Jeremiah 8:20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

Took this photo at the orchard this week! … it’s a “Josephine” pear tree, and it was left unpicked… the harvest was never reaped and the fruit is now overripe and useless as all the fruit is falling or has already fallen off and now rots away into the ground!

It’s a bit of a sorry sight! And it’s a sad verse here in Jeremiah, evoking an image of missed chances, missed opportunities… of the utmost consequence.

For this tree, the harvest was missed, the season is now past, autumn has arrived… and if you wanted fruit off this tree… it’s just too darn late.

There was a small window where you had to get out there and pick this tree, a window of time where the harvest was ripe and ready to go. Noone got it though, and now this harvest is gone forever.

What a great message here on many levels for all of us on getting done what needs to get done while there is time to do it.

The salvation of souls is likened unto a harvest in the Bible, and Jesus said there is a plenteous harvest out there… but very few labourers.

For so many Christians in our society! so very few are investing their efforts where it matters for eternity – winning souls God’s way through the preaching of the gospel.

Jeremiah cared about souls! …but it was a bit of a task for him telling people how to be saved when they didn’t want to hear it and didn’t think they needed it!

And he lived to see this verse become the reality of the people of Jerusalem. They had missed their chance that God gave them for many years.

… The Bible teaches that there is an acceptable time to be saved, and there is a season of visitation in each person’s life… but it’s not guaranteed forever.

God is not on your clock… you’re on his. Your time could well be now! But maybe you don’t quite know the time… Jerusalem sure didn’t know theirs!

To refuse God’s precious gift of salvation as they did is the worst mistake anyone can make “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh.”

Maybe there was a little time in your life when the Holy Spirit had some access to your heart, where you felt the convicting truth of God’s word… but you brushed it off, and missed it. And God’s word couldn’t be less relevant to you nowadays.

So many salvations are left to fall to the ground, rotting away like these pears, disappearing in time, and can’t be gotten back.

What are you going to leave on the tree? Jesus Christ was crucified on a tree and offers you salvation through believing in him… but have you missed your season?

I don’t know the times and seasons for anyone else, only God does, but I wouldn’t recommend kicking the can down the road to a later date.

I’ve met many people who are not necessarily opposed to Jesus Christ, but they’re not for him either… and Jesus said “He that is not with me is against me”

They may even plan to book Jesus in at a later date, they’ll get more serious about this Jesus and Bible stuff in the future “when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee” … it never arrives.

Salvation is for today! while God is calling you now. Nothing is more important than your salvation and walk with God. Because great was the peril of Jerusalem, and great is the peril of every Christ rejecting life.

Blog Bible Christian Church Faith God Gospel Harvest Holy Spirit Jeremiah Jesus Salvation Saved Souls Witnessing