The world population is growing at a fast rate and with that growth comes a greater responsibility to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. At the same time, our missionary force is decreasing like most others.

It is reported in missions overall that 40,000 missionaries have left the field since the year 2000 with very few replacing them. At the same time, there are currently more opportunities to spread the Gospel than ever before. Even with the pandemic and all its restrictions we have encountered, people all over the world are searching for answers concerning their burdens and death.

We know Jesus is the answer because His death paid for all sins burdens and His resurrection gives life after death with the Father in heaven. Therefore, it is imperative that we see men and women answering God’s call to missions.

Jesus saw the same situation when He walked this earth that we are facing today. He spoke about the harvest prayer. Jesus actually spoke about this three times in the gospels and each time it was in a completely different geographical location. 

The first time is in John 4:35. The disciples were with Christ in Samaria. Jesus said:

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

It was a desolate country, and the disciples would postpone the harvest. Christ said it was ready. It was a hard field. The people were despised Samaritans and subject to the hostility of the average Jew. No matter what man might think of others, God loves them all. So, if we, too, would lift our vision beyond the horizon, with the eyes of faith we could see the Spirit of God moving across the whole earth preparing a people to praise Him from every tongue and tribe and nation. Any way you think about it, the harvest depends upon the supply of workers.

The second time is in Galilee seen in Matthew 9:35-38:

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;  Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

The Jews in Jerusalem had a disdain toward the Galileans. The multitude following Jesus were troubled and worried, weary, downcast and spiritually discouraged.

The third time is Luke 10:2.

Jesus was in a place considered out of the way – Perea. It is where the tribes of Reuben and Gad inhabited. It was also desert and a rugged place. Jesus knew that the time was short before His crucifixion, and that there were still many villages that had not yet heard His message.

Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

Christ saw the harvest of sinners knowing that their final judgment was coming. The masses of our world are moving toward divine judgment with only a few to warn them. That thought ought to move us to pray just as it moved the Savior.

So, what is the harvest? Those who are hated and hard to reach, those who are distressed and spiritually discouraged, those searching aimlessly, those in the “out of the way” places. Truly then, the harvest is the world. The harvest leaves no one out of the picture.