GOD's THRESHING INSTRUMENT: Effective Service
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Introduction
Introduction
God calling for more,
He never ask us to pray for the Harvest , but the labourer .
Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth:
Thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small,
And shalt make the hills as chaff.
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Harvest is certain , miracle is certain , but God is always in the business for Laborers , Men and women who are willing to take all for the sake of the call.
Who are Laborers:?.
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand,
Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’
“Fear not, you worm Jacob,
You men of Israel!
I will help you,” says the Lord
And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
“Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth;
You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small,
And make the hills like chaff.
Behold, I will make thee … - The object of the illustration in this verse and the following is, to show that God would clothe them with power, and that all difficulties in their way would vanish. To express this idea, the prophet uses an image derived front the mode of threshing in the East, where the heavy wain or sledge was made to pass over a large pile of sheaves, and to bruise out the grain, and separate the chaff, so that the wind would drive it away. The phrase, ‹I will make thee,‘ means, ‹I will constitute, or appoint thee,‘ that is, thou shalt be such a threshing instrument. It is not that God would make such a sledge or wain for them, but that they should be such themselves; they should beat down and remove the obstacles in the way as the threshing wain crushed the pile of grain.
A new sharp threshing instrument - A threshing wain, or a corn-drag.
For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin;
But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick,
And the cummin with a rod.
Bread flour must be ground;
Therefore he does not thresh it forever,
Break it with his cartwheel,
Or crush it with his horsemen.
Having teeth - Or, with double edges. The Hebrew word is applied to a sword, and means a two-edged sword
.
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand,
14-15
The instrument here referred to was serrated, or so made as to cut up the straw and separate the grain from the chaff.
This not only forced out the grain, but cut the straw in pieces, for fodder for the cattle, for in the eastern countries they have no hay. The last method is well known from the law of Moses, which forbids the ox to be muzzled, when he treadeth out the grain .‘ (Lowth) ‹In threshing their corn, the Arabians lay the sheaves down in a certain order, and then lead over them two oxen, dragging a large stone. This mode of separating the ears from the straw is not unlike that of Egypt. They use oxen, as the ancients did, to beat out their grain, by trampling upon the sheaves, and dragging after them a clumsy machine. This machine is not, as in Arabia, a stone cylinder, nor a plank with sharp stones, as in Syria, but a sort of sledge, consisting of three rollers, suited with irons, which turn upon axles. A farmer chooses out a level spot in his fields, and has his grain carried thither in sheaves, upon donkeys or dromedaries.
Two oxen are then yoked in a sledge, a driver gets upon it, and drives them backward and forward upon the sheaves, and fresh oxen succeed in the yoke from time to time. By this operation, the chaff is very much cut down; the whole is then winnowed, and the pure grain thus separated. This mode of threshing out the grain is tedious and inconvenient; it destroys the chaff, and injures the quality of grain.‘ (Niebuhr) In another place Niebuhr tells us that two parcels or layers of corn are threshed out in a day; and they move each of them as many as eight times, with a wooden fork of five prongs, which they call meddre. Afterward, they throw the straw into the middle of the ring, where it forms a heap, which grows bigger and bigger; when the first layer is threshed, they replace the straw in the ring, and thresh it as before. Thus, the straw becomes every time smaller, until at last it resembles chopped straw. After this, with the fork just described, they cast the whole some yards from thence, and against the wind, which, driving back the straw, the grain and the ears not threshed out fall apart from it and make another heap. A man collects the clods of dirt, and other impurities, to which any grain adheres, and throws them into a sieve. They afterward place in a ring the heaps, in which a good many entire ears are still found, and drive over them, for four or five hours together, a dozen couples of oxen, joined two and two, till, by absolute trampling, they have separated the grains, which they throw into the air with a shovel to cleanse them.
Thou shalt thresh the mountains - The words ‹mountains‘ and ‹hills‘ in this verse seem designed to denote the kingdoms greater and smaller that should be opposed to the Jews, and that should become subject to them .
Thou shalt thresh the mountains - The words ‹mountains‘ and ‹hills‘ in this verse seem designed to denote the kingdoms greater and smaller that should be opposed to the Jews, and that should become subject to them (Rosenmuller). Grotius supposes that the prophet refers particularly to the Medes and Babylonians. But perhaps the words are used to denote simply difficulties or obstacles in their way, and the expression may mean that they would be able to overcome all those obstacles, and to subdue all that opposed them, as if in a march they should crush all the mountains, and dissipate all the hills by an exertion of power.
Three things this threshing instrument is shod with.
Three things this threshing instrument is shod with.
1. A word of command, calling to the work.
2. A word of promise, securing the success.
3. The use of means of Heaven s appointment for reaching the end.
CHARACTER TRAITS OF AN EFFECTIVE
CHARACTER TRAITS OF AN EFFECTIVE
AS SEEN IN PHILIP/ Text –
AS SEEN IN PHILIP/ Text – ,
Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch,
Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”
So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.
1). A true believer in Christ – (one of the brethren) 6:3
2). Honest man of good reputation – 6:3
3). Filled with the Holy Spirit – 6:3
4). Full of wisdom – 6:3, (a degree of maturity)
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
5). Busy serving the Lord when called to the Gaza Road – 8:5,6
6). Obedient to the heavenly calling to another location (assignment) –
8:26,27/ He didn’t say, “Lord I’m busy here, look what’s happening”.
7). Sensitive to & obedient to the Spirit’s leading – 8:29,30a
8). Bold in light of a possible fearful situation (1 man vs a caravan) – 28,30
9). Went without delay (he ran) – 8:30 {probably prayed all the time}
10). He took the initiative, spoke first – 8:30
11). Had a sense that God had prepared the man’s heart – 8:32,33
12). Knew the Word well enough to begin at the point of the man’s
understanding & shared the Gospel – 8:35
13). Gave a clear explanation so that the man (with Spirit’s help
understood enough to believe in Christ – 8:36,37
14). Taught the man regarding believer’s baptism – 8:36-38, 2:38,41
## Not a trait but a promise to believers/ He was caught away to Azotus – 8:39,40
,
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
LIFE APPLICATION QUESTIONS FOR YOU–
?1). Are you a true believer?
?2). Are these character traits developing or observable in your life?
?3). How are you growing to be more useful in serving the Lord: (DO IT!)