In the days when farmers looked after their own seed instead of buying it in bulk from seed dealers, they would use part of the harvest of the year for their food, and part would be reserved for seed, to sow next year’s crop. In the Mediterranean way of farming, in the land of Israel, they were accustomed to hot, dry summers and mild but wet winters. They would generally sow their wheat in the fall (what we would call “winter wheat”). It would spring up a little in the fall, but then be dormant throughout the winter. In the spring it would green up again, and a crop would normally be the result.
But sometimes things went wrong. Bad weather might come and spoil the new growth, or rains that were heavier than usual might drown it out. Or there might not be any rain, and then the wheat would not grow at all. Various plant diseases can also affect the growth of wheat, barley and other grains. Any of these things could result in a very poor crop, or maybe no crop at all.
The only solution was to take some of the grain they had reserved for food and to sow a second crop the following year. The farmer might well weep as he did this, for already the wheat he had previously sown was wasted. Would this second batch be wasted too? It was indeed “precious seed” that he was sowing. It was hard to venture out and sow again, with the uncertainty that this crop too might fail. But the Lord gives the assurance that he would surely “come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
The Second Crop Does Not Fail
No doubt this illustration has its main application to Israel in a coming day. God had sown a first crop with Israel and it had failed, because the natural man cannot do anything acceptable to God. All His efforts with them had failed to produce any useful harvest. At the end He had to say, “What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” (Isa. 5:44What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? (Isaiah 5:4)).
But then Christ came, and in many tears He sowed again. The plural is used in verse 5, but the singular in verse 6, for it is Christ who is in view. For a time He is turning away from Israel today and bringing the church into blessing. They are the sheaves He brings with Him when He takes up Israel again and brings them into millennial blessing here on earth. The second crop does not fail, because it is founded on Christ and His work, and not on the natural man!
Expectations That Fail
There is a beautiful and encouraging application to us too, in our Christian lives. We may have had aspirations and desires when we were young, and perhaps they were right desires before the Lord too. Yet over the years our sowing may not have brought forth a good crop, or perhaps it may almost seem like no crop at all. Things may not have worked out well for our families, or our careers may have been a disappointment to us. Perhaps our assembly life has not been what we had hoped, and the collective blessing we expected has just not materialized.
I believe that the Lord would encourage us to “sow again,” perhaps with tears. No, we cannot turn back the clock and have our family or our career over again, but we can get on our knees and pray. The Lord is gracious, and perhaps the first “crop failure” has been allowed so that, as will be the case with Israel in a coming day, all will clearly be of grace. We know that everything good in our lives is due to the grace of God and that we cannot take any credit ourselves for any blessing in our lives, in our families, or in the assembly. If everything went well the first time, we might be inclined to do that. When we sow in tears the second time, perhaps in fear and trembling, He delights to bless “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:2020Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, (Ephesians 3:20)). In a coming day the Lord will come again, bringing us with Him as the sheaves. He wants us also, even in this life, to come again, bringing our sheaves with us, after we sow the second time.
Years Without Fruit
Let me close with a true story from the past, when Communism had spread across Eastern Europe. A devout Christian man preached the gospel for many years during that difficult time. Many dear believers suffered greatly, and especially those who preached publicly, but this man was never arrested. He preached faithfully all his life, and eventually he went to be with the Lord. He had six sons, and while they respected their father, none of them ever got saved. It was a terrible grief to that faithful man that although many others accepted Christ because of his preaching, none of his boys were interested. He died without seeing even one of them come to know the Lord as Savior.
At the funeral, another faithful Christian preached a good gospel, and the man who told me this story, one of the man’s sons, was suddenly convicted. He felt that he had to get saved. However, in his simple understanding at that time, he thought he had to kneel down to accept Christ as His Savior. He was thinking, How can I do that? Then he remembered that it was customary for the coffin to remain open until just before it was lowered into the grave. Then the sons (or nephews or grandsons) of the deceased person get on their knees and actually screw the lid on the coffin. He thought, That is when I will get saved, and he did accept Christ, right there in the cemetery, while he was putting the lid on his father’s coffin.
Later, after the family had some refreshments back at the house, he and his brothers had to retire to a back room for some business concerning their father’s estate. The one brother who told me the story felt he needed to tell his brothers what he had done, so as they sat together he blurted it out to them: “Today I got saved while screwing the lid on father’s coffin.” Another brother across the room looked at him and his eyes got big. “You too?” he said. “I got saved today too.” Then another brother spoke up and said, “I got saved too, at father’s graveside.” Round the group it went, and it turned out that all six of them had gotten saved that day. All are going on well for the Lord now. Let us not hesitate to sow again, for He who does so “shall doubtless come again with rejoicing.”
W. J. Prost