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.
He's got the winnowing tool ready to separate the good grain from the worthless husks. The wheat gets stored safely away, but the chaff? That gets burned up in a fire that never goes out.
There's a final sorting coming, and you want to be wheat, not chaff.
📚 Historical Context
In the first century AD, John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness near the Jordan River, calling people to repent and prepare for the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. He used the familiar agricultural image of winnowing grain, where a farmer separates the valuable wheat from the worthless chaff using a winnowing fork, to describe God's impending judgment on Israel and the world. This metaphor drew from everyday life in ancient Jewish society, emphasizing the urgency of spiritual readiness as the Messiah's arrival loomed.
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