A Day of Visitation
Charles Cooper
For some believers, the timing of the Lord’s return to rapture the saints is more important than any other New Testament study. Much has been written about it and the views are diverse. But even more fundamental questions have not been the focus of earnest discussion: Why have a rapture? Where did the concept originate? What is the Old Testament basis for this idea?
Any attempt to force a connection between the rapture and the so-called “feast of trumpets” is a figment of man’s imagination and is eisegesis to the extreme. Unfortunately, so much of what we believe about the Jewish feasts regarding their relationship to our Gentile age is fanciful thinking (that is what eisegesis is). Much of it is cut from the same cloth that has given us the pretribulational rapture: speculation and the false traditions of man. Sadly, once a lie gets started, it is quite difficult to dissuade people from believing it.
The Bible declares,
The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months! Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted with a harvest, [James 5:16b-18, NET].
Men and women having faith in God and in his power must challenge evil when it is emboldened and refuses to stop. Just as in the days of Elijah, it can be said of our present government, “Ahab (the king) did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him” [1 Kings 16:33].
God will work for the benefit of his people, if we believe in him and ask him to move powerfully on our behalf. Our nation has come to a critical point. Evil must be stopped. The power of God must be displayed that all men might fear him. There are those who do not believe that God interferes in the lives of men for their good.
In Elijah’s day, only one man stood against evil. Elijah prayed that heaven would withhold its rain and it did so for three and a half years. It is again time for righteous men to pray. We must pray that the Lord will once again put the fear of God in the hearts of men. This is the only way we can slow down this oncoming train of destruction that has hijacked our country – and to a great extent – our Constitution.
We are looking for the Elijahs of our day. After all, James 5:17 records that Elijah was just like we are. So, if he could count on the Lord for miracles – then, so can we! We must become willing to pray earnestly to God that his power might be demonstrated, in order that all men will know that it is he who directs in the events of men.
Please consider taking a gift survey. If you are willing and available, we need as many people as possible to take our upcoming class: “Faith for the Final.” We are specifically looking for people who have the spiritual gift of faith. This is the reason we want you to take a gift survey. If you do not know, or are unsure of your gift strengths, please consider taking the following test: http://www.churchgrowth.org/cgi-cg/gifts.cgi?intro=1
If you have the gift of faith, or you are able to function in this area, please consider becoming part of our prayer team to see a powerful move of God just as in Elijah’s day. Sadly, the only thing that is often missing is people’s understanding of biblical faith. Satan has a victory in the lives of most people. The most essential asset for serious “followship” of Christ is faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God or see his miraculous power demonstrated in the affairs of men when we seek it. Yet, it is the most misunderstood aspect of the modern Christian church. People do not know what it is, where to get it, or what they can do with it. But, no more! All of that will change for those who seriously want to know.
Please find yourself a faith partner, someone who also has this gift and desires to use it for the glory of God and the survival of our nation. We are going to pray earnestly to God and seek his face. We are going to ask God to display his power so that all men will know that it is God who does it – and not random chance. We are going to ask God to get the attention of men and women to turn them away from evil by a public display of his power.
As you watch each video, prayerfully ask God to reveal his truth to you. Listen to the videos repeatedly until God plants his Word in your heart and it begins to grow and control your actions. In this country, there are people with the gift of faith. You are able to speak and act in great faith towards your God. We need you! Your hour has come. Step forward and allow God to use you. Our nation needs you. We are rapidly moving toward America’s darkest hour ever. Evil has shamefully prevailed and madness controls our nation. Please, please help us!
Pentecost – the Incomplete Feast
Charles Cooper
Part III
Another parable that addresses the work of gathering the harvest, which is the present work of the Kingdom of heaven, is Mark 4:26-29. This particular parable is only recorded in Mark’s gospel and occurs in the seed-parable section. Mark reports,
And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
A survey of the scholarly community indicates little consensus regarding the Lord’s intent in this parable. Some of the Lord’s parables focus on the inception of the Kingdom of God on earth. Others focus on the growth of the Kingdom of God on earth. Still others focus on the culmination of the Kingdom of God as it relates to gathering his kingdom constituents. What then is the point of the parable in Mark 4:26-29? It is our conviction that the point is the same as we have attempted to show previously.
Our job involves the harvest. This is not the eschatological harvest. Rather, this is the business of the Kingdom right now. This is how the Kingdom comes. We are a biblically commanded and necessary part of what God produces. Every day of our lives, we are to be engaged in the harvest. This is our job – our responsibility and privilege – our service for the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus spoke about the completion of the harvest. In the parable of the wheat and the weeds, the harvest is the key point (Matt 13:24-30; 36-43). Notice,
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
In this parable, the Lord tells us the exact points that we should understand:
The one sowing the good seed is the Son of Man
There were other things or people referenced in the parable, i.e., the sleeping, bearing fruit, the servants. Therefore, the things that are defined must be the most important ones we need to know. For our discussion, it is absolutely critical to understand this distinction: the Lord did not say that the harvest was “at” the end of the age, but rather, he said that the harvest “is” the end of the age (Matt 13:39).
Did you notice it? I wanted to see if you caught it. What do the angels do in this parable? The angelic involvement is removing the evil seeds. “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace.” It does not say in this parable that the angels gather the righteous. It majors on the fact that the angels will remove the wicked out of Christ’s kingdom. THAT IS SO IMPORTANT NOT TO MISS!
The harvest started at Pentecost and will be concluded immediately before the end of the age arrives. The Lord Jesus consistently ties our present work to the harvest time. When it is complete, we celebrate its end. It is therefore my conclusion that the rapture best fits with the culmination of the celebration that began at Pentecost. This is all the more likely, given the complete absence of any possible connection with the first feast of Tishri. We will look at this feast in detail in my next article.
The harvest feast began at Pentecost. The gathering of God’s elect continues. One day, when the last sinner has been called out of the world to Jesus Christ, the once incomplete feast will be incomplete no more. What a day of rejoicing that will be!
Pentecost – the Incomplete Feast
Charles Cooper
Part II
The celebration of the beginning of the wheat harvest began on Pentecost. However, the end of the wheat harvest was unknown. No one knew when it would end. Several factors regulated when it would end; each year was different. The amount of rain, the temperature, the date of planting, and other intangibles all had an impact on when the harvest would end. No man knew the day and hour when the harvest would be completed. Only the sovereign God of the heavens knows that. As well, the grape harvest would occur after Pentecost and hopefully was complete before Tabernacles.
The harvest is a useful and frequent metaphor for God’s work among his elect. This term describes God’s work throughout the ages and at the end of the final age. In Matthew 9:37-38, the Lord stated, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Notice that the Lord Jesus states three facts about the harvest: 1) the harvest is large; 2) God is Lord of this large harvest; and 3) this large harvest belongs to God. What then is the harvest? One author states,
The huge crowds are therefore very appropriately called “the harvest,” the very extensive field in need of immediate attention. By a legitimate extension of the figure one can say that this harvest, as here viewed, consists of the sum-total of “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6). The application to present (twentieth century) conditions would, without doing violence to the basic idea, enlarge the scope of the interpretation, so that the reference would be to all those who can be brought within the reach of the gospel….[1]
In essence, what this author and others are saying is that all peoples should have an opportunity to hear the gospel. The harvest refers to the entire world and each person has a right to hear the gospel whether he or she responds or not.
However, we are of the opinion that a much narrower audience is the focus of the Lord Jesus. Lenski would argue that only those “gathered into the heavenly garner,” that is, to “all those in whom the work of God’s grace succeeds,”[2] are intended in Matthew 9:37-38. Calvin agrees and writes, “The limited number of the elect, who were mixed with unbelievers.”[3]
God would never leave the eternal hope of people in the hands of men. If the Lord Jesus indicates here that prayer is necessary to get people to go and preach in order that others might have a chance to hear the gospel – whether they accept it or reject it – then are we to conclude that if people do not go, those poor souls missed the opportunity to be saved because of someone else’s laziness? Will God only save the lost if people go and share the gospel? If a very few people pray and a very few people go, then the lost have no hope, if this line of thinking is correct. These are very logical questions if this passage refers to the world. Surely, that is not the point of this passage. Rather, God requires men to go, but even if a man is disobedient, God’s elect will come to faith.
The correct view of this passage is closer to what Leon Morris adds. Notice,
Jesus does not spell it out, but he is speaking of people who are ripe for inclusion in the kingdom. In that situation, it is necessary that something be done to bring them in. A crop of wheat needs workers to bring the grain into the barn; without the laborers the crop cannot be reaped. Jesus says that in the great harvest of which he is speaking the workers are few.[4]
My ultimate point here is this: the Lord Jesus looked at the salvation of God’s elect as “the great harvest.” Please do not miss the point that the work of evangelism refers to laboring in God’s harvest now. Please understand that the harvest continues until all the crop is gathered into the barn. We are busy with the work of harvesting now. The work begun at Pentecost continues.
In John 5:34-38 the Lord Jesus again used the harvest metaphor to speak of the ongoing kingdom work of God’s laborers in the world. He told his disciples,
“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
The point the Lord Jesus is making is that the wait is over – the harvest time is now. “The saying of Jesus represents the gathering of people into the kingdom of God.”[5] Since we are engaged in the same work, the harvest continues and will do so until the gathering ends. Pentecost is a celebration of the coming harvest, not a celebration of a completed harvest. That is the focus of the Feast of Sukkoth (Tabernacles).
[1] Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953-2001). Vol. 9: Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew. New Testament Commentary (440). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
[2] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., pp. 373, 374.
[3] Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, English translation, Vol. I, p. 421.
[4] Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew. The Pillar New Testament Commentary (239–240). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
[5] Beasley-Murray, G. R. (2002). Vol. 36: John. Word Biblical Commentary (63). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
