THE FIERY ORDEAL OF THE CHURCH
Isaiah 31:9. The Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
There is a variety of purposes for which fire is used. One of them was of old for the sacrifice, the burnt-offering; another was for incense, to keep it always smoking. Furnaces were used by the workers in metals.
I. THE FIRE. “Whose fire is in Zion.” Without the sacred fire there would have been no burnt-offering, no clouds of incense; and therefore God commanded that it should be kept ever burning. In this sense, the fire is the emblem of life divine, the Holy Spirit’s work. May it be for ever burning! Where it burns strongly, what clouds of incense of praise and prayer ascend to heaven!
II. THE FURNACE. “Whose furnace is in Jerusalem.” It is there for the purpose of accomplishing God’s designs with regard to His people. A furnace is nothing without fuel, and the fuel may be of various kinds. God heats His furnace with different kinds of fuel—sometimes with bodily afflictions, sometimes with losses of various kinds, sometimes with bereavements, sometimes with persecutions, sometimes with all these combined. Oh, the vast importance of viewing every trial of a temporal kind as sent on purpose to constitute a little fuel for God’s furnace! God is doing three things with His furnace. He is melting, He is manifesting, He is making useful.
1. He is melting. We are so hard and stubborn, so full of dross, that nothing less than the fire will serve (Isaiah 1:25).
2. He is manifesting. The fire tests both us [1159] and our work (1 Corinthians 3:13). In this way God manifests the difference between His people and the false professor, and shows who are His own (Zechariah 13:9).
3. He is making useful. Take a lesson from the very vessels you use at table every day; they would have been of no use at all, had they not passed through the fire.
[1159] Upon one occasion, like the prophet Jeremiah, I visited the potter’s house. I admired his ingenuity and the beauty of his work on the wheels. But after a little while, I found there was really no reliance to be put on the results of his labour and ingenuity. When put into the furnace, some of the vessels were marred and rendered good for nothing; they cracked and went to pieces. Did not the potter shape them aright? Did he not make them of the same clay? Did he not take the same pains with them? Then what was the defect? They would not stand fire.—Irons.
Conclusion. The trials of God’s people tend
(1) to exercise and develop their spiritual excellence;
(2.) To demonstrate the Divine love and faithfulness;
(3.) To prepare them for the enjoyment of Himself at last [1162]Joseph Irons: Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. 7:109–120.
[1162] H. E. I., 116–142.