The Final Harvest

“And it shall be that if you earnestly obey my commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil”(Deuteronomy 11:13-14, NKJV).

The planting and harvest seasons in Israel were just the opposite of ours. The first rains, which softened the ground, fell from October to the end of December, just before planting season. The last rains fell from March through April, just prior to harvest, and those rains ripened the harvest.

It is important to note that these two outpourings always had to do with the harvest, “that you may gather in…” Beloved, if you want to judge any move of the Holy Spirit to discern if it is of God or of flesh, then use this criterion: The Spirit's work is always focused on the harvest of souls.

No matter what kind of manifestations you see in a so-called revival, it is not a true move of God unless it is focused on the harvest. The Holy Ghost rains always fall to produce an ingathering of souls.

God poured out his Spirit in the former rain at Pentecost to prepare and soften the ground for the gospel seeds to be sown. Spirit-filled sowers were sent out from the Upper Room that day to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

The church has now seen almost 2,000 years of sowing and growing, and it is harvest time! All who have died in Christ up to now represent the first-fruits or the early harvest, but Zechariah prophesies a final harvest, and that is the reason Jesus has not yet come (see Zechariah 12:10). The Lord has been waiting patiently for his final, mighty harvest of the earth.

“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain“ (James 5:7).