WRITTEN WORD
The Sieve is Full
1/9/2013
The Lord has declared that, “the sieve is full,” for this season.
“Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom,
And I will destroy it from the face of the earth;
Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” Says the Lord.
9 “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.
10 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword,
Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’
Luke 22:31
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,
A sieve is also known as a strainer or filter. It is used to remove unwanted materials from the grain. While often pebbles and straw stay in the sieve, the grain passes through. God has said that the sieve is full of unwanted materials basically, as in Amos 9:8-10. These unwanted ‘materials’ are sacrifices (not led by the Holy Spirit entirely) instead of loyalty (or mercy) in the Lord. God describes this loyalty or mercy as a morning cloud and like the dew that goes away early (Hosea 6:4). It does not last. It’s there for a short time and is gone. And the Lord desires loyalty or mercy and the true knowledge of God.
“O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
O Judah, what shall I do to you?
For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,
And like the early dew it goes away.
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have slain them by the words of My mouth;
And your judgments are like light that goes forth.
6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 “But like men they transgressed the covenant;
There they dealt treacherously with Me.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers
And defiled with blood.
9 As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,
So the company of priests murder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they commit lewdness.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:
There is the harlotry of Ephraim;
Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,
When I return the captives of My people.
The above Scripture describes what exactly is in the sieve: men that have transgressed the covenant and have dealt treacherously (faithlessly) with God, evildoers that have defiled others with blood (Luke 13:34-35; Matthew 23:29-31; 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16), lewdness (disgrace, Ezekiel 16:52), and harlotry with the false or with the things of the world and its wickedness in idolatry (Ezekiel 23).
Many are not prepared for this but God has placed them in the sieve in order to cleanse them thoroughly and separate them from these awful things they’ve entangled themselves in. He has allowed for the enemy, Satan, to sift them. Some will be utterly destroyed, as in Amos 9 because of their trust in things of this world and due to their misjudgment of what the Lord’s prophets have spoken to them, thinking misfortune will not come to them nor sword or famine (Jeremiah 5:11-31).
The Lord says, “You do not truly fear Me nor tremble in My presence. You do not see the power that I have over all things nor fear it. You do not understand that these judgments are just in My eyes because you have continued to walk in your iniquities and they have turned you away from Me. In all your iniquities you have not seen that you have departed from Me. Therefore these sins have caused you to lack in the goodness I have for you. Instead, you have become deceitful and have not defended the poor. There are prophets prophesying lies and you accept them with love and priests rule as men do in this world, in the fleshly nature, not led by My Holy Spirit; and you listen to them! I ask in these days when My holy fire falls, what will you do then when the answers you are seeking from these ones you love and listen to are not there? For I have been the answer and I AM the One you should be listening to, but you would not have it. Therefore My holy fire will fall and burn away all that you put your trust in and nothing will be available to you in your time of calamity to help you. You will be left desolate and will see that what I have spoken through My true prophets was Me, the Living God.”
“But for those that are truly Mine whom I have chosen from the beginning, do not fear. I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail in this hour. And I command you, after the sifting, once you have turned back again in your conversion rightly, to strengthen your brethren (Luke 22:32; John 17:6-19). For I AM taking you in a way you have not known. You have walked with Me intimately, but have not broken bread with Me. I will come stay with you (abide) and break bread with you in this sieve, for I hide in dark places (John 1:5; Luke 1:79). Was not the earth formless and void, and darkness over the surface of the deep (Genesis 1:1-2) and I was there? Do you not see I AM with you even in this formless and dark place? I will speak and the Light will reveal Himself and suddenly all will be made clear as the place without form will be separated and then you will know (Genesis 1:4). In a moment your eyes will be opened and you will no longer just walk with Me but you will see Me as I AM and will KNOW ME. I will restore you (John 21:15-19).”
28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.
30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.
For those of His that truly enter God’s house or Him fully, the Head (Christ, Ephesians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 11:3), will break bread; as the Jewish custom of breaking bread was done with the host (Zechariah 8:1) or the head of household. For Wisdom has invited them in…
Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
2 She has slaughtered her meat,
She has mixed her wine,
She has also furnished her table.
3 She has sent out her maidens,
She cries out from the highest places of the city,
4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
5 “Come, eat of my bread
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Forsake foolishness and live,
And go in the way of understanding.
Hear what the Spirit is saying…