“ True Believers Like Wheat ” and “ The Wicked Like Chaff ” “John answered them all, ‘I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire’” (Luke 3:16–17). Let us meditate on this passage and receive its spiritual lessons: (1) When the people, who had long awaited the coming of the Messiah, began to wonder in their hearts whether John the Baptist might be the Messiah (Luke 3:15, Modern Translation ), John testified clearly that he was not the Messiah, but that the One coming after him was. (a) John 1:8 says: “He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light” ( Modern Translation : “He was not the light himself but came only to bear witness to the light”). (i) The purp...
Gethsemane Prayer (8) [Luke 22:39-46] This is the ferventness of Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane: (1) Jesus prayed to Heavenly Father with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mk. 12:30). By obeying the first part of Jesus’ twofold commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your mind” (v. 30), the disciples of Jesus who love God imitate Jesus and fervently pray to God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Jesus prayed to Heavenly Father while pouring out all of His sap (Lk. 22:44). (2) Jesus fervently prayed to Heavenly Father while shedding clean tears, sweat, and blood. But the tears and sweat we shed when we ask our Heavenly Father are not pure and clean liquids. In other words, our tears and sweat are liquid mixed with sin. Jesus prayed to Heavenly Father as if He was pouring oil into an oil press (...