The harvest should be taken to represent final judgment, which is coincidental with the Kingdom of God in its completeness.

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>

> " This mission of the Paraclete, like that of Jesus Himself, is two-

> sided; for to the world which has rejected Christ it brings

> judgement... This cannot take place until Jesus has been exalted

> (17:7). " Dictionary of the Bible...

>

> But we will overcome those against us, even if it is the entire SY

> organization itself. The Last Judgment CANNOT take place until Jesus

> has been exalted. The Paraclete has done just that for more than

> three decades. We must sustain Her work without any fear and make

> sure the rest of humanity realizes it is the promised Blossom Time.

> There is no question that the Paraclete and Lord Jesus will triumph.

>

 

Jesus Parabolic Teaching about the Kingdom of God

 

A large part of the content of Jesus' teaching relating to the

Kingdom of God that has been preserved is in the form of parables,

which are metaphors or similes used as means of describing the nature

of the Kingdom of God.

 

1.2.1. Mark 4:26-29 (Parable of the Seed Growing by Itself)

 

26 And he said, " The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter

seed upon the ground, 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and

the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. 28 The earth

produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full

grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in

the sickle, because the harvest has come. "

 

 

In a parable unique to Mark, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to the

event of a seed that is sown, grows without the help of human beings

and culminates in a harvest. The parable consists of three sentences:

4:26-27; 4:28; 4:29. The first sentence contains three sets of verbs

in the subjunctive controlled by " as, " and focuses on a man who sows.

The focus of the second sentence is on the growth of what was sown,

describing the three stages of growth: blade, head and ripe grain;

this continues the theme of growth from the end of the first

sentence. The third sentence has three verbs, and in it the man who

sowed reappears, but this time as the reaper. The idea of the ripe

grain connects 4:28 with 4:29. The emphasis of the parable has been

placed upon the one who sows the seed, on the growth of the seed and

the contrast between the seed sown and the harvest, on the earth and

its incomprehensible power to bring forth grain apart from all human

effort or on the harvest. It is advisable to allow for more than one

emphasis, so that the parable is interpreted allegorically, as making

several, interrelated points using metaphors; this means that the

several interpretations of the parable thought to be mutually

exclusive are actually compatible. (In fact, it is difficult to keep

the various proposed interpretations discrete, since they tend to

overlap one another.)

 

The fact that Jesus compares the Kingdom to a seed growing towards

maturity implies that he sees the Kingdom of God as a historical

process that has a beginning and an end. In spite of the differences

between a seed and a fully grown plant there is an identity and

continuity between them. So likewise the Kingdom of God as already

present, but inconspicuous, will progress towards its

incontrovertible completeness. (Jesus' interest is the two extreme

stages of the Kingdom, rather than the intermediate stages.) Given

the unexpected stress on the seed's growth as independent of all

assistance from human beings, Jesus is also making the point that the

Kingdom is outside of the control of human beings; in the same way

that a plant grows without human assistance, " all by itself "

(automatê) regardless of what the sower does subsequently ( " night and

day, whether he sleeps or gets up " ), the Kingdom of God ineluctably

and necessarily grows until it reaches its completion. The statement

that the sower does not know how the seed grows (4:27: " though he

does not know how " ) likewise contributes to idea of the Kingdom as

outside of the control of human beings. The harvest should be taken

to represent final judgment, which is coincidental with the Kingdom

of God in its completeness; it will come inevitably, according to

God's own timing. Mark 4:29b " He puts in the sickle because the

harvest has arrived " is likely an allusion to eschatological judgment

in Joel 4[3]:13. It is also possible that Jesus intended the sower

and the reaper be identified with himself; in this case Jesus as

the " sower " is the mediator of the Kingdom of God, the one through

whom God's saving power is introduced into history, but as

the " reaper " is also the one through whom final judgment will be

executed.

 

http://www.abu.nb.ca/Courses/NTIntro/KingdGod2.htm