"Flock, Floor And Winepress"

"FLOCK, FLOOR AND WINEPRESS"

Dt 15:14-"Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him."

LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

Three separate sources of provision. Flocks need "tend-serving", grains need "thresh-harvesting", and fruits (of vine [grapes] or tree [olives, dates, figs]) need "press-processing"! In this text, Hebrews were being instructed how to properly provide for a fellow- Jew slave whose indentured time had elapsed. LIBERTY! Most folks don't know or have forgotten that God made provisions for slavery!

That's right, He condoned, allowed, honored and even regulated (made provision for) slavery! He instructs slaves how to be slaves, and masters how to treat & release them! He even sets the maximum length of time of their bondage! God knows all about slavery! And that's why He Speaks so eloquently on the subject of Liberty! He sends each one of us into a kind of indentured bondage (carnal, sin-nature) when He consigns us to this mortal life!

But He has Graciously given example after example of His expectation during and after such incarceration!: Eliazar to Abraham, Isaac to Abraham, Jacob to Laban, Joseph to Egypt, Israel to Egypt, Daniel to Babylon, Israel to Babylon, and Assyria, and Rome, demoniacs to demons, the sick to diseases, the ignorant to darkness, the condemned to the Law, the Disciples to their flesh, the forgiven to circumcision, Peter/Paul/John (et all) to their dungeons, privations, testings, trials, tribulations and final martyred deaths!

God has "abandoned" us all to this world, that He might SAVE us utterly from it! But we must never forget that our prison is of our making, while our Salvation (Freedom!) is of His! The word "jubilee" is a harvest festival term! [As is "tribulation"] The celebration is for the bounty God has granted!

THE FLOCK:
Fellowship speaks of relationship! God has premised all His provisions on this one issue - unity of One-ness . The "horizontal" axis of the cross is attached to it's "vertical" co-respondent as Jesus implies in Mt 22:36-40, "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. ["Verticle"]: And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. ["Horizontal"] On these two commandments ["Cross"] hang all the law and the prophets."

"Relationship" to God means Love! Hence all the references to shepherds & flocks. And the need of (dumb) lambs for such attentive love which camels, oxen, goats, asses, dogs and the like never require! But God Provides FROM the flock!

THE FLOOR:
Threshing, gathering, beating, hulling, burning, grinding, bruising; reducing to powder (flour-dust) the grain which only has the blast furnace to look forward to as it is processed for use! Bleak? Not at all! It is by this means God takes that which is condemned to oblivion (the void of vanity) and refines it to wholesome benefit for His invited guests!

It was by this means God Allowed Joseph to be sold into bondage, privation and prison so He might feed millions through him! Joseph "becomes" God's "broken bread & poured-out wine" (Eucharist) for others! As such, he becomes another "type" ("snapshot") of Christ!

The threshing "floor" is also the traditional time & place of "vows" or "proposals" of marriage (as seen in the Ruth/Boaz story). It represents all that "fruition" (fruitful multiplication) commands. God expects "His" to enhance Him (return to Him interest-laden). He sees us as His investment in fertile soil (the world He so Loved-Jn 3:16). All this is reminiscent of "the floor".

THE WINEPRESS:
All my Christian life there has been a "banner over thy head" which read, "AND HE SHALL TAKE YOU INTO HIS WINEPRESS AND PLACE LOVE IN RIGHT-ORDER IN YOUR HEART". To this day (5/29/94) I cannot remember where I read, sung or heard those words; or whether the Lord whispered them just to me! Needless to say, the word "winepress" has great significance to me!

But I know the correct word is "Gethsemane"! The process of sanctification, and the purity which it rightly demands must be a Holy procedure to have included even our Lord Jesus!

The writer of Hebrews makes this very clear by the manner which he chooses to describe this "refining" of Innocent Perfection in the Son of God;

Hebrews 5:7-10 "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;"

Did you catch all that? Jesus cried strong tears in supplication to be saved . . . . and was denied! As the "Lamb" of God, He was sent to "seek and to save" those who were "lost" and "caught in a thicket of thorns" (Symbol of the curse). As Lamb, He was follower par-perfection of His Heavenly Shepherd and Father!

As a flock-member, He was FirstBorn and was devoted to God! He was denied (in the "press", Gethsemane!) precisely the salvation His Death Provides (at the "cross", Calvary)!

As the Word of God, He was the Bread of Heaven sent unto Harvest-Time (Advent) to be "cut off" (circumcised, "husked"), "bruised" (beaten, abused) and thrashed (threshed) - WHERE? - on the "threshingfloor of Ornan" (exact Temple location in Jerusalem)!

As vows are made final and promise fulfilled at the time of His Liberty, so God had promised Abraham His One-Way-Only blood covenant (God would hold up both sides, His and Abraham's), and God now "picks up the tab" for all Adam's kids! As "Lamb" He was "flock"; as SeedCorn He was "floor-threshed"; and as "Vine" and "FirstFruits" He becomes "press-crushed" into a NEW Vintage. He ministered the Word (Manna from Heaven) unto us; His Flesh was torn as the Pascal Lamb's was; and His Body was crushed, and gushed, and spilt It's Blood for our sins!

When God "prepared a table" for us and said "come and dine", He also told us we must dine on HIM! He is Provider and Provision!; Gift and Giver; Host and Feast! He provides all that He IS to all who are HIS!

And the "ticket" at the "gate"? To "know" (LOVE) Him! FLOCK, FLOOR, WINEPRESS! Jacob (slave) became Israel (Prince) by clinging submission! Every slave's a Prince in-Christ! God Provides, His Way! It's for us but to OPEN/BELIEVE/RECEIVE!