What's Good?

Luke 3:17-18 “His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.
 
THIS points to our eternal future.
   There are times when the Bible at first glance doesn’t make sense. It fact, a passage can seem contradictory. This passage is one of those. Look at verse 17. John the Baptist is preaching about the Lord God’s judgment on mankind. He depicts the Lord as a farmer who is on a threshing floor, separating the good wheat grain from the useless chaff of straw and leaves. When the wheat is safely stored, he burns the chaff. John is preaching God will send to the fire those who are useless to his Kingdom. Then Luke writes, “And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.”  Where is the good news in John’s fiery illustration of judgment?
   For the proud, hard hearts this is, indeed, bad news! But the repentant and humble will find the eternal good news in the wheat. Fix your eyes on the grains of God’s mercy. He winnows away those who love their sins to save those who mourn their sins. God, the Promise Keeper, keeps your mind on the good promise that he loves you to separate you from evil. He has the means to keep you safely with him forever. The good harvest plan is the good news of God’s plan: repent and you will be saved. John used many words to exhort the crowd, to impress upon them their need to repent. He was urging God’s people to be ready for the long-awaited Savior, soon to come! This is good news.
   The preachers and teachers since Jesus have the same purpose. Christ has come. He is coming again. We must be ready and help others to be ready. The good news is that God is holy and just. He does deliver us from evil. He surely does save his own. This is, indeed, very much good news people need to know. The gospel must be preached.