Title: THE FINAL HARVEST

Focus: Jesus’ resurrection from the dead assures us of the great harvest that is to come. All who belong to Jesus will participate in the resurrection of the body when Christ comes again and makes all things new.

Function: To move the people to draw strength, comfort and joy from Jesus’ resurrection and the final harvest that is to come.

Text: I Corinthians 15:35-58

Rev. Riphagen is no longer with us; he has fallen asleep decades ago. But I still remember him as my childhood pastor. You see, my father was a grower, raising peaches in one of his greenhouses. When the peaches ripened in late spring, my father would pick the earliest ripened peaches (the firstfruits, so to speak, usually no more than three or four), pack them into a little box, give them to me and send me off to our pastor, Rev. Riphagen.

Now as my father sent me to our pastor with those firstfruits, the pastor understood what my father was saying by way of that special gift: “More peaches will follow! You, pastor, will share in our harvest of peaches.”

The scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ (I Cor. 15:20-24) “has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep…As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.”

My childhood pastor is with the Lord; his body has turned to dust. But he is waiting for the great or final harvest of the resurrection to come. On this Easter Sunday, I declare with great joy that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead assures us of the great harvest that is to come. All who belong to Jesus will participate in the resurrection of the body when Christ comes again and makes all things new. Draw strength, comfort and joy, therefore from Jesus’ resurrection. For he is the firstfruits of a great and final harvest to come.

But, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “someone may ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” As a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I will tell you. We will take five large steps, moving from the obvious in nature to the astonishing revelation in scriptures--five steps to take hold of the final harvest.

Step I. Sowing Seeds-- What Happens?: Every farmer and observant gardener knows that if there is going to be a harvest of any kind, you need seed. Corn seed, for example. You take the seed and bury it in the soil prepared by you and God. The corn seed dies, and in that process of dying, it brings forth a plant. The plant grows and produces seed, and the seed is harvested.

And so it goes. There is the seed; the seed dies and turns to dust. A plant appears and produces a harvest of seeds. Such is the cycle of sowing seed.

Always there is the seed guaranteeing production or offspring, a new generation, a new harvest of seed. Thank God for seeds and harvests!

Step II. Seed in the Garden of Eden: When God created the heavens and the earth, he produced all kinds of bodies: In the heavens he created the stars, the suns and the moons, and the planets. And here on earth, he spoke forth fish and birds and so many other exciting creatures, each having its own kind of body. The heavenly bodies have their own splendor; so do the earthly bodies.

On the sixth day of creation, God produced an astonishing seed, “in his own image,” says scripture, did God create the human being called Adam. God formed the man from the dust of the ground. Then God animated the man from dust by “breathing into the man’s nostrils the breath of life. And the man became a living being.” The life of God entered the dust of Adam—and Adam was “ensouled,” that is, given a spirit or soul which governed the dust called Adam in perfect harmony and union. And thus God animated the dust. God planted this beautiful seed called Adam in the Garden of Eden. And God saw that it was good.

Out of Adam, God formed Eve, the woman, in his own image. When Adam saw Eve he was delighted and said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” And God saw his seed—Adam and Eve--as one in flesh and union. Their bodies had a glorious splendor: immortality, honor, glory and power—all such brilliance radiated from this seed called Adam and Eve. And God saw that it was good.

Then something horrible happened to the seed. Sin and misery, evil and death entered the Garden of Eden. These powers—resulting from the seed’s disobedience of God’s command—corrupted the seed. They lost their brilliance. The power of death corrupted the seed and led them to the grave. The body that God planted in the Garden of Eden became perishable and dishonorable (shame began to cling to Adam and Eve). The shroud of death enveloped the seed called “Adam.”

The seed became weak and frail. It became a natural body, where the spirit or soul coming from the Creator must leave the dust because of the hostile powers of death and decay. Death turned the seed into a corpse that must turn back to the ground from which it was formed.

Now, the man became a seed destined to die and be buried into the soil. Now Adam and Eve became what we described in Step I as seed that must die—and by dying bring forth a plant that produces offspring or seed. The power of death (our last enemy) turned our first parents (and us as their offspring or seed) into perishable bodies, which must turn to the dust from which we were formed.

But thank God! Our Creator made a “mother promise.” While pronouncing curses upon Satan, God spoke to Eve and the serpent (within hearing distance of Adam and us, their seed or offspring) saying: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and hers; that offspring or Seed of the woman will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Thank God for his promise of a Seed that would reverse the curse of death and restore our flesh and spirit—our whole being or human existence—into harmony and union, into life as God has always intended it to be for us. That Seed was promised by God to Adam and Eve and to Abraham and his offspring. That Seed, says scripture in Galatians 3, is Jesus Christ. He is our second Adam—the Seed from heaven that gives us eternal life.

You and I, who are part of that seed that God introduced in the Garden of Eden, may look forward to resurrection unto eternal life, because Jesus Christ rose from the dead on that Easter Sunday.

Step III. Shadows of the Final Harvest: “How are the dead raised?” asks the skeptic. “With what kind of body will they come?” asks the curious cynic. In other words, isn’t it foolish to believe the resurrection of the body? Not at all!

In scriptures we find shadows of the resurrection harvest that is to come. Did not Adam’s seed called “Enoch” bypass the grave? Did not Enoch walk with God 365 years, then “he was no more, because God took him away”? Did not Elijah bypass the enemy of death because God took him up to heaven in a whirlwind with a chariot of fire pulled by horses of fire? Ah, all throughout the scriptures there are shadows of the final harvest of resurrection and victory over death!

Look at Lazarus. The gospel tells us that Lazarus was sick and died. The powers of death strangled Lazarus to the point that his spirit or soul was wrung from his body and departed, while Lazarus’ body—like a seed—was sown into the ground. Dust to dust!

But there comes Jesus. He commands Lazarus to come out of the grave. The seed that died like a husk being subject to decay for four days—walked out of the tomb. By the authority and power of Jesus, Lazarus’ spirit and body united again, and Lazarus walked out of his tomb. Dead man walking! Dead man walking! How can that be? It’s because of Jesus, who said at that time: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

In the coming to life of Lazarus, the Lord Jesus foreshadows the coming of the final harvest of the resurrection. At this point, we do well to note that Lazarus—as he comes out of that grave--was still a seed: mortal, weak, without honor, subject to blemishes, shrouded by death and subject to the grave. In fact, today Lazarus is waiting for the final harvest, together with numerous others who belong to the Lord Jesus. Thank God for Jesus Christ! He is the firstfruits of the final harvest to come.

Step IV: The Seed That Will Never Die Again: The scriptures tell us that Jesus was crucified, his body nailed to a cross. He was pierced with a sword, partially embalmed, and wrapped in burial cloths. He gave up his spirit or soul into the hands of his heavenly Father, and his lifeless body ended up sown or buried in a tomb.

But then, wonders of wonders, the Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead. His crucified, mortal body reunited with Christ’s Spirit. His crucified body rose from the dead and took on glorious characteristics. All throughout his earthly life, Jesus’ body had the same characteristics as Adam’s and ours today: the characteristics of dishonor, of weakness, of frailty and of being subject to death. A perishable seed, indeed.

But when God raised him from the dead, Jesus’ body was glorified. It has become imperishable; it is raised in glory; it is raised in power; it is raised a spiritual body, where the Spirit of Christ governs Jesus’ immortal flesh and where the powerful tentacles of death can no longer snuff the life out of his body. It is a spiritual body, where the soul and the risen, glorified flesh of Jesus enmesh and animate the dust forever more. Jesus is the second Adam—the one who has transformed the first Adam’s seed into a plant—into a body that will never die again. Thank God for Jesus Christ! He is the firstfruits; in him we have life; all who belong to him—in life and in death—will participate in the final harvest of the resurrection.

Step V. “I Believe the Resurrection of the Body”: That confession stands at the core of the Christian faith. As Christ rose from the dead, so shall all who belong to him. Listen to the scriptures: “The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.” In other words, when the final harvest of the resurrection comes, we shall be raised from the dust into “plants” that will never die again. The cycle of seed that started with Adam’s fall into sin will come to an end when Christ returns. Then we shall be like Jesus and live eternally with resurrected, glorified bodies. I believe the resurrection of the body!

Listen to the apostle Paul: “I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

The final harvest is coming! Get ready! Listen for the trumpet sound! And in the mean time, draw strength, comfort, and joy from Jesus’ resurrection. He is the second Adam, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. All who belong to him shall follow and be part of that final harvest.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.