John 4:35, Do you not say, “There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest”? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.

 

The image of the harvest is a familiar one in the Bible and is often applied to the ministry of winning lost souls. We plant the seed of God’s Word in the hearts of people who hear it, and we seek to cultivate that seed by our love and prayers; in due time that seed may bear fruit to the glory of God.

 

The field in which we are to plant that seed is all around us, our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. No doubt there are many Christians who are saying to themselves “There can be no harvest here! These people despise us Christians and have no use for the message of the Gospel.” But just the opposite is true: the harvest is ready and only needed faithful workers to claim it. For some reason, when it comes to witnessing for Christ, it is always the wrong time and the wrong place! It takes faith to sow the seed, and we must do it even when the circumstances look discouraging.

 

There are two imperatives (commands) in John 4:35 that will help explain what Jesus is saying to the church. The first one is the phrase “lift up.” It comes from the Greek word epairo and in the context of this passage carries with it the meaning “to lift up the eyes.” There is a reason for Christians to lift up their eyes and that is so they can “look” at the world (the fields) around them. This is exactly what the word “look”, the second imperative, commands Christians to do. “Look” comes from the Greek word idou and is used in the Greek language to call attention to something external or exterior to oneself. The world and its lost condition is that “something external” that Christians are called to give their full attention to. There is a harvest that is ready but to see it Christians must see the world through the eyes of Christ.

 

This is the mission of Bethel Baptist Church; to help Christians see the world through the eyes of Jesus and give their full attention to it. As they do, it will generate a passion within to provide the only answer to the lost and hopeless condition they observe in their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and ends of the earth.