"He shall sit as a Refiner."--Malachi 3:3.
Simple is the process of refining. Its purpose is clear.
It purifies from dross the ore submitted to its test. A furnace is prepared.
The metal is placed within. Fire is strongly applied. The action of the
overpowering heat produces liquefaction. The worthless parts, which before
were intermixed, are thus separated. Impurity is disentangled. The Refiner
gains his object. He has parted the precious from the vile. Unadulterated
ore remains.
This process is a mirror to show Christ. It is a page of
Gospel-lessons. May it be our special joy to mark and learn with profit!
To infer that Christ is here exhibited is no conceit of
vain imagination, no dream of fancy. It is the sound conclusion from clear
Scriptures. The Spirit speaks to us in the sacred page. In it we read, "He
is like a Refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap." And again, "He shall sit
as a Refiner and Purifier of silver--and He shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an
offering in righteousness." (Mal. 3:2, 3.) Can this be other than the Lord?
To Him Isaiah pointedly refers, "I will turn My hand upon you, and purely
purge away your dross, and take away all your tin." (Isa. 1:25.) Faith
hears, and gladly receives Christ Jesus as the Refiner. To Him and to His
work attention is now sought.
Let it be noticed that the Refiner places valuable
metal in his melting forge. Believers are marked by this similitude.
"The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed
as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!" (Lam. 4:2.) "I
will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver
is refined, and will try them as gold is tried--they shall call on My name,
and I will hear them--I will say, it is My people; and they shall say, The
Lord is my God." (Zech. 13:9.) Job testifies, "When He has tried me, I shall
come forth as gold." (Job 23:10.) How grand, too, is the assurance, "Since
you were precious in My sight, you have been honorable, and I have loved
you." (Isa. 43:4.) Believer, realize the comfort! As gold is valued upon
earth, and counted as most precious treasure, so Jesus esteems you as His
riches, and ranks you as of inestimable price.
Let us proceed to mark--I. The need of refining. II. The
mode of refining.
I. THE NEED of refining. Gold's origin is earth,
and earthy accumulations long cling to it. Hence the refining-pot is needed,
and fire must dissolve and separate. Similarly vile corruptions cling long
to the earthborn seed. Their luster is often tarnished. Their savor is not
always heavenly. Their robes are soiled with filthy spots. The sinews of
their strength suffer decline. Their step totters. Their wings refuse to
fly. The workings of corruption in those who have received renewing grace
are too apparent. Their bodies are indeed the temples of the Holy Spirit.
They differ from their former selves as light from darkness, as the sweetest
flower from the vilest weed, as the brilliant jewel from the rubbish of the
quarry, as the sparkling fountain from the muddy ditch; but by the side of
grace evil still shows its hateful head. The snake is injured, but still it
trails its wounded length. The 'old man' is suspended on the cross of
Christ, but in its writhings it shows life. "God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh;" (Rom.
8:3) but still the final execution has not taken place. Holiness is loved
and sought, but still the constant lament is heard, "When I would do good,
evil is present with me. The good that I would I do not--but the evil which
I would not, that I do." (Rom. 7:21, 19.) "The flesh lusts against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh--so that you cannot do the things
that you would." (Gal. 5:17.)
Corruption long continues to afflict. Mark how unbelief
still shows existence in the holiest saint. He has been taught the glorious
truths of the Gospel of the grace of God. He has delighted in their beauty.
He has adored the work of the Triune Jehovah--the Father's love and covenant
of grace--finished work of the blessed Jesus--His blood, His righteousness,
His uttermost salvation--the Spirit's enlightening and comforting and
sanctifying presence. But still how often he lives in sad forgetfulness of
his calling and his privileges.
The case of Peter is re-acted. Before the assault of
temptation he trembles and lies as one who knows not Jesus. He is not bold
to vindicate the truth. He is not valiant in the cause of Christ. Unbelief
prevails, and he gives proof that the best believer may quiver as a
shivering reed.
The stirrings of original nature often appear in
lingering love of the world. This artful foe may have been manfully
renounced, its fascinations may have lost enslaving charms, its gilded baits
may have been rejected with enlightened scorn, its downhill leadings to
perdition may have been discovered, and a bold attitude of defiance may have
been assumed. But still the seeds of worldly-mindedness may retain life.
Lot's wife advances towards Zoar. But thoughts of former pleasures move
in her heart. She pauses, and looks back. Demas forsakes Paul because
he yet loved this present world. Frequent indeed are the backslidings from
yielding to this reawakening foe.
Many swarms of evil passions are long lurking in the
secret places of the heart. A fit occasion calls them forth in
fearful troops. How often words of wrath and passion show the remnants of
the fallen nature! How often lustful desires pollute the inner man! How
often thoughts wander, even in most sacred exercises! How often the knees
totter while dalliance with impiety is rife! Let the believer honestly
examine the thoughts and feelings of each day. What must the result
proclaim! Surely the frequent movements of old nature must be detected. Sins
of commission and omission--against light and knowledge, and the
remonstrances of conscience, and the checks of the Spirit--must force the
sad conclusion, that in the most holy heart sin yet lives--in the
most saintly man corruption often struggles to recover mastery.
II. THE MODE of Refining. The eye of Jesus marks
those struggling motions of reviving evil. Is He indifferent? No; as He
"forgives all their sins," so He "heals all their diseases." The process of
correcting may be painful, but still a gracious hand will firmly apply it.
The furnace must be used, and the precious metal placed within.
The needful heat must not be withheld.
The instrument for this purifying work is aptly termed
the "furnace of affliction," (Isa. 48:10.) The term is large, and
comprehends a long train of searching trials. These all obey the mighty
Savior's bidding, and proceed to execute the salutary cure.
Foremost appears SICKNESS. The strength of health
declines. Vigor ceases to be strong. Pain racks the limbs. The nights are
wearisome. The days move heavily in langour and distress. This is the time
for deep searchings of heart. Apart from busy whirl, the patient reviews his
course. He has leisure to inquire, Why am I thus afflicted? Why am I placed
within this furnace? Departure from his God may be detected, and repentance
may lay him low in dust and ashes. He will resolve to work again his first
works. He will abhor the foe which has seduced him. Thus the furnace
accomplishes its purifying use, and the Refiner exercises restoring power.
Sometimes POVERTY forms the furnace. Grievous is this
trial. Loved ones look for support. The coffer ceases to supply. The cruse
of oil is exhausted. The brook no longer flows. Sources of sustenance are
dried up. What anxious thoughts will now investigate the sufferer's heart!
Awakened conscience will probably accuse of scanty thanks for former
mercies, of boastful reliance on self-efforts. The swellings of self-trust
will drop their disguise. The furnace will warn to return in deep humility
to God, from whom alone all sufficiency of means for the necessities of life
proceeds.
Sometimes BEREAVEMENT is the furnace. Some lingering
malady or unexpected casualty removes a loved one from the side. The charm
of the domestic circle receives a blight. This stroke of misery is very
keen. The lonely mourner may now be taught that he had made an idol of God's
gracious gift, that he looked for happiness not solely to his God. The
furnace reveals the ungrateful reaction, and places God again as the sole
monarch of the heart.
Similarly the whole tribe of TRIBULATIONS might be
reviewed. Their forms are almost countless. "Many are the afflictions of the
righteous." (Psalm. 34:19.) "We must through much tribulation enter into the
kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22.)
Is it in wrath that the heavenly Refiner thus
heats the furnace? Is the purpose to put forth destroying vengeance? Far
otherwise. Sharp may be the process, but the motive is love. "As many as I
love, I rebuke and chasten." (Rev. 3:19.) "Behold, I will allure her, and
bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will
give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of
hope--and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the
day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." (Hos. 2:11, 15.) "If his
children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments; if they break my
statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their
transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My
loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness
to fail." (Psalm. 84:30-33.) Let not the believer faint, nor be dismayed;
let him not fear that the furnace indicates the hiding of loving-kindness in
displeasure, or is a sign that he is cast off forever. The Refiner chastens
"for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness." (Heb. 12:10.)
It is said, and the sweet thought claims notice, that the
Refiner with anxious gaze watches the melting ore until his image can be
seen. The purifying process has then attained its end, and the fire is
extinguished. Thus Jesus keeps His metal in the heat of trial, until His
lineaments are established, and conformity to His image brightly shines.
Blessed, indeed, are they in whom the features of the Elder Brother soon
appear! And blessed is the trial which tends to make His children pure as He
is pure, and holy as He is holy, and beauteous as He is beauteous!
It must not be omitted that He who thus refines His
subjects, and cleanses them from impurity and sin, will soon appear to
consummate a final, universal separation. "The Son of man shall come in His
glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne
of His glory; and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the
goats." (Matt. 25:31, 32.) "But who may abide the day of His coming, and who
shall stand when he appears? For He is like a Refiner's fire, and like
fuller's soap." (Mal. 3:2.)
Reader, rest not, until full assurance pervades your
heart, that enlightened faith has found all pardon at His cross, all
justification through His blood and righteousness, all renovation through
His Spirit, and all purification through His refining work. To be brought
into this happy state is present peace, and will be future glory. The end
will come; it is at the very door. They who retain corruption "will go away
into everlasting punishment--but the righteous into life eternal." (Matt.
25:46.)