The Joy Of Harvest

Harvest reminds us of God’s faithfulness, provision, and the joy of reaping what He has sown in our lives. Let us open our hearts, rejoice in His blessings, and share the gospel, bearing fruit for His glory.

"They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest" — Isaiah 9:3 (ESV) The other day I kept the feast with a company who shouted "Harvest Home." I was glad to see the rich and poor rejoicing together; and when the cheerful meal was ended, I was glad to turn one of the tables into a pulpit, and in the large barn to preach the gospel of the ever-blessed God to an earnest audience. My heart was merry in harmony with the occasion, and I shall now keep in the same key, and talk to you a little upon the joy of harvest. Londoners forget that it is harvest time; living in this great desert of dingy bricks we hardly know what a wheat-ear is like, except as we see it dry and white in the window of a corn dealer's shop; yet let us all remember that there is such a season as harvest, when by God's goodness the fruits of the earth are gathered in.

What is the joy of harvest which is here taken as the simile of the joy of the saints before God? I am afraid that to the mere selfish order of spirits the joy of harvest is simply that of personal gratification at the increase of wealth. Sometimes the farmer only rejoices because he sees the reward of his toils, and is so much the richer man. I hope that with many there mingles the second cause of joy; namely, gratitude to God that an abundant harvest will give bread to the poor, and remove complaining from our streets. There is a lawful joy in harvest, no doubt, to the man who is enriched by it; for any man who works hard has a right to rejoice when at last he gains his desire.

It would be well if men would always recollect that their last and greatest harvest will be to them according to their labor. He who sows to his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

A young man commences life by sowing what he calls his wild oats, which he had better never have sown, for they will bring him a terrible harvest. He expects that from these wild oats he will gather a harvest of true pleasure, but it cannot be; the truest pleasures of life spring from the good seed of righteousness, and not from the hemlock of sin. As a man who sows thistles in his furrows must not expect to reap the golden wheatsheaf, so he who follows the ways of vice must not expect happiness.

On the contrary, they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. When a sinner feels the pangs of conscience he may well say, "This is what I sowed." When he shall at last receive the punishment of his evil deeds he will blame no one but himself; he sowed tares and he must reap tares. On the other hand, the Christian man, though his salvation is not of works, but of grace, will have a gracious reward given to him by his Master. He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. The joy of harvest in part consists of the reward of labor; may such be our joy in serving the Lord.

The joy of harvest has another element in it, namely, that of gratitude to God for favors bestowed.

We are singularly dependent on God; far more so than most of us imagine. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness they went forth every morning and gathered the manna. Our manna does not come to us every morning, but it comes once a year. It is as much a heavenly supply as if it lay like a hoarfrost round about the camp. If we went out into the field and gathered food which dropped from the clouds we should think it a great miracle; and is it not as great a marvel that our bread should come up from the earth as that it should come down from the sky? The same God who bade the heavens drop with angels' food bids the dull earth in its due season yield corn for mankind. Therefore whenever we find that harvest comes, let us be grateful to God, and let us not suffer the season to pass over without psalms of thanksgiving. I believe I shall be correct if I say that there is never in the world, as a rule, more than sixteen months' supply of food; that is to say, when the harvest is gathered in, there may be sixteen months' supply; but at the time of harvest there is not usually enough wheat in the whole world to last the population more than four or five months; so that if the harvest did not come we should be on the verge of famine. We live still from hand to mouth. Let us pause and bless God, and let the joy of harvest be the joy of gratitude.

To the Christian it should be great joy, by means of the harvest, to receive an assurance of God's faithfulness. The Lord has promised that while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, shall not cease. and when you see the loaded wain carrying in the crop you may say to yourself, "God is true to his promise.

Despite the dreary winter and the damp spring, autumn has come with its golden grain." Depend upon it, that as the Lord keeps this promise he will keep all the rest. All his promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus; if he keeps his covenant to the earth, much more will he keep his covenant with his own people, whom he hath loved with an everlasting love. Go, Christian, to the mercy- seat with the promise on your lip and plead it. Be assured it is not a dead letter. Let not unbelief cause you to stammer when you mention the promise before the throne, but say it boldly—"Fulfil this word unto thy servant on which thou hast caused me to hope." Shame upon us that we so little believe our God. The world is full of proofs of his goodness. Every rising sun, every falling shower, every revolving season certifies his faithfulness. Wherefore do we doubt him? If we never doubt him till we have cause for it we shall never know distrust again. Encouraged by the return of harvest, let us resolve in the strength of the Spirit of God that we will not waver, but will believe in the divine word and rejoice in it.

Once more. To the Christian, in the joy of harvest there will always be the joy of expectation. As there is a harvest to the husbandman for which he waits patiently, so there is a harvest for all faithful waiters who are looking for the coming and the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The mature Christian, like the ripe ear of corn, hangs down his head with holy humility.

When he was but green in the things of God he stood erect and was somewhat boastful, but now that he has become full of the blessing of the Lord he is humbled thereby, and bows himself down; he is waiting for the sickle, and he dreads it not, for no common reaper shall come to gather Christ's people—he himself shall reap the harvest of the world.

The Lord leaves the destroying angel to reap the vintage and to cast it into the wine-vat to be trodden with vengeance; but as for the grain which he himself has sown, he will gather it himself with his own golden sickle. We are looking for this. We are growing among the tares, and sometimes we are half afraid lest the tares should be stronger than ourselves and choke the wheat; but we shall be separated by-and-by, and when the corn is well winnowed and stored in the garner, we shall be there. It is this expectation which even now makes our hearts throb with joy. We have gone to the grave with precious sheaves that belonged to our Master, and when we were there we thought we could almost say, "Lord, if they sleep they shall do well. Let us die with them." Our joy of harvest is the hope of being at rest with all the saints, and forever with the Lord.

A view of these shadowy harvests upon earth should make us exceedingly glad, because they are the image and foreshadowing of the eternal harvest above.

So much about the joy of harvest; but I hasten onward. What joys are those which to the believer are as the joy of harvest? It is a common notion that Christians are an unhappy people. It is true that we are tried, but it is false that we are miserable. With all their trials, believers have such a compensation in the love of Christ that they are still a blessed generation, and it may be said of them, "Happy art thou, O Israel."

One of the first seasons in which we knew a joy equal to the joy of harvest—a season which has continued with us ever since it commenced—was when we found the Saviour, and so obtained salvation. You recollect for yourselves, brethren and sisters, the time of the ploughing of your souls. My heart was fallow, and covered with weeds; but on a certain day the great Husbandman came and began to plough my soul. Ten black horses were his team, and it was a sharp ploughshare that he used, and the ploughers made deep furrows. The ten commandments were those black horses, and the justice of God, like a ploughshare, tore my spirit. I was condemned, undone, destroyed, lost, helpless, hopeless—I thought hell was before me. Then there came a cross ploughing, for when I went to hear the gospel it did not comfort me; it made me wish I had a part in it, but I feared that such a boon was out of the question.

The choicest promises of God frowned at me, and his threatenings thundered at me. I prayed, but found no answer of peace. It was long with me thus. After the ploughing came the sowing. God who ploughed the heart made it conscious that it needed the gospel, and the gospel seed was joyfully received. Do you recollect that auspicious day when at last you began to have some little hope? It was very little—like a green blade that peeps up from the soil; you scarce knew whether it was grass or corn, whether it was presumption or true faith. It was a little hope, but it grew very pleasantly. Alas, a frost of doubt came; snow of fear fell; cold winds of despondency blew on you, and you said, "There can be no hope for me." But what a glorious day was that when at last the wheat which God had sown ripened, and you could say, "I have looked to him and have been lightened; I have laid my sins on Jesus, where God laid them of old, and they are taken away, and I am saved." I remember well that day, and so no doubt do many of you. O sirs! no husbandman ever shouted for joy as our heart shouted when a precious Christ was ours, and we could grasp him with full assurance of salvation in him.

Many days have passed since then, but the joy of it is still fresh with us. And, blessed be God, it is not the joy of the first day only that we look back upon; it is the joy of every day since then, more or less; for our joy no man taketh from us; still we are walking in Christ, even as we received him.

Even now all our hope on him is stayed, all our help from him we bring; and our joy and peace continue with us because they are based upon an immovable foundation. We rejoice in the Lord, yea, and we will rejoice.

The joy of harvest generally shows itself by the farmer giving a feast to his friends and neighbors; and, usually, those who find Christ express their joy by telling their friends and their neighbors how great things the Lord hath done for them. The grace of God is communicative. A man cannot be saved, and always hold his tongue about it; as well look for dumb choirs in heaven as for a silent church on earth. If a man has been thirsty, and has come to the living stream, his first impulse will be to cry, "Ho! everyone that thirsts!" Do you feel the joy of harvest, the joy that makes you wish that others should share with you? If so, do not repress the impulse to proclaim your happiness. Speak of Christ to brothers and sisters, to friends and kinsfolk; and, if the language be stammering, the message in itself is so important that the words in which you couch it will be a secondary consideration. Tell it, tell it out far and wide—that there is a Saviour, that you have found him, and that his blood can wash away transgression. Tell it everywhere; and so the joy of harvest shall spread o'er land and sea, and God shall be glorified.

We have another joy which is like the joy of harvest. We frequently have it, too. It is the joy of answered prayer. I hope you know what it is to pray in faith. Some prayer is not worth the words used in presenting it, because there is no faith mixed with it. “With all your sacrifices you shall offer salt”, and the salt of faith is needful if we would have our sacrifices accepted. Those who are familiar with the mercy-seat know that prayer is a reality, and that the doctrine of divine answers to prayer is no fiction. Sometimes God will delay to answer for wise reasons; then his children must cry, and cry, and cry again. They are in the condition of the husbandman who must wait for the precious fruits of the earth; and when at last the answer to prayer comes, they are then in the husbandman's position when he receives the harvest. Remember Hannah's wail and Hannah's word. In the bitterness of her soul she cried to God, and when her child was given to her she called him "Samuel," meaning, "Asked of God;" “For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him.” 1 Samuel 1:27.

He was a dear child to her, because he was a child of prayer. Any mercy that comes to you in answer to prayer will be your Samuel mercy, your darling mercy. You will say of it, "For this mercy I prayed," and it will bring the joy of harvest to your spirit.

We have another joy of harvest in ourselves when we conquer a temptation. We know what it is to get under a cloud sometimes; sin within us rises with a darkening force, or an external adversity beclouds us, and we miss the plain path we were accustomed to walk in. A child of God at such times will cry mightily for help; for he is fearful of himself and fearful of his surroundings. Some of God's people have been by the week and month together exposed to the double temptation, from without and from within, and have cried to God in bitter anguish. It is a very hard struggle; the sinful action has been painted in very fascinating colors, and the siren voice of temptation has almost enchanted them. But when at last they have got through the valley of the shadow of death without having slipped with their feet; when, after all, they have not been destroyed by Apollyon, but have come forth again into the daylight, they feel a joy unspeakable, compared with which the joy of harvest is mere childish merriment. Those know deep joy who have felt bitter sorrow. As the man feels that he is the stronger for the conflict, as he feels that he has gathered experience and stronger faith from having passed through the trial, he lifts up his heart, and rejoices, not in himself, but before his God, with the joy of harvest. Brethren beloved, you know what that means.

Again, there is such a thing as the joy of harvest when we have been rendered useful. The master passion of every Christian is to be useful. There should be a burning zeal within us for the glory of God. When the man who desires to be useful has laid his plans and set about his work, he begins to look out for the results; but perhaps it will be weeks, or years, before results will come. The worker is not to be blamed that there are no fruits as yet, but he is to be blamed if he is content to be without fruits.

A preacher may preach without conversions, and who shall blame him? but if he be happy, who shall excuse him? It is ours to break our own hearts if we cannot by God's grace break other men's hearts, if others will not weep for their sins it should be our constant habit to weep for them. When the heart becomes earnest, warm, zealous, God usually gives a measure of success, some fiftyfold, some a hundredfold. When the success comes it is the joy of harvest indeed. I cannot help being egotistical enough to mention the joy I felt when first I heard that a soul had found peace through my youthful ministry.

I had been preaching in a village some few Sabbaths with an increasing congregation, but I had not heard of a conversion, and I thought, "Perhaps I am not called of God. He does not mean me to preach, for if he did he would give me spiritual children." One Sabbath my good deacon said, "Don't be discouraged. A poor woman was savingly impressed last Sabbath." How long do you suppose it was before I saw that woman? It was just as long as it took me to reach her cottage. I was eager to hear from her own lips whether it was a work of God's grace or not. I always looked upon her with interest, though only a poor laborer's wife, till she was taken away to heaven, after having lived a holy life.

Since then have I rejoiced over in the Lord, but that first seal to my ministry was peculiarly dear to me. It gave me a sip of the joy of harvest. If somebody had left me a fortune it would not have caused me one-hundredth part of the delight I had in discovering that a soul had been led to the Saviour. I am sure Christian people who have not this joy have missed one of the choicest delights that a believer can know this side heaven. In fact, when I see souls saved, I do not envy Gabriel his throne nor the angels their harps. It shall be our heaven to be out of heaven for a season if we can but bring others to know the Saviour and so add fresh jewels to the Redeemer's crown.

I will mention another delight which is like the joy of harvest, and that is fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not so much something to talk about as something to experience and enjoy. If we try to describe what communion with Christ is, we fail. Solomon, the wisest of men, when inspired to write about the fellowship of the church with her Lord, had to use allegories and symbolic language, and though to a spiritual mind the Song of Solomon is always delightful, to a worldly mind it seems just like a love poem. The natural person does not accept the things of God, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14 But oh, the happiness of knowing that Christ is yours, and of being close to him. To touch his side and put your finger in the mark of the nails; these are not everyday joys. But when such close and personal communion comes to us on our special days, it lifts our souls like the chariots of Amminadab, or, if you like, it allows us to walk over the world and all that it calls great or valuable.

Our circumstances mean nothing if Christ is with us—he is our God, our comfort, and our everything, and we rejoice before him like we rejoice at harvest.

I do not have time to go into more detail, because I want to end with one practical word. Many of us are eagerly longing for a harvest that would bring us intense joy. Lately, several people have shared with me how deeply they feel compassion for the souls of people. Others of us have felt a mysterious push to pray more than we ever have, and to care more than we ever did that Christ would save those who are perishing. We will not be satisfied until there is a thorough spiritual awakening in this land. We did not create this feeling ourselves, and we do not want to suppress it. We do not believe it can be suppressed; and others will feel the same heavenly concern, and will sigh and cry to God day and night until the blessing comes. This is the sowing, this is the ploughing, this is the harrowing—may it continue until the harvest. I long to hear my brothers and sisters everywhere saying, "We are full of anguish; we are in agony until souls are saved." The cry of Rachel, "Give me children, or I die," is the cry of your minister today, and the longing of thousands more. As that desire grows stronger, a revival approaches. We must have spiritual children for Christ, or our hearts will break because of our longing for their salvation. Oh, for more of these longings, yearnings, cravings, and efforts! If we pray until the harvest of revival comes, we will share in its joy.

Who will have the most joy? Those who have been most concerned about it. Those of you who do not pray in private, and who do not come to prayer meetings, will not have joy when the blessing comes and the church grows. You had no part in the sowing, so you will have little part in the harvest. Those who never speak to others about their souls, who do not participate in Sunday school or mission work, but just enjoy the blessings—they will have none of the joy of harvest, because they do not work for the Lord. And who would want lazy people to be happy? Instead, in our zeal and care, we feel like saying, "Curse Meroz; curse its inhabitants bitterly, because they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty." — Judges 5:23 (ESV) If you come to help the Lord by his Spirit, you will share the joy of harvest. Perhaps no one will have more joy than those who see their loved ones brought to God. Some of you have children who are a trial to you whenever you think of them; let them be a trial that drives you to constant prayer for them, and if the blessing comes, why should it not come to them? If a revival happens, why should your daughter not be converted, why should your wild son not be saved, or even your grey-headed father, who has been sceptical and unbelieving—why should God’s grace not reach him? And oh, what joy you will have then!

What happiness will fill your spirit when you see those related to you united with Christ your Lord!

Pray earnestly for them, and you will yet experience the joy of harvest in your own home, a shout of harvest home in your own family.

Perhaps, my listener, you have little to do with this joy because you are unsaved. Yet it is a wonderful thing for an unconverted person to be under a ministry blessed by God, and among people who pray for conversions. It is a blessing for you, young man, to have a Christian mother.

It is a great blessing for you, O unconverted woman, to have a godly sister. These give us hope for you. While your relatives are praying, we are hopeful for you. May the Lord Jesus be yours yet.

But, oh, if you remain unbelieving, however rich a blessing comes to others, it will not benefit you. "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land." — Isaiah 1:19 (ESV) But some may cry in sorrow, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." — Jeremiah 8:20 (ESV) It has been observed that those who pass through a revival and remain unconverted often become more hardened than before. I believe it, and I therefore pray that the Spirit of God comes with such power that none escape his influence.

May you pray: "Pass me not, O mighty Spirit!

You can make the blind to see; Witness of Jesus’ merit, Speak the word of power to me, Even me."

"Have I long been sleeping in sin, Long been ignoring and grieving you?

Has the world kept my heart?

Oh forgive and rescue me, Even me."

Oh, for earnest, persistent prayer from all believers around the world! If our churches were stirred to continuous, intense prayer, giving God no rest until he makes Zion a praise on earth, we might see God’s kingdom come and the power of Satan broken.

As many of you love Christ, I urge you by his name to pray earnestly; as many of you love the Church and desire her growth, I beg you not to hold back in this time of prayer. May the Lord lead you to pray until the joy of harvest is granted. Do you remember me saying one Sabbath, "The Lord will treat you as you treat his work during this next month"? I feel it will be true for many— that the Lord will treat you as you treat his Church. If you sow little, you will reap little; if you pray little, you will receive little favour. But if you act with zeal and faith, and pray and work much for the Lord, good measure, pressed down and overflowing, will be returned to you. If you water others with drops, you will receive drops; but if the Spirit helps you to pour rivers of living water from your soul, floods of heavenly grace will flow into your spirit. May God bring in the unconverted, and lead them to simple trust in Jesus; then they too will know the joy of harvest. We ask it in his name. Amen.