As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: ‘He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ (Malachi 3:3) She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’ He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.”
The silversmith’s fire here paints such a beautiful picture for us, and I am sure you might have heard similar stories of the process of refining. We can all agree that it is easy to be in awe of a fine piece of silver or jewelry, we may even seem intrigued at the long process of refinement, but when this process is applied to your life, many put up roadblocks and detours to avoid the finished work. The reality is that most Christians do not realize at the time of their salvation experience, that the process of refining had begun. Not that they would have been expected to know this, because sadly in most churches the focus is on salvation and little on the sanctification aspect of being a true Christian.
“The Gospel does not save whom it does not sanctify.” Charles Finney
Malachi 2:17–3:6 You have wearied the LORD with your words. "How have we wearied him?" you ask. By saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them" or "Where is the God of justice?" "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years. "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty. "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed."
It does not say in verse 2 that he is like a forest fire, which destroys indiscriminately; or like an incinerator's fire, which consumes completely. It says that he is like a refiner's fire. Verse 6 says, "I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed—you are not destroyed." He is a refiner's fire, and that makes all the difference. A refiner's fire does not consume completely, a refiner's fire refines, it purifies. It melts down the bar of silver or gold, separates the impurities that ruin its value, burns them up, leaving the pure silver or gold intact. It does say FIRE. and therefore, purity and holiness will always be a serious precise endeavor. There will always be a proper "fear and trembling" in the process of becoming pure. We learn it from the time we are little children: never play with fire! And it's a good lesson! Therefore, your relationship and approach to God should never be a plaything. And the passion for purity is never to be just lip service. He is like fire and fire is serious. But again, it says, he is like a REFINER'S fire. And therefore, this is not merely a word of warning, but with proper revelation, a tremendous word of hope. The furnace of affliction in the family of God is always for refinement, never for destruction.
John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Why I Love the Apostle Paul: 30 Reasons.
1. Who Is Like a Refiner's Fire? Verse 3 answers. As I read it, I see three individuals.
Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. The first individual mentioned is "I"—"Behold, I send . . . " This "I" is identified at the end of the verse: "Says the Lord of hosts." The speaker is Jehovah, God the Father.
The second individual mentioned is Jehovah's messenger who prepares the way. "Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me." Who is this? Well, the New Testament quotes this very verse to identify John the Baptist, the one who came to prepare the way for Christ (Matthew 11:10; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:27). It says in Malachi 4:5,"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes." The first messenger mentioned in 3:1 that God will send to prepare his way is a kind of Elijah or one like Elijah. That is why Luke 1:17says that John the Baptist went before Jesus in the Spirit and the power of Elijah.
The third individual mentioned in verse 1 is "the Lord who comes to his temple." "And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight."
He is called "Lord"—a term that Malachi would not apply to Elijah or John the Baptist. This person is someone greater. The temple is said to belong to him: He will suddenly come to "HIS temple." Of whom could you say that he is the owner of the temple of God” is none other than the Son of God, who is with God and is God, and who came into the world and made himself known to us personally in Jesus Christ. So when verse 2 goes on to say, "But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears, for he is like a refiner's fire," It is talking about the Son of God who came to us in Jesus Christ.
2. Why Must He Be Like a Refiner's Fire? The answer is implied in the word itself. He must be like a refiner's because we need to be refined. We were created in the image of God with the potential to reverence God and trust him and obey him and glorify him, but we were also born in iniquity and sin from the day our mothers conceive us. We have the seed of rebellion and unbelief, and we all fall short of God's glory, again and again, we are impure by nature and by practice. But God will have no alloys in heaven. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Christ comes as a refiner's fire and not a forest fire, Zechariah 13:9 And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.” Christ comes like a refiner's fire and not a forest fire, and for that very reason, God Won't Abandon Impure People Like Us!!
3. How Can We Experience His Fire as Refining and Not Consuming? Verse 5 makes it clear that when the Lord comes, some are refined, and some are consumed. How can we be sure to experience the fire of God as refining and not consuming? And the answer throughout the Bible is: trust in the purifying refining mercy God! Or to put it the way Malachi puts it again and again: fear God—which means mainly fear to dishonor him with unbelief. Fear the irreverence of distrust. Fear the impulse to jump out of the refining fire of mercy into the forest fire of judgment because it looks cooler. Trust the goodness of God. Believe that his ways are the ways to infinite joy. Don't doubt his expertise and detail as a Refiner.
The way to experience the fire of Christ as refining and not consuming is to trust his promise to bring us through the fire to endless joy. Salvation is by grace through faith in the purifying mercy of God.
4. What is your life like in the Refiner's Fire? The most important thing to say is that it is a life of confidence in God. And the foundation of our confidence is this promise: The furnace of affliction in the family of God is always for refinement, never for destruction. And perhaps the next most important thing to say is that there is no painless path to heaven. Why? Because it is no more possible to become pure painlessly than it is to be burned painlessly. Purity comes through the refining fire. And the fire has two forms: one is the fire of affliction and the other is the fire of intentional self-denial, focus and discipline, and surrender.
James 1:2–4, "Count it all joy, my brethren when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
Hebrews 12:5–10, 14, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord . . . for the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives . . . If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children . . . he disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness . . . Pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord."
Matthew 5:29–30, "If your right eye causes you to sin pluck it out . . . and if your right-hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away."
1 Corinthians 9:27, "I pommel my body and subdue it. Romans 8:13, "If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live."
And on the path to purity and heaven, the other truth is this: no pain, no gain. Both things are true: The Lord is like a refiner's fire, and only His refinement brings His desired gain.
The Beauty of Choosing to be Refined God is refining us!! 1 Peter 1:7 So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The struggles of life should refine us to His image. The challenges of life apply a cleansing heat to pride, bad attitude, and selfishness. This holy heat is applied with purpose. As I read this story of the silversmith, the story caused me to dig deeper and figure out what the Bible has to say about being refined like silver. During my study of the refining process, I ran into a verse in Jeremiah 6. While reading this verse, I realized that not all silver will be refined. Some silver contains metals that cannot be removed with fire. The silver will refuse to let go of impurity. When that happens, the silver is rejected by the refiner, unable to be purified. Jeremiah 6:29 says, “The bellows blow fiercely to burn away the lead with fire, but the refining goes on in vain; the wicked are not purged out.” Jeremiah was called to speak to the nation of Israel in a time when they were in complete disobedience to God. They were worshiping other gods, seeking help from ungodly nations and living life in an unholy manner. They were refusing to be refined.
They chose the dross over being made into the image of God. They placed roadblocks, placed detour signs, looked for short cuts, took the religious route. If you take the time to look at the verses in the Bible that deal with the refinement of silver, you will know that God seeks the refinement of our hearts. He wants to purify us from the inside out, making us into His image. He desires to refine us. But it is our choice whether we want to be refined. In other words, we can buy Christian parenting books, read Christian faith blogs, get advice from godly men or women, sit in church on Sunday, spend our Friday mornings in Bible study and still not want to be refined. We can still step out of the process and refuse to let go of the dross. Revelation 3:18 “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.”
You see, daily, God is calling to us, giving us ways to grow, desiring to refine us in the fire of his love and yet we walk away. If we continue reading in Jeremiah chapter 7, we will read God’s command to His people. God says, “…but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk-in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward not forward.”
Think about that last statement. To be a silver that cannot be refined you have to choose to live in disobedience to God. You have to say no to the refining process. You will walk backward and choose not to take steps forward toward Him. Even with His quiet whispers, even in the challenges of life, even in the hard work of career, marriage, parenting, you can refuse to change, to grow and to be refined. Since studying the silver process and the verses of scripture about the refining of silver, I can’t get the phrase, “…but the refining goes on in vain…” out of my head, and I’ve been praying daily “Lord, don’t let me refuse the refinement of your holy fire. I want to be more like you. “Help me to be made into a silver that will be pure.” I don’t want to walk away from the heat. I don’t want to take myself out of the growth process. I don’t want to hang on to dross and impurities that cause me to place the roadblocks and detours in the way of my growth.
I want to choose the refining fire in my life.
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