(Isa 1:25): Isaiah pictures Israel falling into God's hand like ore
of metal being placed in a smelting pot to melt it down in order to remove the
impurities! This is a good example of God purifying the Christian!
This process involves melting the metal and skimming off the impure
slag until the worker can see his own image in the liquid metal. We must be
willing to submit to God, allowing His hand to remove our sin so that we might
reflect his image.
That is the same hand He turned upon the
Israelites to deliver them from Egyptian bondage; the hand that delivers you
from the bondage of the world (2Cor 6:14-18; 2Cor 7:1).
Dross is symbolical of the sin
that is openly flagrant in the life [that which so easily besets] (Heb 12:1 ).
It is different from the metal, and is comparatively easily separated from it.
But God goes further. He says, "I will take sway all of your alloy."
This is far more wonderful, because the alloy is something which enters into
the nature of the metal, as is were, and it requires a chemical process to
separate them. God says that He will deal not only with deeds of sin [the
outcrop of sin in act], but He will deal with the sin nature of which the act
is the outcrop.
God knows how to "turn up the heat" and
refine your life, taking away your impurities. His goal is not to destroy;
instead He says, "I will restore." God will purify Jerusalem, to the point
where Afterward you shall be called the city of
righteousness, the faithful city. He will do the same with you and
you [the church] will be called the city New Jerusalem pictured as a Bride
adorned for her husband (Rev 21:2). Kelsey Griffin
No comments:
Post a Comment