Matthew 3:12

FAN, FIRE AND FLOOR

‘Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’

Matthew 3:12

Here we have a great prophecy, a great prediction concerning Christ by His herald John the Baptist. John’s baptism was a baptism into repentance for the remission of sins; the baptism of Christ is not a baptism of water, it is a baptism of fire. Do we know what that means? The Church of Christ to-day is languishing and dying for the lack of that knowledge; it is languishing for the want of a Pentecost. Notice briefly the setting of this great promise. The image is drawn from a familiar operation of husbandry—the operation of winnowing.

I. The floor.—‘He will throughly purge His floor.’ The ‘floor’ is the threshing-floor. The floor was the place, ofttimes on the summit of some hill or some high tableland, where the breezes of heaven could play and perform the work required to be done. The winnowing was performed thus: the wheat was thrown up against the wind; the wind carried away the chaff, while the solid grain fell back again upon the floor. Now, says the Baptist, Christ has His threshing-floor. The ‘field’ is the world, but the ‘floor’ is His professing Church. The threshing-floor was on an exposed space over which the winds of heaven played. But there is another floor which indeed is in one sense exposed, but in another sense is secret. The floor that Christ wants to purge is not alone the floor of Christendom at large. There is a present purging needed, and that can only be secured by an individual purification. Therefore the floor He wants to purge is the floor of the believer’s heart. The secret thoughts of the heart are the difficulty. You do not expect the Christian to be guilty of gross overt acts of disobedience. Perhaps you scarcely expect him to offend grievously in words. But the thoughts, the inward thoughts, what about the thoughts of our hearts? That is the floor He wants to purge. How is it to be done?

II. The fan.—The fan was a very rude instrument. It was really a scoop, a sort of hollow shovel, with which the grain was cast up against the wind. The fan itself did not do the separating work, but it brought the grain in contact with the power that did do it. There is a great lesson in that. Affliction in itself does not purify, but God uses it to bring the soul under the action of that Power which can and does purify us. But now notice how the work is done. How does Christ purge His floor? The answer is, first, personally. ‘Whose fan is in His hand.’ I can trust the Hand that was pierced for me. He is too wise to err. He is too good to be unkind. Christ purges instrumentally. There is the fan of affliction and there is the fan of His Word. He will throughly purge His floor. God will do a through and through work in the soul.

III. The fire.—We said the winnowing was conducted by throwing up the grain against the wind, but here, you say, there is no reference to the wind; there is reference only to the action of fire. But turn to Acts 2:2. You read of the combination of the wind and the fire. It is the Holy Ghost who purifies. He is both wind and fire. God the Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier of His people.

Have we received this baptism? It was not for the early disciples alone. It is for us also. Pentecost is the pattern for the dispensation. To-day is still the Pentecostal day. It is the unbelief of the Church that prevents Christ from baptizing still with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

—The Rev. E. W. Moore.