The Farming of Heaven: Seeds, Fields, and Harvest

Biblical Harvest Analogy
- The biblical concept of harvest is likened to farming.
- Just as a farmer separates good crops from bad, a spiritual harvest consists of a separation between true believers and those who are not.
- This analogy is explored through Jesus’s parables, particularly found in Matthew 13.
- These parables employ figurative language to illustrate spiritual realities.
Introduction Recap
- The lesson began with a recap of a previous session, involving a guessing game to emphasize the challenges in distinguishing different seeds and fields merely by sight.
- This serves as an analogy for the spiritual realm, indicating that one cannot conjecture the type of spiritual “field” their own heart represents.

The Farmer or Sower
- Refers to Jesus Christ (the Son of Man) or a pastor who disseminates the Word.
The Field
- Represents a person’s heart, or on a broader scale, the community of believers.
The Seed
- Identified as the Word of God, as seen in Luke 8:11.
Types of Seeds and Their States
- God’s Seed
- Constitutes God's Word, which can exist in two forms:
  - Locked: Refers to unfulfilled prophecies in the scriptures, especially in the Old Testament prior to Jesus’s arrival.
  - Explanation: When the Word is locked, its prophecies remain inscrutable until fulfilled, as illustrated in Isaiah 29:9-13.
  - Unraveled: Involves fulfilled prophecies that emerge as the word of truth.
- Satan’s Seed
- Represents falsehoods, lies, and man-made teachings that arise when individuals attempt to interpret or alter prophecies before their fulfillment.
Types of Fields Representing Hearts
- These two seeds are sown across four types of fields, indicating four types of hearts.
- Only the “good soil,” which denotes an open and obedient heart, retains the seed to yield a fruitful crop.

Effort and Perseverance
- To become the “good soil” God desires, individuals must actively engage and endure.
- Activities include completing assigned readings, such as Matthew 13:1-23, and memorizing scripture.
- The ultimate motivation for these efforts revolves around expressing love towards God.
Historical Context of the Spiritual Harvest
- A spiritual harvest transpired during the time of Jesus’s first coming.
- The Old Testament prophets sowed seeds “with tears,” enduring persecution while proclaiming God's message and the coming of the Messiah (referenced in Psalm 126:5-6).
- By the time of Jesus, the field of believers had become corrupted, as noted in Jeremiah 23.
- False prophets and priests abandoned godly teachings, sharing visions from their own minds, which introduced “false hopes” to the populace.
- This condition resulted in the emergence of two types of believers:
- Wheat-like People: Individuals born of God’s seed.
- Weed-like People: Individuals born of Satan’s seed.

Role of Jesus
- John the Baptist foretold Jesus’s arrival, stating he would come equipped with a “winnowing fork” to collect the “wheat into the barn” and incinerate the chaff (Matthew 3:11-12).
- The “winnowing fork” symbolizes the words spoken by Jesus, which clarify closed laws through the “unraveled word” of prophecy.
Recognition of Truth
- Those identified as “wheat-like,” characterized by humility and a quest for truth, recognized Jesus’s fulfilled prophecy and gathered to him.
- This gathering process symbolizes the spiritual harvest.
- Those remaining with false teachers are classified as “weeds” or “children of the devil.”
- Not to be confused with monstrous figures, these are ordinary believers lacking God’s truth in their hearts.

Second Coming Perspective
- The primary concentration of the parables is the harvest designated for the second coming of Jesus.
- At his first coming, Jesus planted the seed of the Word, encompassing both the fulfilled prophecies of the Old Testament and the “locked” prophecies of the New Testament regarding his return.
- In the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30), Jesus elucidates that an enemy has sown weeds among the wheat.
- He later provides an interpretation for his disciples (Matthew 13:37-39) as follows:
- The Good Seed (Wheat): Sons of the kingdom, emanating from God’s seed.
- The Weeds: Sons of the evil one, procreated from the devil’s seed.
- The Enemy: The devil.
- The Harvest: Identified as the end of the age.
- The Harvesters: Angels.
Prophecy of the Harvest
- This harvest is prophesied to occur at the “end of the age,” correlating with events described in the Book of Revelation.
- Revelation 14:14-16 depicts a figure resembling a son of man arriving on a cloud with a sharp sickle to reap the ripe harvest of the earth.

Fate of Wheat vs. Weeds
- The gathering represents the collection of “wheat-like believers” who possess God’s seed within.
- The distinction of fates between wheat and weeds is as follows:
- The Wheat: Collected and taken into the owner’s barn, symbolizing entry into the kingdom of heaven.
- The Weeds: Bundled for burning, symbolizing judgment.
Personal Responsibility
- Understanding these concepts imparts a personal responsibility to progress from mere knowledge to actionable faith.
- The genuine measure of faith is determined by one’s heart condition, encompassing efforts to become “good soil.”
Characteristics of a True Believer
- A “wheat-like believer” embodies humility.
- The analogy illustrates that, like wheat which bows down when it is full of grain, true believers exhibit humility.
- In contrast, weeds maintain an upright posture.

Ensuring God's Pure Seed
- To be regarded among the wheat, individuals must first confirm they possess God’s pure seed within their hearts and actively retain it.
Practical Suggestions for Cultivation
1. Allocate quiet time with the Lord, contemplating methods to retain His word.
2. Memorize scripture, such as Luke 8:15, to procure strength and perseverance.
Importance of God’s Word
- Retaining the Word of God within one's heart is essential for faith, as it embodies His spirit, light, and life.
- Ultimately, whether a person is gathered as wheat into God’s kingdom or bundled as a weed for judgment hinges on their ability to retain God’s seed.