HIS WINNOWING FORK – Matthew 3:12
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.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN – TO YOU & TO ME?
Because these verses and John’s words are prophetic they have a special significance for you and for me. You will be either a participant or an observer. You will be either a disciple, a follower of Jesus or not. You will either,
Or you will perish.
FIRST, Prophecy is never a one-time thing. Prophecy, once “God Breathed”, will repeat and reverberate throughout time and history, until Jesus fulfills it.
Jesus explains this when says in Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
SECOND, Prophecy is something we apply internally, to our hearts, to our minds and within our spirit. We must internalize God’s Prophetic Word in order to be part of prophecy and not be overcome by it.
“His winnowing fork is in His hand”. The meaning of this prophetic phrase is also found in Matthew 24:27 “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28“Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather”.
He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; can be seen in Matthew 24:29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30“And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory”.
He will gather His wheat into the barn, and you can see Jesus gathering His Wheat in Matthew 24:31 “And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET, and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”
He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Just of example of this can be found in Revelation 20:15 “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
THESE FIVE POINTS, ENCAPSULATED HERE, DESCRIBE THE ENTIRE TRIBULATION PERIOD, BEGINNING WITH THE BREAKING OF THE 1ST THROUGH THE FOURTH TRIBULATION SEALS FROM AROUND AD 69 AND CONTINUING UNTIL THE WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT AND CULMINATING WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL EVIL, THE 1ST HEAVEN AND THE FIRST EARTH.
These verses tell us and show us for the fourth time just in the New Testament, that the tribulation period, known as
the ‘Time of Distress’ (Daniel 12:1) or
‘The Beginning of Sorrows’ (Matthew 24:8) had its beginning in or around AD 1, most likely between AD 69 and AD 100.
Similar remarks, as those made by Jesus in Matthew 24:3-8, are also made by Paul in Hebrews 1:2 and by Peter in Acts 2:14-21 and again in 2 Peter 3.
JESUS’ BAPTISM is “the spiritual, heavenly sealing of an earthly act” of binding. The earthly baptism is temporal, but Jesus’ Baptism is eternal and permanent.
GOD tells us how to do this through the Book of Joshua, particularly Chapter 1.
Come with me on the adventure in prophecy, learning and doing!
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
The Next Teaching from Matthew 4:2 Yours is the kingdom of heaven