The Harvest Season: Love and Lawlessness
Psalms 1:1-6 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord , And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Understanding the season you are in is essential to agree with God's plan for your life. It is important to know the time you are in. Different responses are required for different seasons. This is why David, in Psalm 1, says those who delight in knowing God are like well watered trees that "bring forth fruit in its season"...there is a time for everything. Psalm 1 is describing the time leading up to judgment.
This is the hour we are in. Judgment is unfolding like the day dawns. It is hard to put your finger on any one moment of the sunrise but by 8 am, the sun WILL be up. Judgment is increasing in the same way, because judgment is the result of light coming into darkness. Judgment will continue to increase intensity, because the glory of God is increasing in brightness and the judgments are causing more to cry out for God! It is a cycle that builds!
God's light, or Glory IS judgment on darkness...judgment IS the result of infinite brightness...or glory... coming to earth. The brightness of God is deadly for anything not made ready to receive it.
When Paul described this reality to Timothy, he urged Timothy to really take it seriously. Paul connected this to desiring to be wealthy outside of God's plan for eternal wealth. Paul was talking about valuing life now, before Jesus returns vs. contending to live WITH Jesus. All who take this seriously will be ready to receive infinite light when He comes home. Those who don't will be burned up in His brightness:
I Timothy 6:7-16 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
To value life NOW more than valuing and contending to live WITH Jesus at the right time...in the right season...is what it means to try to "steal" God's vineyard. Desiring your best life now replaces the dream God called very good with a lesser desire. This is a false substitute for life. It won't stand in the light of Jesus' return. He IS the light of mankind...life is in Him.
By putting Jesus' return in the "wait and see" category of your life, and putting career, family, ministry, entertainment, and possessions in the "immediately important" category, you can actually get into the mindset of stealing the vineyard from God...assuming life is about you extracting the resources out of the vineyard now, rather than operating in agreement with God to bring the harvest to HIM!
Matthew 21:33-40 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”
This parable isn't just for the Pharisee 2,000 years ago. The fullness of this parable is manifesting in our day. Many messengers warn of judgment coming. What are you doing with the warning? Are you declaring the truth too? Are you preparing others to get ready for infinite light to come home? Jesus' return MUST be painful for darkness. It is time to separate from the dark ways of the world. Loving your life now, the way the world defines life...expecting your best life now... leaves you in the mindset to "beat the messengers" which means to treat them and their warnings scornfully. If you beat the messengers now, when we are early in the harvest, you will eventually try to kill the son if you don't repent...this should be very sobering.
God made the earth for himself to enjoy US in. God enjoying me IS life. God only left the earth for our own safety...because His infinite brightness is deadly to anyone touched by the darkness of sin. In order to allow the process of redemption time, God withdrew infinite brightness from earth. He is coming back, though. God wants to be on this planet, and by the signs in the news, He has brought the earth into a new season...the season of harvest.
Harvest is very important to understand. Right now we are in the harvest season. There is a new work to be done. This new work agrees with the old tasks, but it is a new task! Harvesting is still tending the Garden...it is still farming... But a new focus is necessary to bring in the harvest. We don't want to keep tilling the ground, or pulling the weeds as our primary focus...we want to agree with the pattern of the harvest... otherwise, our work is about us, and what makes us comfortable, and not about God and what He is doing.
The harvest season is judgment. This makes it UNUSUAL to the generation it emerges in. Don't mock it or you will get burned by it. You must embrace it. When describing this reality, Isaiah likened it to the different tasks throughout the growing season:
Isaiah 28:21-29 For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon— That He may do His work, His awesome work, And bring to pass His act, His unusual act. Now therefore, do not be mockers, Lest your bonds be made strong; For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts, A destruction determined even upon the whole earth. Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my speech. Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods? When he has leveled its surface, Does he not sow the black cummin And scatter the cummin, Plant the wheat in rows, The barley in the appointed place, And the spelt in its place? For He instructs him in right judgment, His God teaches him. For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin; But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, And the cummin with a rod. Bread flour must be ground; Therefore he does not thresh it forever, Break it with his cartwheel, Or crush it with his horsemen. This also comes from the Lord of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.
Harvesting, according to the Bible IS executing judgment. A person executes judgment by declaring it in the earth and contending for it:
Psalms 149:5-9 Let the saints be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand, To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples; To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute on them the written judgment— This honor have all His saints. Praise the Lord !
This is a hard assignment. Many want to delay the judgment of God. Finding a way out of it is to try to delay the return of life to the Garden! This is not good! The earth will only get better THROUGH the judgment. The truth is, if you live in the harvest season you need to learn to LOVE the judgments...because they agree with the work God is doing. Executing the written judgment by contending for it, telling the truth about it...learning to love it...this AGREES with the unusual work God is doing. I don't want to pray for the delay of the harvest or the judgment the harvest requires...I want to contend for its hastening!
Harvesting/judgment requires a new work on the part of those agreeing with the Lord of the harvest. If you are planting while he is calling for reaping, you might look like a farmer, but your work won't result in the harvest. This is a false work. To be working with God, you need to be following His precise direction in the right season...anything less is lawless...it is anti-Christ...substituting Jesus' leadership for man's logic. Much loss will be suffered by those doing farm tasks in the wrong season, because they aren't bringing forth fruit in their season (remember Psalm 1?):
Matthew 7:15-23 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
To work out of season is ungodliness...lawlessness... arrogance. No one would keep an employee who would not cooperate with the plan of the owner and the faithful employees!
If you were hired to wash cars, you would need to do the right part at the right time. Rinse, soap, rinse, dry, wax. If you were re-soaping cars while the rest of the team was drying them off, you might be doing one of the tasks required to wash a car, but you would be doing it in a way that would prevent the goal from coming forward...the cars would never actually get clean...this is lawlessness.
Lawlessness will not stand in the time of judgment. The multitudes...in and out of Church...often walk in the counsel of man-based logic. they reason: "God must want us to"..."God would never"... they divorce God from His plan to redeem the earth and attempt to build something either for themselves or for God. This is lawlessness. This is the error of Cain. Cain's sacrifice was unacceptable because it was out of agreement with God. Cain valued his offering, but it was lawless in the eyes of God:
Genesis 4:3-7 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord . Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
What is required in the harvest season is an increasing conversation with the Lord of Harvest. "Teach me your judgments...teach me to love and declare them."
God is doing a new thing. He is singing a new song. Now is the hour to agree with God. His judgments are bringing righteousness to the earth. I don't want to hold the judgments at bay...I want to work hard to prepare the earth to receive bright glory...which is judgment on all darkness. This is the most important commandment:
Deuteronomy 11:1 “Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always.
Understanding the season you are in is essential to agree with God's plan for your life. It is important to know the time you are in. Different responses are required for different seasons. This is why David, in Psalm 1, says those who delight in knowing God are like well watered trees that "bring forth fruit in its season"...there is a time for everything. Psalm 1 is describing the time leading up to judgment.
This is the hour we are in. Judgment is unfolding like the day dawns. It is hard to put your finger on any one moment of the sunrise but by 8 am, the sun WILL be up. Judgment is increasing in the same way, because judgment is the result of light coming into darkness. Judgment will continue to increase intensity, because the glory of God is increasing in brightness and the judgments are causing more to cry out for God! It is a cycle that builds!
God's light, or Glory IS judgment on darkness...judgment IS the result of infinite brightness...or glory... coming to earth. The brightness of God is deadly for anything not made ready to receive it.
When Paul described this reality to Timothy, he urged Timothy to really take it seriously. Paul connected this to desiring to be wealthy outside of God's plan for eternal wealth. Paul was talking about valuing life now, before Jesus returns vs. contending to live WITH Jesus. All who take this seriously will be ready to receive infinite light when He comes home. Those who don't will be burned up in His brightness:
I Timothy 6:7-16 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
To value life NOW more than valuing and contending to live WITH Jesus at the right time...in the right season...is what it means to try to "steal" God's vineyard. Desiring your best life now replaces the dream God called very good with a lesser desire. This is a false substitute for life. It won't stand in the light of Jesus' return. He IS the light of mankind...life is in Him.
By putting Jesus' return in the "wait and see" category of your life, and putting career, family, ministry, entertainment, and possessions in the "immediately important" category, you can actually get into the mindset of stealing the vineyard from God...assuming life is about you extracting the resources out of the vineyard now, rather than operating in agreement with God to bring the harvest to HIM!
Matthew 21:33-40 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”
This parable isn't just for the Pharisee 2,000 years ago. The fullness of this parable is manifesting in our day. Many messengers warn of judgment coming. What are you doing with the warning? Are you declaring the truth too? Are you preparing others to get ready for infinite light to come home? Jesus' return MUST be painful for darkness. It is time to separate from the dark ways of the world. Loving your life now, the way the world defines life...expecting your best life now... leaves you in the mindset to "beat the messengers" which means to treat them and their warnings scornfully. If you beat the messengers now, when we are early in the harvest, you will eventually try to kill the son if you don't repent...this should be very sobering.
God made the earth for himself to enjoy US in. God enjoying me IS life. God only left the earth for our own safety...because His infinite brightness is deadly to anyone touched by the darkness of sin. In order to allow the process of redemption time, God withdrew infinite brightness from earth. He is coming back, though. God wants to be on this planet, and by the signs in the news, He has brought the earth into a new season...the season of harvest.
Harvest is very important to understand. Right now we are in the harvest season. There is a new work to be done. This new work agrees with the old tasks, but it is a new task! Harvesting is still tending the Garden...it is still farming... But a new focus is necessary to bring in the harvest. We don't want to keep tilling the ground, or pulling the weeds as our primary focus...we want to agree with the pattern of the harvest... otherwise, our work is about us, and what makes us comfortable, and not about God and what He is doing.
The harvest season is judgment. This makes it UNUSUAL to the generation it emerges in. Don't mock it or you will get burned by it. You must embrace it. When describing this reality, Isaiah likened it to the different tasks throughout the growing season:
Isaiah 28:21-29 For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon— That He may do His work, His awesome work, And bring to pass His act, His unusual act. Now therefore, do not be mockers, Lest your bonds be made strong; For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts, A destruction determined even upon the whole earth. Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my speech. Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods? When he has leveled its surface, Does he not sow the black cummin And scatter the cummin, Plant the wheat in rows, The barley in the appointed place, And the spelt in its place? For He instructs him in right judgment, His God teaches him. For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin; But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, And the cummin with a rod. Bread flour must be ground; Therefore he does not thresh it forever, Break it with his cartwheel, Or crush it with his horsemen. This also comes from the Lord of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.
Harvesting, according to the Bible IS executing judgment. A person executes judgment by declaring it in the earth and contending for it:
Psalms 149:5-9 Let the saints be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand, To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples; To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute on them the written judgment— This honor have all His saints. Praise the Lord !
This is a hard assignment. Many want to delay the judgment of God. Finding a way out of it is to try to delay the return of life to the Garden! This is not good! The earth will only get better THROUGH the judgment. The truth is, if you live in the harvest season you need to learn to LOVE the judgments...because they agree with the work God is doing. Executing the written judgment by contending for it, telling the truth about it...learning to love it...this AGREES with the unusual work God is doing. I don't want to pray for the delay of the harvest or the judgment the harvest requires...I want to contend for its hastening!
Harvesting/judgment requires a new work on the part of those agreeing with the Lord of the harvest. If you are planting while he is calling for reaping, you might look like a farmer, but your work won't result in the harvest. This is a false work. To be working with God, you need to be following His precise direction in the right season...anything less is lawless...it is anti-Christ...substituting Jesus' leadership for man's logic. Much loss will be suffered by those doing farm tasks in the wrong season, because they aren't bringing forth fruit in their season (remember Psalm 1?):
Matthew 7:15-23 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
To work out of season is ungodliness...lawlessness... arrogance. No one would keep an employee who would not cooperate with the plan of the owner and the faithful employees!
If you were hired to wash cars, you would need to do the right part at the right time. Rinse, soap, rinse, dry, wax. If you were re-soaping cars while the rest of the team was drying them off, you might be doing one of the tasks required to wash a car, but you would be doing it in a way that would prevent the goal from coming forward...the cars would never actually get clean...this is lawlessness.
Lawlessness will not stand in the time of judgment. The multitudes...in and out of Church...often walk in the counsel of man-based logic. they reason: "God must want us to"..."God would never"... they divorce God from His plan to redeem the earth and attempt to build something either for themselves or for God. This is lawlessness. This is the error of Cain. Cain's sacrifice was unacceptable because it was out of agreement with God. Cain valued his offering, but it was lawless in the eyes of God:
Genesis 4:3-7 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord . Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
What is required in the harvest season is an increasing conversation with the Lord of Harvest. "Teach me your judgments...teach me to love and declare them."
God is doing a new thing. He is singing a new song. Now is the hour to agree with God. His judgments are bringing righteousness to the earth. I don't want to hold the judgments at bay...I want to work hard to prepare the earth to receive bright glory...which is judgment on all darkness. This is the most important commandment:
Deuteronomy 11:1 “Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always.
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