, the valuable grain, carefully stored.

The disciples of Christ, not fully understanding their master's meaning in this parable, took the first opportunity, in private, to ask for its meaning. This he readily gave; for, "if any one lack wisdom,"(James 1:5) and prays for it, it will be granted. He explained it as follows: "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man," that is, Christ himself. "The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom," that is, sincere Christians: "the weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age:" (Matthew 13:37-39) and to the season of harvest, the end of the world may be justly compared, for it is an appointed, fixed, expected time; it is a separating time; and it is a joyful time.

The word "harvest," in Scripture, has various meanings, which it may first be proper to notice.

1) Sometimes, it stands for that favorable period in which the gospel of Christ is received, as it always ought to be, with a ready and obedient mind---When our Lord observed the great multitudes which pressed to hear him, in the cities and villages where he preached and healed, "he had compassion for them; and said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."(Matthew 9:36-38)

At another time, when he beheld the Samaritans of Sychar coming out to hear him, he said, "Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the (barley) fields are white for harvest!"(John 4:35). His Joy in these pleasing appearances was like the joy experienced by us when we perceive a ripened crop.

2) Sometimes, the word "harvest" is to be taken in a very different sense, and stands for those dreadful judgments of heaven upon a sinful nation, in war, famine, or pestilence; by which vast multitudes are cut down like the stalks of corn in the field. Thus, in the book of Joel the prophet, the Lord, referring to war, says, "Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe---multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision" (or of threshing.)(Joel 3:13-14) So, when the destruction of Babylon is predicted---"the daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come!"(Jeremiah 51:33)

War is a dreadful calamity: it is one of the most terrible scourges with which the God of justice punishes a guilty nation for its wickedness; when a people have, by their vices, their irreligion, their unbelief, their persecutings, filled up the measure of their iniquities, as the Amorites did, and as the Jews did; then wrath, in the shape of the sword, comes upon them to the uttermost, and mows them down like grass or corn in the field.

But, in our text, "the harvest" means that awful period in which the present state of things will cease, emphatically called "the end of the age!"---the end of the age! observe the words. Awful words! the end of the age! Let us stop, and contemplate for a moment, what each of us must personally witness. These eyes will behold the wonderful objects which that day will present; these ears will hear the tremendous trumpet which will announce the event; these hearts will flutter with joy, or tremble with terror at the decision, the final decision of our everlasting state, which will then be pronounced.

What a humbling expression is this---the end of the age! And will this present world, with all its great and magnificent works, the technological advancements, the labors of philosophers, and artists, and statesmen, and agriculturists, its libraries, castles, cathedrals, palaces, all come to nothing, all be demolished, all be consumed with fire? Yes, the decree has been proclaimed, and cannot be reversed; the day is fixed, and cannot be altered. O! "men of the world, whose portion is in this life,"(Psalm 17:14) how tormenting is this truth to them!

An end? Yes, the end of all worldly possessions! "We brought nothing into the world" when we were born; and it is certain "we cannot take anything out of the world"(1 Timothy 6:7) when we die; and, mark it, the end of every man's life is, to him, the end of the world. In vain the wealthy and prosperous man projects his schemes of future enjoyment and says, "I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry." Foolish man! worldly man! Is this your happiness, to eat and drink, and be merry? God forgotten! Your soul neglected! Salvation slighted!---But hear! The end, the end is at hand; "this night your soul is required of you!"(Luke 12:18-20)

All worldly honors must come to an end. At present, distinctions of high and low, rich and poor, are necessary; but they will come to an end. All the high-sounding titles of Lords, and Dukes, and Presidents, and Prime Ministers will no longer be known; no distinction will then be valued but the distinction that grace made in the states and in the hearts of men.

Then also will all the means of grace come to an end---so we call those ordinances of religion, those opportunities we now enjoy of instruction by Bibles, sermons, and the conversation and example of pious persons around us. The throne of grace is now open; we may freely approach it, and obtain mercy and grace; but it will not always be so. No proclamation of pardon through the blood of the Lamb will never more salute the sinner's ears; but it will be solemnly declared from heaven, "Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy."(Revelation 22:11)

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We now move on to the principal thing intended in this sermon, which is to show---why the end of the world is compared to the harvest.

1. The end of the world may be justly compared to a harvest, because---It is an appointed, fixed, ordained, and expected time.

The God of nature has wisely appointed the order and succession of the seasons. After the deluge, when God promised to never again destroy the earth by water, he also engaged that, "while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."(Genesis 8:22) The experience of more than four thousand years has convinced us of the faithfulness of God to this promise; and by the same authority, "it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment;"(Hebrews 9:27) death and judgment are as certainly fixed and appointed as seedtime and harvest are, and may as confidently be expected. Yes; "God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed."(Acts 17:31)

The seasons are rolling on; and when the spring has passed, and we are far advanced in the summer, we know that the harvest is at hand; and it would be deemed very unreasonable to question its approach. Men, indeed, may labor to reason themselves out of the belief of what they dread, as the apostle Peter predicted that some would do, in the latter days of the world; the infidels he describes are "scoffers" at religion; men who follow "their own sinful desires," despising the commandments of God; these men say, "Where is the promise of his coming?"(2 Peter 3:3-4) For all things, they say, remain, age after age, the same; but the apostle reproves them, by reminding them that the world was once destroyed by water, "by the word of God;" and "by the same word,"(2 Peter 3:5, 7) it will finally be destroyed by fire. The season of harvest is fixed by the irreversible decree of God.

2. The end of the world may be compared to a harvest, because it is a separating time;

and so it is expressed in the parable before us:---The weeds and the wheat "both grow together until the harvest," but then the reapers are directed to "gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but to gather the wheat into the barn."(Matthew 13:30) Jesus Christ explains this, as signifying the separation which will be made at the end of the world; "The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom (the church) all causes of sin and all law-breakers;"(Matthew 13:41) all who call themselves Christians (for others are outside of the hedge of the gospel-field) who by their wickedness are an offense and a scandal to their holy profession, who pervert and abuse the gospel, by their dangerous errors, or gross immoralities, and thereby grieve and offend the ministers and friends of true religion. They will be separated.

Now they are mingled with sincere Christians in the same churches, in the same families, and for wise ends permitted by Christ to remain with them; spared, it may be, for the sake of their pious friends, or spared to assist the cause of God by external aid, as some of them do; but at the harvest, the separation will take place; and O! what will be their fate! They will be cast into a furnace of fire! There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth!---deep lamentation, anguish, and despair, aggravated by a recollection of the privileges they once enjoyed and abused, and the vain hope which, as professed disciples, mingled with the true ones, they once held.

On the other hand, how happy and glorious shall believers appear! They "will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father!"(Matthew 13:43)---they will possess a glory and a radiancy like the sun itself, and be fixed forever in the kingdom of their Father, to enjoy the transforming visions of his face! Then will God, by his angels, "gather to himself his faithful ones" even they "who made a covenant with him by sacrifice,"(Psalm 50:5)---the sacrifice of Christ; by which, through faith, they were reconciled to God. And then will all the world return, and discern "between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him."(Malachi 3:18)

3. The end of the world may be compared to the harvest, because it is a season of great joy:

"the joy of harvest" is proverbial, and stands for great joy and satisfaction; and the joys of God's people are represented as the highest, because they are superior to those of the men of the world "when their grain and wine abound."(Psalm 4:7)

But O, what tongue can describe, what heart can conceive of the joys and triumphs of that grand harvest of which we speak! The joy of the Savior himself---the joy of angels---the joy of ministers---the joy of all the redeemed!

It will be a day of delight to the Lord Jesus Christ; for then will be presented before his throne "a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages;" who, with a loud voice, will shout, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."(Revelation 7:9,10) Then, indeed, will he behold, with inexpressible pleasure, "the labor of his soul, and be satisfied."(Isaiah 53:11 NKJV)

From the day that he ascended in our nature to heaven, he has seen and welcomed the purchase of his blood, one after another, admitted into glory: but then he will behold them altogether; glorified both in body and soul, and they "will always be with the Lord."(1 Thessalonians 4:17) This was "the joy that was set before him,"(Hebrews 12:2) which he never lost sight of in the days of his humiliation, for which he calmly endured the cross, and despised the shame. The prospect of this cheered his spirit, while a man of sorrows; when the seventy reported the success of their mission, and when the Samaritans flocked to him for instruction, then he rejoiced in Spirit; but now he possesses "the fullness of joy, and pleasures forevermore."(Psalm 16:11)

The angels also will exceedingly rejoice. They were ministering spirits to the Lord of glory when on earth: they gladly announced his birth; they ministered to him in the wilderness; they strengthened him in the garden; they attended his resurrection; and they accompanied him in his triumphal entrance into glory; and as they waited on the Head, so do they also upon the members of the body; they are "ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation;"(Hebrews 1:14) and we are assured that they report with joy in heaven, the conversion of sinners on earth. How great then will be their delight when they behold their whole charge fully redeemed, and completely happy! Having no further need of their benevolent services, but exceedingly grateful for having enjoyed them.

And will not the ministers of the gospel share in the general joy of this delightful harvest? Who will be more joyful than they? Who can have more reason for joy? Once they labored hard in their studies, in their pulpits, in their pastoral visits. The greater part of them were poor and despised for their Master's sake; and many fell victims to their labors and sufferings for the elect's sake. Yet, sometimes, perhaps, their hearts were encouraged when an individual or two came forward, and praised God for what he had done by their instrumentality; but probably ministers are informed only of a very small part of the good they do; this information is reserved for the harvest-day, according to what the apostle Paul said to the Thessalonians: "what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting" What was it to be? "Is it not you"(1 Thessalonians 2:19)---you, believing and converted people, whose sincerity was evidenced by "your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope;"(1 Thessalonians 1:3)---you will be "our hope or joy or crown of boasting (or glorying) before our Lord Jesus at his coming."

What though neither fame nor compensation rewarded the labors of the humble pastor or evangelist, it will be joy and recompense enough, when he is permitted "in the day of Christ,"(Philippians 2:16) and "in the presence of Christ,"(2 Corinthians 2:10) to be permitted to present the fruit of his labors, saying, "Behold, I and the (spiritual) children God has given me."(Hebrews 2:13)

Finally, the joy of every saved sinner will be inexpressibly great. "Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart."(Psalm 97:11) Joy is sown, and the crop is secured by the Almighty hand that sowed it. It may long lie buried in the earth; but let the believer wait patiently, as the farmer does; "we will reap, if we do not give up;"(Galatians 6:9) and remember that it is written, "whatever one sows, that will he also reap;" if we have "sown to the Spirit we will from the Spirit reap eternal life."(Galatians 6:7,8)

Now is the seedtime: the harvest will surely arrive. The Christian may "sow in tears," the tears of repentance; but "he shall reap with shouts of joy;"(Psalm 126:5) his repentance will not be repented of. Angels rejoiced to witness such a sowing; and the believer will rejoice when he receives the fruits. His careful study of the word of God, his regular attendance on the means of grace, the hours he devoted to private devotions, fasting and prayer; his bold profession of Christ before men; his rigid abstinence from sin and carnal pleasure, and his holy walk and conversation, despised by the world as needless precision, his generous support of the cause of Christ, and his compassion to the poor and needy, will not fail of receiving a gracious recompense; his joy will be great, for all his prayers are answered; all his fears are banished, all his hopes are realized, all the promises are fulfilled, and all his desires gratified to the utmost; Indeed, infinitely exceeded. "He rejoices before the Lord as with the joy of harvest."(Isaiah 9:3)

As we come to a close, what ought we to learn from the whole matter.

1. Will this vain world soon come to an end? Then let us not set our hearts upon it. "Will you set your eyes on that which is not,"(Proverbs 23:5 NKJV) or which will soon cease to be; or, what is the same thing to you, which you must soon leave; it may be, tomorrow? O guard against the love of the world; the love of sin ruins many; the love of the world ruins far more; for, "if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."(1 John 2:15) Use the world, then,"as though you had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away."(1 Corinthians 7:31) "Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand."(Philippians 4:5)

2. How important is the present moment! Remember, it is the sowing-time; and we sow for eternity. Let me ask you, What have you been sowing? Has it been to the flesh, or to the Spirit?

Young man or woman! How do you employ your leisure hours? Do you read your Bible? Do you pray? Do you devote yourself to the church, and hear the word of God? Do you watch and pray against temptation, and shun the places and persons and amusements which are dangerous? Remember---"whatever one sows, that will he also reap."(Galatians 6:7)

Busy tradesman! You have many cares, and are "skillful in your work;"(Proverbs 22:29) but are you also "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord?"(Romans 12:11) You have many cares; but remember Christ's words---"One thing is necessary;" and, O! seek that "good portion, which will not be taken away from you."(Luke 10:42)

Careful mother! you too, like Martha, are "distracted with much serving;"(Luke 10:40) your little family engages, perhaps engrosses, all your cares and all your affections. You cannot forget your infant; take care that you do not forget your soul; you dare not neglect your children; dare not neglect your salvation.

And, O sinner! You who live in the practice of known iniquity, what crop do you expect from the seed you are sowing? Every seed produces its proper fruit; and so will yours---What fruit may be expected from oaths and curses, from sexual immorality and adultery, from drunkenness and deceit? Conscience tells you what. Ah! "the end of these things is death!"(Romans 6:21) So long ago as the time of Job, this was the observation:---"As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same."(Job 4:8)---"Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin."(Ezekiel 18:30)

3. Lastly. Here is much encouragement for serious and sincere Christians. You, blessed be God, have been enabled to "sow to the Spirit;"(Galatians 6:8) fear not then "for he who promised is faithful."(Hebrews 10:23) The crop is secure, and the harvest is near. And then, consider the joy of the expected harvest!

We finish with the word of God: "He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him."(Psalm 126:6)