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Jesus came with the message of the Kingdom of God to the cities and towns of Israel. The New Testament continues the redemptive message from the Old Testament that God redeems and creates a people to bring the blessings of heaven to cities and towns globally, not only for Israel.

I begin with my prophetic sense of the season we find ourselves in.

I believe Jesus is coming in a fresh visitation to the cities of the earth. He is already at work and calls Christians to join Him in this great redemptive, restoration and rebuilding enterprise. The harvest is far more extensive than previously imagined. The result will be a profound city wide impact.

The destiny of nations will be reshaped by what God does in the cities of the world through the course of this century.

This is truly a magnificent Trinitarian venture. We will see why.

The so-called powerful nations coupled with a growing anti Christian narrative arrogantly proclaim their agendas, but the God of heaven and earth has the real agenda for the world. This agenda was announced a long time ago and is as true today as ever. He has installed His Son as the world’s true King, and He alone will establish His sovereign purposes in the cities and nations of the earth. (Ps 2; Rev. 2:26-27; 11:15) This is The Bible’s message from beginning to end, with the cross as Father’s definitive statement. Jesus is Lord of all!

THE HARVEST

Now we will consider these “harvest” Scriptures as recorded in the gospels. (Read Matthew 9:35-10:23; 11:20-24; Luke 10; John 4:1-42). The importance and urgency of the harvest from Jesus’ point of view is clear in each of these scriptures.

In Matthew 9 Jesus goes through the cities, sees the need and declares that there is a large harvest waiting for those who would respond as harvesters.

“Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” (Matt. 9:35-38 NASB)

The Message paraphrase in its usual straight forward style has Jesus urging the disciples to begin where they find themselves. This is good advice to us today.

“Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighbourhood.” (Matt. 10:6 MSG)

Jesus not only announced an imminent harvest, but also trained His disciples in how to gather the harvest. In John 4 He shares the story of a harvest in Samaria of all places. Embedded in these accounts are strong warnings to cities who reject this visitation.

The careful reader will note that the harvest is in the context of cities. This is a challenge to the individualistic thinking of western Christians. The gospel of the Kingdom of God is for whole cities. In the Bible God often speaks directly to cities and or nations by naming them.

In Matthew 9:35ff., Jesus went to cities and villages proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God and healing the sick. This is nothing short of announcing heaven on earth. Jesus was restoring the mandate given to and then forfeited by Adam and Eve. Eden was a colony of heaven with Adam and Eve originally tasked to extend that heavenly Eden until it filled the earth. However instead, they bought the lie of the enemy which humanity has embraced ever since.

However in Christ, redeemed humanity is to re-embrace the task of heavenizing the earth. In his book ‘What on Earth is Heaven’, James Paul explains “God’s plan of making the whole earth heavenly…” (page 42). Paul goes on to say that, “The end of God’s story is not the destruction of the world but its restoration in the new creation of a united heaven and earth.” He then adds that the gospel is “the power of heaven coming to transform the earth into a heavenly place.” (Page 161)

Jesus invites us to join Him in this great gospel enterprise.

Back to Matt. 9 where we see that Jesus has great compassion for the “distressed and downcast” people of these cities. (V. 36) The problem was there were no shepherds, ie., no authority figures, religious or civic, that cared for their oppressed state. Jesus saw these people as ready for the harvest but there were no harvesters being sent to them.

By “harvest” I mean that the “oppressed and distressed” people are responding to the holistic gospel Jesus presented in announcing His ministry in Luke 4:18-19. Jesus was announcing the Jubilee, a community reset. Not only were people discovering that their sins could be forgiven, but the justice due to them would restore them to a rebuilt, blessed community where once again they could flourish as humans. (Also see Is. 61:1-4)

This is the challenge to the church today. Our cities are full of people in pain for one reason or another. While Jesus said to pray for harvesters to be sent into the harvest field of the cities, He immediately took action Himself by sending His own disciples into 35 cities. (Matt. 10 and Luke 10).

The first challenge for Christians is to have a heart to understand the pain of the city. In every city there will already be those who are in touch with those who are suffering. Learn from those already involved, but also talk to government agencies and individuals on the front line of meeting needs.

After understanding the pain of the city comes the time to pray informed prayers. Hearing from those already involved and celebrating their progress will inspire more workers to enter the “harvest.” Action should always accompany prayer.

Understand the situation, pray and hear God’s heart and then obey by doing what He says.

Like Nehemiah, good leaders will seek to understand the needs of their city and then with God given strategies mobilise workers in the meeting of those needs. If you are a concerned Christian and not in leadership then find ways to support those already on the front line. They will love the extra help!

The ideal is for a good number of leaders, who understand their city, to cooperate and strategise together in proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom by word and deed.

Over the years, in small ways, I have seen how our city has been made a better place with many needy being served and some becoming Christians. On a practical level, at various times, civic, business, and not for profit groups have supported efforts by Christian front line groups.

In the scriptures mentioned above, Jesus instructs the disciples to build a bridgehead in each city by finding a person of “peace” as a base for ministry. This person is one who cares for the people and the welfare of his community. They are “shalom builders!”

In most cities there will be individuals and maybe even churches who have this heart to be a base or bridgehead for city gospel ministry. By city gospel ministry I mean intentional and strategic efforts to take the love of Jesus in word and or deed into homes, streets, schools and workplaces, etc.

The simplicity is that those who know the love of Jesus and love their communities will step forward. This is why Jesus added the parable of the Good Samaritan in the instruction to His disciples in Luke 10. The good neighbour was the one who saw the need and then used his own resources to heal and restore. Jesus called that mercy, ie., the act you do out of the compassion you feel. Or as J.B. Phillips said in his translation, “practical sympathy.”

Christians in many cities are coming to understand that the “harvest is in the pain” and are identifying those areas of their city where acts of mercy and dealing with injustice can relieve much suffering.

This is why the gospel of the kingdom that Jesus announced was such good news. It was not just sins forgiven but the coming of heaven on earth through the loving servant hearted reign of Jesus and His followers. After the oppression of the Roman overlords and the unbearable legalism of their own religious leaders this was amazing; a new vision for the future for them and their children. A jubilee community of beauty, justice and shalom. “The kingdom of God is….. righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,” (Rom. 14:17) collectively as well as individually.

These are the type of “harvesters” we are to pray for and to send into the harvest that is to be gathered in the cities and towns of our land. (Matt. 9:38)

I mentioned earlier that this “city reaching” was a Trinitarian enterprise. Luke 10:17-24 records the disciples returning from their city mission with joy as they saw the victory they had over the enemy in the cities they visited. Jesus reminded them that this mission was not about the enemy but that their names were recorded in heaven. In other words, city warfare is real but stay focussed on Jesus.

Luke 10:21 then says that Jesus rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit praising the Father for this revelation of city reaching was given to such “babes.” This is the only place in the New Testament that records Jesus rejoicing in this way. The word “rejoice” here means to jump for joy and to experience a state of great joy and gladness.

In other words Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father had a party! Heaven was erupting in joy for the victory these humble disciples (babes) had witnessed in the cities they had visited. Every farmer knows the great joy of a good harvest. How much more joy in a kingdom harvest.

My prayer is for “ordinary” Christians to discover the joy of gathering a harvest in their respective cities or towns.

All over the world the beginning of harvest is evident in city after city.

By Ian Shelton Coordinator of Movement Australia