Smoodock's Blog

At first, Matthew’s account of Matthew 9:35-38 almost seems like salvation is dependent upon men: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” The implication, in the context of our modern understanding of spreading the Gospel, is if only there was another man, a few more might be saved! However, we need to ask ourselves if this is truly what Jesus was saying. What harvest is Jesus speaking of, and how does this pertain to our salvation? Notice that Jesus never mentions the words: save, saved, or salvation, but he does speak of a harvest. According to our modern understanding, we’ve been taught that the harvest IS salvation. Well, it can be, but Jesus also speaks about harvesting the wicked and casting them into the fire (Matthew 13:38-40). Is this the heaven and hell that many believe it to be today?

As is often the case, things aren’t always what they seem. Truth demands more than a cursory glance, if one cares to actually understand what’s true. Keep in mind that a harvest comes at the end of the growing season, and Jesus spoke of judgment coming at the end of the age. What age might that be? Well, the text mentions the Old Covenant was even then coming to an end (Hebrews 8:13), and the new age, or New Covenant will never end (Daniel 2:44). Therefore, according to the word of God, the modern belief that time, as we know it will end, vis-à-vis the modern doctrine about the end of time, is false through and through. Moreover, Jesus predicted that judgment would occur upon the very generation that rejected him (Matthew 23:36).

Judgment, separating the righteous from the unrighteous (Matthew 13:30), is done during the harvest season. The judgment, which Jesus mentioned, ended the Old Covenant age or what is called “the last days” (Genesis 49:1; cp. Deuteronomy 31:28-29). The last days of the Old Covenant came to an end in AD 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Today, there is no Old Covenant to keep. We have only the New Covenant between mankind and God. So, here we have the context of Jesus’ words to his disciples (Matthew 9:35-38).

Jesus traveled through all the cities and villages in Galilee, teaching the people about the Gospel of the Kingdom in their synagogues. Matthew then seems to sum up the Lord’s labor thus far by saying Jesus healed every sickness and disease among the people (Matthew 9:35; cp. 4:23-24). Under the Old Covenant, if the people obeyed the Lord, he wouldn’t permit the diseases of other nations to come upon his people because he was their Healer (Exodus 15:26). In Matthew 9:35, we seem to have the Lord forgiving the iniquities of the people and reversing the curse of sickness and disease, at least for those who came to him (cp. Psalm 103:3), during the days of his public ministry.

Moreover, as Jesus considered the multitudes of folk who gathered around him in those days, his compassion for them was stirred because “they fainted and were scattered abroad, as sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36), which is a reference to the imprisonment of John the Baptizer (cp. Matthew 4:12).

It was John’s assignment to prepare the way for Jesus (Isaiah 40:3-5; cp. Matthew 3:1-3). Specifically, John was told “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people…” (Isaiah 40:1), which is a far cry from the hellfire and brimstone preacher he is understood to be by many today. He was told to tell his people that their “warfare,” vis-à-vis their service to him, was fulfilled, their iniquity was pardoned because they had received twice the punishment due their sins (Isaiah 40:2).

One cannot read these words of prophecy and not take note that the end of something is occurring and something new was to replace it (cp. Hebrews 8:13). Jesus was bringing the good news of a New Covenant that God intended to make with his people, while John, the servant of God who taught the Old Covenant, was imprisoned by those who considered him a dangerous enemy. Without John, the people had no word from the Lord, and they fainted in their spirits because they had no shepherd/teacher and were scattered abroad by the false teachers of that day, vis-à-vis John’s enemies, who had him imprisoned.

Thus, the harvest truly is plenteous, the multitudes were fainting in their spirits due to the lack of God’s word being preached (Matthew 9:27). Therefore, Jesus told his disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he will send in more laborers for the end of the age (Matthew 9:38; cp. 13:30, 38-43), which had to do with sending out the Apostles and other disciples of Christ (Matthew 28:19-20), preaching to the first-century AD world, telling them about Jesus and the Kingdom of God. While today, we can draw lessons from Jesus’ words here, they were specifically meant for the disciples of the first-century AD, to preach to that corrupt generation that rejected Jesus as their Savior and Messiah (cp. Matthew 23:34-36).