John 4:35-38 Say not you, There are yet four months, and then comes harvest? behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields… I. WE MUST LOOK AT THE ASPECT OF THE FIELDS. 1. That in most places there is evidently a preparation in the minds of both Pagans and Mohammedans for receiving the servants of Christ. 2. What are the peculiar advantages which pious and zealous Christians in Britain enjoy for extending the gospel. 3. But the disposition among the heathen to receive the gospel, and the facilities which we possess for diffusing it, would be insufficient, unless the activity of the spiritual Church were awake to improve the occasion. II. ENCOURAGEMENTS HELD OUT TO THE REAPERS. 1. The important good, which the Christian missionary effects, is, that he gathers fruit to life eternal. 2. The abundant reward which awaits him, when the toil is finished, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."(1) This common joy began when the holy apostles, having finished their labours, were taken to receive their reward. (2) This joy has been increasing, as the several sowers and reapers, in different ages of the New Testament Church, have been taken to their eternal rest. (3) It will be completed when all the Church shall meet before the throne; when the mystery of Christ shall be finished; when God shall have accomplished the number of His elect, and have hastened His kingdom. (Bp. Daniel Wilson.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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