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The Story of Worship and Mission: Part 8
Remember Leviticus and the intricate connections between laws re: worship and laws re: showing mercy to the widows, aliens and poor.
Remember Ruth (widow and alien) gleaning behind the harvesters and later meeting up with Boaz on the threshing floor.
Remember the lineage: Obed--Jesse--David--Solomon. . . . . . . . Jesus
Remember David who purchased the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite and there offered sacrifice to the Lord, pleading for the stopping of the plague.
Remember Solomon building the Temple (the sacred place of worship) on the foundation of this very threshing floor.
Now remember John the Baptist, the last and greatest prophet according to Jesus. Note his language and metaphor which is both symbolic and literal at the same time.
Do you see where this is headed? Observations???? Predictions???? Stay tuned. . . . . .
Labels: worship and mission
posted by John David Walt | at 2/12/2009 03:01:00 AM
Today...
3 Comments:
seems to be much more - or actually something other - than just seperating "good christians" form the "rest of the world."
could blow the doors off of the way most of the gospel has been preahced for generations, and how/why we conduct our "worship services."
Well, I thought I knew where it was headed...
Observations:
(from Matthew 3:11-12)
--"But after me will come one who is more powerful than I..." - John the Baptist is referring to Messiah
--"He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." - John the Baptist is also prophetically speaking of Pentecost.
--"His winnowing fork is in his hand" - a winnowing fork is a pitchfork used to toss wheat in the air to separate wheat from chaff (Life Application commentary);
--definition of "winnowing" -
1. To separate grain from chaff.
2. To separate the good from the bad. (dictionary.com)
[side note - yes, I had to look those up - I'm a city girl!]
--"clear his threshing floor" - God's impending judgment...
--"gathering his wheat into the barn" - those who will choose to follow Christ will be saved by grace
--"burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire" - judgment for those who decide not to follow Christ (God's wrath).
Predictions:
-Pentecost is all about worship and mission!
-Tongues of fire
-God's presence now approachable
-Different languages being spoken - the nations represented...
-Something about the harvest (the church!)
Still having a hard time, though, circling back to Leviticus 19 and connecting ALL the dots.
(living sacrifices??)
I like ur thoughts, city girl. ;-) I grew up on a farm, but we had livestock. And the only fork I REALLY knew how to work is the one that goes from my plate to my mouth. So I'm at a loss, also.
I hadn't noted the imagery JB used before.
As much as the imagery is a process, the analogy is based on time, too. If Jesus has the winnowing fork in His hand, NOW is the time of the harvest. Yikes!
Seasons and festivals - all revolved around the Jewish calendar. The Feast of weeks (Wheat harvest festival = pentecost) happens the same month as pentecost as the church knows it. The ancient pattern set for the festivals was in place prior to Pentecost. Everyone was gathered for Pentecost/Feast of weeks, but what they got was the wind of God (Holy Spirit) beginning to blow and separate the wheat and the chaff.
What hits me is the significt role of the church in what Jesus' is doing on earth and in God's eternal plan. We as the body have a very significant part in the winnowing. Somewhere in the midst of the process is the church. We work alongside the Holy Spirit's wind to make disciples who will go into the storehouse.
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