Heaven Bound

I think September and October are my favorite months.  I love the change from summer green to the golds and bronze of autumn.  There is a sense of satisfaction that comes at the end of summer, I think, one that harkens back to the days when people knew what it meant to get the crops in the barn before the winter snow would fly.  I remember at the end of every summer, my grandmother “putting up” dozens of  jars of jams, jellies, pickles, relishes, fruit, tomatoes, meat and vegetables of all kinds from her own garden and fruit trees.  With each finished jar, she undoubtedly had a sense of satisfaction, knowing  that her family would not be going hungry that winter, and I, as a child knew, I would be sharing in some of the tastiest food around, for she always shared from her bounty with us.

As I was thinking about this, the words to America the Beautiful came to mind.  “O beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain, America, America, God shed his grace on thee, and crowned thy good with brother hood from sea to shining sea.”  Wow, I love those words, so beautifully written.  This is the America of our heritage, the America we love and hold in our hearts, but, unfortunately, it is not the America of today.

According to the Bible, in Luke 12:48, “to whom much is given, much is required.”  It doesn’t take any great expose here to convince anyone, that we as Americans, have been the recepients of the greatest freedom and bounty in the history of the world.  But, in the last forty or so years, we have taken  little from that bounty in the way of goodness and mercy, (the gospel), food ,water and medical care to share with the world, but, instead, have exported every evil and immorality known to man, while gluttonously fattening ourselves with the same.

In Jeremiah 8:20, the prophet laments, “The harvest is past, the summer is over and we are not saved.”  In the book of Acts, the summer harvest began with the birth of the church at Pentecost. What the Bible refers to as the “times of the Gentiles”.  This period of harvesting of Jews and Gentiles for the past two thousand years is known as the church age.  From the many prophetic signs being fulfilled today, we know that the harvest  is nearing an end.  Soon the trumpet will sound and we will be called home.  Just as in Israel, when at the Feast of Trumpets, at the sound or blowing of the shofar, the ram’s horn, the people were signaled that the harvest had ended and the time to assemble in God’s temple for worship had  come.

I can’t think of any sadder words, than those of the prophet Jeremiah, “the harvest is past, the summer is over and we are not saved”.  The Bible implores us, warns us, pleads with us, that “today is the day of salvation.”  Please, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart!   The trumpet is ready to sound!  Just as the church age, (the summer harvest) began at Pentecost, the harvest, will most likely end at the Feast of Trumpets, the traditional end of the Jewish harvest, which falls on September 20th this year.  Be assured, God will not leave wickedness unjudged, but, he has provided an ark of safety, and that ark is Jesus.  Before God brought the judgment of the flood, he provided the ark for Noah and his family, before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he brought Lot and his family out of the city.  A harvest is coming, the harvest of God’s wrath and judgment. An absolute fullfillment of “sowing what you reap.” This is a harvest you do not want to be part of.  In Revelation 14:15 it says, “take your sickle and reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”

When the trumpet blows and the harvest is ended, (whether its this month, or any day soon) will I, will you, be satisfied in our hearts that we have done all we can to lead unsaved friends and family to Jesus? If not, join with me then, in making the most of the time we have left – waiting for the trumpet to blow.