I believe one of the reasons Jesus sent them out by two’s is that there is strength in numbers like Ecclesiastes 4:12 states. You can have each other’s back and help see each other’s blind side. You can encourage and lift each other up, and care for the other person when facing sickness or spiritual opposition. When one falls into a ditch, you have someone else to help pull you out. Two oxen can pull a heavier load yoked together, more than one alone. Each person has strengths and weaknesses, gifts and talents to bring to the partnership. Like a think-tank or master-mind, you are better together!
Amos 3 3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed? 7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he reveals his secret unto his servants the prophets. (KJV)
God has spoken through his prophets in recent years about a tremendous harvest coming. In Luke 10:2 (above) Jesus said the harvest is great but the laborers are few, and to pray for more laborers.
I actually grew up in a farm so I know a little bit about planting and harvest time. When the fruit or vegetables are ripe, it is all hands on deck! You don’t get to pick a convenient time to harvest. Like a baby coming whenever he/she is ready, not necessarily on the due date.
I feel the Spirit is calling Jesus’ followers and saying, “Get Ready, Get Prepared! It’s about to be all hands on deck! We need every man, woman and child, every basket, bushel, pale, and wash pot. Bring any container you have to collect the harvest, for it is ripe and about ready to gather into My barns. There has been a lot of hard work that has brought the harvest up to this point (tilling, planting, watering, weeding, fertilizing, etc.), but it will all be lost if we can’t get enough help to gather in the harvest. Will you help Me? Will you help gather in lost souls, ripe for the picking?”
Harvest time brings everyone together. Like when a city is hit with a hurricane or tornado, everyone pitches in to make sure their neighbors are safe and to help restore their community. It’s the same way when you have a huge harvest to bring in. Spiritually, I believe we are about to see one of the biggest harvests in history! Many are going to be brought into the Kingdom of God. One thing I do know about God’s patterns is, “Evening then Morning was the first day.” He brings a “New Day after Midnight,” the darkest part of the day. Why? Because He specializes in Happy Endings! So if you are ready, willing, and able, He is “looking for a few good men, and women!” Will you be at the right place at the right time, and share the love of Christ with them? Will you be a Good Samaritan and stop to help someone in need, or will you be too busy with your own life, and not take time to stop or be inconvenienced? Will you be Jesus’ hands and feet, Love with flesh on Him?
Bringing Them In Two-by-Two
Genesis 7:9 There went in two-and- two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
The Holy Spirit also reminded me about the story of Noah’s Ark, when God brought a pair of every living animal into the Ark two-by-two, to be preserved until after the flood to replenish the earth. The Ark was a picture of salvation and safety and rest. Even though it was raining and flooding on the outside and all life was perishing, Noah and his family and the animals were safe on the inside, resting peacefully (like Jesus sleeping on the boat during a storm in Mark 4:36-39).
I feel God is saying that even though it may look like darkness covers the earth (sin and lawlessness), and gross darkness covers the people (Isaiah 60:1-2), that His Light will shine on us and bring us safely into the Promise Land. Even in the midst of the storm, no evil will befall you or no plague/virus will come near your dwelling (Psalm 91:10). Even though 1,000 fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand, it will not come near you (Psalm 91:7). Even though the Death Angel goes through the camp, all is well in Goshen (Exodus 12:12-13). God knows how to deliver His people, no matter what it looks like around us. God is God and always will be God! Like in Genesis 1, things are not always as they appear. It may “appear dark and void,” but God said… and that changes everything!
The Power of Two – Multiplication
The number 2 speaks of union, as in a marriage between husband and wife (Genesis 2:18), or Christ and His Bride (Church) becoming One (I Corinthians 12). It takes 2 (male and female) to reproduce and multiply, and replenish the earth. Just as between husband and wife, when Christ and His Bride become One, there will also be great multiplication, and many souls will be birthed into the Kingdom of God through their intimacy. God does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). That was Jesus’ last prayer to make us One with Him (John 17:21-23).
The Power of Agreement
The number two also signifies the power of unity or agreement… All in favor say “I.”
Matthew 18:18-20
18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Jesus says in Matthew 18, that if even 2 of us agree on anything and ask for it in prayer… that IT WILL BE DONE! Hello? Can I get an Amen? Can I get “two of you to agree” with me that God would:
- Cause “Love” (Jesus) to rule and reign in every heart (Jesus is our King of Hearts)
- Enlighten the eyes of our understanding that we would know the Truth and it would set us Free
- Help us to Overcome Evil with Good
- Help us to Grow Out of our Flesh/Self-ishness, Ignorance, and Immaturity and Replace it with Spirit/Self-lessness, Wisdom and Maturity/Character
- Establish Self-Government, Self-Control, and Self-Discipline in every person’s heart
- Replace Division with Unity
- Replace Hate with Love
- Help us “Do unto others what we would want them to do for us.” Pay it Forward!
The Power of Love… Can Change the World!
We CAN Change our world… two-by-two! Adam and Eve did it, Noah did it, Jesus’ disciples did it, and we can too!
LOVE is the GREATEST POWER on Earth… GOD is LOVE! RELEASE GOD to the people. Release God to the nations. Everywhere you go… LOVE ON PEOPLE! Melt them with God’s Love! Once they have tasted… they will never be the same. They will be “shot with cupid’s arrow” and smitten for life. WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD… ONE LIFE AT A TIME! Get your “bow and arrow” out and start releasing arrows of God’s Love into the hearts of people, and HE will set them FREE! Nothing can withstand HIS LOVE! “I” Can’t… but “WE” Can! Jesus said so…ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE, if you JUST BELIEVE!