Our necessary separation

"The blessing of Abraham" by Julius Schnorr

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Genesis 12:1-20

TO CHEW ON: “Now the LORD had said to Abraham:
‘Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land I will show you.’” Genesis 12:1

Why did Abraham need to live his country / family / father’s house? One reason was certainly to separate himself from the idolatry that had infiltrated his clan. A sidebar article in my study Bible explains:

“Genesis 12:1-3 indicates that God separated Abraham from his idolatrous family in order to make him and his descendants the messianic nation which would bring salvation to all earth’s families” - Dick Mills, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 20.

The theme of God wanting His people to be separate from their idol-worshiping neighbors runs through the Old Testament.

• Moses told the Israelites to utterly annihilate the idolatrous Canaanites when they entered the promised land - Deuteronomy 7:2.

• Joshua, the leader who followed Moses, told the people at his farewell address to not let the names of the Canaanite gods even cross their lips - Joshua 23:7.

• Israel failed utterly in this. In Judges we have the playing out of their disobedient mercy. As a result: “They  (the idolatrous nations) shall be thorns in your sides and their gods shall be a snare to you” - Judges 2:2,3.

• Intermingling of Israel with idol-worshiping people carried on. We see examples in the lives of Kings Solomon (1 Kings 3:1), Ahab (1 Kings 20:32), and Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:13), until finally the remnant of the Israelites who remained were taken into exile.

• Years later, on their return to the land, their leader Ezra attempted to reinforce that separation from the heathen people and practices that continued to plague them - Ezra 9:1, 12:10,11.

In the New Testament, though, Peter had a vision where he was commanded to eat unclean foods and interpreted this as God showing him that no man was common or unclean - Acts 10:28. Does that mean all barriers are down? The nation of Israel has played her role in giving the world Jesus the Messiah. And Jesus certainly died for all and invites anyone and everyone of whatever race, creed, or religion to Him for salvation - John 3:16.

But sin is still just as dangerous, contagious, sneaky, and sly. And so for us too, the principle of separation from all that is opposed to God still applies. Does the old saw we bandy about so freely actually apply here: “Love the sinner but hate the sin”?

• We are not to be yoked together with unbelievers - 2 Corinthians 6:14.

• We are to stay away from the “unfruitful works of darkness” - Ephesians 5:11.

• We are to withdraw from the disorderly Christian brother - 2 Thessalonians 3:6.

• John tells us “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” 1 John 2:15.

Separation from sin, the world, and the idols of our time is still a necessary aspect of our Kingdom of Heaven citizenship:

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (KJV)

PRAYER: Dear Father, please teach me how to live in the world but not of it, to love everyone but hate and avoid sin wherever it makes an appearance. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jesus the winnower

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Matthew 3:1-12

TO CHEW ON: “‘His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse out His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’” Matthew 3:12


As we enter the month where we celebrate Jesus’ birth, John the Baptist’s cry alerts us to the fact that Jesus came not just as a baby, meek and mild. The actions John describes Him doing (for we come to see that John here refers to Jesus) are “winnowing”—a harvest activity that separates the valuable (grain) from the worthless (chaff).

[Winnow: blow a current of air through grain to remove the chaff; remove chaff from grain; remove (people or things) from a group until only the best ones are left; find or identify (a valuable or useful part of something).]

Winnowing was the action Jeremiah described God performing on Judah as a result of King Manasseh’s sin:

“And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land;
I will bereave them of children;
I will destroy My people,
Since they do not return from their ways” - Jeremiah 15:7.

Isaiah predicted Israel would be God’s tool to thresh and winnow the nations:

“Behold I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; …
You shall winnow then, the wind shall carry them away” - Isaiah 41:15,16.

Malachi speaks of a day of when, after the winnowing is done,  the extraneous parts of the harvest (stubble) will be burned in judgement;

“For behold the day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
But all the proud, yes all who do wickedly shall be stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up …
But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings…” Malachi 4:1,2.

So let’s remind ourselves—as we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth—of John the Baptist’s image of Jesus the winnower (predicted in the apocalyptic literature of the Old Testament hundreds of years earlier). Yes, Jesus came as a vulnerable, innocent, soft and cuddly baby but it was to fulfill a mission that was going to disrupt life and even prove deadly.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for coming as a baby to winnow out good from evil. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.