A fact that has been totally overlooked by professing Christendom concerns the people Jesus sent the apostles throughout the world to find and tell about the Kingdom of God, the promises, the covenants, the Law, scepter, the birthright, etc. In Jeremiah 16:16 God promised to send out “fishers” to fish and “hunters” to hunt the scattered tribes of Israel in the latter days. For those who would have God totally and eternally rejecting the children of Israel, Jeremiah’s statement is heresy. Another fact missed–by accident or by design–involves the relevance of the Old Testament to the New Testament church. New Testament writers spoke to this subject on several occasions. In 2 Peter 1:19-21 we find the apostle telling the church that prophecy from God’s Old Testament prophets is “sure,” and that they would do well to “take heed” of it because it is like a light that “shines in a dark place” that will bring the “Daystar” (Jesus) into their hearts. In verse 20 God forbids anyone to interpret the prophecies spoken and written by the prophets. In verse 21 He tells us why: “For the prophecies of old did not come by the will of men, but HOLY MEN OF GOD SPOKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.” What the prophets spoke was recorded by their scribes and preserved for “our instruction” (1 Cor. 10:11). He explains that “our” refers to those “upon whom the ends of the world have come”–the end time generations. In Ephesians 2:20 we are told that the end time church was founded on the teachings of the prophets and apostles. Furthermore, “ALL SCRIPTURE–Old and New Testament–is given by inspiration (the Holy Spirit) of God and is profitable for (determining) doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:14-16). The Holy Spirit referred to in 2 Timothy is the same Holy Spirit that inspired the Old Testament prophets mentioned in Ephesians 2. Note in 2 Timothy that those same Scriptures lead one to salvation (15). Notice also that Paul was writing to Evangelist Timothy, telling him that HE–TIMOTHY– had to believe and obey both Old and New Testament Scriptures in order to inherit salvation.

In Matthew 28:18-28 Jesus is telling the disciples that they were to go into every nation on earth to seek out (“fish” and “hunt”) the children of Israel who had become “lost” among the heathen Gentiles. In Matthew 9:36-38 Jesus had told them that “… the harvest (of souls) IS plentiful.” Note that He spoke in present tense. This was in the early 30’s A.D. In John 4:34-38 Jesus said that He had come to finish the Father’s work AT THAT TIME. The harvest, He told the disciples, was “white for harvesting.” Being of rural origin, I can attest to the fact that when wheat is ready for the blade it is indeed white, and quite beautiful. Jesus told the laborers to go THEN and begin the harvest. They were not to say that there would be “four months” before the harvest could begin. THE HARVEST WAS READY. Other people (the Old Testament prophets) had prepared the symbolic ground and planted the seeds (Word of God). Others had done the initial work; now the disciples were to find the wheat ready for harvesting and  “bring in the sheaves.” The ministry that began in 31 A.D. is still being carried out today by God’s faithful servants. Recall that He said that in the end times, which began on the Day of Pentecost, 31 A.D., those who seek Him would hear the Truth. A few, He said, would believe and obey it. These, He promised, would make up His “jewels” who would live with Him eternally in the Kingdom of God (Mat. 7:13,14). L.J.