Thursday, November 16, 2006

The Reaper overtakes the Sower - really!

Nov 16, 2006
We are entering a moment of blessing that we've not experienced before. The scripture foretells such an occurrence:

Amos 9:13
Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.

Barnes commentary on this verse-
"So vast would be the soil to be cultivated, so beyond all the powers of the cultivator, and yet so rapid and unceasing the growth, that seed-time and harvest would be but one. So our Lord says, "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest" John 4:35. "Four months" ordinarily intervened between seed-time and harvest. Among these Samaritans, seed-time and harvest were one.

They had not, like the Jews, had teachers from God; yet, as soon as our Lord taught them, they believed. But, as seed time and harvest should be one, so should the vintage be continuous with the following seed-time. "The treader of grapes," the last crowning act of the year of cultivation, should join on to "him that soweth"...

Jerome: "All shall succeed one another, so that no day should be void of grain, wine, and gladness." And they shall not follow only on one another, but shall all go on together in one perpetual round of toil and fruitfulness. There shall be one unceasing inpouring of riches; no break in the heavenly husbandry; labor shall at once yield fruit; the harvest shall but encourage fresh labor...

And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and all the hills shall melt - Amos takes the words of Joel, in order to identify their prophecies, yet strengthens the image. For instead of saying, "the hills shall flow with milk," he says, "they shall melt, dissolve themselves. Such shall be the abundance and super-abundance of blessing, that it shall be as though the hills dissolved themselves in the rich streams which they poured down." [emphasis added]


Several years ago, I had a waking-vision about this very event, although I did not understand it at the time.

Two men walked through a freshly plowed field, dark and rich with ready soil. The first man had a very large canvas sack hanging in front of him full of corn seed. The man behind him had a large sickle. They began to walk down the first row in the field and soon were walking in perfect step, right-left, right-left... As the first man walked, he would drop a corn kernel, then drive it deep into the soil using his right heel. As soon as his heel came up out of the deep soil, the corn stalk would immediately spring up to full height and the ears of corn would "pop" into fullness. At almost that exact instant, the man carrying the sickle would swipe through the base of the plant, harvesting it immediately - just barely missing the heel of the man in front of him. This continued down the row: at each step, the seed would fall, be planted, spring to life and be harvested - in an instant.

The lessons are clear for us: the scripture tells us to believe His prophets and so shall we prosper. Amos prophesied this glorious moment when all would reach fulfillment in Christ, both in terms of the fruitfulness of His body in the Earth, but also in terms of the fruitfulness of our lives in the earthly realms.


What could we do if we really believed that we had entered this time of blessing?


Blessings on all of you today!
Brad Young

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog.

I hope you find our conversations stimulating, interesting and maybe just a bit challenging. I want to create a safe place where we can ask questions and read each others thoughts about Christ, faith, work, business - and how we can put them all together in meaningful ways.

Blessings!
Brad