Refining Fire

The Old Testament makes clear that God hates sin and will judge sinners. Certainly He was patient with His people Israel, but when it comes to judging sin, the people of God were not exempt. God loved them, but He hated their sin.

By the end of the Old Testament, God had affirmed over and over that He would send a Messiah and in Malachi 3, He says that He will send a messenger to prepare the way for His coming. This was in line with a custom of Near Eastern kings in which a messenger removed obstacles to the king’s visit. So what was the obstacle that stood between Israel and their King? Certainly it was their sin.

Malachi 3:3 says, “He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi (His priests), and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.”

The Old Testament priests had become spiritually corrupt and led the rest of the nation against the Lord. They would be the first to experience His cleansing fire.

However, this passage is also pointing to another judgment. It indicates that future day when Jesus will return. When He came the first time, His mission was to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). The Second Coming is different; then Jesus will come to judge the earth.

My question as I read this passage in Malachi and its reference to the Second Coming, was how will Christians fare when Jesus returns? If the priests are first up for judgment, who are His priests today?

1 Peter 2:9-10 and 4:17 pop into mind. The first verses say, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

God’s people during the Old Testament days were members of the Jewish nation. He called them to do the same thing—proclaim His praises to a dark world. They didn’t do it, and couldn’t do it without obeying God, and by the time Malachi was written, they simply were not living up to that responsibility.

Christians are called to do the same thing, only instead of a select group of priests, or even restricting this task to members of the clergy, every believer belongs to “a royal priesthood” and called to live for the Lord, proclaim His praises and take His message of salvation to others. Are we doing it? And if not, what will happen to us?

I know the Bible teaches that Christians are no longer under condemnation. Our eternal life is secure, but that does not exclude us from judgment. Instead of eternal damnation, our judgment is like that described by Malachi and involves chastening, purging and purifying.

1 Peter 4:17 says, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?’”

Just as Malachi said, God will begin His purifying work with the priests, but in our case, this means the entire church! If the people of God are not living according to the will of God, He will refine all of us. He wants every Christian pure and our lives wholly submitted to Him.

It is easier for me to point fingers at those outside the church and announce doom and gloom. I know that “the ungodly and the sinner” stand in a dangerous place. Without repentance, they cannot see God. Without that new life that only Jesus can give, they cannot see or enter His kingdom (John 3).

However, God uses His people to reach people with the good news of salvation. He uses His people to “proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.” If I am not walking in that light, I also stand in a shaky place. Can I expect God to bypass me before He judges those who are not saved? I don’t think so.

I’ve said it before, but need to remember this myself: a refiner heats gold or silver until it melts and the impurities begin floating to the top. As he skims off the dross, he watches the metal. As soon as he can see his own reflection in the surface, he knows it is pure.

If life gets too hot, I tend to run for a cooler climate instead of responding to what He is doing with the heat. It would help to remember (and be thankful) that His judgment is not a condemnation that destroys, but a refining process designed to make me more like Him.