“…be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and song from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the LORD, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of Our LORD Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:18c-20).

Today, the 11th of October, we in Canada are celebrating Thanksgiving Day. Yesterday we gave thanks to the LORD for His amazing provision for all of us – the bounty that is coming in off the fields right now – His love for us shown by “giving us our daily bread.”

At Thanksgiving, we sing some of the greatest old hymns ever written. And these hymns remind me of the Scripture verse at the top of this article in which Apostle Paul urges the Ephesians to sing and make music from their hearts, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in Jesus’ Name.

Paul says to make music from our hearts to the LORD.

That tells me that God has already put a song in my heart which He wants me to sing to Him. From my heart to His!

“Sing and make music from your heart to the LORD.”

Because the old hymns are based on Scripture, what nuggets of comfort, joy and thankfulness might we expose, looking closely at a hymn, especially in light of the verses (above) from Ephesians So, let’s get to it. Let’s see what the LORD is saying back to us in response to our song to Him.

The hymn is “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come,” an English harvest festival song written by Henry Alford in 1844, with music by George J. Elvey. Along with each verse of this song is a companion verse from the Bible, which we will unpack as we go through. At the end, we will see what the LORD God is saying through His own Word to us, His thankful people.

First verse:

Come, ye thankful people, come.
Raise the song of Harvest Home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide, for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come –
Raise the song of harvest-home.

Scripture Verse: Philippians 4:19

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.”

Previous to this verse, the apostle has been thanking the people of the church at Philippi for supplying him in his need. In verse 16, Paul refers to the time when he was in Thessalonica; the Philippians sent things that were needed, not just once, but multiple times.

Matthew Henry comments that “It is a good work to succour and help a good minister in trouble. The nature of true Christian sympathy is not only to feel concern for our friends in their troubles but to do what we can to help them.”

The Apostle Paul was often in trouble and need, suffering multiple imprisonments and constant deprivation. Through it all, he learned to trust the LORD that these states of confinement and lack would not last. He made the best of every situation, both positive and negative. Paul is a perfect role model for our times, for the apostle shows us how to set aside pride, doubt and fear, not dwelling on them. He put all his focus on Jesus, with the knowledge that focusing on the negative would have left him in discontentment. Putting Jesus at the center of his being, Paul learned to be content in every situation.

This is an attitude we would all do well to cultivate, learning to live in the Will of God in any circumstance. Lusting after things we don’t have, whether material or emotional, can make for discontentment, even if we are in favorable circumstances. For example, most of us in North America, Europe and Australia live at a standard that would have blown away our great grandparents. Yet we ‘kvetch’ constantly about inconsequential things. For example, how can we complain about rain spoiling a weekend at the beach when there are areas in the world suffering from drought? How can we complain to a waiter about serving a meal that’s less than piping hot when there are people in the world who will not eat today?

The lesson is to yield to God in all things, praying for patience when we are abused in some manner, as well as for a humble spirit like Jesus when we start to think it is because of our own efforts that we are flying high.

There are some we know who have acquired this state, who seem always to be on an even keel – neither depressed when down nor proud when prosperous. Just grateful all the time, knowing God will provide for them whatever it is they need. “God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.”

Second and Third verses:

All the world is God’s own field, from unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown, unto joy or sorrow grown.
First, the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear
LORD of harvest, grant that we, wholesome grain and pure may be.

For the LORD our God shall come and shall take His harvest home.
From His field shall in that day, all offensive purge away.
Give His angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast,
But the fruitful ears to store in His garner evermore.

Scripture Verses: Matthew 13:37-43, wherein Jesus explains the parable of the weeds.

“The One Who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdoms. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil…. Then the righteous will shine like the sun, in the kingdom of their Father.”

As the song says, ‘All the world is God’s own field.’ Among the grain sown by Him are weeds or tares, sown by the evil one. The two grow up together until the harvest, that is, the end of the age. We live in a fallen world where the righteous rub shoulders with evil and evil-doers. As the Old Testament says, the rain falls on both the good and the evil. But here, Jesus is saying that at harvest, God knows the good from the evil and separates them out. The LORD God is getting ready for a harvest of good wholesome grain, pure and clean.

And just as weeds are yanked out of the ground by a farmer and thrown into a fire, so it will be at the end of the age.

In a later passage in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus talks about the Son of Man, that is Himself, separating the sheep from the goats. This passage actually describes the last judgment. It is my personal belief that Jesus is talking to the Jews here.

Whereas in the Parable of the Weeds, He is referring to those who follow Him. Some will grow into strong grain while others will be sown in the same field by the evil one; that is, false Christians will intermingle with true Christians. This, I believe, is where the Rapture will separate true born-again Christians, the fruitful ears from those who call themselves Christians but who are described by Paul as “clouds without rain.” And “the righteous will shine like the sun….”

Fourth verse:

Even so, LORD, quickly come to thy final harvest-home;
Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin.
There, forever purified, in Thy presence to abide;
Come, with all Thine angels, come – raise the glorious harvest-home.

Scripture Verses: Revelation 22:20, Matthew 24:31, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

Rev. 22:20 — “He Who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, LORD Jesus!”

Matthew 24:31 — “And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

1 Thess. 4:16-16 — “For the LORD Himself will come down from Heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them to the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air. And so we will be with the LORD forever.”

The fourth verse of the song begins with these words: Even so, LORD, quickly come to Thy final harvest-home.

Throughout the New Testament, the LORD proclaims He will come quickly. Yet it has been almost two thousand years since Jesus rose from the earth to be with His Father in heaven.

The Greek word tachos, from which we get our English word tachometer, can be translated as either quickly or soon. We know that when Jesus comes in the air to Rapture His church, it will happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52).

The Matthew verse has often been interpreted to be pointing to the event of the Second Coming, and the verses immediately preceding this one, I believe, do point to that. But notice the wording, “to collect His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” Remember, at the very end of the age, the Second Coming, Christ’s ‘elect,’ His true church, will already have been in heaven for at least seven years.

This view is supported by the last verse of the hymn, where the author Henry Alford writes: “Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin.” The Rapture saints have been purified and made ready to live in heaven with Jesus forever. Other saints will come out of the tribulation, and will come back with the Rapture saints at the end of the age to rule with Christ in the Thousand-Year Kingdom. They will be gathered from one of the heavens to the other to come with Christ back to the earth, at the end of the age (Rev.19:11-14).

Please take notice of two things: 1) the lyric: All is SAFELY gathered in, ere (or before) the winter storms begin.

Alford obviously believes in a pre-tribulation Rapture, for in it, Christ gathers the good grain (the elect) BEFORE the great storm of the tribulation begins. The second thing to watch for is 2) the spelling of harvest-home, with a hyphen between the two words, making it indeed into a single word.

Looking it up, I found the hyphenated word means this: INGATHERING!

Paul says the LORD will descend into earth’s atmosphere and gather us together, “…will be caught up together….”

This fact ought to dispel any doubt that this hymn, seemingly about the autumn harvest, is actually about the great event to happen soon, the Rapture.

Saints, please don’t get weary of waiting for the Rapture. We are almost there. And remember Paul’s words in Thessalonians 4:18 — “Therefore comfort one another with these words.” These verses are not meant to cause alarm or fear but COMFORT!

We who farm know what a comfort it is to have our crops gathered from the field and stored safely in the bin. Our Father in heaven is also looking forward to the day when His Harvest-Home is completed, and we are all safely in the Kingdom forevermore, to be with Him forever and ever.

Let us pray:

Father God, we thank you for the parables Jesus spoke to us about homely things such as harvests, in-gatherings, wheat and tares, sheep and goats. These are subjects we can relate to and understand, especially we who live in rural communities. At this time of harvest and celebration, LORD, we thank You also for Your great provision for all Your children. And we look forward to thanking You in Person one day in heaven for the amazing Plan of Salvation You had for us sinners – sending Your One and Only Son to redeem us from our sin. Saying thank You seems so little, but You know, dear Father, it comes from the bottom of our hearts. We love You.

Thank You for loving us so much.

In Jesus we pray. Amen.

If anyone reading this devotional has not yet received Jesus as their Saviour, but God has touched your heart by His Holy Word, please email me (amadea649@gmail.com) or find a Bible-believing local church and ask the Pastor what you must do to be saved in Grace. In the meantime, please consider the ABCs of Salvation:

A – Admit

Admit what you have done wrong and ask forgiveness.

Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death.”

I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

B – Believe

Believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again as payment for your sins.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

C – Confess and Choose

Confess and choose to allow God to be in charge of your life.

Matthew 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

Romans 10:9 “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

MARANATHA, Come soon, LORD Jesus. Come!

 

[03]. Ezekiel 13:5-6 “You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall around the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the LORD. They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, ‘The LORD declares,’ when the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word.”

((There was a terrible misrepresentation of God’s word, and false prophets were everywhere declaring lies and making evil prophecies. Ezekiel could say of them, 13:7, “Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, ‘The LORD declares,’ but it is not I who have spoken?” These lying prophets held sway, and their influence eroded the moral and spiritual values of Israel. In verse 4, the prophet called them “foxes among ruins,” sly and destructive. They denied events that were to come, and they prophesied of events that were never to happen. They openly lied and were demonically inspired.

The Day of the LORD will surely come, but Israel will not be prepared, for they have not followed the Lord. In other words, they have not healed the breaches of a spiritual relationship with Jehovah, nor have they built up the walls of decency and godliness. In the future, lying false prophets will arise and mislead many. Jesus warned of this (and the setting is in the time of the Tribulation) – Matthew 24:4-5 “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘See to it that no one misleads you, for many will come in My name saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.'”

Matt 24:11 “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.” During the Tribulation, when the world is in the Day of the LORD, Israel will be plagued by false prophets. These evil ones will do a destructive work. Jesus continued – Matt 24:24 “For false christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect,” and the Lord then stated just one of these false claims that will be made – Matt 24:26 “If therefore they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go forth, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them.”

We can say with great certainty that in the time of The Day of the LORD, Israel will see an infestation of false prophets and advisors and leaders and religious leaders, sneaking all over the place like foxes among ruins. It won’t be just Israel that will suffer the contagion of false prophets and the demonic delusionists. The whole world will be under the False Prophet, the beast that rises from the land of Revelation 13. Nearly all the world will be deluded into receiving the mark of the beast.

This evil satanic man to come will be more evil and putrid than any false prophet who has ever lived on earth.

It is interesting that in my own nation (Australia), in very recent times, several of the States have mandated that if you have not had a double Covid injection, you are not allowed to work (teachers, police, construction workers, etc., etc.). I can’t speak for other countries. Now, be careful; Covid is NOT the mark of the beast, but it is interesting that God is allowing us to see what it is like not to go along with the dictates of the State – if you don’t take the State’s mandate, you won’t be able to work (in order that you can buy or sell). In case you wonder what my position is on Covid vaccines, well, I don’t oppose them (I am in a very high-risk category with lung problems), BUT I absolutely oppose any compulsion placed on people because it hints of what will come into the world after the Church has been translated.

It is not accidental that today we also see the rise of false teachers and false cults and false prophets, all of which have this focus on eschatological matters, who seem to plague the television and come door to door and worm their way into churches. Be aware of these people! Both now and in the Tribulation, there are and will be deceitfulness and acceptance of falsehood, lies and delusion. In the first few hundred years of the Christian church, you had the rise of the heresies as the weeds of the Parable of the Tares, but today you have another increase in deceitfulness and the spread of false doctrines and false prophets.

Those who proclaim themselves as prophets are false to start with because there are no prophets in our age in the sense of spelling out new revelations from God.))

[04]. Ezekiel 30:1-5 “The word of the LORD came again to me saying, ‘Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’ For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near. It will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations. A sword will come upon Egypt, and anguish will be in Ethiopia when the slain fall in Egypt. They take away her wealth, and her foundations are torn down. Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all Arabia, Libya, and the people of the land that is in league will fall with them by the sword.”

((Chapter 30 has much to do with judgment against Egypt, and this will be future because the things mentioned have not yet happened. In chapter 30, these prophecies about Egypt are all set in the Tribulation (the ones above) and in the Millennium (the ones under this). God is going to punish Egypt because of the opposition it has shown to Israel, but then He turns around to bless Egypt because it cared for Israel for those 400 years beginning with Jacob. So great will the blessing for Egypt be that that nation, along with Assyria, will be the chief nations of earth with Israel in the Millennium.

Here are the supporting verses – Isaiah 19:2 “I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; and they will each fight against his brother, and each against his neighbour, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.”

Isaiah 19:21-22 “Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them.”

Isaiah 19:23-25 “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed saying, ‘Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.'”

Although I am not going to cover this point right now, it is interesting that three of the nations in Ezek 30:5 will be in the Gog/Magog war that I believe can only occur at the time of Armageddon and not before. I dismiss those articles that say it is going to happen at any time.

Glance back at the Isaiah 19:23-25 passage and note the expression “In that day.”

It is a critical expression in understanding prophecy and is used over and over again in all of the Old Testament prophecies. There are a couple of derivatives such as “at that time” and “on that day” and sometimes “that day.” The expression always relates to the nation of Israel, and nearly always, it is connected with national blessing. That places it often in the Millennium or nearing the Second Coming. The three usages above are all in the Millennium, which is normal for that expression (but not in every usage).

The Ezekiel passage clearly states that the Day of the LORD will be a day of gloom (clouds) for the nations and also a day of doom, all spelled out in Revelation.

In the list of nations mentioned in the last verse (30:5), Ethiopia and Libya are listed, but then it says, “and the people of the land that is in league,” which means others. As mentioned earlier, I think this is the Gog amalgamation of Ezekiel 38 and 39, for Ethiopia and Libya are two of those, and the others “in league” will be Iran and all the northern alliance extending up into Russia.

The Great Tribulation will be a time of terror for all nations as God’s wrath is displayed against the world, but it will also have elements of refinement leading to blessing as we see in the great future promise for Egypt and Assyria (territory of the modern Syria and Iraq).))

[05]. Joel 1:15-18 “Alas for the day, for the day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty. Has not food been cut off before our eyes, gladness and joy from the house of our God? The seeds shrivel under their clods. The storehouses are desolate. The barns are torn down, for the grain is dried up. How the beasts groan. The herds of cattle wander aimlessly because there is no pasture for them. Even the flocks of sheep suffer.”

[[Please note – the whole prophecy from Joel is one of the most important ones anywhere in scripture, and particularly important for The Day of the LORD.

Chapters 1 (2nd half); 2 and 3 all go together in one prophecy. To understand it fully in context, it should be read as one. To deal with all those references here in one posting would be much too long, so, unfortunately, I have to split it. The start of Joel will be here in PART 2 and the rest in PART 3.]]

((This is the first time (the earliest one for Joel dates to about 800-900 B.C.)) that the full expression “the Day of the LORD” (Yom Jehovah) is mentioned in scripture.

Arno C Gabelein says this of the expression in Joel: “That phrase is used so frequently in all the prophetic books. The 15th verse (Joel 1:15) is an exclamation of the Prophet, as before his vision, that day appears. In the midst of the weird description of the calamity present in Joel’s day [referring to the locust plagues), he beholds a greater judgment approaching. It is the same day he beholds, which the other prophets mention; each time Joel uses this expression, it means the coming day of the Lord, still approaching. It may be noticed that the five passages in Joel in which “the day of the Lord” is mentioned are progressive.”

This passage is quite specific, and its concentration is on Israel, for that nation had departed from the Lord as it did so frequently. Judgment had come from God upon the land because all Israel’s blessings are in the land, and when God’s disfavor is against the nation, then the land shows that in drought and famine and plagues. The Jews are an earthly people, not a heavenly people. Their blessings are in the earth, whereas Christians have their blessings in the heavenlies. Those bad conditions were in operation when Joel wrote this prophecy, but he said “the day of the LORD is near,” for it had not come as yet. Joel wrote in approximately 870 BC, and the destruction of Judah under Nebuchadnezzar was still way in the future. Therefore, the conclusion is that the prophet points at the trials of the land and links that with coming judgment in the Day of the LORD.

This passage is an example of the principle of double fulfillment, and in this case, a triple fulfillment. It is very legitimate to say that it had application to what happened under the Babylonians, but it must extend to a greater application in the future because of the very term itself; for in context, all references to it are in the Tribulation. Joel adds to this in a few verses’ time with the wider application when he develops the events that link with The Day of the LORD. “The Day of Jehovah” has one trunk but several arms. The trunk is the setting in the time after the Rapture, but the arms are the various interventions of God on a smaller scale, such as in Joel’s time and under Nebuchadnezzar, and maybe Jerusalem’s destruction by the Romans.))

ronaldf@aapt.net.au