THE HARVEST

 

In my last post, I wrote about the harvest that followed the end of the Apostasy and began with the Restoration. I have been thinking about it ever since and even though there is great importance in being engaged in such a harvest of spreading the gospel throughout the world and in being profitable servants of God, an even greater harvest yet awaits us.

The gathering of the wheat is taking place in this dispensation in preparation for the last and final harvest that will occur at the Saviour’s coming. This will be the harvest of the righteous souls who will stand to inherit life eternal in God’s Kingdom. It will also be a harvest of another kind, that of destruction of the wicked at the Saviour’s triumphal return (D&C 101:63-68).

The Saviour spoke of this harvest in His parable called The Wheat And The Tares. We may think of it as an assessment of how well the gathered wheat in the first harvest fared by nourishing the seed that was planted in their hearts to withstand the lure of the world.

The Saviour compared the hearts of the men to different soil which received the seed, being His word, and emphasized how that soil should be tended to in order to let the seed grow. It is worth the study of this parable to understand the importance of the soil (Matthew 13:24-30).

In summary, the hearers of the word who have received the seed and nourished it in good soil are metaphorically, the wheat. The hearers of the word in whose hearts the seed does not grow are the tares.

 

The tares which are spoken of in Jesus' parable is the weed called 'bearded darnel' which is very similar in appearance to wheat with the roots of the two often intertwined. The darnel 'is easily distinguishable from the wheat and barley when headed out but when both are less developed, the closest scrutiny will often fail to detect it' (James E Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 301). For this reason, even the farmers do not attempt to separate the one from the other whilst it is developing and so the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest comes.

 

Joseph taught that this separation is applicable to the Church:

 

"Now we learn by this parable (the wheat and the tares) not only the setting up of the Kingdom in the days of the Saviour, which is represented by the good seed, which produced fruit, but also the corruptions of the Church, which are represented by the tares, which were sown by the enemy, which His disciples would fain have plucked up, or cleansed the Church of, if their views had been favoured by the Saviour.

 

“But He, knowing all things, says, Not So. As much as to say, your views are not correct, the Church is in its infancy, and if you take this rash step, you will destroy the wheat, or the Church, with the tares; therefore, it is better to let them grow together until the harvest, or the end of the world, which means the destruction of the wicked...." (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp 97-98)

 

Now this is the interesting bit. Before the Saviour spoke of the harvests, He placed Himself at the head of His teachings, as the Sower of the good seed (Matt 13:37)….for this reason: To become golden grain of God we must look to and follow the Sower. Our hearts and our works must reflect the teachings of the Lord of the Harvest. It is not enough to just receive Christ's teachings, but to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus.

 

It behooves us not to allow the tares to choke the word within us lest we also be discarded at the last day. When Jesus came, He brought good tidings of salvation, to disperse the darkness of unbelief and to bring light to the world. He came to give every man as much of the truth as he was willing to receive but most of all He came to gather His own.  

 

He will come back and He will gather His wheat in the greatest harvest of all…..”Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43).

 

The day you ploughed the sacred ground of my heart

You scattered Your seeds of love,

Like golden stars along the deepest night.

I water and nurture them gently,

To sow joy in the harvest of my heart.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Ready to Harvest, AI Generated by LeafyTreeCo)

A ZION WARNING

 

I find it fascinating to read scriptural prophecies of the last days. I am amazed by the accuracy of Nephi’s vision of us in 2 Nephi chapter 28. Nobody can dispute it, not only because we can see its reality very plainly but because he states at the onset of this chapter that he was ‘constrained’ by the Spirit (v1), meaning the vision of us came to him from heaven itself, and who can dispute that?

 

Nephi begins this chapter with the importance of the Book of Mormon to the world in the last days because of the corruption of many churches that will be promoting Satan’s value system of selfishness, self-indulgence and immediate gratification, which is basically the doctrine of the prodigal son: indulge now and repent later  (v8). He then brings to our attention Satan’s technique of leading people into ‘carnal security’ by pacifying, lulling and flattering them (vs21,22) but what is particularly interesting about this is that in the course of 4 verses, he makes it plain he is directing his remarks to ‘Zion’. This is a warning to the Church and not to the world. 

 

The ‘carnal security’ Nephi speaks of leads the members of the Church to a dangerous mentality of  ‘all is well in Zion’ (v21). It makes some of us think that we are good enough as it is; that we have enough time to improve; it’s not so bad if we commit a little sin here and there….after all, we are members of the Church, we meant well and we will in the end be forgiven. This is the mentality of the Ten Virgins in Jesus’ famous parable. 

 

As a symbol of our covenant relationship with Christ, Jesus used the metaphor of marriage between Himself and His Church. Therefore, when He comes, He will come as a bridegroom to wed the righteous of His Church. These, He states are the members who have received the truth, have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide and have not been deceived (D&C 45:56,57).

 

When the time of His appearing is here, there will be no reservoir of good works, spiritually building moments, and a sinless slate we will be able to borrow from. We will no longer be able to exist on the testimony of others. The ‘carnal security’ we had wallowed in and been comfortable in will come to an end and all will be lost. Do not be deceived and think you are safe in Satan’s territory. He upholds no one in the end because he will not be able to uphold even himself. His path is futile and has no reward. When the Saviour comes, you will behold Him in His glory and you will want to be with Him. You will want to be with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. 

 

ODE TO THE TEN VIRGINS

I would gladly give you some oil

Your empty lamp to fill,

If you could glean the sweat

From my furrowed brow

As I worked on the oil press

So diligently until now.

- Cathryne Allen

(Art: Ten Virgins by Liz Lemon Swindle)