The Garden

It's time to plant that garden! Are all of your seeds and plants in the ground? Or are you procrastinating like we are?

Jesus spoke a lot about planting seeds and harvesting crops. But He was really talking about the Gospel and you and me.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and slipped away. When the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.

The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

So the servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

‘No,’ he said, ‘if you pull the weeds now, you might uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’ ” - Matthew 13:24-30

Gardening is a picture of the Kingdom of God. God planted all the seeds. But then Satan came along and planted weeds in amongst the good plants.

Jesus, the Master Gardener, decided not to have His angels remove the weeds (the bad ones), but instead He had them grow together with the good - not wanting to damage the good when the bad were uprooted.

The only problem with having weeds amongst the desired crop is that the weeds drain half the nutrients out of the soil. That makes it harder for the good crops to grow. And such it is with you and me.

In the end though, at the harvest, we get to go into "the barn" while the weeds get to be burned in the fire. AKA hell.

There is a time for planting and a time for harvesting (according to King Solomon). Don't wait until the harvest to plant YOUR garden. You will be greatly disappointed. 

Keep your eyes open for the Master Gardener. He waters us and looks after us. And it's not long before the harvest!

The Threshing Floor

"His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” - Matthew 3:12

That verse sounds like a description of what farmers did back in the day before there were threshing machines. And it is. But it is also a description of what Jesus will do to all the people of the earth. Guess what? We're the wheat!

When the wheat was harvested back in Jesus' day, it was brought to the threshing floor - a big, flat, hard place. The wheat was then arranged in a big circle and the wheat was separated from the chaff (the material surrounding the grains). This was done by crushing is with a weighted object that was pulled behind a donkey.

When the separating process was over the chaff was removed from the wheat. This was done by throwing it into the air with a winnowing fork and the wind blew the chaff away (a much light material). All that was left was the valuable wheat. The chaff was then discarded and burned.

But what was Jesus talking about in the verse above? He's talking about us. We're either the wheat or the chaff. Which one do YOU want to be? I'm choose the wheat. This verse was a parable of the end times.

I was thinking about this whole winnowing process in church yesterday as our pastor described it. I get the part about separating the wheat and the chaff. I'm caught on the grinding of the grain part. It occured to me that this parable could also be about us and our sin.

When a farmer sows his seed, the seed can do nothing until it germinates and takes root. To grow the seed needs water, sunshine and nutrients in the soil. But note this: the wheat that grows does so encased in the chaff already. The chaff surrounds the grain from birth so to speak.

Isn't the chaff like our sin? Jesus removes our sin by "grinding us" through this life we all live and wonderful grace. The whole maturing process of a human is different for every one of us. Yet the process of placing our faith in Christ is pretty much the same.

Sin, Repent, Pray.

We are all born in sin. The chaff surrounds us before we even leave the womb. Sin is a part of who we are. We go through life, learning and growing. Somewhere along the line we mature. We become aware of our sin through God's Word and the conviction of The Holy Spirit. Repentance is the key. We want to get rid of the chaff that surrounds us.

The moment we get that chaff out of our lives, the better off we will be. So, when we see Jesus coming with the winnowing fork in his hand, we can shout for joy! It's time for us to be gathered into His store house - heaven!

Ruth's Prophetic Wedding

The story of Ruth is a wonderful love story. But it is more than that. It is a foreshadowing of things to come.

For many years I have always thought of the story about Ruth and Boaz to be a representation of Jesus and His church, and that is true. But, for me anyway, that is where the story always ended. A good reminder of how we must pursue Christ and His "redeeming" us.

Yesterday, however, I saw a Facebook post that changed the way I look at this wonderfully romantic story in the Bible. Could the story of Ruth also be about Israel and the coming rapture of the church?

When did Ruth and Naomi return to Israel, the land of Naomi's birth? It was during the barley harvest. And when did the Jewish people return to the newly-created land of Israel? In 1948 Israel was created as a country again. During the barley harvest.

Think about it.. When does the "romantic" part of the Book of Ruth take place? During the barley harvest. Hmm. A harvest. And where was Boaz from? Chapter two tells us that Boaz "came from Bethlehem." Hmm.

Boaz had some barley fields that were ready for harvesting. In fact the harvest was underway when our loving couple met. Boaz was actually "living" on the threshing floor at that time - where the grain is separated from the chaff. Search for threshing floor sometime in your Bible studies. Speaking of the end times, Jesus said this:

"His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” - Matthew 3:12

Trust me, you will want to be a piece of grain when you are on the threshing floor or Jesus. DO NOT be the chaff.

Boaz goes on in chapter four to redeem Ruth and they are married.

"Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife" - Ruth 4:10

They most likely got married a few months later during the late summer/fall harvest. Know one knows the day or the hour. Sound familiar?

The Book of Ephesians describes the roles of husbands and wives. Paul ends his Ephesians 5 description of the perfect marriage this way:

"This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." - Ephesians 5:32

As a side note, the descendants of Ruth and Boaz are rather impressive. David, Solomon, and our Lord, Jesus Christ.

While the date of Ruth’s wedding and the Church’s wedding with Jesus are unknowable, the late summer/early fall seems a likely season for both.

We are in that season right now. Are you ready to be redeemed?

"Look up, for your redemption draws near." - Luke 21:28