God’s
promises are prophetic! They will be fulfilled!
But
the generation that sees this prophecy fulfilled may be the only
generation that will understand the promise.
You are about to examine a prophetic promise that is found all the way
through the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation. I am proposing
here that this prophetic promise was made to our generation, and is
therefore worthy of your inspection (1 Cor. 14:29). Specifically, this
promise says we may possibly see an end-time harvest of hundreds of
millions of souls — perhaps even billions!
God promised Abraham that his
descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens and the
sand on the seashore, which — if taken literally — numbers in the
astronomical billions.
Here is that promise:
Indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed
as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore;
and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies, and in your
seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have
obeyed My voice. (Genesis 22:17-18)
ACCELERATION OF WORLD POPULATION
The only constraint to just how large
Abraham’s lineage can possibly be is set by the total population of
planet Earth in these end-times.
In the year our Lord was born, the world
population is estimated to have been 200 million. Contrast that to the
6.2 billion world population in January of the year 2000. As
incredible as it may seem, the world population has multiplied at
least 31 times since the first century. And the growth will continue.
The world population is supposed to increase to 8.5 billion by the
year 2025. You can confirm these figures in any encyclopedia under
“world population.”
Here is another time snapshot:
Between the
years 1965 & 2000, more people populated planet earth than in all the
prior 6,000 years of world history combined — multiplying over 31
times! That is a staggering statistic! However, it shows us the
magnitude of the potential harvest.
PARALLEL ACCELERATION OF
THE HARVEST
Because of a wider emphasis today on the
power of God in preaching the gospel, and because of technological
advances (such as television, satellites, video, and audio media)
there has been a further shortening of the season between sowing and
reaping. It is an ever-accelerating trend.
Worldwide, as many people became Christians
between 1988 and 1998, as were saved from the time of Christ’s
ascension to 1988! But, in America, the number of Christians has
remained the same percentage wise (from 1963 through 1998) since the
assassination of John F. Kennedy.
America is no longer the number one nation
in the world for sending out missionaries. South Korea is now the
leader. We rejoice for South Korea, and we desire that many more
nations will surpass us — but we weep for our nation.
Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord,
when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes
him who sows seeds. (Amos 9:13)
Not only will working the field and grain
become overwhelming, but there will also be essentially no season
between sowing and reaping. Such a great harvest would appear to be an
impossible task!
Was
that interesting? There is so much more in this chapter that you will
want to read. Is this a good time to order the book?
