I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fileds! They are white already to harvest. Even now, the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. --John 4:35,36
This banner is a prophetic message to the Body of Christ to pray fervently for the harvest of souls. A field that is white to harvest is so ripe that if the grain is not brought in with great speed, the heads will drop to the ground and the harvest will be lost. Jesus is speaking of the urgency needed in prayer as we move through the last days. Jesus is the Lord of the Harvest, and the work of redemption is His alone by the moving of the Holy Spirit. We cooperate in the task by our prayer and obedience to His direction, but we must always remember that He is the initiator, orchestrator and empowerer of every encounter that reaps a soul for harvest in the kingdom.
THE VISION: The scene depicted on the banner is a "freeze-frame" of a moving, living vision given by the Spirit of God. The vision began with the Lord's presence in a brilliant, shining light pouring over a field of ripe, white heads of grain. Below the grain was a field of rich earth in hues of purple, brown and red which seemed to move with the undulating grain. As the vision continued, it became clear that the moving earth was actually a group of many people holding stalks of ripened grain above their heads and waving them before the Presence of the Lord. As they did this, the Lord stretched out His hand and from it came a white light. As this white light went forth, myriads of angelic hosts were sent forth from where the Presence was and from His hand, arrayed as if for battle. As the white light reach the field and poured over the grain, it became a vapor that went up into heaven, as a sweet incense before the Lord.
CLOUD & THE GLORY: Purple and gold represent majesty and deity. God often depicts Himself as dwelling in a dark cloud. "He made darkness His canopy around Him-the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of His presence bolts of lightning blazed forth" (II Samuel 22:12,13). The bright gold rays represent the glory and the presence of the Lord.
LETTERING: The gold letters speak of the deity and glory of God and the silver refers to redemption, for the Lord of the Harvest is the Redeemer.
BACKGROUND: The darkness of the background fabric speaks of the coming of night or of storm, and is intended to give the sense of the shortness of the time, the coming of the end, and the urgency of the message to pray for laborers to be sent into the harvest. "Then an angel came out of the temple and called to him who was sitting on the cloud, 'Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.'" (Revelation 14:15)
PEOPLE & WHEAT: The people are depicted in earthy tones of brown, red and purple as the earth is a figure of humanity (Psalm 103:14). These are the people of the nations who have seen the glory of the Lord and are gathered to bring others (wheat) as an offering to God's holy mountain in Jerusalem. (It is inferred in the scripture that the people they bring are previously unredeemed Israel!) They wave the wheat before the Presence just as the Israelites waved the first-fruits grain offering before the Lord at the feast of Pentecost.
"'And I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory. I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations...and to the distant islands that have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. They will proclaim My glory among the nations. And they will bring all your brothers, from all the nations, to My holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord... They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels. And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,' says the Lord" (Isaiah 66:18-21).
ANGELS: The messengers of God, perhaps even the Angel of the Lord. Let us not think that men are the only laborers sent into the harvest. The hosts of angels are at God's command, as is His own Spirit.
RUACH: Represents the Spirit of God as a rushing wind breathed from the throne. The word for Spirit, "Ruach" comes from the root "ruwah" which means blow; breath; whirlwind. Blue symbolizes grace and revelation. As the Ruach swirls over and embraces the field of ripened grain with the revelation of Jeshua, we see the consummation of the feast-the offering made and the offering received. The final scene of the vision, the vapor of sweet incense rising to heaven, is not depicted on the banner because that is the fulfillment which will come through the fervent prayers of the saints and the perfect timing of the Lord. O, may the Body of Christ begin to long and pray earnestly for that sweet savor of the harvest safely gathered to ascend to the Lord!
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NOTE: This banner was commissioned for the Shavuot '90 conference in Jerusalem, Israel on May 28, 1990. This is the third modern gathering of believers in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. The first historic gathering occurred in May of 1988 as Jewish believers in Jeshua congregated in Jerusalem for the first time since the early church to proclaim their faith before all of Israel. In 1989, the Shavuot celebration was opened to all believers, and in 1990, the theme of the conference was evangelistic, being "Come, the Harvest".
