Sharron's Blog: WINNOWING THE WHEAT: Chaff Defined, July 3rd, 2021

 WHEAT : REMOVING CHAFF

I feel this winnowing process below is taking place within the church, the body of Christ as His return draws near.  We are His wheat, as is Israel, and this chaff I believe sounds like our "flesh or worldly" part God is winnowing. Judgements begin in house of God.. so where will it end? 

Read Matthew 24, Daniel, and book of Revelation to find out the answer. 

Matthew 3:12 KJV — 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.

Luke 22:31 KJV — And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

John 12:24 KJV — Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

1 Peter 4:17 NKJV — For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

THE CHAFF: Winnowing Process for believers

The Chaff, Defined

In grasses (including cereals, such as rice, barley, oats, and wheat), the ripe seed is surrounded by thin, dry, scaly bracts (called glumes, lemmas and paleas), forming a dry husk (or hull) around the grain. Once it is removed it is often referred to as chaff. 

In wild cereals and in the primitive domesticated einkorn... emmer and spelt, wheats, the husks enclose each seed tightly. Before the grain can be used, the husks must be removed. 

The process of loosening the chaff from the grain so as to remove it is called threshing - traditionally done by milling or pounding. Separating remaining loose chaff from the grain is called winnowing - traditionally done by repeatedly tossing the grain up into a light wind which gradually blows the lighter chaff away. This method typically utilizes a broad, plate-shaped basket or similar receptacle to hold and collect the winnowed grain as it falls back down.  

Domesticated grains such as durum wheat and common wheat have been bred to have chaff that is easily removed. These varieties are known as free-threshing or naked.  

Chaff should not be confused with bran, which is finer scaly material that is part of the grain itself 

Additional bible verses to consider...

Amos 9:9 NKJV — “For surely I will command, And will sift the house of Israel among all nations, As grain is sifted in a sieve; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.

Galations 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”fn15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. 

Walking in the Spirit

16¶I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 

19 ¶Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,fn fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21envy, murders,fn drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 ¶But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

A Glorious Body

35¶But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?”36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37 And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of fleshfn of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. 40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.”fn The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lordfn from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bearfn the image of the heavenly Man.

Our Final Victory

50¶Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O Death, where is your sting?fO Hades, where is your victory?”  56The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58¶Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.