Seedtime and harvest,
seedtime and harvest, ...
"While the earth remains,
seedtime and harvest,
seedtime and harvest ...
shall not cease."
(Genesis 8:22)
This was the promise Yahweh made to man when He smelled the soothing
aroma from Noah's burnt offering after leaving the ark. It is a promise which
has had its natural fulfillment in that since the flood Yahweh has continued
to provide man uninterrupted seasons of seedtime and harvest. These ongoing
seasons of sowing and reaping, sowing and reaping, ... have provided man
fruit from the earth to sustain his physical existence.
But for every natural promise, Yahweh has a higher fulfillment of that promise on a spiritual level. Paul declared - "the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual" (1 Corinthians 15:46). For example, Yahweh created the heavens and the earth in six days; yet, His ultimate purpose is to create a new heavens and new earth, not in the realm we know now, but on the higher spiritual realm. For this reason, as addressed by Paul here in 1 Corinthians, man first occupies a body of this natural earth; but, there is the hope and the promise that man will someday put off this temporal earthly corruptible body, and put on an eternal heavenly-born incorruptible spiritual body. Thus, the natural gives way to and finds the higher fulfillment in the more perfect spiritual. The natural precedes and looks forward to the spiritual.
Therefore, when Yahweh promises to man that as long as the earth exists there will be "seedtime and harvest," we find in this promise a "way" of Yahweh that will equally find its higher fulfillment in the spiritual realm. In other words, Yahweh will use this very principle of "seedtime and harvest" in order that He Himself will bring forth fruit from the earth, only into His higher spiritual kingdom. By successive acts of sowing and reaping, sowing and reaping, ... , He Himself will harvest men into His higher kingdom.
This was the message of Yahshua when He said - "Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest" (John 4:35). "The sower went out to sow his seed..." (Luke 8:5). "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man" (Matthew 13:37).
It should be understood here that Yahweh's task is to take man from the earthly realm, and transform him entirely into the heavenly realm - from the natural into the spiritual. Yahshua told an inquiring Nicodemus - "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is (literally) born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ... That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit" (John 3:3 and 6). Many Christians mistakenly believe that what Yahshua spoke of here applies to the act of faith that makes them a Christian. But Yahshua was telling Nicodemus far more than how to become a "Christian." When He told Nicodemus that he needed to be "born from above," He was expressing the very transformation that Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians 15 - the need to receive an incorruptible body from above, the need to receive a body born not of this flesh but of the Spirit from above. To be "born from above" is to receive an entirely new body that is not of this earth, but is of the Spirit from above. This is in fact the goal, if you would, of Yahshua - to cause men to be born from above into new incorruptible bodies, even as He possesses.
How is this to take place? When will this take place? As of yet, no one but Yahshua has been born from above. Until one can enter into a degree of mobility identified by Yahshua in His answers to Nicodemus, then he is not "born from above." Yahshua said, "Do not marvel that I say to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Only Yahshua has demonstrated this kind of transcendent mobility. While the disciples were hiding behind locked doors, suddenly He appeared in their midst! Like the Spirit, they knew not from where He came, or where He was going. Yahshua possessed unlimited and totally unrestrained mobility; He possessed a body which had been "born from above"! With this in mind - that the high purpose of Yahweh toward man is to place man into an incorruptible body that is born from above - let us now consider the scope of this objective.
There is no question that "many are called, but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:14), and that "the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it" (Matthew 7:14). Yahshua was even posed the question - "'Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?' And He said to them, 'Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able'" (Luke 13:23-24). But the question deserves being posed - Does the selection of Yahweh, even down to a small remnant, exclude Yahweh from an ultimate work of restoring His entire creation? Indeed it does not! In fact, it is this very "exclusion" or "selection" process which brings about His ultimate work of restoring all things. This is indeed the scope of Yahweh's work - to eventually bring all men into incorruptible bodies. "For as in Adam all die, so also in the Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22).
While this writing must broach this question regarding the scope of Yahweh's works, it is not its purpose to elaborate from the Scriptures on this matter of the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21). This writing certainly necessitates, however, that one recognize this scope as we consider the application of this principle of sowing and reaping. In this principle, one sees not only the application of the issue of selection, but also the purpose of this selection as it relates to all of mankind, even all of creation.
Everything written thus far in this piece has been laid down to bring us to this one question - How can Yahweh's way of sowing and reaping bring all men into resurrected, incorruptible, born from above bodies? Let us see. But first before going on, let it be cautioned that this writing must be read very carefully and with deliberate contemplation, as it will be new information for the reader.
Continue to page 2 of Seedtime and Harvest for HOW IT BEGINS