Isaiah 43:19 explained - I Will Make A Way

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert - Isaiah 43:19

Isaiah foreshadows that the Lord will judge Babylon and promises His exiled people new life. The Israelites are in desperate circumstances in Babylon. Life looks bleak and they are stuck in a pit of despair as they look back in life. But God is saying when you remember the past, look at the great work He has done for them not the discouragement and defeat. For He is a God if miracles and He will make a way just has He has done before for them before. He creates roads in the wilderness. He forms rivers in the desert. He will make a new way.

Staying stuck in the past can often keep is from the new God wants for our life or we worry about all the obstacles in the way. God continually reminds His people and us that it’s His will and way and He alone accomplishes it.

This verse reminds us of His provision and power. He is a God who cares. He will bring you home even when your wilderness is filled with discouragement and defeat he makes a road. Even when your desert dries up your will, His river replenishes your soul. Trust in Him and His way.

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Fully Known - 1 Corinthians 13:12 - Meaning In The Bible

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known

1 Corinthians 13:12

This verse is both reassuring and hopeful.  Reassuring to know we are fully known by God himself and still loved.  He knows our thoughts, our actions, and even what we will think before we think it.  He knows our hurts, loves and anxieties.  He knows our past and future.  We are fully known in every which way by the Creator of the universe and He still loves us completely and provides us a hope for the future.  A hope so special that even in the dark of this world, we long for it.  We long for a future with Him and He promises that even though that future of eternity looks dim and unwavering like an ancient mirror; it will become clear when we meet Him face to face.  The bible gives us glimpses of eternity but one day, we will know fully.  And even more special while we are still fully known and loved by Him, we will have the privilege to fully know our Savior as well.  We will not be all knowing but know Him completely.  That’s what makes Heaven so special.  The unhindered, unrestricted presence of our Lord.

Be reminded to rest in His reassuring love and to live for the hope of our future that will one day become our beautiful reality.

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Meaning of Winnowing, Winnowing Fork, Threshing Floor

When reading the Bible we often come across words, tools, or phrases that do not make sense to us in today’s world. For example: winnowing, winnowing fork or chaff. What is a threshing floor?

These terms are often used but not always as a picture of God’s judgment. It is a visual that the Jewish people understood very well but is foreign to us today.

Winnowing is a farming method developed by ancient people for separating the grain from the chaff. The chaff is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of grain or the husk of corn.

In simple terms, after harvesting the grain, they would strike, beat or crush the grain to loosen it from the desirable grain from the stalk. Then they would go through a winnowing process which was to throw the mixture into the air, often with a basket or winnowing fork, so the wind blows away the lighter chaff and the heavier grain falls to the floor. It’s separating the good from the bad. In modern farming, this process is made easy by the combine.

The threshing floor is where this process happens. It could have been outdoors on a flat piece of land or indoors over a smooth floor of earth, stone or wood.

Here are some examples in scripture where the writer uses these terms to create a picture for the reader of God’s judgement. When God will separate the good from the bad.

Matthew 3:12 (Luke 3:17)

His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Isaiah 41:14-16

“You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away,

And the storm will scatter them;

But you will rejoice in the Lord,

You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Jeremiah 15:7

“I will winnow them with a winnowing fork

At the gates of the land;

I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people;

They did not repent of their ways.

Jeremiah 51:1-2

“I will dispatch foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow her

And may devastate her land;

For on every side they will be opposed to her

In the day of her calamity.

Meaning and Use of Olive in the Bible

How do you write about the use of the “olive” in the Bible? Where do you even begin to dive deep?  There are so many facets to the Olive Tree.  There is the tree, the branch, the shoot, the oil, and the Mount Of Olives and I’m pretty sure there are more areas to dive into with the Bible!  I mean the Olive tree/branch is referenced from Genesis as a sign of peace when the dove brought back an Olive Branch during Noah’s Flood all the way to Revelations with the vision of the two Olive Trees.  Leviticus uses “olive” 38x in the NIV for rams, bulls and for grain offerings.  In Numbers, and other parts of the Bible, the Israelites are instructed to use only the finest olive oil for setting apart and for ceremonial rituals.  Later we read in Deuteronomy about how olive oil or the olive crop will be blessed among other things if the Israelites pay careful attention to the law and follow God’s ways and if not destruction will come up the olive crop. 

Throughout the Old Testament it references olive oil being used to anoint various kings.  Samuel anointing Saul is one of the most notable and Elisha’s instructions for anointing Jehu in 2 Kings 9.  We also read parables with olive oil and olive trees to teach the people.  Example, Judges 9,  Jothem is warning the people of Shechem of their choice of King.  The good and passed on Kings are compared to the worthy and desirable Olive tree.  In 2 Kings 4, Elisha provides a miracle to a widow with jars of oil.  It’s a beautiful and true story of faith and provision from God.

And there’s more.  In 1 Kings we read about olive wood being used for the building of the temple and pure olive oil to light the sacred lampstands.  These materials were also used in the rebuilding of the temple in Nehemiah.  Olive oil was used in ancient times for medicine and healing balm as we read about in Isaiah 16 and Luke 10.  We read about the stature of the olive tree and the flowering beauty in Psalms 32 and Hosea 14.  God uses the imagery of an Olive tree in Jeremiah 11 to remind his people of the covenant relationship he has with them. 

And the references keep going!  Paul even used the olive tree in Romans 11 to speak to how the Gentiles were grafted to the Jews “the olive root” and the Gentiles were the wild olive trees incapable of bearing fruit.  But now grafted to the Jews, they were now able to share in the blessing.  But it is not the branches that sustain the graft but the root and the root is Christ.

We read about the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem.  The Olive Trees were a desert tree and thrived in the hardship of the heat. It’s here the olives were harvested.  Beaten from the tree and processed through a series of extreme crushing to create a pulp and then pressing to extract the oil.  We read about various people of the Bible retreating to the Mount of Olives like King David in 2 Samuel 15 when he went to the Mount of Olives weeping and in Zechariah 14 when he foreshadows that the persecuted will flee to the Mount of Olives when Jesus returns.  Jesus often went and escaped during his life on earth to the Mount of Olives to pray.  What a beautiful place that represents peace (pointing back to the flood) in the midst of hardship.

A beautiful representation though of what the Olive truly symbolizes and means is when we look at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest.  The Garden of Gethsemane was in the Mount of Olives. Here Jesus was praying and pleading before God to take away the hardship of the world.  Our anointed King was taking on the sin of the world.  Here in the Garden among the Olive trees Jesus is pressed knowing he will be crushed and beaten.  Yet here he finds peace with God only to leave with a peace that passes all understanding… “Thy Will Be Done” as he’s arrested.  

While we might not have olive trees surrounding us or a place like the Mount of Olives to retreat to, we can still find the peace that our Savior provides when we feel crushed and when life continues to beat down on us.  Life is not easy.  In fact, Jesus said it wouldn’t be.  Sometimes it is just down right hard and crushing. Yet every hardship we walk through we can know that He is there walking with us.  Refining us.  Purifying us.  Bringing us to completion as is stated in Philippians 1:6.

And if you are at a point when the crushing just feels too much. Remember the process of the beating, crushing and pressing of the olive produced an oil that was so valuable that it was used to anoint Kings. 

The beautiful news is… you are already anointed, royalty in His heavenly family BEFORE the refining. 

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Bulrush in the Bible

The Bulrush a beautiful symbol of trust and faith in the Bible.  The Bulrush was abundant in the land of Egypt found in the wetlands, specifically the shallow waters of the banks.  They were very large, 12-15’ tall with stalks 2-3” in diameter.  Many times the bulrush was called a reed or papyrus (for its later use of paper.)  They also used parts of the bulrush for food from the root and for garments and shoes from the stalk because of how fibrous it was.

There are many places the Bulrush is used in the Old Testament Bible which we listed at the end of this post to dig deeper.  Those references of the Bulrush often refer back to physical properties, locations found or analogies to bring the story to life.  But there is one story specifically which brings great symbolic meaning to the Bulrush – the meaning of protection, trust and faith.  And that story is Baby Moses.

In Exodus 2 we read about a new King that came into power who started to fear the Israelites for their sheer size in number for the Lord had blessed Israel greatly.  He was afraid the Israelites were going to organize and join forces with Egypt’s enemies which would threaten his kingdom.  So he oppressed the Israelites and made them their slaves.  I’ve often wondered how Pharaoh (the King) could easily do so.  It was because the Israelites were foreigners in the land of Egypt and lacked the same rights as Native Egyptians. They were made slaves by force. But slavery alone didn’t satisfy Pharaoh.  He added to the brutality and had all the baby boys killed to stop the Israelites from growing in size.  In Exodus 1:22 he gives the orders to throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River.

In Exodus 2 we are introduced to a brave woman who we later find out is Amram.  She gave birth during this time to a baby (Moses.)  She tried to hide the baby for 3 months but she found that after 3 months she could no longer hide him, so out of faith she sacrificed her well-being and put her baby into the hands of God rather than kill him.  She crafted a small boat out of tar and papyrus reed or Bulrush.  This was a woman who knew what she was doing as Egyptian river boats were made with these same reeds and water proofed with tar.  Trusting God she did exactly what Pharaoh said to do and “put her son in the river” but she did so with great care.  She strategically floated him in the river in a boat which insulated him from the weather and “camouflaged” him among the reeds.  She might not have been the only mother to do this but she is our great example of trusting God with something so special for His protection and care.

Our hope and prayer as you see the Bulrush is to be reminded to have faith and trust in the Lord.  We all have to give up something special at some point in our life.  Do we trust God for his care and protection over it?

Dive Deeper:

You can also find the Bulrush referenced in the passages below.

• Isaiah 58:5

• Isaiah 18:2

• Isaiah 19:6-7

• Job 8:11

• Job 41:20

Brief explanation on each passage above.

Isaiah 58:5 - “bowing one’s head like a reed…” God warns against the wrong kind of fasting. “hollow, empty, and for show. It has no spiritual substance behind it.

Isaiah 18:2 - speaks to swift Papyrus boats down the river. This is a message to Ethiopia. In the days of Isaiah, Ethiopia was a major world power, ruling Egypt and a chief rival to Assyria. Judah aligned with Egypt against Assyria.

Isaiah 19:6-7 - streams of Egypt will stink with rotting reeds and rushes. Crops will dry up. This is a message about Egypt. Isaiah warned against an alliance with Egypt against Assyria. Because God would destroy Assyria in time.

Job 8:11 - Can reeds grow without water..? Here Bildad was upset that Job still claimed innocence while questioning God’s justice. Bildads theory was that God cannot be unjust, and God would not punish and injust man, therefore, Job must be unjust.

Job 41:20 - references burning reeds. In Job 41 the Lord responds to Job and challenges him. “who are you to question God. Job 41:20 and the verses surrounding references the Leviathans which some said to be a mystical sea creature, dragon, or just a crocodile.