What He said!, Pt 4: Refined by fire
Zechariah 3:2 2“On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more,” declares the LORD Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. (NIV)
Zechariah 13:8-9 8In the whole land,” declares the LORD, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. 9This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’ ” (NIV)
Revelation 3:15-19 15I know all that you do, and I know that you are neither frozen in apathy nor fervent with passion. How I wish you were either one or the other! 16But because you are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, I am about to spit you from my mouth. 17For you claim, “I’m rich and getting richer—I don’t need a thing.” Yet you are clueless that you’re miserable, poor, blind, barren, and naked! 18So I counsel you to purchase gold perfected by fire, so that you can be truly rich. Purchase a white garment to cover and clothe your shameful Adam-nakedness. Purchase eye salve to be placed over your eyes so that you can truly see. 19All those I dearly love I unmask and train. So repent and be eager to pursue what is right. (TPT)
We hear occasionally about dross rising to the top of molten metals during the process of purification known as refining. Dross is the name for all the impurities initially contained in the metal and the heat forces them to the top of the molten metal where they can be scraped off. This is done sequentially time after time and the metal eventually reaches a high degree of purity. When gold is mined it hardly looks valuable at all: it’s dirty, filled with impurities, and hardly shines, containing only the faintest twinkle. We know of the great worth of gold, but in context what does Jesus mean when He suggests we buy gold refined by fire. And if it valued enough for Jesus to suggest it, why buy at all? Also it seems incongruous that Jesus would want us to be materially rich, so the gold metaphor seems strained at best. What is being said here?
The key to understanding the metaphor of gold refined by fire in Revelation 3 is to first look at the Zechariah 13 verses. There God is talking about the period of tribulation before the second coming. Only a remnant of one third of God’s people will survive this period. They are ‘refined as silver is refined and tested as gold is tested’. These are the people who trust in God implicitly. Their ‘walk’ does indeed match their ‘talk’. The two-thirds who are lost during this time of struggle said they would follow Jesus but when times do become tough they will fall away. But lest we be fearful that all will be lost God changes the trials and afflictions the remnant undergoes to bring about their sanctification. The remnant will experience spiritual renewal, the outcome of God-ordained testing and suffering that refines the faith and purifies the character of the Godly remnant. When they are calling on God’s name they are praying for relief and restoration of a right relationship with Him.
The theme of suffering is what connects the Zechariah 13 and Revelation 3 verses. But ‘suffering’ is an unfortunate choice of words, at least from the human side of things. From God’s view a better phrase is ‘corrective affliction’ because such things often bring humility, effect an increase in faith in God, and produce Godly character.
I have had trouble understanding why Jesus would suggest that the Laodiceans be ‘hot or cold’ as if being ‘cold’ was an acceptable option. I would think He would always want His people to be ‘on fire’ for the Kingdom. Also it is important to understand the hot and cold metaphor and spit (vomit) are specific for the Laodiceans. The city had no fresh water supply. Drinking water had to be carried up from the valley below and hot water had to be piped down from hot springs about six miles away. In either case the water arrived lukewarm and additionally the hot water caused vomiting if drunk because of the dissolved minerals. In any case, Jesus was sickened by the Laodiceans because they were not discernable from their surrounding culture.
None of us welcome sufferings, nor trials, nor tribulations. Often we will avoid such things at almost any cost, and often we equate suffering with punishment. This is the point of connection between the Zechariah and Revelation verses. Trials and tribulations come to everybody at some point in the lives. Occasionally they come many times. It is how one responds to such things that counts. The remnant as described in Zechariah will go through much difficulty, including the death of loved ones, and yet they respond by drawing in even closer to the presence of God. They renew their covenant with God and agree that they are His people, and He is their God. The Laodiceans took the easier road: they blended in with their culture and became indiscernible from it.
The hard part for us Americans is that we are stubborn, willful people who refuse to allow anyone outside to tell us what to do. We do not have a culture of dependency on others and are fiercely independent. Revelation 3 could easily have been written directly to us. Even though our culture is going down the toilet, much of our population is so compartmentalized that they don’t see it. Such was the case with the Laodiceans: they thought they were doing well; they were rich and getting richer. But Jesus saw through all the dissembling and told them they were miserable, poor, and blind and other things. When NIV uses ‘rebuke’ and ‘discipline’ in v19 it is less clear than in TPT. There, ‘unmask’ and ‘train’ show that punishment is not in God’s mind. He wants us to be ready for the very troubled times ahead, so He unmasks us of our self-imposed delusions and trains us how to behave and how to respond when times are hard. So the gold refined by fire is not physical riches but spiritual riches. It is the ability to withstand trials and still draw near to God. It is the willingness to suffer temporary discomfort and pain for the purpose of bringing others to salvation and furthering the Kingdom. But it does have a price in the trials and tribulations we experience in the obtaining of it. It is not free, and that’s a good thing: seldom does one appreciate the value of something which is given freely. When Christ comes again we will be important assets in the operation of His Kingdom. The remnant will be managing the Kingdom and reflecting the glory of Christ to those who are born during those 1000 years. We will be modeling Christ and working with Him as He prepares the planet to receive His Father. What a glorious day that will be!
Dear reader I probably will never know you, but if you are reading this posting I at least know you have a budding relationship with God. Take a moment, will you, to examine your life. Are you going through a struggle right now? Are you tempted to just quit God and say or do anything to stop it? Here’s your opportunity to buy something truly valuable, a closer relationship with the Lord God King of the Universe. Talk to God. If you are in a struggle right now, ask God what He wants you to learn from it. You may have an inkling, but God enjoys us coming to Him for help. Ask Him!