The Coming Harvest of Saints

God desires his people to be changed into the image of his Son. This is one of God’s great goals for our lives. Being conformed to the image of Jesus is one of the primary reasons he came, died on the cross, and rose up again. Jesus Christ is the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29). He came to bring many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10). 

Christian maturity does not happen by becoming born again. When we are born again, we become spiritual babies. Babies are not mature. Babies must grow spiritually in order to become mature. 

Spiritual growth is a process that is described in the Bible.

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).

To be conformed to the image of Jesus, we must unveil our faces. Veils block us from seeing clearly. Spiritual veils can be false teachings. Satan lies to us and tells us it’s impossible to attain full maturity. The devil wants us to sit back and wait – either to die or to be rescued out from this wicked world. Satan certainly doesn’t want us to rise up, become mature, and do mighty works for God.

Without vision, God’s people perish. We need to see the goal and destination so that we know where we are going. What is our goal as Christians? What does God want us to accomplish with our lives? When we understand what God desires to do through us, then we will have vision to move forward. God’s goal for us to become like Jesus. 

We will be transformed into Jesus’ image as we behold his glory in a mirror.

The word of God is like a mirror (James 1:23). When we look into the word of God, we see how God wants us to be in the light of his holiness. As we submit to the word of God, we are changed into his image. We go from one degree of glory to a higher degree of glory.

Jesus was the grain of wheat that was planted into the ground and died (John 12:24). Because of this, he will bring forth much fruit. Fruit from a grain of wheat is more wheat that is like the original grain. 

“For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:28-29)

Jesus said we are the good seed. The good seed is like wheat. We are growing into spiritual maturity (Matthew 13:26). When the wheat reaches maturity, then it is harvest time. The harvest is the end of the age.

No one yet has attained the goal of full spiritual maturity. Even the apostle Paul, as mighty as he was, did not attain to the goal of full Christian maturity. He talked about how he was pursuing this goal but had not attained it (Phil. 3:12-15).

It is a long process for wheat to grow into maturity. Wind blows and strengthens the stalk. Drought comes and causes the roots to grow deep in search of water. Rain falls, which brings life but also can bring flooding and other challenges. All of these things might stress the plant in some ways, but they work together to make the plant healthy and help it produce a harvest.

Christians must go through similar challenges. We may not understand why we have to face such hard things. But these things are happening to mold us into the image of Jesus. This process is working in our lives to achieve a goal that is very important to God. God cares more about us achieving spiritual maturity than he does about our own comfort in this world.

There can be no harvest until the wheat has grown into maturity. In the same way, there can be no harvest at the end of the age until God’s people have grown into maturity.

God is accomplishing this work in our lives as we submit to him. He is waiting for some of his people to attain this goal. The Bible says that some will. Then it will be harvest time.