The harvest should be taken to represent final judgment, which is coincidental with the Kingdom of God in its completeness.

This mission of the Paraclete, like that of Jesus Himself, is two- sided; for to the world which has rejected Christ it brings judgement... This cannot take place until Jesus has been exalted (17:7).” Dictionary of the Bible...

But we will overcome those against us, even if it is the entire SY organization itself. The Last Judgment CANNOT take place until Jesus has been exalted. The Paraclete has done just that for more than three decades. We must sustain Her work without any fear and make sure the rest of humanity realizes it is the promised Blossom Time. There is no question that the Paraclete and Lord Jesus will triumph.

April 25, 2008

The Harvest as Final Judgment: Eschatological Fulfillment and the Paraclete's Mission of Exaltation

1. Introduction: The Kingdom as Process and Culmination

A substantial portion of Jesus' teachings on the Kingdom of God (βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ) is preserved in parables, which use metaphor to describe its mysterious nature. These narratives often portray the Kingdom not merely as a sudden apocalyptic event, but as a dynamic process with an origin, a development, and a definitive consummation. The parable in Mark 4:26-29 is pivotal in this regard, framing the Kingdom's progression through the agricultural metaphor of sowing, autonomous growth, and harvest. This paper argues that within this parable, the harvest represents the final judgment, an event coincident with the Kingdom of God achieving its full, manifest completeness. Furthermore, building upon a theological interpretation of the Paraclete's mission in the Johannine tradition, it examines the claim that this completeness was contingent upon a post-Resurrection work of exalting Jesus—a work purportedly accomplished in the modern era.

2. Exegesis of Mark 4:26-29: The Ineluctable March to Harvest

The parable's structure reveals a deliberate theological focus:

2.1 The Sowing and Autonomous Growth (vv. 26-27)

The emphasis is on the sower's passive role after sowing. The seed grows αὐτομάτη (by itself, automatically), and the sower does not know how. This underscores the Kingdom as a divine operation, independent of human agency or comprehension. Its initial establishment (through Christ's ministry) guarantees its trajectory, which proceeds according to divine prerogative.

2.2 The Process of Maturation (v. 28)

The sequence blade, ear, full grain emphasizes an organic, developmental process within the Kingdom. It is present but concealed, growing inevitably toward maturity.

2.3 The Harvest as Telos (v. 29)

The climax is the harvest. The conjunction of when the grain is ripe and he puts in the sickle indicates the harvest is not an arbitrary act but the necessary response to the condition of maturity. The language strongly alludes to Joel 3:13, a classic prophetic text depicting eschatological judgment. Therefore, the harvest symbolizes the final judgment, the necessary separation and consummation that occurs when the historical process of the Kingdom reaches its destined maturity. The Kingdom's completeness and final judgment are two aspects of the same eschatological event.

3. The Johannine Nexus: Exaltation, Judgment, and the Paraclete

The linkage between final judgment and the exaltation of Jesus finds resonance in the Gospel of John. As noted in scholarly sources, the Paraclete's mission has a dual aspect: to guide believers into all truth and to bring judgment to a world that has rejected Christ (John 16:8-11). Critically, this judgment is connected to Christ's glorification: Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Paraclete will not come to you (John 16:7). The theological implication is that the full forensic and revelatory work of the Spirit/Paraclete—which includes the conclusive judgment of the world—awaits the prior exaltation of Jesus (cf. John 7:39, 17:7).

4. The Claim of Paraclete Fulfillment: Shri Mataji and the Exaltation of Jesus (1970-2011)

A distinct theological movement within Sahaja Yoga, founded by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, makes a bold claim: that Shri Mataji is the fulfillment of the Paraclete promise. Proponents argue Her work from 1970 until Her passing in 2011 constituted this very mission of exalting and glorifying Jesus Christ, thereby enabling the final judgment and the completeness of the Kingdom.

4.1 The Exaltation of Jesus

Adherents cite Shri Mataji's decades of public discourses which consistently venerated Jesus Christ, recognized his crucifixion and resurrection as the pivotal event for humanity's salvation, and explained his teachings in the context of spiritual self-realization (Kundalini awakening). This is seen not as founding a new religion, but as completing and glorifying the work of Christ by revealing and enacting the promised baptism by the Holy Spirit on a mass scale.

4.2 Inaugurating the "Blossom Time"

This period of teaching and the dissemination of Self-Realization is identified as the promised harvest time—the "Blossom Time" when the seeds sown by Jesus and other prophets come to fruition. The Kingdom becomes complete as individuals experience the transformative judgment of the divine vibratory awareness within their own nervous systems, separating truth from falsehood.

4.3 Confrontation and Triumph

The text provided exhibits a marked polemical tone, viewing institutional opposition (termed the entire SY organization itself) as part of the world's rejection that the Paraclete must judge. The unwavering conviction is that the Paraclete's work of exalting Jesus has been accomplished, thus satisfying the precondition for the Last Judgment. The call is to sustain Her work without any fear and proclaim this fulfillment to humanity.

5. Analysis and Implications

This synthesis presents a coherent, if controversial, theological system:

1. Eschatological Framework: It aligns with realized and process-oriented eschatology, where the Kingdom grows secretly through history and reaches its crisis point in a definitive era of fulfillment.

2. Christological-Pneumatological Integration: It offers an innovative model where the work of Christ and the Paraclete are distinct yet sequential phases of a single divine plan. The Paraclete's primary role is to unveil the full glory and authority of the already-exalted Jesus, thereby activating the final phase of judgment and restoration.

3. Modern Messianism: It represents a form of contemporary messianic claim, where a historical figure is identified as a promised divine agent essential for completing salvation history. The specified timeframe (1970-2011) grounds this claim in recent history, demanding a response from believers.

6. Conclusion

The parable of the harvest in Mark 4 posits that the completeness of the Kingdom of God is concomitant with final judgment. The Johannine tradition suggests this judgment is integrally tied to the exaltation of Jesus and the subsequent mission of the Paraclete. The theology emanating from Shri Mataji's followers presents a detailed claim that this very sequence has reached its culmination in our time. Whether accepted or rejected, this position constitutes a significant theological narrative that seeks to interpret biblical eschatology through the lens of a modern spiritual revelation. It insists that the harvest is not a distant future event but an ongoing spiritual reality initiated by the Paraclete's work, which has glorified Jesus Christ and now calls humanity to recognize the arrived Blossom Time of the Kingdom in its completeness.

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The harvest should be taken to represent final judgment, which is coincidental with the Kingdom of God in its completeness.

“This mission of the Paraclete, like that of Jesus Himself, is two- sided; for to the world which has rejected Christ it brings judgement... This cannot take place until Jesus has been exalted (17:7).” Dictionary of the Bible...

But we will overcome those against us, even if it is the entire SY organization itself. The Last Judgment CANNOT take place until Jesus has been exalted. The Paraclete has done just that for more than three decades. We must sustain Her work without any fear and make sure the rest of humanity realizes it is the promised Blossom Time. There is no question that the Paraclete and Lord Jesus will triumph.

April 25, 2008

The harvest should be taken to represent final judgment, which is coincidental with the Kingdom of God in its completeness.

A large part of the content of Jesus' teaching relating to the Kingdom of God that has been preserved is in the form of parables, which are metaphors or similes used as means of describing the nature of the Kingdom of God.

1.2.1. Mark 4:26-29 (Parable of the Seed Growing by Itself)

26 And he said," The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

In a parable unique to Mark, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to the event of a seed that is sown, grows without the help of human beings and culminates in a harvest. The parable consists of three sentences: 4:26-27; 4:28; 4:29. The first sentence contains three sets of verbs in the subjunctive controlled by "as," and focuses on a man who sows. The focus of the second sentence is on the growth of what was sown, describing the three stages of growth: blade, head and ripe grain; this continues the theme of growth from the end of the first sentence. The third sentence has three verbs, and in it the man who sowed reappears, but this time as the reaper. The idea of the ripe grain connects 4:28 with 4:29. The emphasis of the parable has been placed upon the one who sows the seed, on the growth of the seed and the contrast between the seed sown and the harvest, on the earth and its incomprehensible power to bring forth grain apart from all human effort or on the harvest. It is advisable to allow for more than one emphasis, so that the parable is interpreted allegorically, as making several, interrelated points using metaphors; this means that the several interpretations of the parable thought to be mutually exclusive are actually compatible. (In fact, it is difficult to keep the various proposed interpretations discrete, since they tend to overlap one another.)

The fact that Jesus compares the Kingdom to a seed growing towards maturity implies that he sees the Kingdom of God as a historical process that has a beginning and an end. In spite of the differences between a seed and a fully grown plant there is an identity and continuity between them. So likewise the Kingdom of God as already present, but inconspicuous, will progress towards its incontrovertible completeness. (Jesus' interest is the two extreme stages of the Kingdom, rather than the intermediate stages.) Given the unexpected stress on the seed's growth as independent of all assistance from human beings, Jesus is also making the point that the Kingdom is outside of the control of human beings; in the same way that a plant grows without human assistance, "all by itself" (automatê) regardless of what the sower does subsequently ("night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up"), the Kingdom of God ineluctably and necessarily grows until it reaches its completion. The statement that the sower does not know how the seed grows (4:27: "though he does not know how") likewise contributes to idea of the Kingdom as outside of the control of human beings. The harvest should be taken to represent final judgment, which is coincidental with the Kingdom of God in its completeness; it will come inevitably, according to God's own timing. Mark 4:29b "He puts in the sickle because the harvest has arrived" is likely an allusion to eschatological judgment in Joel 4[3]:13. It is also possible that Jesus intended the sower and the reaper be identified with himself; in this case Jesus as the"sower" is the mediator of the Kingdom of God, the one through whom God's saving power is introduced into history, but as the"reaper" is also the one through whom final judgment will be executed.

https://www.abu.nb.ca/Courses/NTIntro/KingdGod2.htm