The Refiner's Fire

"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify... and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings... will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years."
                                                                                                                  Malachi 3:3-4




Under the law of Moses God provided three ways for people and things to be cleansed and made acceptable unto Himself: water, fire, and blood. In the case of a nation, God would cleanse the nation while He purified the spiritual leaders. Only then would their sacrifices be acceptable in His eyes. Prior to cleansing and purification gifts and sacrifices were not acceptable to the Lord.

While it is true that today we are under the New Covenant and that we can only be cleansed by the blood of Jesus, it is also true that the inherent rebellious nature of man's heart has not changed over the centuries. In the Divine Exchange, Jesus took our sins and our punishment and replaced it with His righteousness. By simply placing our faith in Jesus and turning away from our sin we are recipients of God's forgiveness and grace and we are made flawless in the eyes of God.

Even after we are saved we can still wrestle with our understanding of who God is and His ways. There can be fragments in our hearts and minds that resist (even unknowingly) what God is doing in our lives because His ways are so much higher than our ways. Our flesh can rise up and we can even begin to question the circumstances, callings, and trials we are facing. Especially, when we are in the furnace and God sits as our Refiner and Purifier.

Many before us have also endured the furnace and have even achieved victory in the midst of the fire. We can learn the lessons from people like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who chose to honor God in the midst of their fiery circumstances (Daniel, Chapter 3). Not only did they prove that their faith could be trusted, but they also brought glory to God in the midst of them, as will so often happen through persecution.

Through no fault of their own, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were brought before King Nebuchadnezzar because they refused to bow before the golden image of himself that he had erected. According to the king's law, they were to be thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to comply with his mandate. These three warriors, however, knew that God's laws were more important than their egotistical ruler. So, into the furnace they went...

"He [King Nebuchadnezzar] ordered that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace" (Daniel 3:19-20).

The reason the king was so angry was because these men had the true faith to confront his idolatrous laws. They explained to him that it was against God's commands to fall down and worship a golden statue. Confidently, they refused to worship anything or anyone other than the One, True God.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego also had the genuine faith to confess the Lord. They told the king that God was "the God of all gods, the Lord of kings"(Daniel 2:47). Calmly and respectfully, they used their adversity as an opportunity to give their testimony.

Because of their testimony, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego confounded their enemy. When the king looked into the furnace, he saw that not only were they not consumed by the fire but that there was another man in the fire with them! This theophany was an image of the pre-incarnate Christ that was right by the side of His people. The one true gift of a furnace experience is that God is right there and that He brings to us treasures in the darkness.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's genuine faith confirmed the promises of God for them, as well as for the other Jewish believers in that time and al subsequent time periods. Their faith proved that God is still on the throne, no matter how dire their circumstances were. They also proved that God will not forsake us and that we can rest in the assurance that one day He will fulfill every promise ever made.

When we trust and obey God in our furnace of affliction, He will be glorified and it will positively affect others. Even when the heat is being turned up to conform to the gods of this age, we know that God's grace will give us everything we need to stay the course and walk in victory. And for those of us who endure, God promises that He will give us the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).

In the Refiner's fire, extraordinary temperatures are needed to make the precious metals moldable and shapeable and to keep them from cracking. When the metal is broken down, the Refiner can accomplish the work he has purposed to do. Never, ever, does the Refiner take His eyes off the metal, lest it be destroyed.

The ultimate purpose of the Refiner is to remove all the dross, or impurities. This is how God purges us of all that is not His righteousness. He ultimately brings us to the end of ourselves. Only then can we reflect His image.

Right now God is preparing a remnant in the earth that can be trusted to bring glory to His Name. He tests us in order to develop our faith because he knows that a faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted. The apostle, Peter, addressed this when he said, "Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality as though something strange were befalling you. But insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, rejoice, so that when His glory [full of radiance and splendor] is revealed, you may also rejoice with triumph [exultantly]"(1 Peter 4:12-13).

Peter expounds this point when he talks about the purpose of our trials. He says that the purpose is "so that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested and that your faith which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended to redound to [your] praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:7).

In order to bring glory to God with our lives and to finish well, we have to start by trusting and praising God now. We have to draw close to Him and remember to: confront our challenges, confess the Lord, confound our enemies, and confirm His promises. This is how we yield to the Holy Spirit and submit to the Refiner's fire.


                             "When through the fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
                                   My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply;
                              The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
                                 Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine."
                                                                                Author Unknown