Harvest Thanksgiving

Annual harvests may not be something that we often think about in our global village with its range of supermarkets providing products from all parts of the world for us to enjoy. Yet it is good for us to think about them because they are often referred to in the Bible. In this sermon we can consider ways in which the Bible speaks about harvests.

Promise

The first aspect that I would mention is that regular harvests are a promise made by God to a handful of people. After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah and those with him. This covenant is a bit different from other covenants that God made after the Fall in that it is a covenant with the human race and not a covenant limited to his people. Before he made the actual covenant, we are told that God ‘said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease”’ (Gen. 8:21-22).

In this description of what God said, there is contrast, constancy and commitment. The contrast is between the heart of God and the heart of sinners. His heart is good and kind whereas their hearts are sinful. The constancy is seen in the control God will exercise in order for there to regular seasons throughout each year. This control is part of his providence that he exercises daily. The commitment is seen in his promise that those seasons, including those of harvest, will not cease until the end of time as we know it. Whatever else may happen within human history, we can say with certainty that God will ensure that there will be harvests for sinners.

Purpose

Obviously, one purpose of harvests is for people and animals to have plenty food to eat. But does God have any other purposes with harvests than physical satisfaction? Paul reminds us of one other purpose in Acts 14:15-18 when he was in Lystra: ‘“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.’

As we look at those verses we can see references to witness and worship. God reveals himself in his creation to his creatures. Paul in Romans 1 reminds us that the creation tells us that God is a powerful Creator – he made the universe and maintains it in existence. But his creation witnesses to him in other ways as well. God reveals his goodness by sending rain and harvests which satisfy people with food and gladness. We may not like rain, but God sends it with good intentions. Every meal that a person eats is designed to make him or her think of the goodness of God. Paul reminds us elsewhere that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.

Pictures

The Bible uses harvests in several ways as pictures. We can briefly reflect on three of them.

Recovery

One such picture is found in Psalm 126. In that psalm, a previous recovery is described in verses 1, 2 and 3. That recovery was the return of the Jews from the captivity in Babylon. Those who experienced the recovery were marked by immense joy and other people groups were convinced that the God of Israel had done remarkable things for them. The Jews gladly confessed that he done so.

Yet verses 4, 5 and 6 show that the glad days of recovery and restoration have gone. Instead of prosperity there is dryness. There is no evidence of divine power. The psalmist feels as if he is living in a desert like the Negev in southern Israel. But he knows that every year, when the rains came, powerful streams and rivers suddenly appeared there, and the outcome was sudden fertility. He calls on God do something similar in a spiritual sense. Sudden, strong and successful harvests will be the outcome.

In the Negev, farmers had to sow the seed when the sun was hot, and the air was dry. Every step involved in the sowing increased their agony and they wept as they sowed. But because they sowed, a harvest came. There would have been no point God sending the rain if the farmers had not sowed. And there is a lesson there for us. We sow because the seed must be there when the Spirit comes. The more seed that is sown, the greater the harvest.

Resurrection

In the religious calendar of Israel, there was a feast called Firstfruits. In that feast, a sample of a crop was offered to the Lord in anticipation of the harvest a short time later. Paul uses this feast as an illustration in two ways.

In 1 Corinthians 15, he explains various aspects and effects of the resurrection of Jesus. He thinks of what it will mean for the Corinthians and other believers in Jesus and writes about that Christ’s resurrection is the firstfruits and his people are the coming harvest. We can imagine a field of wheat and a farmer selecting a stalk. How many stalks are in the field? There will be thousands of them. We are to think of the people of God in that way. Because Jesus is alive, there is going to be an incredible harvest of believers, a number that no one can count. They are likened to nations streaming to Zion by Isaiah. It is good for our souls to imagine these stalks of heavenly wheat in the field that stretches out into the distance. That should give us confidence to be always abounding in the work of the Lord.

In Ephesians 1, Paul applies the illustration in another way when he tells his readers that because they have been sealed they have the firstfruits of the Spirit. We may wish to contrast the Old Testament experience of the Spirit with that of the New Testament. The difference is described by Isaiah and Joel. Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. There was a dramatic difference in that now every believer was a prophet able to speak about the works of the Lord. They had received the Spirit in that greater way. Yet although they had been sealed with the Spirit and knew a greater experience of the Spirit, what they had known was only the firstfruits. And that goes for every experience there has been of the Spirit down the centuries since then. All of it together is the firstfruits. But there is coming a day when they will have much more of the Spirit. It is impossible to say what that will be like in experience. But think of a resurrected people with holy minds and holy affections and holy intentions, with no sin, no temptation and no diversions for evermore. That surely should encourage us to have great thoughts of the future harvest.

Fruit

A third example of harvest that is found in the Bible is that of fruitfulness in our lives. We are familiar with Paul’s reference to the fruit of the Spirit which comes about because we sow to the Spirit. Every day we have a choice – to sow to the flesh or sow to the Spirit. Sowing to the flesh brings spiritual death, whereas sowing to the Spirit brings life and peace. We become fruitful. Another way of describing the fruit of the Spirit is to speak of Christlikeness. And that reminds us that there is great beauty in the fruit of the Spirit. The greatest sight to behold in our sinful world is a Christlike saint. And we have the great privilege of seeing many of them.

Praise

One psalm that is about harvest is the one we read earlier – Psalm 65. It is a psalm that contains several themes for which we can praise God. We are reminded in it that sinners can draw near to God because he has arranged for an atonement to cover all their sins, even when they might regard their effects as powerful.

The psalm also tells us that we can be satisfied with various spiritual blessings connected to his holy temple, which may be a reference to the peace offering that worshippers could enjoy there. Of course, it is an illustration of what New Testament believers can experience as well when they gather in the presence of their God.

A third feature of the psalm is that we praise the God who answers prayer in an awesome manner, and who does so in a global way (vv. 5-8). The author’s focus is on how the Lord shows his sovereignty over the elements and over the inhabitants. We don’t know exactly what the psalmist was referring to, but we can put our own knowledge of such things in our list for thanking the Lord because there have been ample examples of them during this year. They are all signs of his greatness.

The fourth feature that the psalmist highlights for praise is the Lord’s provision of harvests (vv. 9-13). The author considers what the Lord does to bring about those harvests by sending sufficient rain in the exact amount. What the Lord provides is marked by bounty and overflow. The psalmist has a delightful picture of the Lord’s wagon tracks as if he drove his wagons full of provision to each location for the enjoyment and benefit of his creatures. He describes the abundance and the happiness that divine provision brings, and how the fields and the hills fulfil their functions, bringing great joy to his creatures.