Mateus 3

Mateus 3

Hughes - I once heard E. V. Hill, the pastor of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, tell of the ministry of an elderly woman in his church whom they all called 1800 because no one knew how old she was. 1800 was hard on unsuspecting preachers because she would sit in the front row, and as soon as the preacher began she would say, "Get him up!" (referring to Christ). After a few minutes, if she did not think there was enough of Christ in the sermon, she would again shout, "Get him up!" If a preacher did not "Get him up!" he was in for a long, hard day! Here John the Baptist's response to misplaced adulation was to "get him up"—a noble task because it is the chief purpose for our existence....John was the greatest of all men, he was having the greatest of all ministries to date, multitudes were at his feet, but he knew that he wasn't worthy to perform even the humblest act for Christ. If we aim to "get him up," we need to "get ourselves down." (Ibid) Matthew 3:12 "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." NET Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire." GNT Matthew 3:12 οὗ τὸ πτύον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ διακαθαριεῖ τὴν ἅλωνα αὐτοῦ καὶ συνάξει τὸν σῖτον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ἀποθήκην, τὸ δὲ ἄχυρον κατακαύσει πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ. NLT Matthew 3:12 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire." KJV Matthew 3:12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. ESV Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." NIV Matthew 3:12 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." ASV Matthew 3:12 whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing-floor; and he will gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire. CSB Matthew 3:12 His winnowing shovel is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn. But the chaff He will burn up with fire that never goes out." NKJ Matthew 3:12 "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." NRS Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." YLT Matthew 3:12 whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and will gather his wheat to the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.' His winnowing fork - Isa 30:24 41:16 Jer 4:11 15:7 51:2 Lu 3:17 He will thoroughly clear - Mt 13:41,49,50 Mal 3:2,3 4:1 Joh 15:2 He will thoroughly clear - Mt 13:30,43 Am 9:9 He will thoroughly clear- Job 21:18 Ps 1:4 35:5 Isa 5:24 17:13 Ho 13:3 Mal 4:1 Lu 3:17 with unquenchable fire - Isa 1:31 66:24 Jer 7:20 17:27 Eze 20:47,48 Mk 9:43-48 Matthew 3 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries WINNOWING THE GRAIN WINNOWING SPIRITUAL "GRAIN" First the harvested stalks of wheat would be threshed on a stone or hard-packed dirt surface (threshing floor) by oxen dragging heavy timbers over the grain which would result in separation of the chaff (pix) from the kernels of wheat (pix). This combination would then be winnowed. Winnowing is the the act of separating grain from chaff by throwing it in the air allowing the prevalent breezes off of the Mediterranean Sea to carry away the useless, lighter husks (chaff) and allowing the heavier, valuable wheat to fall to the ground. It is also used to remove weevils or other pests from stored grain. Winnow in our English dictionary means to remove from a group until only the best are left. Interesting! In Biblical terms only the "best ones" are only those who are in Christ. In this agricultural land, John's picture left no one guessing what he was saying. They knew he was describing a separation and it was not of literal wheat but of human beings! How effective was John's picturesque teaching? The gospel of John gives us a sense of the effect of John's ministry of preparation for the Messiah writing And He (JESUS) went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there. 41 Many came to Him and were saying, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.” 42 Many believed in Him there." (John 10:40-42) Comment: John records several times that Jews believed in Jesus (John 2:23+ John 4:39,41+ John 8:30 John 11:45 John 12:42) but studying the context of these passages it is clear that not all who believed really believed! In other words they had a superficial belief or intellectual belief but it was unassociated with a change in behavior and thus was a false profession. On the other hand, clearly some truly believed in Jesus, but it is difficult to arrive at a sense of how many of those who "believed" were genuine. We will have to wait for Heaven for the answer. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor - His...His...He refer to Jesus Christ. Thoroughly clear (diakatharízō - only Biblical use) indicates that this separation is absolute and complete and there will not be a few "husks" of unbelievers (so to speak) on the threshing floor mixed in with the valuable, believing "wheat"! How sad that people created in the image of God will end their life on earth as nothing more that "chaff" to be burned and tormented forever and ever, regardless of how powerful they were, how many degrees they had after their name, how many humanitarian causes they established, how many books they wrote, etc, etc. Outside of Christ, they are eternally worthless chaff! Woe! John presents a vivid picture of the future judgment of Messiah Who will leave not a trace of chaff (cf Ps 1:4+). His separation (winnowing) of the the wheat (repenters) from the chaff (non-repenters) is thorough and final as the chaff will be thrown into the Lake of fire and brimstone (Rev 20:15+). Even in the Old Testament we see a description of the thoroughness of the removal of the chaff by the Messiah as recorded in the book of Daniel... “You (DANIEL SPEAKING TO NEBUCHADNEZZAR) continued looking until a Stone was cut out without hands (= SUPERNATURAL = MESSIAH AT HIS SECOND COMING), and IT struck (SEPTUAGINT = PATASSO = SAME VERB IN Rev 19:15! THIS IS NOT A COINCIDENCE!) the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold (ALL ELEMENTS OF THE GODLESS GENTILE NATIONS) were crushed all at the same time (BY THE STONE CUT OUT OF ROCK WITHOUT HANDS = MESSIAH AT HIS SECOND COMING!) and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. (CF "HE WILL THOROUGHLY CLEAR HIS THRESHING FLOOR!") But the Stone that struck (SEPTUAGINT = PATASSO) the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth (JESUS ESTABLISHES HIS MESSIANIC KINGDOM). (Daniel 2:34-35+) Compare John's description in the Revelation - From His (JESUS') mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations (STRIKE IS SAME VERB PATASSO USED IN DANIEL 2), and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Rev 19:15-16+) Isaiah 63:4+ describes this separation in prophetic terms declaring “For the day of vengeance (REFERS TO HIS SECOND COMING) was in My (MESSIAH'S) heart (REFERRING TO HIS SECOND COMING), And My year of redemption has come (BELIEVING "WHEAT" - in context of Isaiah 63 = the believing remnant of Israel). Daniel also describes this tragic day of future separation of the wicked from the redeemed declaring "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake (RESURRECTION), these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt." (Daniel 12:2+) Notice the adjective everlasting modifying both life and contempt! While I personally am horrified by this doctrine, passages like this leave little doubt that eternal punishment will indeed be everlasting! Let this truth motivate us to share the Gospel, not argue over the doctrine of Hell! Jesus left little room for argument when He plainly declared "These (THE GOATS - Mt 25:31, 32, 33, 41-45), will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Mt 25:46). Sadly, Jesus could not have been much clearer! Winnowing is a vivid picture of judgment of the Righteous Judge Jesus (cf 2 Ti 4:1+). John writes "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son... 27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 28 “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life ("WHEAT"), those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment ("CHAFF"). (Jn 5:22, 27-29) Marvin