I have never been known for having a green thumb, but even a novice to this miracle planet of ours understands that when it comes to fruit bearing plants, there is a limited time to harvest the bounty of what has been sown. There is a certain urgency about the time of harvest. If you miss it, you reap not.

John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

White here means dead ripe! The field here means the world. The world is full of a ripeness and a readiness for the harvest. This is not my opinion; it is the very words of Jesus. We are often blind to the whiteness of the fields, and this is why Jesus says, “Lift” and “Look!” In other words, look and see that there are fields all around us that are desperate for the sickle, fields of souls that clamor, “We must be gathered or we will perish!”

Most Christians want souls to be won; most of us desire our churches to grow and prosper. Why then, I am asked do we not do better in this field or the other? It is often a product of vision. We see green fields rather than white; we observe fields grown golden but not the white; we even behold brown fields that been bitten by the bitter coldness of our times, but Jesus says, “See the fields are white!” The white fields are of the world's need,—not the green, not even the fields that have bowed from green to gold, and not the turf that has faded brown and withered under the biting frost, and Jesus reminds us that the fields are white. They are dead ripe, and they must be gathered before they perish with approaching winter.

With these beautiful words Jesus is relating the necessity of the times. He uses a simple proverb, and at once seems to reject it because of this urgency. He seems to insist, “You may think there are four months and then the harvest! However, in My kingdom the harvest may swiftly follow the sowing of the precious seed! Thus it is, in My kingdom!”

I can see Him gazing toward Samaria; I can see Him readying Himself to offer these men the water of life. A woman bound by sin, by multiple marriages, by race and by culture had been set free with one sip from the Master’s well. Maybe it was only an hour’s time since He had sown the seed of salvation into this sinful woman, and now He lifts His eyes and sees these men of Samaria approaching, and they are also ready for the message He offers.

They are ripe for God's harvest. It is this way: anywhere, everywhere and always. This is the message Jesus delivers to His disciples and to us. If we, as Christ's disciples, could only realize this, there would be a glorious season of ingathering the whole year around – all because of the vision of the fields that are ripe.

You can never see the fields white with ripeness if you never “lift” your eyes. Some modern “prophets” think it is visionary to see the “dirt.” Ha! Again I say. “Ha.” It does not take much of a prophet to see the dirt of the world; there is not much revelation to acknowledging dirt in a field. This is what fields are. This is the world. It does not take great preaching to find and reveal what is wrong with a church; any sinner can do that! It doesn’t take wisdom to conclude the alcoholic is getting what she has brought on herself; or to deduce the adulterer is reaping his wild oats; or to judge the criminal as serving his just reward. However, only a few ever dare to lift their eyes above the sin and love the sinner as one who is ripe for the Savior. The days of waiting are over. What is needed is to catch the vision of the white fields and thrust in the sickle.

“Lift your eyes”

“Lift your eyes” is both command and entreaty. I see the heart of Christ pleading to us for the souls He gives His life to save. It is only when we can envision the soul of the sinner meeting the certainty of the Savior that we can see their ripeness for salvation.

Christ pleads for us to see as He sees. His wounds plead for those who have been redeemed. His stripes that heal plead for the healed to open their eyes, to lift up their heads and to see others who are wounded and ready for the anointing oil and the healing balm of Gilead. It is the heart of Christ pleading to those for whom He died. He entreats us for people whose day is fading into the darkness and whose chance is slipping away because too few Christians are willing join the harvesters.

“At the Cross, At the Cross, Where I first saw the light” is often the song of those who cannot see the same opportunity for others. I am reminded of what Jesus prayed on the Cross:

Softly and Tenderly, Jesus is Waiting For Us To Open Our Hearts To Him

Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

I submit that every prayer of Jesus is answered. This is what is so special about having Him as my great High Priest, ever making intercession for you and me. Look closely at this deathbed prayer. There is nothing unusual about a deathbed prayer for forgiveness – but this prayer is not for Himself, it is for us! His last prayers are for us! In other words, He prays for our forgiveness before we ask for it! He forgives us before we ask to be forgiven. We are not saved because we ask to be saved; we are saved because Jesus offers it before we ask. He is just waiting on us to accept. This distinction does not mean that we should not ask; it just means that we can KNOW He is there to receive us. (Someone ought to say, “Amen” here!)

This is how close the harvest is. The disciples of that day might have been inclined to first convert the Samaritans to full Jewish standards, rituals and customs. They might have been pleased to have them admit the errors of their ways and acknowledge the superiority of those that worship at Jerusalem. It would have been great for some to confess that they were like “dogs” compared to the real children of Abraham. Oh that we might have some circumcisions and baptisms and sack cloth and ashes and chest beatings and bowing low and pleading openly for a little mercy before these disciples’ band wagon! Instead, Jesus offers a sinner woman a sip of the water of life before she proves herself, and now he offers the same to the lowly sinner men of Samaria. Instead, he pleads with His own disciples to lift up their eyes and see the ripeness of these non-Jews!

So is our challenge today. It is a challenge that calls for self-denial. It heralds for a faith that performs boldness, sacrificing itself, in order that souls without the bread of life may be fed, and lips, scorched with the thirst that kills not the body but the spirit, may drink and live.