Harvest Coming

Jesus taught that there would be certain signs during the last days, prior to His second Advent, His second coming; in Matthew chapter 24, he says:
12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

In this passage, Jesus also referred to conflicts between nations, natural disasters, and false prophets. We are living in turbulent times that are certainly consistent with what Jesus taught about in this chapter. As we look for the soon return of Jesus, we can examine how we are living our lives, living with a sense of urgency that in the midst of a chaotic world, He wants to bring people into a saving knowledge of Himself.

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In the 4th chapter of John, we find the declaration of Jesus regarding the potential harvest of souls - not only for His time, but, I believe, for ours; we can read:
34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
35 Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

We are continuing to keep our eyes on the situation in the Middle East in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. As I recall from my conversations with the late Jimmy DeYoung, the Palestinian Authority, which is the self-proclaimed governing authority over the people who identify as Palestinians, has two factions: one is Hamas, the other is Fatah. Hamas is the ruling party over the Gaza area. Fatah is another party that has sizable influence among the Palestinian people.

Taysir “Tass” Abu Saada, is 73 years old, and according to Faithwire, is "a former member of the Fatah terrorist group." The article says that Saada "recently told Joel Rosenberg, an American-Israeli communications strategist, he believes the war will lead many in Gaza to feel hopeless, abandoned, and lied to by Hamas, the terror group governing Gaza. As a result, he predicted they will turn from Islam and toward Christianity."

On Joel's program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, The Rosenberg Report, Abu Saada said: "Hamas is an ideology that is spread among many people, not only in the Gaza Strip but all over the world,” but he believes "God has a plan." He said, "That is why I am back in the Holy Land, to move to the Gaza Strip and take part in rebuilding. I believe, with all the destruction, with all that happened, with the hardship the Palestinians have gone through, they cannot sit back, but will ask, ‘Why?’ God is going to do a lot of work [in Gaza], and I want to be a part of that.”

Saada grew up in Gaza and had a hatred for the Jewish people. Ultimately, he ended up in the U.S., where he met a Christian who led him to Jesus.  Faithwire reports:

The Christian man told Saada, “If you want to experience the peace of mind that I have, you have to love the Jews.” He recalled, “I completely froze and asked him how he could even think of such a — to love the Jews? He knew I hated them. For me, as for most Arabs, a good Jew was a dead Jew.”

Saada and his faith mentor read Scripture together and, the following day, the former terrorist felt an urge to pray.

“The first people that came to my heart to pray for were the Jewish people,” said Saada. “I was praying, ‘Oh, God, bless your people, Israel. God, gather them to the Promised Land.’”

The article notes that Saada believes that we are living in the end times. He shared with Joel Rosenberg: “The evil hand of Hamas is attacking Israelis in a radical, very evil way. Naturally, Israel had to respond and defend itself."  Faithwire states:

But as the destruction and horror continues, he feels a glimmer of eternal hope.

Saada said that, in time, “the harvest is going to be huge,” referring to the number of Gazans he is confident will ultimately turn to the same faith in Jesus he has found.

Jesus spoke of the harvest and sending his laborers - He seemed to be saying that even though there was the potential of a great harvest of souls, that the number of people willing to go and share His message was comparatively small.  Our expectation can lead to motivation regarding the capacity for people coming to Christ.  But, even though Jesus has called us to go and to share, we have to make sure that we have great anticipation of what He wants to do and overcome the complacency that the enemy wants to sow in our hearts. 

We can also realize that we are living in a day in which God's prophetic plan is continuing to unfold.  Because the end-times scenario revolves around Israel, we have to consider how events in and around Israel may have been spoken of in Bible prophecy. Ezekiel teaches us that there will be organized opposition, and through alliances that have been built, it is clear to see how Israel is vulnerable, yet the Scriptures say that God will be its protector.  We are living in exciting days, and we can remain focused on how God is working and how He desires to work through His people.