SIFTING THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL

“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.” (Amos 9:9 NKJV). 

 

Speaking through His holy prophet Amos, God indicated His intention to sift His people, Israel, among all nations where they were scattered.  Much like grain is passed through a sieve in order to separate and remove the fine stones and other debris from the kernels, God intended for His people to be sifted by adversity to separate all of the impurities and uncleanness from them and present them as a holy and righteous nation among the nations of the world. 

 

Sifting is but one of the four-part processes used in preparing grain for human consumption.  Threshing, winnowing, sifting and milling must all be applied before the fine flour can be baked into breads and cakes of various types.  The goal is to have a loaf that is free from any foreign objects: a pure, healthy loaf of bread.  God’s goal for His people is to have a holy and a glorious church that is without blemish and without fault.  Then, they can present the Bread of Life out of pure and innocent hearts and lives.

 

John the Baptist spoke of the first two of these processes when he said of Jesus, “Whose [winnowing] fan is in His [Christ’s] hand, and He will thoroughly purge His [threshing] floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:12).

 

It isn’t just Israel whom God wants to purify, but all of those whom He has chosen from among men and adopted as His own, both Jews and Gentiles.  We must all be threshed.  We must all be winnowed.  We must all be sifted.  Yes, and we must all be milled as well.

 

These operations are deliberately invasive.  They are designed to make us uncomfortable.  They produce fear, confusion, and doubt.  They cause us to examine ourselves and to question our faith.  They shake us loose from our dependency on self and force us to trust in Him Who holds all of the answers of life.  The fiery trials are not meant to merely warm us, they are meant to melt us!    

 

Simon Peter, one of Christ’s 12 Apostles, was an impetuous fellow.  He was quick to act, quick to speak, and generally very sure of himself.  The Lord, however, saw that Simon’s “strengths” would become weaknesses unless they were brought into subjection to the will of God.  Jesus, therefore, warned Simon Peter at one point saying, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat…” (Luke 22:31).  It must be understood that God doesn’t directly tempt or try His children.  This is the work of Satan.  James reminds us, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.  Do not err, my beloved brethren.” (James 1:13-16).  God will allow Satan to try us knowing that the trial of our faith will work patience, experience, and hope when it is finished (see James 1:3 and Romans 5:3-5).  Simon Peter needed to trust less in himself and more on the power of Christ in him.  Satan tries to capitalize on our weaknesses by exploiting them to his advantage.  He did this to Adam and Eve in the beginning and he still uses the same tactics to deceive and to destroy.  We must be cautious.  We must be aware.       

 

Jesus continued His warning to Peter by giving him some encouraging things to hold on to as he was being sifted.  The Lord said, “…but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” (Luke 22:32).  Like Peter, we need to understand that the Lord Himself has prayed that our faith stand firm and not fail us when we are going through sifting.  God has said that “…not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.”  What our enemy intends for evil, God intends for good.  There is plan and purpose in everything that the Lord does and in everything that He allows. 

 

“…and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”  We use the term “converted” to refer to the instant in which we were born again.  Jesus, however, uses it to describe the progressive transformation that happens to us as we go through the sifting process.  We are converted each time the impurities that are in our nature are sifted out of us, and we see how we must be more like Jesus.  It is then that we can “strengthen our brethren” as they struggle to pass through the sifting process.

 

Proving that Simon Peter didn’t have a clue what was about to happen to him, or the need that he had for it to happen, he responded to the Lord’s warning by saying, “...Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison, and to death.  And He [Jesus] said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest Me.” (Luke 22:33, 34).  When he was sifted, Peter gave in to his fear and his self-interest, denying that he even knew Jesus, not once or twice, but three times! 

 

This experience might have destroyed Peter, but he later found his faith, and forgiveness, when he recognized his risen Savior.  It wasn’t just Peter who needed to be sifted.  All of the Apostles needed to undergo sifting in their lives, not just once, but continually.  All of Christ’s disciples (including you and me) will experience sifting as we learn to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. 

 

In his Notes on the Old and New Testaments, Bible commentator Albert Barnes quotes the following concerning Amos 9:9:

 

“What is here said of all, God doth daily in each of the elect.  For they are ‘the wheat” of God, which, in order to be “laid up in” the heavenly “garner,” must be pure from chaff and dust.  To this end He sifts them by afflictions and troubles, in youth, manhood, old age, wheresoever they are, in whatsoever occupied, and proves them again and again.  At one time the elect enjoyeth tranquility of mind, is bedewed by heavenly refreshments, prayeth as he wills, loveth, gloweth, hath no taste for ought except God.  Then again he is dry, experienceth the heaven to be as brass, his prayer is hindered by distracting thoughts, his feet are as lead to deeds of virtue, his “hands bang down,” his “knees” are “feeble,” {#Heb 12:12 } he dreads death; he sticks fast, languishes.  He is shaken in a sieve, that he may mistrust self, place his hope in God, and the dust of vain-glory may be shaken off.  He is proved, that it may appear whether he cleave to God for the reward of present enjoyment, or for the hope of future, for longing for the glory of God and for love of Himself.  God suffereth him also to be sifted by the devil through various temptations to sin, as he said to the Apostle, “Simon, lo! Satan hath desired you, to sift you as wheat.” (Luke 22:31 ).  But this is the power of God, this His grace to the elect, this the devil attaineth by his sifting, that the dust of immoderate self love, of vain confidence, of love of the world, should fall off: this Satan effecteth not, that the least deed which pertaineth to the inward house and the dwelling which they prepare in their souls for God, should perish.  Rather, as we see in holy Job, virtues will increase, grow, be strengthened.”

 

We can see the need for sifting in the Apostle’s lives on the night of Jesus’ betrayal.  The Lord had led them to the Garden of Gethsemane and had asked them to watch and pray with Him shortly before His passion.  “And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with Me one hour?  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:40, 41).  This reproof should have been enough to shame them into watchfulness, but scripture records, “…He came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.” (Matthew 26:43).  We, too, find that when our intentions are the very best, our flesh fails us. 

 

This is a learning process, and we must not be discouraged when we are being sifted.  The Lord Himself is teaching and training us to be mature children of God and to grow up into Him in all things.  We need to learn to trust in His strength and His might, and not in our own.  The battle is not ours, but the Lord’s.  Our victory is always in Jesus!  When we come through our sifting, we will be stronger and will be able to strengthen the faith of those around us who are also going through the sifting process.  In this way the Body of Christ is able to minister life to itself through its various members and to bring glory and praise to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

 

Peter never forgot his denial of the Lord.  It worked humility, compassion and empathy in him and made him a more effective witness for his Master and Savior.