It is harvest time again and there are lessons to be learned from observing the harvest. Last year I had the opportunity of viewing vast rolling hills covered with ripening wheat. In that section the harvest time had almost come. Some of the fields appeared to be ready to harvest, but in most of them there were some green spots. Some places were fully ripe, but harvesting had to be delayed until the whole was ready. I wondered why all the fields were not ready at the same time and what caused the decided green spots here and there. Then it was observed that the green spots were in the valleys where they had more moisture; this evidently delayed the ripening process, and so delayed the whole harvest.
One was reminded of those verses in Revelation 14 where the Lord is shown returning as the Son of Man to execute judgment on the earth. An angel calls for Him to thrust in His sickle and reap, “for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe,” or “dried.” It is more than just “ripe”; it is fully “dried” then. At that time there will be no green spots which hold back harvesting. The last days are here and the world is ripening for judgment. There are still a few green spots where God is feared, but these are fast drying up. There are some places where they may have had a little more moisture—the Word of God having effect on God-fearing souls—which God sees, but surely He sees the green spots fast fading out. Very soon the Lord shall come into the air and call His redeemed ones to meet Him there, leaving the world to ripen faster and faster. Judgment is His strange work and He waits in utmost long-suffering until the earth’s wickedness has become fully ripe.
In the days of Abraham God said that He would dispossess the Amorites but not yet, for their iniquity was not full. In time it was full and judgment came. In the days of Lot He came down to see the wickedness of Sodom. Evidently that place was ripe for judgment for He had only to send angels to drag Lot, his wife, and two daughters out before the fire fell. He could not find ten righteous persons there. May we discern the time in which we live and seek to rescue souls from the coming judgment; but remember, Lot’s testimony to others was ruined by his walk with the wicked world.