Gideon – The Mercies of God

The Ages of Departure from the Land of Departure

   Our subject Gideon lived in an age of departure from the true God. Israel was still religious, for they worshiped the gods of the east, the gods of Midian, the gods of Nimrod, the gods of Ishmael, under the name of Baal. Baal originated in the land of Shinar. Its priesthood and rituals were all developed in the land of Shinar  by the children of the east. These same children of the east are trying to rule the world today. These gods have taken on other names, instead of visual deities or images, they disguise themselves under the name of religion. Would not the great deceiver use deception to destroy mankind and to lead man into the eternal fires of judgment? All these religions (past and present) are based on bondage, and that is the bondage to sin. There is none of God’s righteousness in these religions. And when we examine them we find that the same lusts that was in the day of Israel with Baal are alive and well today. Israel worshiped the gods of the east under their many different names, and each one of these names brought mankind into a bondage system of evil. These evil systems were controlled by evil men who loved sin and its slavery, and they transformed this slavery into everyday life. And if anyone would not bend to their religion, if anyone maintained his devotion to the Almighty God and would not tolerate their evil, then they were told to leave, they were shunned, or in modern terms excommunicated. Even now in parts of the east, they would be killed, and are being killed because of the depravity of man’s evil religion.

   The religion of the east wants to dominate the world once again. When we go all the way back to Israel, the gods of the east have not changed. Show me man’s religion under man’s rule, and I will show you the slavery of souls. These mind controlled slaves are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, they are being prepared by the adversary for the fires of hell where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.

   The nation of Israel had departed from the living God so the living God had departed from Israel. (Judges 6:1) The nation of Israel had done evil in the sight of the Lord, so God delivered them into the bondage of the nations. Seven years had taken its toll on their lives, and on their existence. Baal, the god of the Midianites, the god of the Amalekites, and the god of the children of the east had taken away Israel’s sustenance, their very food to survive. The worship of Baal, or the deity of Baal, goes all the way back to Nimrod.

And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. (Genesis 10:8)

He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. (Genesis 10:9)

And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. (Genesis 10:10)

   Although Nimrod established idolatry after the flood, he had a lot of similarities to the children of Cain. For he was a descendant of Cain. Only Noah was righteous before God, and that is why God calls HIM the eight, the fullness of God’s righteousness. Not one of his sons was called righteous before God. Not one of his sons preached righteousness before or after the flood. Nimrod was a descendant of Ham. He had married one of the daughters of Cain, and brought the accursed thing through the flood. This not only kept idolatry alive, but in the age of the nation of Israel there were also giants in the land. Nimrod’s kingdom, and Nimrod’s religion, and Nimrod’s great tower of Babel resemble a heart of a giant of a man, of a man of renown. And for this God had to scatter mankind and confound his language, for once again, they had turned from the true God of heaven and earth, the highest Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Side Note: Let’s briefly connect the line of Cain to Nimrod. Let’s look at the only record that we have of Nimrod and look at specific descriptive words.

And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. (Genesis 10:8) He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. (Genesis 10:9)

Three times we have the word ‘mighty.’ Let us now go to the very first mention of the word ‘mighty’ and see the connection. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:4) The giants were the line of Cain, it was the distinctive mark that God placed on Cain as a warning to others that this twisted and malformed monstrous body of a man was a murderer. The other connection of Cain to Nimrod is that Cain built the first recorded city before the flood, and Nimrod built the first kingdom with four notable cities after the flood. Babylon was the first city mentioned that Nimrod built in the land of Shinar. The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ describes the end of mighty men. (Revelation 6:16; 19:18) Let us return to our article and focus on the city of Nimrod, the city in the land of Shinar. The city of the ‘mighty’ man of renown, the city of Babel.

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. (Genesis 11:1)

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. (Genesis 11:2)

And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. (Genesis 11:3)

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:4)

And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. (Genesis 11:5)

And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. (Genesis 11:6)

Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. (Genesis 11:7)

So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. (Genesis 11:8)

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:9)

   Notice in Genesis Chapter 11 that this was a work of man, and not a work of God. In verse 4, we have their motivation: they wanted to be as gods. They wanted to reach the heavens, they wanted to reach the stars, now let us make us a name for ourselves. Let’s see, do we call ourselves Baal, or Horace, or Tammuz, or Isis, or Moloch, or Ishtar, or Venus, or Diana, or Mars, by what name should we go forth? How about all the above and more. Doesn’t this sound familiar in our present day? If you belong to a religion of man, you do not belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.

   Israel had become engulfed and swallowed up by the religion and worship of Baal. There was a grove on every corner. Baal had altars and many groves all over Israel, consequently, God, in His judgment, placed Israel under the bondage of the children of the east from whence Baal came. They were in spiritual slavery and a physical slavery because of their sin and evil in the sight of the Lord. Because of their sin, Israel would sow in sweat over the ground, and when harvest time came, the Midianites and the Amalekites, and the children of the east (from whence Baal came) would come and take their harvest, and what they could not carry away they destroyed.

And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; (Judges 6:3)

And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. (Judges 6:4)

   The children of the east left nothing behind, they were destroyers and they were of their father, the great destroyer: the devil. By the way, the devil uses the name, Apollyon, this is his name in relationship to his destruction of nations. (Revelation 9:11) For he is the great deceiver of not only individuals, but also the deceiver of nations. He leads them as he led Israel in the day of Gideon to worship themselves through their sin. How many today worship their sin? They know it is evil yet they want more. Where sin is concerned, we live in the I want generation. Every addiction that mankind could desire is being proclaimed throughout the world today, even, and religion has become an addiction to cover murder, lasciviousness, and horrible sins of the flesh. Apollyon has corrupted the nations, and their governments by allowing drugs to bend and warp the minds and souls of their populace.

   Governments are directly responsible for they have not destroyed drugs, and by not destroying this evil and the drug lords who supply them, then they are joined to it. They talk of a drug war, but they act like passivists. How many politicians have deepened their pockets with drug money with no intention of stopping the trade of drugs? ; instead they help to increase it by their own corruption. They look the other way and then join the drug lords by making marijuana legal, (oh, excuse me, medical marijuana — there I corrected it,  isn’t that better — amazing how many sick individuals are in this world!) and for this they will pay the eternal price. As they have joined with Apollyon to destroy the souls of men, so their souls will languish in the fire for all eternity. Then they ravished our land with the wickedness of abortion. The education of free sex (sex without responsibility or consequences) to the youth of the land by the educational system has changed the morality of the youth in the US. And when anyone is caught by their ‘free sex’ they run to the abortion clinic, or also known as the place to purchase fresh body parts. Only God will tell women that you are raping your own souls. For this act of murder is not only upon you, but also on all who aid in the murder of the precious souls of babies.

   I can go on and on with a list of the deception of Apollyon, and I believe that Gideon could do the same. For a part of Baal worship was to sacrifice their children. I find it amazing that the very voices in this liberal land who cry out for the welfare of children not to be separated from their law breaking parents do not cry out against the slaughter that goes on in the abortion clinics all over the US and the world today. God asks the nations, Where are your children? They must answer that We have cast them into the furnaces of fire. And God is saying now, and will continue to say, I will cast the nations of this world into a great period of judgment. The Almighty will reign a fire from heaven upon these nations if they will not repent of this wickedness. And you can count on it. And as one evil leader said, You can take it to the bank.

   The politicians and the governments of the world are writing a check that they will not want to cash. They have added to the debt of their sins and truly a day of reckoning will come, and then they will know, like Israel, the fear of the Lord, and they will cry out to God. God is not an old foolish man who winks at sin. He is the Almighty, the Creator of all things, and He will hold all of mankind accountable; body, soul and spirit unless mankind repents and calls on God’s mercy and grace. And the only one who can give mercy and grace is the Lord Jesus Christ. For it is He who is the Lord of glory. Israel was ravished of their harvests for they had sown evil, and then the evil reapers had come.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Galatians 6:8)

   These verses not only apply to the individual in Adam, but they also apply to collective man, nations and governments. Whenever man gives his consent or approval he is then joined to the harlots and will receive the harlot’s reward. He becomes part of the sin of the nation. You cannot mock God, and get away with it. You cannot crush His creation and be free from sin. Even the world, the man without Christ, knows this truth in his own twisted saying, What goes around, comes around. This is planted in their conscience, they know that one day that they will pay the price, they know that they will pay the Judge of heaven and earth one day.

   Israel was reaping what they had sown. They had sown sin against God. And what they sowed in the ground, God waited patiently for the harvest, and then sent the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east to deprive Israel of their much needed harvest. The Midianites came like grasshoppers covering the entire ground. If you have every farmed, one thing you do not want to see is a field full of grasshoppers. They march as a mighty army through the whole crop and leave absolutely nothing behind. It is truly an example of the wages of sin is death.

For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. (Judges 6:5)

And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD. (Judges 6:6)

Prosperity — Pride — Unthankful

   We now have Israel at their lowest point, and in their most impoverished state. Their materials, their possessions, their harvest was all in the hands of the Midianites. And their condition of soul before God was in great peril. So they cried unto the Lord. Why does God have to bring mankind so low? The answer is simply because mankind desires to sin against God. In prosperity mankind is lifted up. Before God’s judgment upon Israel they had enjoyed forty years of peace after the redemption at the hands of Deborah, Barak, and Jael. (Judges 4 and 5) Israel was now enduring seven years of bondage under the children of the east because of their sin. In prosperity they were lifted up in pride, in prosperity they became independent, in prosperity they became unthankful. Look around the world today. The prosperity is at an all time high (not that there also many in poverty). Look at the spoil of the world, and yet God is not in all their thoughts.

<<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.>> The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. (Psalm 14:1)

The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. (Psalm 14:2)

They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Psalm 14:3)

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD. (Psalm 14:4)

For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. (Psalm 10:3)

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. (Psalm 10:4)

   Sadly we read an editorial by the great Editor, the Spirit of God, concerning the heart of mankind. We consider the ways of God with the nation of Israel, and we see Israel away from their God. We should remember the sad close of this book of Judges. The last verse is almost the theme of the entire book. In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25) When all men become rulers there is no rule. When every person sets his own standard, there is no standard. When every individual, man, woman or child knows more than the Almighty God and lives after their own will, then there is chaos and anarchy among men. Husbands leave their wives, wives leave their husbands, children rebel against their parents, all social and economic strengths crumble. There is no cohesion of rule or government. There is no consistency in the lives of individuals. Morality becomes moral confusion, and there’s nothing to center on to maintain an orderly society. Mankind (without God) doing his own thing has set the stage for his own destruction. And from the days of Israel, this has not changed. We see it today, adults acting like children, and children acting like infants. There are many who if you ask what their purpose in life is, they will tell you by never taking their eyes off of themselves, for truly today every man is doing what is right in his OWN eyes, however, the eyes of Adam are not trustworthy for they failed him in the garden and they will continue to fail men because man is under sin. Compare Judges 21:25 with John 2:23 and 25. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. (John 2:23)

But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, (John 2:24)

And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. (John 2:25)

   The Lord Jesus had millenniums watching and dealing with humanity. In John 2:23-25 He knew that mankind had not changed. He, as the omnipotent God, the omniscient God, the omnipresent God, the Almighty, knew all men, and knew their thoughts and knew what was in mankind. And the Almighty God today still knows what is in the hearts of men. The Lord Jesus knew from the beginning, when Adam sinned, that sin would rule over Adam, and over Adam’s descendants. Sin changed Adam. The change was irrecoverable because Adam was changed from good to evil, from innocent to sin, from life to death, in a moment of time Adam’s teeth (and palate) took him away from God, and before he knew the taste of the fruit, the evil of sin had embittered his taste, and had left all men under sin, and the judgment of Almighty God.

   Now Israel in their poverty cried out unto the Lord. When was the last time that you cried out unto the Lord? On the top of the mountain you can look around and you can see all the good things and you can see all the bad things. You can enjoy all the good things and pass judgment on the evil, however, in the valley, you’re all alone, the walls surround you and your vision is not without but within. You look within your own heart and what needs to be changed. You see your own frailties and your own sin. The valley gets darker quicker than the mountain top. Yet, there in the valley, on ones’ knees, one can cry unto the Lord.

Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. (Psalm 126:4)

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. (Psalm 126:5)

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. (Psalm 126:6)

   Don’t you see the captivity of Zion? Don’t you see the captivity of the Church? What mankind has done to precious souls leaving them week after week impoverished without the bread of the Word of God. The Lord Jesus in rebuking Satan declared, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The children of Israel had gone from a land of milk and honey to an impoverished land under the bondage of sin, and the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east. Now we approach the God of mercy.

 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites, (Judges 6:7)

That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; (Judges 6:8)

And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land; (Judges 6:9)

   In Judges Chapter 6, verses 7 -9 the children of Israel had cried unto the Lord. Their voices had come up into the Lord’s ears. The Lord’s ears are not heavy that He cannot hear the crying of His people. Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: (Isaiah 59:1) Their cries came up into the ears of God and in verse 8 what did God do? He sent His Word. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11) The Lord sent a man of His choosing, a prophet like John the Baptist with a strong reminder to Israel of His past work for them. He had brought them out of the land of Egypt with a strong and stretched out arm, out of the house of bondage, and out of the fiery furnaces of Egypt, and placed them in a land, and made them a people of liberty, a free people under God. But they would not obey the voice of the Almighty. Although they heard His voice from the fires of mount Sinai, the very voice that spoke to Moses and told Moses what to write, the very voice that spoke to Joshua as Captain of the Lord’s host, they refused to obey the voice of God.

   The Lord Jesus came specifically to assure Joshua that He, the God of Israel, would go before them and defeat their enemies. Of course the condition was obedience to the Word of God. In Judges, however, we see them groveling for food, and crying out to God Almighty because of their self inflicted wounds of sin against God, and against His Word. Yet, God knows what was in man, and He showed His mercy to them. First, He sent His Word by the prophet, one He could trust, and so God put His Word in the prophet’s mouth. (Jeremiah 1) The prophet informed the people what they had done, and what God had done for them; that they were in a state of disobedience and were not obeying the voice of the Lord. And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice. (Judges 6:10) Verse 10 gives us the cause, and the why, however, mankind always hears his own voice and not the voice of God.

   How often have you heard someone say, Why me? He never considers God’s part. Only his own dilemma. Or a group of people say, Why us? Man has taken it upon himself in his sin to not be responsible to God in any way. Speaking of man, I was told that before the great depression in the United States there was a tremendous pride in this country. So much so that there were billboards put up from coast to coast and on these billboards they boasted, You cannot stop US. With the letters US in red, white and blue. Then the great depression struck. God closed the factories, God closed the banks, God impoverished the people, and the stock exchange became a warehouse for confetti and the dollar became non existent to must people of labor. They would work all day and sometimes all night just for food. People tried to escape their poverty, and could not. They traveled great distances and only found more poverty. When God draws His sword of judgment it is hard on the world and if His people are disobedient it also falls hard on them.

   Many do not see the sword of God’s judgment in the early Church, but it was there right from the beginning. We have God dealing with Ananias and Sapphira in the book of Acts Chapter 5. They lied to the Holy Spirit, and God took away the very breath of their lies, and they carried them out and buried them.

   In the days of Gideon we see this man of valor, although he had not yet experienced victories. He was laboring hard to remove the chaff from the wheat. Gideon’s labor reflected what God had to do to the nation of Israel. God was thrashing Israel, and today, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has to thrash the wheat and separate the wheat from the chaff; the tares need to be separated from the wheat.

    The world church is not the home of the godly, or the land of God’s praise, It is full of tares waiting to be burned because of disobedience to God. Babylon the Great is symbolic in the mirror or all man’s religion and wealth. It will be burned and be no more. With Israel God listened to their cries, God sent a prophet that they might repent, the prophet gave the Word of God, and yet at that point we see no effect from the people. They heard, they listened, and yet, they continued to do what was right in their own eyes.

God Prepared a Place

   And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. (Judges 6:11) In verse 11, God Himself had to act, He had to take His people back unto Himself, and into His own hands. Once again, the Lord Jesus came to reveal Himself in a supernatural way as the angel of the Lord, or the angel of His presence. The call of Gideon is reminiscent of the call of Abram out of Ur of Chaldees when the God of glory appeared to Abraham. (Acts 7:2) Now the angel of the Lord (guess who?) sat under the oak tree in Ophrah. This is in Ophrah, a city called after a man of the tribe of Judah. (1^st Chronicles 4:14) And Meonothai begat Ophrah: and Seraiah begat Joab, the father of the valley of Charashim; for they were craftsmen. Also Ophrah was listed as a city of Benjamin.

Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Bethhoglah, and the valley of Keziz, (Joshua 18:21)

And Betharabah, and Zemaraim, and Bethel, (Joshua 18:22)

And Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah,　(Joshua 18:23)

   This location is understandable because Manasseh and Ephraim bordered Benjamin on the north, and Ophrah was what we would call today a border town. It was south of Gilead, east of Bethel, the Jordan was 10 to 15 miles east, and Jericho was to the southeast.

   We also have a similar visitation of the Lord Jesus with Abraham before the judgment of Sodom when the Lord came with two of His angels, and sat under a tree, we presume an oak tree. And He sat there in the cool of the day while Abraham prepared a fatted calf for the Lord. Now in Judges, the Lord came and took up His place under an oak tree. (Joshua 17:2) This place was on the property of Gideon’s father, and belonged to Gideon’s family from the tribe of Manasseh.

   There was also a lot for the rest of the children of Manasseh by their families; for the children of Abiezer, and for the children of Helek, and for the children of Asriel, and for the children of Shechem, and for the children of Hepher, and for the children of Shemida: these were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph by their families. (Joshua 17:2) (Abiezer was the connection to Gideon’s father).

   The Scriptures connect all together to establish the location of the oak tree. For by the oak tree there was also a great stone, and this was a landmark between the border of Benjamin and Manasseh. And it is at this location that the Lord came while Gideon was busy thrashing and hiding the wheat from the enemy. Gideon (like Abraham) was not looking for God, but God was looking for him. Just like Abraham, God knew the man Gideon from before he was in his mother’s womb. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5)

   God prepared a place, and then He brought His servant to that place. As Moses that day at the burning bush, he was not looking for God, he was tending the sheep of his father-in-law. However, God had prepared a place and Moses heard the call, the voice of the Lord: Moses, Moses. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. (Exodus 3:4) In verse 2 of Exodus 3, the Lord once again uses the title, the angel of the Lord. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. (Exodus 3:2) Could the Lord of glory take on the appearance of an angel? Yes. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. (Hebrews 2:16) Hebrews 2:16 is centering on the seed of Abraham for the redemption of mankind. If Christ took on the nature of angels He would not have been able then to redeem mankind for He must be of the seed of Abraham, he must be the GodMan to call a people unto Himself apart from sin which He accomplished when He died for the sin of the world, as man, on the cross of Calvary. Therefore, when it was needful for Him to appear in the likeness of an angel this was completely within His range of His divine power.

   When He appeared in the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar as the Son of God, it was completely in His power to do so. When He personally held the lion’s mouth shut in Daniel’s den of lions, once again, He appeared as the Angel of the Lord, or as Daniel said, his angel. When Christ appeared to Abraham as Melchisedec, it was within His divine power to do so. Man would only restrict the God of creation to edify himself and not edify God before Him. God is quite capable of doing the impossible which brings possibilities for man. This is what we have with Gideon.

   As the angel of the Lord watched Gideon diligently and quickly thrashing the wheat in a state of turmoil attempting to hide food for his family from their enemies, this was when God acted and appeared to Gideon. His very food, his sustenance of life had to be hidden from the enemy; his job was to thrash the wheat, and hide it by the winepress. This is where the Lord appeared to Gideon as he labored for his family to hide the food from the enemy of his people And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. (Judges 6:12)

The Winepress and Gideon

   The Lord appeared to Gideon and then there was recognition between Gideon and the Lord of glory. Once again, Scripture paints a wonderful picture of colorful thread with words. We see the oak tree, a symbol of strength; we see the rock, which later would receive the sacrifice, and the fire of God would be given to consume the sacrifice. However, why the wine press? Why did God specifically mention the wine press. These are the prophetic words of the Spirit of God from the book of Isaiah, Chapter 63, verses 2 thru 4.

Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? (Isaiah 63:2)

I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.(Isaiah 63:3)

For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. (Isaiah 63:4)

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.　 (Revelation 19:15)

   This is why God puts the winepress in Judges Chapter 6. God’s wrath is about to be unleashed on the Midianites and on the Amalekites, and on the children of the east, the enemies of God. And these enemies are microcosms of the nations that He will destroy in His wrath in the great and terrible day of the Lord’s vengeance upon the nations of this world for their evil and wickedness that they have propitiated since the days of Cain, who was a murderer (and his father was the devil). As you can see from prophecy there is truly much in the wine press, for the Lord Himself walked through the winepress of God’s judgment to bring salvation to us. Gideon was thrashing the wheat, he was taking the chaff and casting it aside, and this is what God is doing to the children of men today. He is calling out His people who are among the fields of harvest, He has saved them from themselves, and from the enemy, and now through His divine work in us He is preparing us for all eternity with Him. He has tread the wine press alone.

   God never wastes one word in the whole book that He has given to us. Man needs to understand that the words in our Bible are given by the Holy Spirit of God. They are preserved by the Holy Spirit of God, and our Bible has been through the winepress. Men have denied it. Men have lied about it. Men have deceptively used it. And that is why we must seek the mind of the Spirit of God whenever we read the Scriptures. Once again, we have the oak tree, we have the rock (which our faith is founded on, the Lord Jesus Christ) and we have the angel of the Lord, the Lord Himself revealing His mercy and grace to us. We have the winepress that He has gone through for us. All these articles speak of our wonderful Savior and our great salvation through Jesus Christ. Even today, when speaking of an oak tree a symbol of strength comes to mind. The oak tree is the father of all the hardwood trees, not only recognized for its strength, but it outnumbers the rest of the hardwoods. It is amazing how God uses these symbols to draw our hearts into His presence.

The Empty Vessel is Prepared

   The Lord in His grace now speaks to calm and to prepare a vessel for His service. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. (Judges 6:12) What a comfort to know that the Lord is with thee. In the walk of faith there are many outward pitfalls, and just as many pitfalls within, but faith always answers to the One who gives faith, and strengthens that faith in His mighty power, and His preservation of the saints in light. The Lord now prepares a vessel for His service. The Lord sees a far greater man than Gideon sees in himself. When one is on the Lord’s side, it is the Lord’s valor that strengthens, that comforts, and gives the victory. Even in the day of small things, the Lord’s strength and power is just as strong and mighty as it was in the days of Gideon. Christ is there to give and to enlarge Gideon’s faith. What we cannot do, He will do. What we cannot do, we will do for the glory of our God.

   Gideon was a vessel (just a vessel) yet, in the hands of God he was a mighty man of valor. Another mighty man of valor was Paul the apostle. He declared that he was a chosen vessel, and that it was the Lord who filled that vessel. The Lord saw in Gideon what Gideon and others did not see. Gideon had a low esteem of himself, and yet, God called him, thou mighty man of valour. The Almighty already knew this, for Gideon steps were already counted. Gideon’s steps were already totaled. Gideon’s steps were already assessed by God Himself. We believe that at the appearing of the Lord, even though Gideon was thrashing the wheat he was musing on the words of the prophet that God had sent. The Spirit of God was working in his heart, and as Gideon labored, and as he sweat, he was realizing what had brought all of Israel to this point, to this bondage, they were an impoverished people, and Gideon saw the realization of this impoverishment in thrashing the wheat. The entire nation was being thrashed by the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east. Gideon was not a mighty man of valour. It was God who made him a mighty man of valour. The rest of his house, the rest of the tribe of Manasseh, the rest of Israel was ignoring the word of the Lord that was put in the mouth of the prophet who had been sent to them.

Why

   And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. (Judges 6:13) In Judges 6:13 we have the most used word when man is in trouble. Why me? Why us? Why is God doing this to me? Why is God doing this to us? Mankind continues to shift his guilt, and his sin away from himself by not acknowledging the cause and the effect of his personal and collective sin. A righteous judge judges righteously. He does not allow leniency for the guilty. He condemns them to death. Wow, that’s hard, but it is the truth. God must judge the unrepentant sinner with all fierceness and with all power of His righteous judgment over the sins of mankind.

   Oh, what must I do to be saved from the wrath to come? Only grace will save you. Only God’s mercy will avail for you. And both God’s grace and God’s mercy are found in His beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ. He went through the winepress for you. He shed His blood for you. He took that very blood and placed it on the mercy seat in heaven above for you. So that God could look at you and say, Your sin and iniquity I will remember no more. The wonderful grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you and He will make you a mighty man of valor.

   God had set up a government over Israel. It was a theocracy: meaning the people were ruled by God. There was no middle man, there was no king, there was no dictator, there was no president, it was God and the people. And God had given them his law, and His rules of life with NO exceptions. Anyone who would not obey was a transgressor. And Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. The laws of God, the rules of life were given for the prosperity and the welfare of the people of Israel. But then collectively they began to break God’s rules and laws. The men of that day, the Levites who were responsible for the government of God did nothing, and because of their lack God sent a prophet, however, this meant nothing to them. They broke more rules, and they disobeyed more laws. They pushed God to divine intervention for at their present state of evil Israel as a nation would cease. So God (in His mercy) came out of heaven above to preserve His people, not for the children of the east, not for the Midianites or for the Amalekites, but to preserve His people that He had brought out of the furnace of Egypt. Even now in the dispensation of grace, a time period of God’s mercy upon all men, whether they are Jew or Greek, whether they are rich or poor, no matter what race or nationality, there stands a Man in heaven with nail pierced hands who is calling to the souls of mankind in love and grace. It is man who has the stiff neck. It is man who has the rebellious spirit. It is man who shakes his fist in the face of God, and says, My will not God’s will. Yet, God continues to send His prophets, He continue to send His Word, He continues to send His servants that He might deliver man from the bondage of sin.

Law and Order Needed

   Even the governments of the world must have laws to maintain order. Although man does not look at it this way, the governments of the world are also dealing with sinners. They themselves (governments) are made up of sinners, both populace and the government are people of iniquity, all are trespassers against the Almighty God. Yet, mankind must have rule to live by. There must be some order of law to contain the sin of man. If there was no law against murder, we would see tremendous amounts of murder throughout the world. When governments cease to judge this one crime in the harshest way, they are allowing people to trample theirs laws. When after we have a rash of killings, the governments have to say, Enough is enough, then man looks at the government in total shock because murderers are being put to death as quickly as they have murdered, And we hear from Adam, Why? Why the death penalty? They have no comprehension of the gravity of man’s condition. Man is the rule breaker. Man is the law breaker. Man is the helpless sinner sold to the slavery of sin. And what does man say? Man says, Why? For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Why? As by one man sin came into the world, and death by sin, so death has passed on all men. Why? Because in the fall of man, in the fall of Adam, man lost everything. ALL was gone. He had nothing left. No good thing was found in man. Man was completely consumed with his own depravity. When Adam (in the Jewish leadership under the high priest, and the Levites, and the rulers of the Jews, and the rulers of Rome) crucified the Lord of glory, and later Rome came in and destroyed Jerusalem, no one ever thought of the words that they themselves uttered, Let His blood be on us and on our children. The high priests probably looked into the heavens and used that famous word, Why? When anyone falls into trouble, or under the judgment of God because of sin, God has told us the ‘why’ in Psalm Chapter 2 verses 1-4.

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? (Psalm 2:1)

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, (Psalm 2:2)

Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. (Psalm 2:3) He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. (Psalm 2:4)

   Gideon, like all men, asked the Lord, Why? This is the One who knows all things. There is nothing hidden from God. God had been watching Israel, God had stated that they had done evil in His sight. God had sent a prophet to bring them the Word of the Lord. Also we should mention that in the entire book of Judges the tabernacle is not mentioned one time. In the book of Joshua, it is mentioned several times, but after the death of Joshua as you get into the book of Judges and through the entire time period of the book of Judges, there was no mention of the tabernacle. It was Israel’s responsibility, each and every Israelite was to know the words that God gave to Moses. They were to keep the ten commandments before them at all times.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (Deuteronomy 6:4)

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: (Deuteronomy 6:6)

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 6:7)

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. (Deuteronomy 6:8)

And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (Deuteronomy 6:9)

And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, (Deuteronomy 6:10)

And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; (Deuteronomy 6:11)

Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (Deuteronomy 6:12)

Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. (Deuteronomy 6:13)

Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (Deuteronomy 6:14)

(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 6:15)

And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, (Deuteronomy 10:12)

To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? (Deuteronomy 10:13)

Here is the answer to Gideon’s question, Why?

And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. (Numbers 25:3)

And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor. (Numbers 25:5)

Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you. (Deuteronomy 4:3)

They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. (Psalm 106:28)

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.(Hosea 9:10)

Idolatry – The Direct Insult and Sin Against God

   They had joined themselves to Baal. If I steal from another, I have sinned against that person, however, the one horrific sin against God Himself is idolatry. For the truth of idolatry is the worship of an edifice, a tangible object that denies the existence of the true God of heaven and earth. Idolatry is a direct sin against the Almighty God.

   During the forty years that God gave peace to Israel they prospered, and in their prosperity they forgot God, therefore, the sin of idolatry brought its reward. And they cried, Why Lord? They were blinded by their own sin. I personally have had God’s blessing, and I have also felt His firm hand —only for my own good in His sight. So I don’t ask, Why? I simply bow and beseech Him for His loving kindness. For I have a Savior who loved me unto death, and truly, whatever I need in life to keep me close to Him I am willing to bear, and willing to be obedient. However, I know if I do not follow His will then He will take me and chasten me for my good. (Hebrews 12) Hebrews 12 is a good Chapter for every child of God. For God chastens us for our good. For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. (Hebrews 12:11) Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (Hebrews 12:11)

   God, not man, knows what we need, and He knew exactly what Israel needed. They needed to be delivered by His mercy and His mercy alone. Paul writing to the Romans told them that God had written aforetime those things that are for our learning. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4) This also includes the book of Judges. These things are written that we might learn, and profit from the Scriptures. It is always good to see ourselves in the reflection of the past.

   It is important to understand the total makeup of Adam whether in the garden, or before the flood, or in the days of Israel because we are to learn the character of all mankind under sin. By learning of them, we can see ourselves in the excellent light of God’s righteousness. We are no better, we are no worse, we are Adam, and unless we are redeemed, and created in Christ then we are without God and without hope in this world. For the Lord does not change, He is the same yesterday, today and forever, however, man is in a constant flux, constantly changing because of his sin. The reality is that humanity as wild herds are being driven by sin. Man actually becomes a worshiper of his sin, and his sin (as we have seen) in the hearts of men is driving man to the slaughter, and only divine mercy can save him. Through the history of mankind, he has been on the brink of annihilation, yet, God in His mercy has stepped in many times and has ended great wars to preserve mankind. God has raised up leaders to preserve not only mankind, but to preserve a way in the wilderness for God’s people. One only needs to read the book of Judges to see the hand of Christ and His mercy with His people. The victories that Israel rejoiced in under Joshua were no more. Israel had turned their backs on the Lord, the very One who had delivered them from the bondage of Egypt. Each epic or time period in the book of Judges testifies to the helplessness of man in their sin. A nation called of God empowered by His law, and yet, man failed his responsibilities; God would draw them in love and then deliver them. And then the cycle would begin all over again. Once they had prosperity they ran again like wild asses to idolatry.

   The Spirit of God knew that our age would ignore the precepts and the teachings of the Old Testament that is why the Lord Jesus reminded His disciples that the things written in the law, in the prophets, and in the Psalms spoke of Him. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. (Luke 24:44) The Spirit of God constantly reminds us to search the Scriptures, not just to read them, but to search them with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our spirit, so that we might stand in the evil day. But the world, the flesh, and the devil will bring in deception even using God’s Word against us. When you give a deceiver a Bible he will run wild, he will change the times and the seasons. He will throw away the reasoning of God with mankind, and will concentrate on his little frail being, and how he can satisfy his wants and wishes by denying the truth of God. God wants us to learn from Adam’s failures not just his failure in the garden, but through the entire history of Adam.

   If you read the history of man penned by man, you will find that man has a history of recording fairy tales. He writes history out of his own imagination. Good men are seen as bad, and bad men are seen as almost godlike. How many times have you heard a eulogy from clergymen about a man who was so wicked that no one could stand his wickedness, and yet, at his death he is raised from the grave in their fantasies of his life. Men of reprobate minds love to praise other reprobates high above the average man, and that is why they cannot abide God’s holy Word. Man will make heroes out of the worst kind of liars and haters of God. I have witnessed this throughout my lifetime. They lift the banner of hate and deception high above the heads of men, they change history right before our eyes, and expect everyone to believe their lies of their fallen heroes: the worst of men. Yet, they are the very ones who get the greatest eulogies, and the greatest and longest lauds and endless processions. The propaganda of the world, the flesh and the devil hide the real Adam under laurels of their own pride. When God exposes them, and writes His history of mankind in His Word, man cannot stand to look within its pages. Let every person understand that God has written your history and it is written in stone with an iron pen of fire. Only through the Word of God can the illusions and delusions of men be brought in check.

The Empty Vessel

   God through His mercy looks and finds an empty vessel in Gideon hiding the wheat from the enemy. A man who was the least in his father’s house. A man looked down on by his brethren, and his father’s house who was also the least in the tribe of Manasseh, and Manasseh was the least of the tribes of Israel. And yet, God said, I will begin here with this man Gideon. Paul could say of himself that he was the least of all the apostles that he was a vessel filled for the glory of Christ, and with the glory of Christ.

And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. (1 Corinthians 15:8)

For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (1 Corinthians 15:9)

But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. (1 Corinthians 15:11)

   Through this empty vessel, Gideon delivered the nation of Israel, not by his sword, but by the sword of the Lord, and God used the empty vessel of Paul.

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. (1 Corinthians 1:21)

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: (1 Corinthians 1:26)

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; (1 Corinthians 1:27)

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: (1 Corinthians 1:28)

That no flesh should glory in his presence. (1 Corinthians 1:29)

   As we allow the Spirit of God to examine us through His Word, we know that within us, within Adam, there is no good thing, yet, by the mercies of God He has given His Son to deliver us from Adam, from sin, from death, and from the devil. Through Christ’s divine Spirit within the apostle Paul, we have the witness in written form of the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. Like Gideon, it took Christ Himself to call and to change Saul of Tarsus to the man and servant of God called Paul. So it took Christ Himself to call Gideon, an empty vessel, an individual of low estate, to be changed into a mighty man of valor. Christ sat on the rock, under the oak tree, waiting and watching till the appointed time for Gideon’s call. Then Christ revealed Himself to Gideon; even though Israel had departed from God, and God had departed from them for a season, but now God in His mercy would defeat the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east because their time of judgment had come. They had filled up their cup of sin.

   God picked an obscure empty vessel to show forth His glory so that no flesh would glory in His presence. These words of Paul should ring true in your hearts that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. (1 Corinthians 15:50) One must be changed; one must become a new creation in Jesus Christ. For the Spirit of divine grace will take you into the kingdom of God.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? (John 3:4)

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6)

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7)

   Gideon, the empty vessel, did not know what God had in store for him. At his call Gideon did not know his future, yet, the Lord knew the complete future of Gideon. It was the words of the Lord, not of man, nor of Gideon, that called Gideon, a mighty man of valour even before Gideon was victorious over the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east. It is God, and God alone who sees and proclaims, thou mighty man of valor proving the authenticity of God’s truth and God’s written history of man. What God has written let no man change for the eternal Word is settled in heaven and kept on earth by the Holy Spirit of God. Let God be true, and every man in Adam a liar. Gideon could say to the Lord, Who am I Lord? The Lord could say to Gideon, You are all I need to deliver Israel, you are an empty vessel to be filled with the fire of God, and with the valor of the Almighty God within.  Amen

To be continued . . .

© Copyright 2018, Michael Haigh

Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.

All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)