Mal.3:2 – “But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
I remember a number of years ago going to see Handel’s Messiah at Christmas time. There was a song in the middle of the performance from today’s verse, called
‘WHO MAY ABIDE THE DAY OF HIS COMING’. I remember the fear of the Lord falling on me during this song, I remember thinking about standing before the Lord when He walked the earth as a man. Then I considered standing before Him when He returns in His glory, it will truly be like a refiner’s fire; who can endure the day of His coming? Christmas, as everyone says, has been overcome with commercialism – if you strip away all of the outward trappings you can find yourself standing before this refiner’s fire. It will burn away all of the impurities and prepare you for the Second Coming of our Lord. Here is how Spurgeon describes this refiner’s fire.
“When he came the first time he was like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap. As the refiner’s fire burns up the dross, so did he consume the Pharisees and Sadducees; and as the fuller’s soap cleanses away the filth, so did he unto that generation when he condemned it, even as Jonah the prophet did unto the men of Nineveh and thereby condemned the men of Jerusalem because they repented not. Thus too, when he shall come the second time, while he shall bless his people, his fan will be in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor, and they who know him not and love him not, shall be driven away like the chaff into fire unquenchable. Long not for Christ’s coming if thou lovest him not, for the day of the Lord will be unto thee darkness and not light. Ask not for the world’s end; say not, “Come quickly, for his coming will be thy destruction; his advent will be the coming of thine eternal horror. God grant us to love the Savior and put our trust in him; then, but not till then, we may say, “Come quickly, come quickly, Lord Jesus!”
As I have gotten older in my natural years as well as becoming an older Christian, I have begun pondering the return of Christ especially at Christmas time. The Day of the Lord draws near and He is preparing His people for the great day that is just before us. He will suddenly appear on the earth and who will be able to stand before Him?
1 thought on “REFINER’S FIRE”
Even having been washed by His blood and daily cleansed, believing every prayer I have brought before Him, He will fulfill, standing in His presence, impossible, until He lifts me up. If just a shadow of Him overwhelms here and now, what then awaits?