2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
This morning the Lord leads me to look at this question: What is the importance to our spiritual lives of the Refiner’s fire? This very colorful metaphor that is used in certain places in the Scriptures gives us some insight into the huge task our loving Abba has to do in providing the opportunities His children need to come to faith and overcome their fleshly natures in the process of sanctification. As we look at this question, keep in mind that when we are obedient, we give the Father opportunities to reveal His amazing attributes to us. In other words, we experience God through our obedience to Him. Anyone who knows where precious metals like silver come from knows that these materials are mined in the form of a mixture along with many impurities. Different substances have different melting points, requiring the mixture to be raised in a series of refining fires to the temperatures required for specific impurities to be removed from the mixture. Eventually, the precious metal desired can be extracted in its pure form. To my way of thinking, this is analogous to the process of sanctification that the Father leads us through. In that case, He is guiding us to piece by piece get rid of the sin in our lives, so we can be prepared for glorification- that process by which we receive our resurrection bodies and are taken up to be in heaven with Him.
The Father’s compassion for His children can be seen as Isaiah 48, “God is Lord of the Future,” unfolds. So, with your permission, let’s spend some time on this remarkable chapter. To fully appreciate this chapter we need to understand that it addresses the Jewish captives in Babylon, most of whom were apostate (lacking in true faith and obedience to the Father). The very reason they were in Babylon was their disobedience to God, and the righteous Father’s need not let that condition go unpunished. These people were descendants of Jacob’s son, Judah. The name, Judah, in Hebrew means “praise.” This is significant here, because these descendants weren’t praising God at the time. IS 48: 1-5, “Listen to this, people of Israel, you that are descended from Judah: You swear by the name of the Lord and claim to worship the God of Israel-but you do not mean a word you say. And yet you are proud to say that you are citizens of the holy city and that you depend on Israel’s God, Whose name is the Lord Almighty. The Lord says to Israel, ‘Long ago I predicted what would take place; then suddenly I made it happen. I knew that you would prove to be stubborn, as rigid as iron and unyielding as bronze. And so I predicted your future long ago, announcing events before they took place, to keep you from claiming that your idols and images made them happen. ‘ “ God’s omniscience is here for any reader to see, as is His unwillingness to tolerate idolatry. We know from studying Kings, Chronicles, and other OT books that the Jews of the times prior to the first dyaspora (scattering-in this case the Babylonian Captivity) rationalized that they could combine idolatry like Baal worship with worship of the one, true God, Jehovah. It is logical that God wouldn’t tolerate these practices indefinitely in view of EX 20: 5, “Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate Me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.”
God’s righteousness and compassion are revealed very openly in IS 48: 9-11. “In order that people will praise My name, I am holding My anger in check; I am keeping it back and will not destroy you. I have tested you in the fire of suffering, as silver is refined in a furnace. But I have found that you are worthless. What I do is done for My own sake-I will not let My name be dishonored or let anyone else share the glory that should be Mine and Mine alone.” Now, if you are wondering what is righteous about this attitude on God’s part, look at RO 3: 25-26. “God offered Him [Christ], so that by His death He should become the means by which people’s sins are forgiven through their faith in Him. God did this in order to demonstrate that He is righteous. In the past He was patient and overlooked people’s sins; but in the present time He deals with their sins in order to demonstrate His righteousness. In that way God shows that He Himself is righteous and that He puts right everyone who believes in Jesus.” What God is saying in IS 48: 9-11 is that it is His sovereign decision to end the Babylonian Captivity not because the Jews deserved it, but for His own sake. He refined them in the furnace of affliction, so that there was no way they could claim that the idols they had worshipped were responsible for their release. These are God’s people, and His purpose, often repeated in the Scriptures, was for them to know that He is their God, and they are His people.
As we look at IS 48: 12-16, notice how this prophetic passage foreshadows Christ’s second coming still in our future. “ The Lord says, ‘Listen to Me, Israel, the people I have called! I am God, the Alpha and the Omega, the only God! My hands made the earth’s foundations and spread the heavens out. When I summon earth and sky, they come at once and present themselves. Assemble and listen, all of you! None of the gods could predict that the man [King Cyrus of Persia] I have chosen would attack Babylon; he will do what I want him to do. I am the One Who spoke and called Him; I led him out and gave him success. Now come close to Me and hear what I say. From the beginning I have spoken openly and have always made My words come true.’ (Now the Sovereign Lord has given me [Isaiah] His power and sent me [to deliver His message]). “ The point here is that Israel’s deliverance was for God’s honor and a remarkable demonstration of His sovereignty. God reveals Himself as the Alpha and Omega, the Creator and the One Who sustains the universe. This deliverance foreshadows the deliverance granted us by God’s grace from the ravaging consequences of our sins by the blood His Son shed for us on the cross. We were no more deserving of that deliverance than were these apostate Jews who would be freed from their Babylonian captors by the Father’s intervention.
PRAYER: O Lord, we must come to appreciate the enormity of the task You have taken on in bringing us to repentance, faith, and through the process of sanctification. You reveal Your attributes to us, so we can discover that You have truly called all those who believe to be Your people. You are our one and true God. By Your efforts in this process, You are honored and shown to be righteous. Help us to understand that we should always put our faith and trust in You and no other gods. You bring us through the Refiner’s fire, so that we may one day soon experience the joy that comes from eternal and close fellowship with You. For this, You deserve our unending adoration, worship, praise, and thanks. In Christ’s name, amen.
Dear Ones, there is more to say on this subject, so I will continue tomorrow. Keep in mind that the suffering we must endure as we go through the Refiner’s fire is truly worth it. Our loving Abba wants this “furnace of affliction” to eventually purify us so that we will be ready for the day when our Lord will “meet us in the clouds.” What a marvelous day that will be! For me, it will be made all the more marvelous because we will all be there together. Remember, everything our Father does for us is because He loves us all so much. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn