July 3

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.

AFTER expressing his own regard to the work given him to do, our Saviour stimulates his disciples to similar zeal. For this purpose he employs several arguments borrowed from husbandry, The first is taken from the necessity for exertion. When the grain is ripe the sickle must be thrust in. The crop must be gathered in. The season is short, and every other concern is expected to give place to the reapers’ toil. Now, so it is here. You say, said our Lord to his disciples, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest; and you say well, for so it is. But with regard to the spiritual harvest, the harvest of souls, this is now arrived:-“Look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest;” that is, they were to consider the disposition of the people who are now within view. This teaches us that when the attention of the people is awakened, and numbers press to hear, it is a favourable opening, which should excite and encourage diligent and prayerful efforts.

The second is taken from the profitableness of their exertion. “He that reapeth receiveth wages.” Thus Christians are taught that their “labour is not in vain in the Lord; and that their work is important, for as the result of their labouring for the everlasting salvation of precious souls, they gather fruit unto life eternal.” And accordingly the husbandman, and those who had been employed by him in preparing the soil and in securing the produce, partook of the entertainment provided at the end of the harvest; so here with regard to the Lord’s servants engaged in carrying on the varied processes of their spiritual husbandry, however varied their capacities, offices, and influences, “he that soweth and he that reapeth will rejoice together.”