John 4:36-38
“And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together, For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows, and anther reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
This is like the children of Israel entering into the land of Cana. The Israelites had not tended the ground of Palestine nor had they built the infrastructure there. Yet, God was calling them to enter into a place that would sustain them that they didn’t have in effort in constructing. This is a forth-telling picture of the church and walking into both our earthly inheritance and our heavenly inheritance. John 17:3 states that eternal life is knowing God and the One whom He sent {Jesus} therefore eternal life is for now on earth and later in heaven because in both geographic locations, we will know God. It is not about salvation but begins with salvation and continues to the knowing of God the Father and Jesus His son in the way a husband and wife know one another. Ultimately Jesus- is the one who sowed the seed and we are they who reap. We do nothing to get anyone saved as such. For it is the Holy Spirit on the inside of us and them that provokes both to action. For us, we are provoked to speak words that we did not write nor construct to someone who is provoked to hear and then respond to those words when all of their lives they resisted any such thing. God, however, accounts the reaping to us. He gives us credit for doing something we really don’t do in order that He may increase our knowledge of Him here in this life and increase our knowledge of Him in the life to come. This is what the children of Israel received in a very real and tangible sense. They did not work for their provisions, God simply provided them through things he provoked others to do!
Some people will echo the words of Paul by saying that one sows and another waters but God who brings the increase {1Corinthians 3:6} which, in terms of practical understanding, is true. However, when it is boiled down, its God who works us both to will and to do for His good pleasure {Philippians 2:13}. We cannot desire good nor do good without His provocation. Yet, when we act on that provocation to receive from Him or share about Him, He is so wonderful that He gives us the credit. This is an outstandingly loving and merciful God.
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