So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. 2 Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” 3 And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!” 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?  5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’?  6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” — then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”  7 And he arose and departed to his house. Matthew 9:1-7 NKJV

Jesus told His disciples that the harvest is not yet four months away, it is now (John 4:35). Harvest is the fullness of everything you need and/or desire, it is present here and now (2 Cor. 6:2; Heb. 11:1, 6). Thus, to accept the lack of anything is to practice the absence of God. Harvest also means wholeness because if you’ve been forgiven, you’re reconciled, and if you’re reconciled, you are a partaker of God’s divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4). The key to harvest is to act as though it is so (Rom. 4:17). You cannot act as though it is so if you’re living with a sin consciousness because harvest is knowing that you are forgiven.

For example, in the text above, the paralytic man wasn’t brought to Jesus for absolution or forgiveness. But notice how Jesus responded to him: Jesus first dealt with the cause not the effects of his paralysis. This man was bound by his paralysis because of sin. Sin is the sickness of the soul and disease is the sickness of the body. God removes the cause of our condition before He treats the symptoms, i.e., sickness, problems, etc.

Jesus said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” and he arose, took up his bed and walked to his house. Some people, you can say to them, “you’re forgiven” and they can be healed. Others, you can say “you’re healed,” and immediately they act as though it is so, and leap into a new experience. Until you know that you are forgiven, you will be plagued with feelings of undeservedness and your only expectation is a fearful looking for bad things to happen (Heb. 10:27).

Why does God heal and manifest a harvest of healing? Every time He does it, He confirms that we are forgiven (Isa. 33:24; Ps. 103:1-3). Like Jesus said, “For which is easier, to say” . . .?  There is a principle the study of Geometry that says: things equal to the same are equal to one another. Geometrically speaking, forgiveness is the flip side of healing and healing is the flip side of forgiveness, so which is easier to say? The paralytic was forgiven, he was reconciled, and he got healed. So why wasn’t he manifesting it? He hadn’t heard the good news!

After you hear the goods news of the Gospel that you are forgiven—just know that— your  prayers can be answered now, you can be healed now, and you can be blessed in every way now because you’ve heard the good news: the harvest is knowing that you are forgiven now!