Is It Not Wheat Harvest Today?

...that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Now therefore, stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and to your fathers. When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried, the same says, they cried out, they cried out with all their heart and soul.

So the word cried appears advisedly here in the chapter, your fathers cried, they cried out in anguish unto the Lord. Then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, still the same God today who answers the cry of his people, that he brought the fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. When they forgot the Lord their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab.

And they fought against them. In verse 9, Samuel is conducting the people very quickly through the history that's described in the book of Judges, with mention being made of Sisera, and the Philistines, and after that the Moabites, and it's one battle after another, a succession of battles. It's just like modern days here when we read of ancient times.

It's just like modern days, one conflict after another, a conflict here in this part of the country, and then yonder in that part of the country, and all around there are borders from their enemy, and they fought against them. And again, we come to that word cried. Verse 10, as I remind you, it means to cry out, to cry out with heart and soul, to cry out with anguish unto the Lord.

Maybe in prayer today, or tomorrow, or the next day, we may be able to cry with more passion, more burden of heart unto God ourselves. And they cried, let me just read it, cried out, and they cried out unto the Lord and said, we have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served Balaam and Ashtaroth. Here, these pagan gods are mentioned in the plural, as if to suggest the worship of these pagan gods is all over the place in the land of Israel.

It's not just in one shrine here, or one shrine yonder, but all over the place. And so, reference is made to these idols in the plural both times, Balaam and Ashtaroth. But now, deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.

Did you ever reach a time like that in your life? Time of such crisis? God had to step in. God had to send deliverance. It was a now or never situation.

The cry ascended into high heaven, and God answered prayer. And you can see some detail here, not the entire history obviously, but little details that really matter. What God did in those times of emergency? Verse 11, and the Lord sent Jeroboam, and Badan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt safe.

God can do that again. And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the children of Ammon came against you, he said unto me, Nay, but a king shall reign over us, when the Lord your God was your king. Now therefore, behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired, and behold the Lord has set a king over you.

If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye, and also the king that reigneth over you, continue following the Lord your God. And if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers. Now therefore, stand and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before your eyes.

Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain, that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king. So Samuel called unto the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared the Lord, and Samuel.

And all the people said unto Samuel, pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not, for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king. And Samuel said unto the people, fear not. Although there was displeasure, although there was the chastening hand of God there that day, isn't it marvelous to see that still there's comfort as well? There's the throne of grace for you in the time of need.

Fear not. Ye have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And turn ye not aside, then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain.

I just end with this wonderful word of comfort on top of everything else. The trials have come, the tears that are shed, the burdens that are borne. There is this one great truth above all else, with which I conclude the reading.

The Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it hath pleased the Lord to meet you, his people. The Holy Red part of the chapter, what a chapter this is. I need help today to talk about some aspects of what we have in front of us here, really need help from God.

And I ask you for your prayers. Let me read from verse 17, because this is where we're going to focus our thoughts. In the beginning of verse 17 there, is it not wheat harvest today? With these words in mind, let's just bow briefly in prayer.

We'll ask for the Lord to come by. Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if you so felt the presence of the Lord just now, that it would be almost like saying, do you know the Lord just came by himself and sat down in the seat beside me? But that's the kind of service we desire just now. Lord, our hearts cry out for thee.

We're so comforted and helped reading through the circumstances here in this chapter, for all their sins and failings, for their waywardness and willfulness even. How that still as the reading came to a close, we were comforted to know the Lord had not forsaken his people, and therefore he had not forgotten them. And it pleased the Lord to begin with, to make them his people.

And therefore, because of that wonderful transaction, that saw us brought out of darkness into light, turning us from sin and Satan unto God, because now today, ever so many in this gathering can say, I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, grant encouragement, powerful encouragement. We pray that if anyone is backslidden, cold in heart, far away from God even, Lord, may the tender drawings of the Holy Spirit be sensed again.

Perhaps someone unconverted, having listened to the message many and many a time, Lord, bring the wandering one to the Savior this day. Grant to this preacher now the infilling of the Holy Spirit and help from heaven. We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. It's the verse 17 there, is it not? Wheat harvest today. The question is asked by Samuel, and I want you to look at this question and think about its setting in the chapter.

When Samuel speaks of the wheat harvest, he's talking about the height of summer, about that time which would correspond to the middle of June in our calendar. The wheat harvest began on a given day. It wasn't just some season of the year that was associated with the harvest, but the wheat harvest in Israel began exactly 50 days after the Passover.

And as for the question itself, is it not wheat harvest today? The answer is yes, of course it is. It's hardly necessary then with all these details that I have set out before you, it's hardly necessary to go over the point and say, yes, it is, it is, it is the wheat harvest today. Everybody standing in that vast assembly listening to Samuel the prophet going away back now into ancient time, every man, woman, and child standing there that day knew perfectly well it was the wheat harvest that day.

But then this day of wheat harvest is going to be different, totally different to any day for the wheat harvest prior to this. We could go back through time if the Lord suddenly enabled us to do that and to have the power of communication with the people. They say to the oldest man there, after the day's proceedings described in 1 Samuel 12 are over, they say to this old man, just go back over the years in your memories of all the wheat harvest occasions that you have witnessed, go you back through the years and how does today's wheat harvest compare with what you have known throughout the years of a very long lifetime? He would say, without hesitation, I've never seen the like of it.

I've never seen the like of it in my time. And that's because Samuel will pray on this occasion, and God will answer, and God will send the fiercest storm that those people ever saw with thunder and lightning, with torrential rain that came down upon the harvest fields, destroying the harvest, washing the harvest away in so many parts of the country. And sure enough, as Samuel prays, almost at once a stillness fell on that gathering.

The atmosphere changed, the temperature dropped, and those black clouds rolled across the horizon. And then the thunder came, getting ever louder by the minute until directly overhead. It was deafening and terrifying.

The people felt themselves, they were really in danger and have concerns that they may die in the thunderstorm. You see, it was just as Samuel had said, the storm broke, the rains came, the flood waters rose, the wheat harvest was ruined. Having said all that, are there any lessons for us to learn from this narrative, lessons for us today as we look at these verses? There are.

Number one would have to be that the weather patterns, the weather patterns for this earth are in the hand of God. That lesson comes through when you think of it. That lesson comes through with great power in this passage because the Lord can change the weather in a moment of time.

God's not put about by the rotation of the seasons as we know them. He's not handcuffed by nature. He can send snow in the middle of July if he so purposed to do it.

In Israel, it was unthinkable for the rain to come and wheat harvest. I could almost use the word impossible. With your permission, I think I could.

And in a manner of speaking, it was just impossible given the thinking of the people for wheat harvest, the middle of the summer in Israel. In Northern Ireland, it would be a different thing entirely. If you think of the middle of June, you could expect almost anything in the way of the weather.

You could have lovely sunshine in June, just the best of summer. On the other hand, you could have great storms. I remember more than one month of June in my past when I thought these storms are really wild.

So, June in Northern Ireland can bring you almost anything in the way of what the weather holds. But not in Israel, where year after year, the skies are a brilliant blue, sun's shining, it's really hot. It's the best of summer.

There's no such thing really as to say it might rain today or there might be a storm. No, no, it's unthinkable that there could be a storm. So, it is God's doing when against what we'll call the rum of nature, this fierce storm should break upon the people in Israel.

The weather patterns for this earth are in the hand of God. We have people today who are making a lot of noise about global warming, and they're very vocal in spreading their message. But it to me, I can't judge their hearts, but it seems to me, however, that they leave God out of the reckoning.

It's right, true enough, that we should respect the earth and the environment as God's creation. But ever so many of these people seem to have no thought of God. There's never any mention, at least in what I have been able to read or learn about them, never a thought about praying and asking God to step in.

For God hears prayer, God answers prayer. All the way through the Bible, we can see how this is God's creation. Turn to Genesis 1. This is about the easiest chapter to find in the Bible.

That's not a coincidence, if it is the easiest chapter in the Bible, because here we learn of God's handiwork and creation. And if the people I described just now, if they have an agenda without God, an agenda without the Bible, they're making a dreadful mistake, because this world is preeminently God's creation. In the beginning, who is there here who's not familiar with verse 1 of Genesis? The first verse in the Bible, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And then you run your eye right down the chapter there a little further, say verse 11, for example, and God said, let the earth bring forth. Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree, three areas, three classes of vegetation. For God is creating the earth with purpose, and His purpose is to create a habitation for man, Isaiah 45 and 18.

And if He will create this earth as a habitation for man, then it's a fit, a beautiful habitation. Let the earth bring forth grass and so on. I have to say here that the earth did not produce vegetation itself.

If we speak of the earth and its environment and so on, what we see in the earth here is not just here by coincidence, but in keeping with the purpose of God, let the earth bring forth. If God had not said that, there would never have been a blade of grass, never a flower, never a fruit tree on the face of this earth. This world of ours would have been hanging there in space just quite like the moon, barren and stark and desolate with dust and stone.

It's God and His creative power who makes the difference. Let the earth bring forth. And today the produce of the harvest is very much in our thoughts, and we thank the Lord for His loving kindness and His faithfulness still.

You see, God provided for man before man came on the earth. In verse 14, you have the creation of those great luminaries in the heavens. God said, let there be light in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night.

Yeah, certainly that would be the purpose in creating the sun and the moon and the stars to differentiate between light and darkness, between day and night. But have you noticed this in verse 14? Four things, primarily in the mind of the Creator. They're there, the sun, moon and stars are there for signs, for seasons, for days and for years.

The first thing that's said is that they're there for signs. Now, some of God's people believe that there is enough evidence already. I haven't time to speak about the stars.

I'd have to forego that. But let us say there are some believe already, and I can't disagree with them, that the signs are there in the sun, the moon, the stars, God's creative handiwork and His loving care for mankind. I believe those signs that are spoken of here really belong to the end time for all that.

Let us gather our thoughts, if we can, about 1 Samuel 12 and the question, is it not wheat harvest today? The weather that came was in the plan of God. And the thought is too, is the evidence of God answering prayer, and certainly the wind and the waves obey Him. The sense is the wind and the waves obey Him still, and we can call upon God, and we pass through difficult times, and they can't enlarge on this.

But suffice to say, the people feel a sense of sin. They feel that they have forsaken the Lord, and they're saying actually, oh, pray for us. Do not cease to pray.

It's a terrible thing to stop praying. And Samuel assures them that he will do no such thing. He will keep them on his prayer list.

God forbid, he says, that I should cease to pray for you, in spite of your feelings and your sins, your departure from God. God forbid that I should cease to pray. Can I stop for a moment and ask, are there some here who have ceased to pray? Could it be that in the past six months, as a child of God now, and one who's reasonably healthy, that you haven't come near the prayer meeting? Could there be neglect of the means of grace? Could it be that you haven't given as much attention to the Lord, to the Bible, to prayer, could it be said, in some sense, that you have ceased? That's a sin.

Samuel says that he would sin if he stopped praying for them. And we need to pray for Israel today, even as a nation. Never mind for God's people, redeemed by precious blood.

And the last thing I want to say about our question today, is it not wheat harvest today? It reminds us that the weather patterns for this earth are in the hand of God. God sent the storm, just as in other times he sent the sunshine. It's apparent, too, that the storm came when Samuel prayed, and God answers prayer.

And I think that there is a foreshadowing of things to come, because the sun, the moon, and the stars, they're there for signs. Could I ask you to turn to Luke chapter 21? Will you allow me just to run quickly down through the verses I select? I'm talking about the last days of this age. The words of our Savior are so plain.

Surely you can't miss the message. Look at verse 9, when you shall hear of wars and commotions. You could be terrified.

You could be deeply distressed, especially if that war was threatening to your locality. I hope that the Lord is saying here, be not terrified, for these things must first come. There is an order for the events of the last days of this age, and some things have to come first.

They must come first. The wars, the commotions, but the end is not by and by. Then he said unto them, nations shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom.

Many believers think Luke 21 is all about A.D. 70 and the destruction of Jerusalem. There are some things here in the chapter that make us think of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, but primarily the Lord is speaking about the end time, because I make the point the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was terrible and terrifying, but it was local. What we're reading here in the main in Luke chapter 21 is international or universal.

It's worldwide. Wars, commotions, nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom. These things are distressing.

Verse 11, great earthquakes shall be in diverse places. There were people living in these islands way back in A.D. 70, living, as far as I know, in very primitive conditions, but they didn't know a thing about the destruction of Jerusalem. They were living through that period, as I describe it, but the destruction of Jerusalem was local.

What the Lord's talking about here is universal. The nations will know about it. The earth will know about it.

This verse 11 is startling. Great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences, and fearful sights, and signs shall there be from heaven. We haven't seen anything of that yet, but as surely as you're here in this building, as surely as the Lord has spoken to His saints and has given clearest warning, you may know that those great heavenly bodies that we learned about in Genesis chapter 1, verse 14, that the first thing in that list of four assertions, the first thing, they're there for signs, and there shall be fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

And then I go on down further in the chapter to verse 24, the latter part of verse 24, Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled. We're living today in the times of the Gentiles. The Gentiles have control of the greater part of the earth.

Those times shall come to a conclusion. And now we come back to that word again, verse 25. Do you see it? There shall be signs.

There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars. I have to take these descriptions as literal. And upon the earth, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, that's not global warming.

No, no, that's not global warming. That's the hand of God and judgment. Men's hearts feeling them for fear, for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, where the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

And then how the best is yet to be. They shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, that's the Shekinah cloud, the cloud of glory with power and great glory. Let me round off my remarks by taking verse 28.

When these things, remember, men's hearts feeling them for fear, the nations with perplexity, anticipating what the future holds in store for them. That's not the lot of the believer. The child of God has something positive and uplifting for you.

Verse 28, when these things begin, there's a string of events in his mind. When they begin to come to pass, what is the child of God to do? Ah, the Lord says, look up, glory to God. We can't do that.

Even though the Lord commands it, we can't do that in our own strength. But if the Lord gives us grace and victory, we will. We'll do as he says.

Look up and lift up your heads. There it is. Look up, lift up your redemption drawth nigh.

That's a reference to the resurrection of the body of the believer. Your redemption drawth nigh. I may as well call that listen up, just to suit the references here.

Look up, lift up, listen up, your redemption drawth nigh. That great day that the choir sang about today. That was a word from God, wasn't it? It stirred my heart and I was blessed by the singing.

Really good. Thank you for that. But the message you sang at the start was all about the Lord's coming.

Best of all, with the assurance, and the role is called up yonder, I'll be there. Do you know the Lord? If you do, you can say with perfect assurance, and the role is called up yonder, I'll be there. If the Lord's speaking to you, don't go away without speaking to Mr. Park or the elders or even myself or another Christian friend.

Be clear about these things. You need to know how you stand with God. May the Lord bless you today.

Mr. Park is going to come.