The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few… Jesus said it, I know. Yet, I do not believe it and neither should you. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This verse of Scripture is like so many others; it has been preached so much, and repeated so often that its truth becomes distorted through overuse. The Harvest IS NOT plentiful and there is now an abundance of workers to finish the job. Therein lies the problem.
Over the years, Luke 10:2 has been inappropriately used as motivation to get the church busy winning souls. I believe that the idea has been that if there was an overwhelming need, and few to accomplish it, then people would be motivated to get involved. The problem with this is two-fold. First, it simply is an incorrect application of this verse, which I will get to in a moment. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it puts the emphasis on the wrong thing.
In order to properly understand “the harvest in plentiful”, we must look first to Romans 11:25. This verse changes everything. … Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. Full number… Read it again… the full number... has come in. There is a finite number of non-Jewish people that are going to be saved. That number, which is known only to God, is a fixed number. I don’t know what it is, and neither does anyone else. From the moment that those first believers were saved in Acts chapter two, the Lord has been adding (2:47) to the number being saved… or in another way of understanding this process, the Lord has been subtracting from the “full number” of Roman 11:25.
Logic demands that as we approach the Day when the harvest is completed, the amount remaining to yet be brought in will get smaller and smaller. Imagine with me for just a moment that today was the last day for the harvest. I’m not suggesting that it is, but pretend with me for a moment that it is. Now, let’s pick a number… any number will do… How many do you think will be saved on that Last Day? 10,000? 5,000? 500? I don’t care what number you pick. All I care about is that this number will, throughout that Last Day, get smaller and smaller as the day continues. Let’s pretend that there was only one hour remaining. How many will be saved in the final hour? Again, we don’t know. But, what we do know in that it is a finite number. How many in the last minute? Where do they live? Who will be the final person saved? What is their name?
The first person to be saved in all of Asia was a man named Epenetus - Romans 16:5. We know the name of the first, but not the last. Just think of it: What is the name of the last person to be saved? George? Caresse? Hamal? Waseme? Phuong? Amanda? The Lord knew better than to tell us the name of the last person to be saved. If He had done so, we would have avoided all the rest. What if the Bible said that the last person to be saved would be named Fred… think about the results. All effort would be put into finding Fred and everyone else would be ignored.
When Jesus spoke the words recorded in Luke 10:2, he was obviously speaking the truth. However, Jesus NEVER said the harvest would remain plentiful continually. That’s absurd and illogical. The harvest is being diminished dramatically even as you read this sentence. And that brings me to the second problem associated with the historic incorrect application of this verse: the emphasis is misplaced.
If we treat this verse in the historical fashion, believing that the harvest is huge, then the emphasis is upon how a few Christians are reaching such a large contingent of unsaved persons. Whereas the emphasis should be placed directly upon the fact that the number is getting smaller and smaller and we need EVERYONE to be looking for the “needle in the haystack”, for it is going to get harder and harder to find that last person to be saved. Instead of a few reaching a multitude, it should be a multitude reaching a few.
Years ago, my niece, Teresa, went on a “missions” trip to one of the Caribbean islands. She returned very disappointed. She went believing she would find the huge harvest field of which she had heard so much about. What she found was an island filled with people “who were either already saved, or could give you a dozen reasons why they didn’t want to be” - those were her words, not mine.
I believe that as we get closer and closer to the Last day, the circumstance faced by my niece will be the normal situation for us all. That is why we need each and every Christian involved in the hunt; not just a few special missionaries sent to far off lands. Finding that last person will not be easy. Actually, the Lord’s plan was brilliant. In the beginning the Harvest was indeed plentiful and the need for more workers / believers to be increased was critical. However, today, with the full number being closer and closer to being reached, we need each of every one of the multitude of Christians sitting comfortably in churches around the globe to be searching, digging, looking, for that last soul that will say, “Yes!” Think of how quickly we could bring this dispensation of Grace to a conclusion if everyone was busy looking for the last person to saved.
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