Return to the Threshing Floor from the Wine Press

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Last time we talked about the interesting turn of phrase that revealed the actual spiritual state of Israel in Judges chapter 6 we found the story of the Angel who visited Gideon. 
v11 Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress. 

Gideon wanted relief from the oppression of the Midianites. He wanted God to judge Midian and deliver Israel. 

But God wanted to sanctify Israel... and then take down their enemies. Scripture uses the threshing floor to symbolize the process of purifying God's people but the wine press was used in Scripture to symbolize the wrath of God on the godless nations. So the first step toward deliverance required Gideon to destroy the idols in his own dwelling place.

v25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order.
Today as we look at the story of Gideon again, we are applying the concept of threshing and winnowing the wheat to the process God used to reduce the number of fighting men in the army...
The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.

God first separated out the fearful men, just like Gideon had been fearful, then in a second wave, the Lord separated out those who were self-consumed, who knelt to satisfy their own thirst and lowered their gaze from the horizon. 

And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.” 
Everyone who knelt down was removed, only those who lapped from their hand remained. 
And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 
With only 300 men, they would go up against a massive army of 130,000, from 3 nations. 

Gideon filled both their hands with items that were not weapons. They had in their hands no swords, no bows or arrows, no javelins or rocks, just a trumpet and a torch inside a jar of clay. 

In their right hand, they each held a trumpet a symbol of God's word being proclaimed.

In their left hand, they held a torch concealed within an earthen jar. The left hand is symbolic of God's judgment which usually includes the exposing (or illuminating) of the truth amid darkness, revealing the hidden things. 

Jars of Clay are symbolic of the human race, When the jars of clay were broken an instantaneous burst of illumination pierced the darkness at 300 points surrounding the camp of Midian. Immediately the 300 trumpets sounded. The enemy comprised of three nations was thrown into confusion and they turned on one another and slaughtered their comrades at arms. When we become broken before the Lord He will throw the Enemy's camp into confusion, 
 
They were armed with PROCLAIMATION and ILLUMINATION and they shouted with one voice "The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon". The sword of the Lord is the word of the Lord and the word brings the judgment of the Lord.  Either you will agree with the truth or you will oppose the truth. 

God gave them victory over their enemies only after he purged them from idolatry, fear, and self-indulgence.  Are you wanting God's judgment to fall on someone? Evil parties in the world? 

Leave the winepress and return to the threshing floor - examine yourself for idolatry, fear, unbelief, and self-indulgence. Don't wait, you may be delaying your own deliverance. Walk through the threshing floor with the Lord and you will come out victorious. 

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