THE HARVEST OF THE AGE
There is a time of sowing and there is a time of reaping (Rev. 14:15}. The Lord has prepared and waited patiently for this day as a farmer waits and works for the harvest of his crops. For the harvest of the earth is ripe, and the sickle will be put in to reap.
What is that sickle? It is the sickle of truth which will go forth in power in these last days. It is God's Word which will go forth and that Word shall not return to Him void (Isa. 55:11). He will send that Word forth with power and authority through vessels especially prepared for the hour—vessels that have been made ready by Him that He may use them as instruments of His purpose. Are you ready? The hour is at hand!
There is more than one harvest. There is a harvest that will result from the planting of the Lord's righteous seed of truth, and there is a harvest which will come from the seed which the enemy has planted—even the seed and harvest of iniquity. Iniquity will be harvested by iniquity; and truth will be harvested with truth. The Lord will raise up reapers from the iniquitous lands of godlessness into which He will give the sickle of destruction, and they will go forth to reap a great harvest in that day. The planting of the enemy is coming to its fullness and the harvest of iniquity is almost ripe; a great harvest of evil shall be reaped in that day as the Lord sends forth His mighty army of reapers to kill and destroy, even as they harvest the vine of the earth and cast it into the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God.
One of the reapers the Lord raised up in these times was the mighty reaper of Communism. We are all aware that the symbol of Communism was that of the hammer and sickle. This sickle will also be used to reap the harvest of iniquity throughout the world. The sickle itself will be destroyed in the very act of its use. The Lord will send it forth to be cast into the fiery furnace of His righteous indignation; for after it has been used, the Lord will turn and destroy that which He has used. Yet there will be other "sickles" raised up which the Lord will also use to reap in this end-time.
The sickle of truth will bring forth its harvest at the same time that the sickle of iniquity is doing its work—one a great harvest of righteousness unto life, and the other a great harvest of evil unto death. But the harvest unto life will be great, as multitudes turn to the Lord this coming day. And He will cause them to know His ways, and they will seek Him with their whole heart, and a great harvest will be brought forth. It is the consummation and fulfillment of all that the Lord has worked and prepared for from the time that the good seed was sown by the Son of Man (Matt. 13:24). And now it will come to fruition. Many are the vessels that will be prepared for these days that the Lord might have instruments with which to reap the harvest of the earth.
The harvest will be twofold. First, the Firstfruits which have been especially prepared by the Lord will be "cut out" of the harvest field of the earth - even in this end-time—and will be taken into the heavenly realm, and then the main harvest will begin. Those who have been left to do the harvesting work, as well as those who are harvested during the time of Great Tribulation, will be received by the Lord at the close of the age when the harvesting work is done. Those who have been received before the Tribulation, even as a Firstfruits to their God, will help the reapers as they are sent forth. For they shall encompass them and protect them and speak to them that they may be empowered and fortified against all the forces which would come against them in that day.
But what about those who will not be harvested to life and glory in the heavenly kingdom at the close of the Tribulation? There will be those in that day who shall not be ready and ripe to be "plucked out" of the earth and gathered into the heavenly barn. They will be protected in that day so that they may continue to ripen and grow into that maturity that the Lord has planned for them. They will enter into immortality on the earth where they will continue to progress in God's Plan. Not all who will turn to the Lord in that day will be ready to enter the heavenly kingdom. Many who will turn to Him will not be ready to be harvested into the heavenly realm and glory. They will be left in the field of the earth to continue to progress in that which the Lord has chosen for them. It is written that Elisha was left behind when Elijah was caught up into heaven (II Ki. 2:12). And, there are those like Elisha who see their companions going to be with the Lord and are left behind. As Elijah was taken up in the sight of Elisha, so will the Lord take up a host in that day who will be seen as they go. And those who are left behind will immediately pick up the mantle of those who are taken, and they will enter into the power of the glorified ones who were received out of their sight, and, crossing "Jordan" on dry ground they will enter into immortality on the earth, and they will wield the power granted to those who shall be without death in their physical bodies.
Thus, that which the Lord has planned for this earth will see its initial fulfillment. Those ready to enter into immortality in physical bodies as the host of saints are taken will be the forerunners and firstfruits of that which will become the common inheritance of those who walk uprightly before Him during the great "millennium of peace." Many will enter into deathless life on the earth in physical bodies as the Lord originally intended them to be, and they will continue to live without death for hundreds of years, even indefinitely until that time comes for them to be translated from the earthly to the heavenly. And in that day, His truth will be made known concerning that which is required to enter into immortality in human flesh; for this is the "gospel," or good news, which will be preached in that day. And the earth will become populated with those who know no death or disease or suffering of any kind.
But first the harvest of this age must be completed before the next age can begin. For the harvest of one age is the seedtime of the next, and that which the Lord sows at the beginning reaches its consummation at the end. So, at the very time that the saints are to be harvested into the heavenly kingdom, the immortal ones will be manifested on the earth to plant the seed for the age impending, when a great host will enter into immortality in human flesh. And that age will also see its harvest when those who have entered into immortality will be gathered into the heavenly kingdom as they are translated from the earthly to the heavenly realm. God's Plan is ever progressive, reaching ever higher planes of advancement toward the ultimate goal which He has determined when His plan was fully worked out before the foundation of the world. Many ages must yet come and go before the final work which is determined will come to pass.
The veil of darkness is lifting, and that which has been hid from previous ages and generations is now being made known. So prepare your hearts, for you have much to learn. I cannot give it to you all at once lest you stumble at the magnitude of revelation and not be able to understand or assimilate
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