Tag Archives: chaff

MARK’S GOSPEL…THE MESSAGE – 2

Bible Study,

Mark 1:7-8 NIV
[7] “And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. [8] I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

According to Matthew, John the Baptist also predicted the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 3:11-12 NIV
[11] “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. [12] His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John’s message, as reported by Mark, was short and to the point. His baptism of repentance was a symbol of something much greater.

In Lluke’s expanded version of John’s message, Jesus’ appearance on earth would herald not only a great awakening but also a great cleansing.

Luke 3:16-18 NIV
[16] “John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. [17] His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” [18] And with many other words, John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.”

As grim as the outcome of Jesus’ appearance would be, the separation of wheat and chaff and the utter destruction of the chaff, everything John preached about the advent and work of God’s Servant was included in the bundle of “good news”.

What was the essence of this good news?

First, John’s immersion of God’s people in the “mikvah” of the Jordan River prepared the hearts of the repentant ones for the good news of a cleansing far greater than the cleansing of a flowing river. Water on the outside to cleanse the body was symbolic of the Holy Spirit on the inside, purifying the soul.

Adam’s greatest loss, after his declaration of independence, was the departure of God’s Spirit, God’s presence in him, breathed into him at his creation. He retained his physical life for a season but his connection with God through the Spirit was broken. He was dead to the spiritual dimension and lost to God’s presence and purposes. He was afloat on the treacherous and stormy ocean of life and left alone to navigate his own way.

The coming of the Servant heralded something new in Israel, prophesied in the Old Covenant but only effected by Jesus…God’s decisive remedy for sin.

Second, John’s message included the good news that, not only would Messiah usher in God’s rule again in the hearts of His people but He would also immerse them in His Spirit just as their bodies were immersed in water.

Third, His work would also include separating the chaff from the wheat, not unbelievers from believers as some would suggest, but separating the chaff of the “outer man”, the thoughts and actions that spring from the evil desires of the old, sin nature, from the inner man, the shrine of God’s presence. Chaff and wheat are part of the same seed, chaff the outer husk and wheat the inner grain. By the fire of His Word, He would cleanse the soul of the old life, the chaff, and restore His own image in them.

So, in a nutshell, John heralded the Messiah’s coming with the promise of a thorough work of grace…This was impossible through the law of Moses which could not rein in the wickedness of the old nature, but would be made possible through the work of the Messiah and His Spirit.

For thecl people of God, the coming of the Holy Spirit to deluge and transform all people was not an unknown or unexpected event. Joel spoke of His coming centuries before John’s announcement.

Joel 2:28-32 NIV
[28] “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. [29] Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. [30] I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. [31] The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. [32] And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”

Peter matched this prophecy with the astonishing events of the day of Pentecost, witnessed by thousands of Jews from all over the Roman Empire.

The Holy Spirit had indeed come, as John had predicted, to restore God’s people to fellowship with Himself by removing their sin, cleansing their hearts and conscience from guilt and shame, and restoring His own presence in them through His Holy Spirit…

Acts 2:14-17 NIV
[14]” Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. [15] These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! [16] No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: [17] “ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams… “

…leading to the momentous event when the church of the Lord Jesus, His body, was born as they called on His name and received His gift of salvation.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – NOT RULES BUT REST

Bible Study, ,

CHAPTER SIX

NOT RULES BUT REST

“On a certain Sabbath Jesus was walking through a field of ripe grain. His disciples were pulling off heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands to get rid of the chaff, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing that, breaking a Sabbath rule?’

“But Jesus stood up for them. ‘Have you never read what David and those with him did when they were hungry? How he entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? He also handed it out to his companions.’

“Then He said, ‘The Son of Man is no slave to the Sabbath; He’s in charge.'” Luke 6:1-5.

The Sabbath! Always a contentious issue. This time it was the disciples, not Jesus, who were in trouble with the Pharisees,

The Sabbath was God’s gracious gift to His people and a reminder that He also rested after completing His work of creation.

When He had rescued them from slavery in Egypt, He reminded them of the Sabbath and built it into their marriage contract at Sinai, firstly as sign of His covenant with them, and secondly to provide the weekly cycle of six days of work to one day of rest to remind them that they were not machines but humans, and that rest was as necessary for them as their work.

So over-zealous had their rabbis become over the years that they had turned the people into slaves of the Sabbath, hedging it up with so many petty rules that they had forgotten its real purpose. Instead of a day of rest, it had become a day of “don’t do this; you are not allowed to do that,” until they could hardly move for rules. And the Pharisees were the self-appointed “policemen” of their yoke!

Jesus was never a slave to their prescriptions or their opinions. His yoke was one of kindness and mercy as a mirror of the disposition of His Father. He had not come to reinforce their petty religious nonsensical traditions which had no value in either honouring the Father or helping the people to love and care for one another. He had come to show them what God is like and to teach them how God runs His realm.

They said, ‘It’s better to starve than break our rules, and our rules say that picking grain and rubbing it in your hands is reaping, and reaping is work.’ Jesus said, ‘My disciples are hungry and God is more concerned about that than about rules.’ To illustrate, He drew their attention to what their own great king, David, did when he was hungry. He did what was even more glaringly wrong in their estimation. He actually broke a law of God, not even one of theirs, and nothing happened to him.

So then, what is the Sabbath and how does it apply to us now? Sabbath has significance in two ways – a creation ordinance of God to provide us with a regular day of rest once a week, and a prophetic picture of the rest from our religious “labour” that God has provided. Jesus invites us into a permanent rest from trying to gain access to God by our own futile efforts.

No amount of trying or “doing” will ever be enough, but Jesus did it for us by getting rid of our sin and giving us access to the Father as His sons and daughters. Sabbath is no longer a rigid, religious, one-day-a-week rest, but a permanent and perpetual rest of faith in Christ that sets us free from observing laws in order to gain God’s favour.

We are now God’s sons and daughters, no longer lost and in a far country. We have come home to Father’s house and can live freely with Him as His children, not as slaves.

Have you come home to His rest?