We usually ponder this verse in November and December. But isn’t it also good to ponder it in the middle of the year, too?
It is actually an assurance, promise, and encouragement stated many times in scripture. He is with His people, intimately, assuredly, personally.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:23).
As I go forward in life, year by year, waiting, learning, sinning, repenting, I learn more of the person and God Jesus and of His excellencies. Studying the Annunciation, and thinking of His name Immanuel, God with us, I think of God with Adam and Eve in the Garden right from the beginning- covering them in skins. With Hagar in the desert, wrestling with Jacob through the anxious night, with Abraham on Mt Moriah sacrificing Isaac, with Mary on the flight to Egypt, with Peter on the beach restoring him in love, with John on Patmos … He surely is a God with us!
As you face day after day in Him, perhaps it is in fear, or anxiety, or loneliness … No matter how you feel, even if it is facing the days in excitement, or wonder, or joy (because those are times we tend to not feel like we “need” God) – God is with you! He is W-I-T-H U-S, Immanuel!
teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)
Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER ABANDON YOU,” (Hebrews 13:5)
He is with us every day, not solely at Christmastime! Since He is with us, who can be against us! We are in the hands of the Mighty Savior, He is with His people, and will not leave or forsake us.
Miracle is one of those words that gets overused and then its meaning it diluted, like “awesome”.
“This ice cream is awesome!” “God is awesome!”
“I found a parking space. It was a miracle!” “I got an A+ on my paper. It’s a miracle!”
The dramatic rise in people accepting and even seeking the charismatic gifts means that more people believe that people are performing miracles, and believing that God is doing miracles left and right. Healings, gold fillings, gold dust falling, a wind coming up at just the right time, a financial windfall…all are claimed as miracles. But are they? What exactly are miracles, according to the Bible? And does God do miracles today?
While cessationists like me by no means deny that God has always had the power and will to do a miracle, and He does them today, they are much less frequent than we suppose. But nowadays, everyone is claiming a miracle.
A miracle is a supernatural event which has no human explanation. More than that, a miracle is a supernatural event which suspends natural law. (Source)
A miracle gives full warrant that it is from God. ~Augustus Strong The popular South African charismatic evangelist Angus Buchan, of the movie Faith Like Potatoes, planted potatoes and said it was a miracle that they grew. To be sure, the soil in his field was not conducive to bumper crops of potatoes, and he had been warned if a high probability of failure, but he attributed the fact that potatoes grew to a supernatural, direct and divine miracle.
He is a long term, popular evengelist, at one time hosting huge crusades for men. He has made unsubstantiated claims of healing the sick at his services. His entire ministry is based on the ‘miracle’ of the potatoes.
Christian Apologetics and Resource Ministries defines miracle as
A miracle is an out-of-the-ordinary direct and divine intervention in the world. Examples would be the parting of the Red Sea, Jesus walking on water, the resurrection of Lazarus, etc. Some hold that it is a violation of the natural order of physical laws. Others maintain that there is no such violation upon God’s part but only a natural manifestation of His work.
They are also known as powers and signs (Mark 9:39; Acts 2:22, 19:11) and mighty works (John 10:25-28). They are a manifestation of the power of God over nature (Joshua 10:12-14), animals (Num. 22:28), people (Gen. 19:26), and illness (2 Kings 5:10-14). They are produced by God’s power (Acts 15:12), Christ’s power (Matt. 10:1), and the Holy Spirit’s power (Matt. 12:28).
A miracle is an event in nature so extraordinary in itself and so coinciding with the prophecy or command of a religious teacher or leader as fully to warrant the conviction on the part of those who witness it, that God has wrought it with the design of certifying that this teacher or leader has been commissioned by him.
Miracles are the natural accompaniments and attestations of new communications from God. The great epochs of miracles—represented by Moses, the prophets, the first and second comings of Christ—are coincident with the great epochs of revelation. Miracles serve to draw attention to new truth, and cease when this truth has gained currency and foothold.
Some of the miracles in the Incarnation of Jesus’ time were making the blind to see. Do you realize there was no other recorded healing of this type in the Old Testament or the New, until Jesus did it? John 9:1-7 records Jesus performing a miracle of making an adult man born blind to see.
This is an amazing case, because Jesus didn’t cure a temporary condition recently onset, he reversed a biological, genetic defect.
The case of Lazarus was also a bona fide miracle, because Jesus raised a man who had been dead so long. Once again, He reversed biology by renewing the man’s very cells at the same time He gave Lazarus life again.
Finding a parking space in the front row, by comparison, is not a miracle.
An event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God, operating without the use of means capable of being discerned by the senses, and designed to authenticate the divine commission of a religious teacher and the truth of his message (John 2:18; Matthew 12:38).
The Apostles performed bona fide miracles also. They healed, raised the dead. Philip was whisked in a lateral ‘rapture’ or snatching away from one place to another. (Acts 8:39-40). That was a miracle. I’m hoping that in the New Jerusalem we can all travel that way.
Now you can see from just these passages that in our Lord’s mind, the miracles were not done simply to give evidence of the power of God, but they were given and performed by him with reference to a particular Messianic purpose. That is, the ultimate coming of the Messianic kingdom.
As for the apostles, the reason they were given power to do signs, is as Dr Johnson explains in the same sermon,
2 Corinthians 12:12, “Truly, the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience in signs, wonders and mighty deeds.” Now notice here the expression, “The signs of an apostle.” And he goes on to say that the signs of the apostles are signs, wonders and mighty deeds. Miracles were the signs of the relationship of the apostles to our Lord. They were the signs that they were apostles, and they also were signs that in their ministry there was a connection between what they were saying and the kingdom of God that would come upon the earth.
Miracle of the Fishes, 1874 Alexander Bida
We don’t need people to perform a miracle any more because the bible now tells us about the Kingdom. We were not alive to hear Jesus in His incarnation, but the Spirit recorded the words through men, and we can read them and hear them. The signifying events are no longer necessary.
Miracles were done in in Moses’ day; in Elijah and Elisha’ day; in the day of our Lord and the apostles. He performed the miracles Himself or through men so as to accomplish His redemptive purposes. The miracles were signs of the accomplishment of his purpose of salvation. He will perform miracles again, Himself, via angels, and through men during the times prophesied in Revelation.
The creation of all things, Genesis 1:1-31. The deluge, comprising many miracles, Genesis 6:1-22.
Moses &the Burning Bush, illustration from 1890 Holman Bible
The destruction of Sodom, etc., Genesis 19:1-38. The healing of Abimelech, Genesis 20:17,18. The burning bush, Exodus 3:2-4. Moses’ rod made a serpent, and restored, Exodus 4:3-4 7:10. Moses’ hand made leprous, and healed, Ex 4…6-7. Water turned into blood, Exodus 4:9,30. The Nile turned to blood, Exodus 7:20. Frogs brought and removed, Exodus 8:6,13. Lice brought, Exodus 8:17. Flies brought, and removed, Exodus 8:21-31. Murrain of beasts, Exodus 9:3-6. Boils and blains brought, Exodus 9:10,11. Hail brought, and removed, Exodus 9:23,33. Locusts brought, and removed, Exodus 10:13,19. Darkness brought, Exodus 10:22. First-born destroyed, Exodus 10:29. The Red Sea divided, Exodus 14:21-22. Egyptians overwhelmed, Exodus 14:26-28. Waters of Marah sweetened, Exodus 15:27. Quails and manna sent, Exodus 16:1-36. Water from the rock, in Horeb, Exodus 17:6. Amalek vanquished, Exodus 17:11-13. Pillar of cloud and fire, Numbers 9:15-23. Leprosy of Miriam, Numbers 12:10. Destruction of Korah, etc., Numbers 16:28-35,46-50. Aaron’s rod budding, Numbers 17:8. Water from the rock, in Kadesh, Numbers 20:11. Healing by the brazen serpent, Numbers 21:8,9. Balaam’s ass speaks, Numbers 22:28. Plague in the desert, Numbers 25:1,9. Water of Jordan divided, Joshua 3:10-17. Jordan restored to its course, Joshua 4:18. Jericho taken, Joshua 6:6-20. Achan discovered, Joshua 7:14-21. Sun and moon stand still, Joshua 10:12-14. Gideon’s fleece wet, Jud 6:36-40. Midianites destroyed, Jud 7:16-22. Exploits of Samson, Jud 14:1-16:31. House of Dagon destroyed, Jud 16:30. Dagon falls before the ark, etc., 1 Samuel 5:1-12. Return of the ark, 1 Samuel 6:12. Thunder and rain in harvest, 1 Samuel 12:18. Jeroboam’s hand withered, etc., 1 Kings 13:4,6. The altar rent, 1 Kings 13:5. Drought caused, 1 Kings 17:6. Elijah fed by ravens, 1 Kings 17:6. Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—(Galatians 3:5). Meal and oil supplied, 1 Kings 17:14-16. Child restored to life, 1 Kings 17:22-23. Sacrifice consumed by fire, 1 Kings 18:36,38. Rain brought, 1 Kings 18:41-45. Men destroyed by fire, 2 Kings 1:10-12. Waters of Jordan divided, 2 Kings 2:14. Oil supplied, 2 Kings 4:1-7. Child restored to life, 2 Kings 4:32-35. Naaman healed, 2 Kings 5:10,14. Gehazi’s leprosy, 2 Kings 5:27. Iron caused to swim, 2 Kings 6:6. Syrians smitten blind, etc., 2 Kings 19:35. Hezekiah healed, 2 Kings 20:7. Shadow put back, 2 Kings 20:11. Pestilence in Israel, 1 Chronicles 21:14. Jonah preserved by a fish, Jonah 1:17 2:10.
New Testament Miracles. The star in the east, Matthew 2:3. The Spirit like a dove, Matthew 3:16. Christ’s fast and temptations, Matthew 4:1-11. Many miracles of Christ, Matthew 4:23-24 8:16 14:14,36 15:30 Mark 1:34 Luke 6:17-19. Lepers cleansed, Matthew 8:3-4 Luke 17:14. Centurion’s servant healed, Matthew 8:5-13. Peter’s wife’s mother healed, Matthew 8:14. Tempests stilled, Matthew 8:23-26 14:32. Devils cast out, Matthew 8:28-32 9:32-33 15:22-28 17:14-18. Paralytics healed, Matthew 9:2-6 Mark 2:3-12. Issue of blood healed, Matthew 9:20-22. Jairus’ daughter raised to life, Matthew 9:18,25. Sight given to the blind, Matthew 9:27-30 20:34 Mark 8:22-25 John 9:17. The dumb restored, Matthew 9:32-33 12:22 Mark 7:33-35. Miracles by the disciples, Matthew 10:1-8. Multitudes fed, Matthew 14:15-21 15:35-38. Christ walking on the sea, Matthew 14:25-27. Peter walking on the sea, Matthew 14:29. Christ’s transfiguration, etc., Matthew 17:1-8. Tribute from a fish’s mouth, Matthew 17:27. The fig tree withered, Matthew 21:19. Miracles at the crucifixion, Matthew 27:51-53. Miracles at the resurrection, Matthew 28:1-7 Luke 24:6. Draught of fishes, Luke 5:4-6 John 21:6. Widow’s son raised to life, Luke 7:14,15. Miracles before John’s messengers, Luke 7:21-22. Miracles by the seventy, Luke 10:9,17. Woman healed of infirmity, Luke 13:11-13. Dropsy cured, Luke 14:2-4. Malchus’ ear restored, Luke 22:50-51. Water turned to wine, John 2:6-10. Nobleman’s son healed, John 4:46-53. Impotent man healed, John 5:5-9. Sudden crossing of the sea, John 6:21. Lazarus raised from the dead, John 11:43-44. Christ’s coming to his disciples, John 20:19,26. Wonders at the Pentecost, Acts 2:1-11. Miracles by the apostles, Acts 2:43 5:12. Lame man cured, Acts 3:7. Death of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5:5,10. Many sick healed, Acts 5:15-16. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Hebrews 2:4). Apostles delivered from prison, Acts 5:19. Miracles by Stephen, Acts 6:8. Miracles by Philip, Acts 8:6,7,13. Eneas made whole, Acts 9:34. Dorcas restored to life, Acts 9:40. Peter delivered from prison, Acts 12:6-10. Elymas struck blind, Acts 13:11. Miracles by Paul and Barnabas, Acts 14:3. Lame man cured, Acts 14:10. Unclean spirit cast out, Acts 16:18. Paul and Silas delivered, Acts 16:25-26. Special miracles, Acts 19:11-12. Eutchus restored to life, Acts 20:10-12. Viper’s bite made harmless, Acts 28:5. Father of Publius, etc., healed, Acts 28:8,9
It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. (Daniel 4:2)
But in no way were miracles themselves proof of faith. Miracles confirm already existing faith, but rarely if ever catalyzed a person to faith. As A. Strong describes:
Miracles alone could not produce conviction. The Pharisees ascribed them to Beelzebub. Though Jesus had done so many signs, yet they believed not…. Though miracles were frequently wrought, they were rarely appealed to as evidence of the truth of the gospel. They are simply signs of God’s presence in his world. By itself a miracle had no evidential force.
There are interior miracles, and external miracles. An interior miracle would be the indwelling of the Holy Spirit into a newly regenerated person. Justification is an internal miracle. We can’t see the actual breaking of bonds or the new heart, but we can see the effects of this interior miracle, the fruit of the Spirit.
The growth of a person in sanctification is another internal miracle. These are miracles because they are done by God without an intermediate instrument directly upon a person’s soul, heart, mind, and body. It truly IS a miracle when we are saved!! These are the miracles in works of grace.
An external miracle are all the others I posted above in the ATS Dictionary list. Consistently, the word for miracle in the Bible is “sign”. A sign points to something. In the case of a miracle, the sign points to God.
And the types of miracles that are being claimed today are absolutely nothing like New Testament miracles, absolutely nothing like them. In fact, the types of miracles today could be distinctly seen as different than New Testament miracles. Jesus and the apostles instantly and completely healed people born blind, a paralytic, a man with a withered arm. All obvious and disputable miracles, even Jesus’ enemies didn’t challenge the reality of His miracles that He had the people there to verify them. He raised the dead, of course, as we well know. They never did a miracle that was slow, they never did a miracle that took time, they never did a miracle that was less than permanent. By contrast, most modern miracles are partial, gradual, temporary, sometimes reversed, and almost impossible to verify.
So before we go around claiming this or that miracle, let’s honor the Holy Spirit, our High priest
The Gathering of the Manna, c1470
The miracles in the Old Testament and the New Testament signify of God. There were miracles of creation, where He used no instrument but by the power of His word, created something ex nihilo or out of nothing. Genesis 1:1 is an example of that. So was the coin in the fish’s mouth and the appearance of manna. There are miracles of healing, of triumphs over demons, of demonstration of power over nature, such as calming the storm at Galilee or shriveling the fig tree or causing rain or stopping the rain. There were miracles over animals, such as making Balaam’s donkey speak or the animals passively migrate to the ark or commanding the ravens to feed Elijah.
Miracles are a tremendous thing to ponder in scripture and to reverentially ascribe to God’s power, love, and creative artistry. Let’s not willy-nilly diminish that awe and reverence by calling mundane things miracles or ascribing to God what He has not done.
For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. (Mark 13:22)
Our God is not to be trifled with, loving as He is. Miracles are done every day in sustaining this world alive, and all the people on it. Let’s not diminish that by rejoicing over a parking space at the mall. Convenient, yes. Miracle? No.
He was God’s covering cherub, it is believed the highest of the high angels, and the most beautiful. (Ezekiel 28:14-17). Since he is an angel he is therefore a created being, thus, under God’s sovereignty. The eternal clash between good and evil is not one of equal opposites, but one of rebellion of a created being against an uncreated, holy powerful God. (Isaiah 14:13-14)
We hear satan’s actual voice three times in the Bible. Once in Genesis 3:1-5 when he (as the serpent) is talking with Eve in the Garden of Eden. There, he insinuated to Eve that God is not good enough to her by not letting her have all the fruit of the Garden. The second time we hear him speak, it’s in heaven to God about Job. (Job 1:7-11). There, he told God that God was being too good to Job. The third time is when satan tempts Jesus. (Luke 4:1-12). In that scene, he used several the schemes in his arsenal (temptation of the body, temptation of power, temptation of testing God) and when he failed, he went away until another opportune time. (Luke 4:13).
These scenes tell us that satan has many schemes in his bag of tricks, he is not hesitant to use them against people, or Jesus or even GOD, and that he never quits.
Satan is mentioned in the Gospels twenty-nine times. And twenty-five of those times, Jesus is the one talking about Satan. Satan is mentioned in seven Old Testament books and every New Testament book.
He has different names to which he is referred. That Old Serpent, Adversary, Devil, Satan, (which is a title)
Satan is a real person. He is not allegory, a metaphor or a figment. If you believe he is an allegory or figment or just an evil force, then you destroy the integrity and truthfulness of every NT book, each Gospel, a quarter of the Old Testament, and the character of Jesus. It is not possible to disbelieve satan is real but also believe the rest of the Bible is truthful, historical, prophetic, and the word of God.
He is real and thus has a will, goals, plans. He is seen spoken of in Isaiah 14:13-14, But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
So his goal is to supplant God….usurp God…BE God!
Satan is not in hell. He is not the ruler of hell. So where is he? He is roaming up and down upon the earth. (Job 1:7, Job 2:2; 1 Peter 5:8). Satan is the prince of the air. (Ephesians 2:2). Satan is in heaven accusing the brethren. (Revelation 12:10; Job 1:6). God has granted limited and temporary sovereignty to satan, for he is the god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4). From this we see that satan has been granted much latitude by God on earth, the air and in heaven.
Satan is busy! He is accusing the brethren, roaming the earth, fighting the holy angels, sowing tares among the wheat, ensnaring the unwary, polluting the doctrine. He is wreaking devastation and destruction. (John 10:10). And much more!
What is satan’s destiny? When satan rebelled in the primordial past, God prepared hell for satan and his angels. (Matthew 25:41). There will be no offer to repent and no opportunity to come to salvation. The devil and his angels’ futures are fixed. (John 16:11). Meanwhile, God uses their evil for our good and His glory.
During the time since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden, satan has been allowed latitude in each of the three spheres of earth, air and heaven. However, midway through the Tribulation, he will be thrown out of heaven and access will no longer be granted to him or his angels. Perhaps satan thought he would be able to go on like this forever. God’s patience is longsuffering, but it does have an end, and satan gets tossed. He and his angels will be furious and will wreak their fury on the population of the earth. Woe to the people! (Revelation 12:7-17).
At the conclusion of the Tribulation, satan will be thrown into the abyss and locked up for 1000 years. When 1000 years is over, he will be let out for a little while to foment one last, short, rebellion that God puts down with a word. (Revelation 20:3; 8). Finally vanquished, he will be thrown into the lake of fire, the place prepared for him in the prehistorical past. His angels will be thrown there too, (Revelation 20:10) along with every person who followed him. (Revelation 20:15).
If you are a believer and are struggling or strong or persevering or weak: He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. We need not fear satan, but we do need to appreciate his capabilities and thus rely on the Holy Spirit more than ever. And to the lost: make no mistake, satan is real.
Oh, woe to those who disbelieve Jesus’s words about future judgment for sin and His word to John in Revelation about the Book of Life. If your name is not written in it, you will be thrown into the Lake of Fire to be tormented forever.
Look at the cross! God’s love of humanity- expressed through Jesus- triumphed over evil and sin and death! (Colossians 2:13-15). Holiness wins too. (John 9:39). All one needs to do is look at the lake of fire- the place prepared for the devil and his angels, and all those who follow satan. (Matthew 12:30-32). Unless you believe in Jesus, you are actually following satan by default. When you die, you will follow satan right into the Lake of Fire.
A caution: Satan is real, powerful, and we are continually warned in the Bible not to dally with him or his flavors of sin and perversion. It’s dangerous to ignore these sober warnings from the One who knows all! However it’s just as dangerous to excessively focus on the devil. Some people look for him around every rock, attribute every major and minor thing to satan, and see him as an equal with God battling it out for the universe.
Our own sin nature advances satan’s goals for him much more than we’ll ever know. We are usually too puny to even be bothered with by him. Focus on obeying Jesus and slaying our own sin, while being mindful we do have an actual living adversary. Balance is best.
Now for some encouragement to the brethren:
“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)
“Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” (John 12:31).
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Thanks be to God for Jesus!
Those are a few facts about satan. As always, read the word for yourselves to see if these things are true.
Further Reading
The Wiles of Satan, William Spurstowe (Puritan Paperback)
In the verse above, Paul is admonishing the Corinthians for over-valuing tongues (glossolalia). The church was entranced by the ‘show’ of tongues and interpretation of tongues. They had become unduly entranced by this next ‘shiny new thing’ (kind of like a mega-pastor with a fog machine or a boy with a new slingshot).
Pulpit Commentary says-
The Christian should always be childlike (Matthew 11:25; Matthew 19:4), but never childish (1 Corinthians 13:11; Ephesians 4:14).
Good advice. To often in this day and age, pastors leave one fad to leap on the next so as to appear relevant. Surfing from Jabez Rugs to Daniel Fasts, Courageous Resolutions to Love Dares, Promise Keepers to Beth Moore bracelets, Be Still meditations to Labyrinths, Seeker Sensitive to Emergent, tongues to healings, it often leaves out the most important: JESUS.
Pastor Phil Johnson speaks harshly about the Flaws of a Fad Driven Church. A Charismatic fascination with tongues had swerved the Corinthian Church from its underpinnings and caused all sorts of divisive issues.
Going further, Gill’s Exposition says,
The apostle here has chiefly reference to the gift of speaking with tongues, these Corinthians were so desirous of; which when they had it, was only to talk like children; and for them to prefer it to other gifts, which were more useful and beneficial, discovered their judgment to be but the judgment of children; and if they desired this, and made use of it for ostentation, it showed a childish vanity, from which the apostle here dissuades.
Matthew Henry says –
Children are apt to be struck with novelty and strange appearances. They are taken with an outward show, without enquiring into the true nature and worth of things. Do not you act like them, and prefer noise and show to worth and substance; show a greater ripeness of judgment, and act a more manly part; be like children in nothing but an innocent and inoffensive disposition. A double rebuke is couched in this passage, both of their pride upon account of their gifts, and their arrogance and haughtiness towards each other, and the contests and quarrels proceeding from them.
Note, Christians should be harmless and inoffensive as children, void of all guile and malice; but should have wisdom and knowledge that are ripe and mature. They should not be unskilful in the word of righteousness (Heb. 5:13), though they should be unskilful in all the arts of mischief.
In today’s cluttered world, there are many things that compete for attention. In the Church it is the same. Fads, things that seem good or even biblical, are simply stumbling blocks. It’s hard to understand how a Spiritual Gift could be one of those stumbling blocks, but this simply proves that satan can make hay out of anything. He made a piece of fruit Eve saw every day look so good that Eve was drooling over it and with her husband caused the downfall of man! Disobedience can come anywhere at anytime.
The childish mischief is complicated but the solution is simple. Jesus. Stay in your word, stay praying, stay streamlined in your quiet time. Strip away the clutter, lay aside every weight, focus on the Holy One.
“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:12 LSB)
The way the ancients used to process their wheat is to gather it from the field, place it on the hardened threshing floor, and thresh and winnow it. The threshing-floor is a hollowed out spot with a packed earthen floor on the top of a hill where the late afternoon wind kicks up. The first part of the process is threshing. They thresh the wheat stalks by passing a sledge over them on the threshing-floor. Dragging the sledge over the stalk rolls the chaff kernel off the wheat stalk. The chaff is waste, like a husk.
You can see one woman standing on a sledge in the photo. The sledge is the tied-together planks with turned up front. Sledging separates the wheat from the chaff. You want the wheat. The chaff is the hard kernel husk, and you don’t want that. It is inedible. As the threshing process goes on they mound the stalks in the middle of the floor.
A threshing floor in the hills of Galilee – the women threshing
Library of Congress
Next they take a winnowing fork, poke it into the mound, and toss all the material – wheat, chaff, straw, weevils, etc, – into the air. The wind carries the chaff away. The heavier wheat falls to the ground.
Primitive winnowing [picture] : [Palestine, World War II]
When they finish the threshing and winnowing, they gather the broken straws and bundle them for fuel to be burned. The wheat is gathered and tied together in bundles also and put into the barn.
The Matthew verse speaks to the judgment of Jesus. The chaff are unbelievers who will be burned with an unquenchable fire. That speaks to the fire of hell which will torment the unbeliever forever.
The wheat that has been gathered into the barn represents the raptured and resurrected saints gathered to Jesus to the place He has prepared for us.
Jesus is our judge. He is the sole authority to Whom we will answer, and our sins are crimes we have committed against Him. (Acts 10:42; 2 Timothy 4:8)
The world hates this notion, and continually rebels against it. They say that we only answer to ourselves, or that Jesus doesn’t exist, in the vain hope that their lawlessness will go unpunished. Most people will acknowledge there is some sort of God, distant and perhaps disinterested. But Jesus is the name at which they cringe. That is because He convicts of sin and will judge it. Deep down, they know this. (Romans 1:18-20)
“There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.” (James 4:12).
If you really think about all the language of the Bible, you realize just how much of it is “legal” language. This is because sin, also known as lawlessness, is a crime. (1 John 3:4). It is a crime against God. Like any crime, it must be judged.
Many people say that the Bible is a “love letter from God.” In a way, it is. Others say that Jesus is our Friend, our Comforter, our Father, and all these are true too. However, when I came to Jesus for salvation, I came with a deep knowing of how pervasive and ugly sin is. By contrast, I understand His holiness. I appeal to Him as my Judge. Though Jesus is all things that are Good, and I enjoy my relationship with Him as Father and Friend, I relate to Him also as my Judge.
Far from it being a cold, distant relationship, I enjoy the order of His courts, the regularity and perfection of His dispensing of Justice, past, present and future. I am the kind of person who has always lived for justice, order, and for moral good, and in Jesus I finally found my home in that and it comforts me like a security blanket.
When we tune our ear, the Christian use of legal language is pervasive, all of it from the Bible. I bet we say these things without really envisioning them being used actively in His court in a legal context, by God, Jesus, satan… But, let’s.
By the way, I deliberately chose verses mostly from the New Testament to show that there is one God, not two. The Bible does not show us an ‘OT God of wrath’ and a ‘NT Jesus of love.’ They are one and the same. He is wrathful in the first place because He hates sin. He is also a God of love because he loves the creation He made, including humans.
Accuser
“And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” (Revelation 12:10)
Advocate
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.’ ” (1 John 2:1)
Confess
“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9)
Convicted
“I got convicted of that activity when I heard the preacher’s sermon.”
“It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 1:14-15).
Court There is a heavenly court, you know! It is much more perfect to be judged by God than by man.
“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.” (1 Corinthians 4:3)
Judge
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:” (2 Timothy 4:1)
Lawlessness
“I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.” (Romans 6:19).
Pardon He pardons us of our crimes!
“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17)
Penalty
“and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” (Romans 1:27)
Testimony
During the Tribulation, the Two Witnesses testify to and of Jesus constantly for three and a half years.
“And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,’ (Revelation 11:7)
Verdict
“‘The decision is announced by messengers [‘Watchers’ in ESV], the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.'” (Daniel 4:17).
I sure would like to know who these mysterious Watchers are mentioned three times in Daniel 4:13, 17, 23 but nowhere else. They seem to be a class of angel, because they are holy, and angel, because they are messengers. The term is introduced by Nebuchadnezzar who describes how he saw “a watcher, a holy one come down (singular verb) from heaven.” They seem to me to be both Bailiff keeping watch over proceedings, and Jury Foreman announcing the verdict. But I don’t know for sure. The Bible is cloaked on the subject, only alluding to but not explaining these Watchers.
Witness Paul is ordained as a witness for Jesus.
“for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard” (Acts 22:15)
The Two Witnesses testify to the power and holiness of God. Rev 11:1-14. (Gérard Jollain, engraving 1670)
This article is intended to remind us of the fact that God is HOLY HOLY HOLY. Everything stems from that. Sin, its effects, its lawlessness, our pardon, His justice…is all about dealing with sin in the face of a Holy God. Oh, yes, Jesus will judge. Are you ready?
All a person needs to do is be penitent, that means, to be sorry for your sins. You must ask the Judge (who is Jesus) to pardon you. His death on the cross satisfied the justice required from God as the blood sacrifice to satisfy the penalty. God’s wrath is therefore satisfied in all people who come to Him through Jesus. You will be pardoned and washed clean of your crimes. The Judge will say “You are justified and free to go.”
Failure to repent before your own death means that you die having committed many crimes. Those must still be dealt with. Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean your crimes go away. They are in fact still boomeranging around the Universe, tainting everything. On the day of Judgment, Jesus will stand you before Himself and you will answer for those crimes in His court. The penalty for them is eternity in hell (jail) with no hope of parole. All judgments are final. But all His mercies are eternal!
Sexually transmitted diseases at their basic root are a judgment from God in the way that all disease is a function of the decay the people who dwell on the earth experience as a general consequence of sin from the Fall.
Disease is a fact of the wrath of God He is providentially using in this age. Judgment aside, sexual diseases ARE a consequence of wanton sexual activity outside the biblical confines of marriage.
There is a reason God set it up so that one man and one woman enjoy conjugal relations for a lifetime. Abandoning that opens a person up to sin, emotional decay, and physical disease. Remaining in a committed marriage with only one partner, or celibate if single, immeasurably decreases your chances of contracting such a disease.
In addition, Romans 1:18-32 describes God’s wrath against sexual sin and worse perversion.
So how does one avoid God’s displeasure in sexual sin, particularly when the culture is so immoral? Even insurance advertisements use adultery and lasciviousness to sell product! Well, the Bible says,
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18).”
Barnes Notes explains,
Flee fornication – A solemn command of God – as explicit as any that thundered from Mount Sinai. None can disregard it with impunity – none can violate it without being exposed to the awful vengeance of the Almighty. There is force and emphasis in the word “flee” φεύγατε pheugate. Man should escape from it; he should not stay to reason about it; to debate the matter; or even to contend with his propensities, and to try the strength of his virtue. There are some sins which a man can resist; some about which he can reason without danger of pollution. But this is a sin where a man is safe only when he flies.
Remember Joseph. He is our example here.
But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. (Genesis 39:11-12)
His faithfulness is such that He takes ALL sinners, no matter who confesses and repents. No matter what the sin. He is loving, just, merciful and kind. However, though He is those things, at the apocalypse He will unleash His wrath and anger, and render unto the unbelieving and sinning world the due consequences of their actions.
In case you missed it above, sexual sin, any sexual sin, (pre-marital sex, AKA fornication, homosexual sex, adultery, pornography, pedophilia, lust, and all other perversions) is worse than other sins because…here it is in 1 Corinthians 6:18 again.
And a word of caution to us all before the Second Coming takes place: FLEE from sexual sin, and that includes thoughts as well as actions. “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” (Hebrews 13:4)
Jesus is GREAT and faithful to help us. You do not have to be a slave to any sexual sin. “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5)
Amen!!
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Further Reading
Is homosexuality worse than other sins? For this reason, Christians are right to see homosexuality as an especially debase sin that displeases God. It is contrary to His good plan for marriage, and cannot reflect the purpose for which marriage exists—to represent Christ’s relationship to the church (Eph 5:31)
Is Homosexual Practice really No Worse than Any Other Sin? “Christ’s universal coverage of sin through his death on the cross does not mean that all sins are equal in all respects but only that all sins are equal in one respect: They are all covered.”
When Adam sinned, the Lord our God, creator of all, cursed the ground.
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; (Genesis 3:17)
I live in a rural area. Not every place on earth looks like this, I know. But I’m astounded that ANY place looks like this, after the curse.
EPrata photo
EPrata photo
EPrata photo
EPrata photo
If God’s earth is THIS beautiful after the ground has been cursed, then imagine the beauty of heaven! Look toward the reward- being in God’s family, perfected in glory, and seeing the face of Jesus, amid inexpressible sounds and sights of beauty of such scope that we cannot even imagine! (2 Corinthians 12:4)
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— (1 Corinthians 2:9)
I work as a teacher aide. Some of the children I work with are in kindergarten. I was working in my small group, and they noticed that some new decorations had gone up. There was a large chick coming out of an egg hanging on the door, and around the school were other eggs, in pastel colors and with some rabbits too. One girl asked about it and I said it’s Easter decorations.
That got them talking about Easter and of course Easter egg hunts. Easter egg hunts are huge for kids. They burbled and chatted.
EPrata photo, Recreation Department Easter Egg Hunt, years ago
When’s Easter anyway? asked a girl. April! answered a boy. Another child asked “What is Easter about?” They all explained; “It’s when you hide eggs with candy in them and hunt for them all around”. I followed up. But what else is Easter for? Again they explained that the “Easter Bunny comes and you find candy and eggs in a basket”. Anything else? One girl explained, “When you go to church…” Yes, yes? I eagerly leaned forward. “…and you hunt for eggs and find candy.” But isn’t it about Jesus? The girl said, “Of course. He lays out the eggs.”
The most beautifully decorated egg pales in comparison to the beauty of Jesus
It’s charming and sad all at once. Seeing the world through a child’s eyes is always funny and they say unexpected things but they also have more truth in them than we like to think. Kid life is all about getting to the next candy bonanza. To them, Easter is just another fairy tale that has fantastical, magical creatures like a rabbit that delivers candy and eggs in a basket filled with fake grass.
It’s one reason not to depend on a child’s assertion that he or she has ‘accepted Jesus into their heart’ because to become a true believer one must understand sin, our position before Christ, His anger over it, and repentance. This isn’t possible with kids who still believe the tooth fairy flies in to your bedroom and takes the tooth from under your pillow. They still believe in Santa.
I never liked Easter Egg hunts. This was because I never found any eggs. Even as a kid I didn’t enjoy competitions, I was slow and ungainly, I didn’t quite understand the point, and there were always lots of bullies intent in shoving you down to get that egg first. I left a grass-stained mess with bruises, hurt feelings and an empty basket.
I did enjoy the wonderful Easter baskets my parents left by the fireplace. They always held crinkly grass, chocolate, and pretty little jelly beans and more. They were always both artful and bountiful.
I enjoyed dyeing the eggs too, a lot. There was always a new dress to wear, with hat and gloves, for Easter. It was one time per year (of the two) we attended a church. The point of the day was the dinner afterwards.
Me, all dolled up for Easter
Yes, it’s all about Jesus. The crinkly grass, baskets, egg hunts, dyed eggs, ham dinners, and Easter outfits aside, the power of the resurrection is a wondrous event to contemplate. We take a special day to praise our Father for His power and His love in resurrecting His son.
I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. (Revelation 1:17b-18)
So…hunt for eggs if you must. But look for Christ.
While preaching the Gospel to the crowd in front..this man slipped in behind to listen. #SneakyGospelListenersWelcome
What a beautiful photo. A man the Lord has raised up, preaching the Good News fearlessly to a hostile and dying world. But one man is drawn by God to hear His words of everlasting life. Again, a praise. Will the seeds planted by the word fall on hard ground? Thorny ground? Soft ground?
Meanwhile we don’t know where the wind blow. So we preach His Good News everywhere. The Spirit knows.
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)
Street preaching, or preaching openly in a public area, has been a method used throughout the history of Christianity for the purpose of evangelizing people who would not typically enter a church. Ever since the apostle Peter preached in the streets of Jerusalem in Acts 2, Christians have used this method to lead many to faith in Christ. Despite the long-standing tradition of street preaching throughout church history, some believe that the practice should no longer be used. They have a variety of reasons for their opinion…
And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. (Luke 14:23)
Harken An engraving, ca. 1740, of George Whitefield preaching in the Americas. Photo: Granger, NYC / The Granger Collection. Source
In 1739, Whitefield set out for a preaching tour of the American colonies. Whitefield selected Philadelphia—the most cosmopolitan city in the New World—as his first American stop. But even the largest churches could not hold the 8,000 who came to see him, so he took them outdoors. Every stop along Whitefield’s trip was marked by record audiences, often exceeding the population of the towns in which he preached. Whitefield was often surprised at how crowds “so scattered abroad, can be gathered at so short a warning.”
The crowds were also aggressive in spirit. As one account tells it, crowds “elbowed, shoved, and trampled over themselves to hear of ‘divine things’ from the famed Whitefield.”
Once Whitefield started speaking, however, the frenzied mobs were spellbound. “Even in London,” Whitefield remarked, “I never observed so profound a silence.”
When he returned to London, he found many churches closed to his unconventional methods. He then experimented with outdoor, extemporaneous preaching, where no document or wooden pulpit stood between him and his audience.
The Gospel is always unwelcome, sometimes by those inside churches hearing it from pulpits, usually outside in the world by passersby to whom the message of Life is the aroma of death. No matter. For the one person who is later converted by the words, it will be eternally welcome.
the-end-time.org 