Decisions

     Everyone has a purpose. When all seems lost, God sends someone to change the course of events. Isaiah wrote the prophecy in chapter 41 when the nation of Israel was overcome with evil practises. They had other Baals - gods - in God's face and were facing the consequences. The nation was in despair, and all hope seemed lost. The Abrahamic Covenant - Jewish prosperity and a Messiah - seemed to be at its conclusion. 

     The Babylonians also had a purpose. God built that nation to thresh the world, specifically His chosen people. The Israelites had to make a decision:

And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. (1 Kings 18:21).

     Calvinists may not appreciate it, but all the Hebrew people were "elected" even before the foundation of the world (Ephes 4:1). Likewise, as Paul was speaking to Gentiles, everyone was chosen before time began. Those chosen were "elected" (eklektos) to be Christians.  Thus the election of Christians is synonymous with the Hebrew "chosen."
     Everyone is chosen, "for God so loved the world... that whosoever believeth in him should not perish" (John 3:16). Part of the mystery of God is that not only were Hebrews chosen for grace but the Gentile nations as well. In his parable of the wedding feast, Jesus said, "For many are called, but few are chosen." (Mat 22:14), and for those not chosen, "take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Mat 22:13).
    But are not all chosen? It seems that everyone is but there is a stipulation; everyone must decide whether to follow Baal or God. Ba'al means "owner". God calls us, but Satan does too. A decision must be made by everyone: Who owns us? Is it God or is it Baal?
     In scripture, Baal came to be generic for "gods." Those who faithfully read my commentary by now should realize that Baals are not solar entities or masters of ancient wisdom, but those who esteem themselves more so than Yahweh.
     Elijah was actually pointing out that everyone - all those chosen - make a decision. Everyone is of two opinions: Is there a God or not? Owning Baal is owning ourselves, for as the Serpent acknowledged, mankind perceives themselves as gods, "for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods ('elohiym; or Baals)" (Gen 3:5; parenthesis mine).
    The opening of the eyes is what the world calls enlightenment. There was a period in history called that. The Enlightenment refers to "The Age of Reason" described by Thomas Paine. That was a period in the west when its citizens again stood under the wrong tree; what I call "the false wisdom tree" (Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil). Eating of the forbidden tree imbued Adam and Eve with knowledge of two philosophies: good and evil. From that time on, all mankind has used logic and reason for decision making. Since the tree had two philosophies - good and evil - mankind could use their own thought processes, and choose either God or Baal - Yahweh or themselves.
     Many people think that Baals are Satan. Not so; they are us! Choosing ourselves defaults to being owned by Satan; he can become the master of even those who are chosen. Regeneration, the process of being "born again" is choosing "good" over "evil"; God is chosen superior to ourselves. That's what Jesus was speaking of when he said, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). Why not be amazed? That's what Elijah said in the passage above! Nicodemus should have known that!
     The purpose of Nebuchadnezer, the Babylonian king, was to thresh the Hebrews for not choosing God over Baal. They seemed to always lip-serve God but serve themselves, doing what is right in their own eyes. Elijah said that they must choose; they did not and Nebuchadnezzar gave them a good threshing and winnowed them away to Babylon. That city is symbolic of a harlot (Rev 17:5), and since the Hebrews fornicated with Baal, Jerusalem became a harlot in Satan's brothel. When the Hebrew Babylon is washed clean by fire in the end, the old foundation will be prepared for a New Jerusalem.
     In the interim, God was merciful. Isaiah spoke of that:

Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel. (Isa 41:15-16)

     Isaiah was speaking of the coming of Cyrus the Great and the Persian Empire. They threshed Babylon, and cast them to the wind. Cyrus was a type of savior.  He was tolerant of Judaism, and thanks to him, Jerusalem and the temple were restored. The Book of Nehemiah chronicles the prophecy made by Isaiah.
     Isaiah had a divinely inspired knack for prophesying two things at once. He knew of Ornan's threshing floor where the Threshing Instrument - God - threshed the grain from the chaff and winnowed it away into the pit below. On that rock was where the first Church building was constructed; it's on the Temple Mount and was the place of both Solomon's and the second Temple.  (In my book Killing God I explain the Church as a threshing place. It's where the chosen choose between God and Baal.)
     Threshing grain from the chaff is what having church is all about. The winnowing fan is the Holy Spirit calling. If  the grain is not good, then it is cast unto the abyss below the threshing stone. Beneath the Foundation Stone of the Temple Mount is an abyss. It is alleged to go to the center of the earth. Not by accident, in degrees Celsius, the center of the earth, by my calulations, is seven times hotter than a kiln furnace. It must be that Hell is below that abyss.
     Jesus was crucified in sight of the Temple. It was there that God used a "threshing instrument having teeth." What would that be? Perhaps the cross which had not been used in the world until Christ's time! The death of Jesus was the whirlwind as he "gave up the ghost": "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost" (Luke 23:46).  Isaiah spoke of the Holy Ghost whom Jesus gave up, and soon came down: "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting... And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:2,4). 
     Cyrus was the type of Christ of whom Isaiah spoke, but it seems obvious that Cyrus was not the Savior; that title belongs to Jesus (Yahweh saves).  Why would they rejoice Cyrus as the holy one? He was Zoroastrian in faith. God uses crooked sticks, but obviously Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he wrote, "thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel."
     Solomon had written, "Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?" (Ecc 7:13).  God used Nebuchadnezzar to thresh out His chosen people, then he used Cyrus to thresh the Babylonians. Not to end there, God put on a Face and used Jesus to thresh the world, both His chosen and the elect. Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus were both "crooked" but God used them for correction. God uses Satan in the same manner. He is the crooked stick who tempts people for the threshing (Job 1). When Satan no longer has utility, he will be destroyed just as Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus. 
     God didn't die on the cross! Only the Son of Man died thereon. The Son of God is still alive, and his Holy Ghost still comforts all the "peculiar people" who made the decision to choose God over Baal.