The Cycle of Gospel Harvesting

“He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true ‘One sows and another reaps.’” Those who receive the gospel are to be His living instruments. One scatters the seed, another gathers the harvest, and both rejoice together in the results of their labor.HH 80.7

Jesus said to the disciples, “I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.” The disciples were entering into other people’s labors. An unseen agency had worked silently but effectively to produce the harvest. Christ was about to water the seed with His own blood. His disciples were coworkers with Christ and with holy men of old. By the Spirit’s outpouring at Pentecost, thousands were to be converted in a day. This was the result of Christ’s sowing, the harvest of His work.HH 80.8

The Samaritans came and heard Jesus, and they believed. Crowding around Him at the well, they asked Him question after question, and eagerly they received His explanations of many things that had been obscure to them. Their perplexity began to clear away. Anxious to hear more, they invited Him to their city and begged Him to remain with them. For two days He stayed in Samaria, and many more believed.HH 81.1

Jesus performed no miracles among them, except to reveal the secrets of her life to the woman at the well. Yet many received Him. In their new joy, they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”HH 81.2