The Law of the Harvest

It’s harvest time!  Here in the Midwest the corn literally is as high as an elephant’s eye, and it does look like it’s climbing clear up to the sky!  I love the fruits and the vegetables of the late summer and early fall harvest!  They are the delicious bounties of mother earth. The scriptures say, “As a man sows, so shall he reap”.  That is the law of the harvest. That law obviously applies to many aspects of life including the planting of a tiny seed.  One tiny seed properly planted in the earth incredibly can multiply itself even a hundred fold.  It really is an amazing miracle!  

In the book of John shortly before the crucifixion the Savior said:

…”The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”   (John 12: 23-24)

Here the Savior is talking about his impending death symbolized by a tiny corn of wheat.  He must die and fall to the earth in order to bring forth much fruit.  This too is the law of the harvest.  Because of the Savior’s sacrifice His harvest will yield salvation for all and exaltation for those who choose to obey His laws, an even more amazing miracle!

The Easily Corrupted Tree

A few little points of interest by Truman Madsen 

Dec 1982 “The Olive Press”

The Olive Tree

One Jewish legend identifies the tree of life as the olive tree. 3

The olive tree is a perennial, not a deciduous tree. Its leaves do not seasonally fade nor fall. Through scorching heat and winter cold they are continually rejuvenated. The tree is thus evergreen, or “everolive.” Without cultivation it is a wild, unruly, easily corrupted tree. Only after long, patient cultivating, usually eight to ten years, does it begin to yield fruit. Long after that, new shoots often come forth from apparently dead roots. As one stands in the olive groves, struck by the gnarled tree trunks that are at once ugly and beautiful, it is hard to avoid the impression of travail—of ancient life and renewing life. Today some trees, still productive on the Mount of Olives, are known by scientific measure to be at least 1,800 years old. 

The Golden Gate

The sealed Eastern gate or aka the Golden Gate of the old Jerusalem wall (seen here from the beautiful Orson Hyde Gardens on the Mt. of Olives directly across the street) has a fascinating history and future.  Jewish tradition says that this is the gate through which the Messiah will enter.  The gate was sealed in 1541 by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.  It is possible Suleiman had the gate sealed for defense reasons but he may have had it sealed simply to prevent the Messiah from entering the city at His coming.  If you look closely you can see that the stones surrounding the gate are actually grave stones in a cemetery.  That cemetery was built by the Muslims also to prevent the Messiah from entering through the gate.  Jewish belief holds that a priest can not enter a cemetery.  Although there are qualifiers to that statement, the Muslim cemetery was built on that premise.

Matt 24:27 says:

27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

The Whole Earth

One of my daughters shared this scripture with me.  I LOVE  it and I think you will too!

It is from 2 Chronicles 16:9.  There is another sentence that follows but it is meant for

someone who has been naughty so I left it out. J

 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

This Place Rocks!!!

Petra, Jordan

I stole a rock from Petra.  I feel a little guilty about it but there really were a lot of them.  And I didn't really see any signs that said I couldn't. :)  Petra is incredible!  From the entrance we walked through winding rose colored limestone passages as tall as 650 feet high for a mile or more before reaching the “treasury”.  The incredible treasury is where Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed.  It is one of the new 7 Wonders of the World. Petra is a carved stone city possibly originating from as early as 312 B.C.  Anciently Petra was inhabited by a people called the Nabateans. The Romans changed the trade routes causing  the Nabateans commerce to fail.  Petra's earlier status and wealth was lost and the Romans took control of the city.  Petra was lost to the western world until it is said a Swiss explorer tricked his Bedouin guides into leading him there in 1812.   Some believe that Petra is Sela mentioned in the following biblical references:  Is 16:1 and 2 Kings 14:7.  It is also believed that Aaron the brother of Moses was buried in a tomb here as Petra sits at the slopes of what some believe is Mt Hor.  Mt Hor is one of the places believed to be Aaron’s burial site.