GOLD TRIED IN THE FIRE.
“I counsel
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich.”-Rev. 3:18.
IN OUR study of the typical tabernacle, which was a shadow of good things to
come, we have seen that everything inside the tabernacle was made of gold. The
boards of which the tabernacle was constructed were overlaid with gold. The
furniture also was of gold. There stood the golden candlestick, the golden
table, the golden altar of incense, the golden ark of the testimony and the
golden cherubim. Gold was also prominent in the typically glorious robes of
the high priest. The fringe upon the upper robe was of golden bells and
pomegranates; the texture of the ephod was interwoven with golden threads, and
it was fastened on the shoulders with golden clasps; and upon his head was the
golden crown, upon which was inscribed, “Holiness to the Lord.”
All this was in striking contrast with the metals used elsewhere about the
structure, its typical significance here being that all within “the Holy,”
which represented the present condition of truly consecrated believers, and
within the “Most Holy,” which represented the glorious condition of the Church
triumphant, pertains to the divine nature, gold being a symbol of divinity.
All who are privileged to enter the antitypical Holy and Most Holy are also to
be, as Peter tells us, “partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Pet. 1:4.) They
are members of the body of the great Highpriest whose divine nature was symbolized
in the gold of the typical highpriest’s typically glorious garments.
It is in harmony with this same symbolic meaning of gold, that the
Revelator says of the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, “And the city was pure
gold [a divine institution], ...and the street of the city was pure gold [all
its highways are of divine appointment].” (Rev. 21:18,21.) And the Psalmist,
referring to the privileged class who, when glorified, shall constitute that
heavenly city, government or kingdom of God,-the members of the body or bride
of Christ, partakers of the divine nature,-says, “Upon thy right hand did stand
the queen, in gold of Ophir. ...Her clothing is of wrought gold.”-Psa. 45:9,13.
It is to the same apt symbolism that our Lord also refers in addressing
his people in our text,-“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire.”
These words, be it remembered, are not addressed to the world, but to the
Lord’s people, justified and consecrated. (Rev. 1:1; 3:14.) This call is an
exhortation to them to faithfully fulfil their covenant, to submit themselves
fully and unreservedly to the discipline of the Lord, which is necessary for
their perfecting in holiness, and for making them ready to reign with him as
his bride and joint-heir in the glory of the divine Kingdom.
Not until we lay hold by faith upon the exceeding great and
precious promises-of joint-heirship with Christ in his coming Kingdom and
glory-which promises lead us to fulfil their conditions of consecration and
self-sacrifice even unto death, is there any of the “gold” of the “divine
nature” in us. This treasure can be purchased only at the cost of entire
consecration or sacrifice of all that we have, to Christ. Previous to our
justification by faith in Christ we had nothing to sacrifice, all that we had
being under condemnation; but, being justified, we may present our bodies
living sacrifices, holy, acceptable to God, and our reasonable service. Thus
the treasure of the new, divine nature, the gold, is given us. Thus we “buy”
the gold.
But we have this treasure in the earthen vessels, and there is
consequently much of alloy mixed with it. Hence the necessity that the gold be
cast into the crucible for refining. And if we would purchase the “gold tried
in the fire,” it must be at the cost of faithful and constant submission
to the discipline of the Lord in the fiery trials which are necessary to
consume our dross and refine our gold. Wherefore Peter says, “Beloved, think
it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you.” (1 Pet. 4:12.) And Paul reminds us of the
counsel of wisdom (Prov. 3:11,12; Heb. 12:5-8),-“My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the
Lord loveth he chasteneth.”
Peter also reminds us that the trial of our faith is much more precious
than that of gold that perisheth, and that the end sought through such trial is
that we may be “found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ.” (1 Pet. 1:7.) It would be idle for any of the Lord’s consecrated
people to hope to be made meet for the glorious inheritance of the saints
without the refining processes of fiery trial; for Paul tells us that “the fire
shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is.” “If ye receive not
chastisement [discipline, fiery trial], whereof all are partakers, then are ye
bastards, and not sons.” (1 Cor. 3:13; Heb. 12:6-8.) And through the Prophet
Isaiah the Lord tells his spiritual Israel, as well as his typical fleshly
Israel, “I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and
take away all thy sin.” (Isa. 1:25.) The Prophet Malachi, making special
reference to the last days of this age, the days of the Lord’s presence, and
the great refining work to be accomplished then, says, “Who may abide the day
of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a
refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as
gold and silver.”-Mal. 3:2,3.
Fiery trials are therefore to be expected by all of the Lord’s people,
especially in this day of the Lord. As surely as we are sons of God we shall
have them; and when they come we should promptly recognize their mission to us
and see that we are exercised by them unto godliness, sobriety and deep and
fervent piety. “Now no chastening [discipline] for the present seemeth to be
joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit
of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”-Heb. 12:11.
It is in the school of experience that we learn our most valuable lessons;
and the ripest saints, in whom we find the deepest sympathy, the most patient
forbearance, and the most tender helpfulness and consideration, are those who
have been through the fire of affliction, and who have been rightly exercised
thereby. It was when the cross grew heaviest and the clouds were darkest, and
when the tempest was highest, that the Master’s presence was most sensibly
realized, and the blessed lessons of faith and trust and of the Lord’s tender,
personal love were sealed upon the hearts of the disciples. It is under such discipline that the soul is mellowed to a
loving submission that calmly says, I can do all things, bear all things,
through Christ who strengtheneth me. As gradually the dross of the old nature
is consumed, and the gold becomes more and more manifest, these precious souls
become ever dearer to their loving Lord. So dear are they to him that in every
affliction he is near with his grace to sustain and his presence to cheer; and
the deepest shades of sorrow become memory’s most hallowed resting places,
where the Day Star shines the brightest.
Whenever a new trial is presented to the Christian, if he will but
call to mind this precept of the Lord, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried
in the fire,” it will stimulate courage, nerve to patient endurance, and
quicken to self-sacrifice. “Gold tried in the fire!” How can it be tried
without the crucible and the flame? How otherwise can the dross be
eliminated? There is no other way. “Wherefore, think it not strange:” let the
fire burn; let the dross be consumed; and see to it, beloved, that in the heat
of the flame you remove not the “living sacrifice” from the altar. Remember
that the eye of the great Refiner is upon you; and as the refiner of gold
watches the metal in the crucible to see his image reflected in it, so the
Lord, the great Refiner, has his eye upon you.
He is watching to see how the precious metal of your
character reflects his image. Or, in plain language, in every trial he watches
to see what influences control our actions, whether they be influences of
present advantage, or worldly policy, or personal friendship, or earthly
loves-of husband, or wife, or children, or houses, or lands, or whether they be
honor among men, or love of ease, or love of peace at any cost; or whether, on
the other hand, we are controlled by the naked principles of truth and righteousness;
and whether we will defend these principles with zeal and energy at any cost of
labor or suffering, or both, and so fight the good fight of faith to the bitter
end-even unto death.
Those who do so, reflect the Master’s image. Like him they are loyal
to God, loyal to the principles of truth and righteousness, brave, obedient,
faithful. These are the overcomers. They overcome by faith; for without a
strong reliant faith they could not thus endure hardness as good soldiers, and
pursue to the end a course which is continually against the current of the old
human nature. Faith buckles on the armor of God and goes forth to the battle
with firm and steady tread, quickened by the inspiring melody,-
“Awake my soul, stretch every nerve,
And press with vigor on;
A heavenly race demands thy zeal,
And an immortal crown.”
The Christian course of self-sacrifice cannot be one of ease and
continuous smooth-sailing and peace. There may be a calm now and then, but
storms and battles are the rule; and he who courts ease and peace at the
expense of the principles of truth and righteousness, or who is so indifferent
to the value of those principles as not to study to discern them in order to
defend them, is not a faithful, overcoming soldier of the cross. “Ne’er think
the victory won, nor once at ease sit down; Thine arduous work will not be done
till thou hast gained thy crown.”
Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not
to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his
father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He
that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me: and he that
loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. And he that taketh
not his cross and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.” “If any man come
to me, and hate not [i.e., and love me not more than] his father and
mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters; yea, and his own life
also, he cannot be my disciple....Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all
that he hath, he cannot be my disciple....He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear.”-Matt. 10:34-38; Luke 14:26,33,35.
Oh, how necessary is the hearing of faith to the victory of faith-to that
victory which makes every other love subservient to the love of God, which
makes every other interest bend to the interests of his great work, and which
cheerfully sacrifices every other interest to the interests which center in
Christ and in his coming Kingdom. The ear of faith must be attuned to the
melodies of divine truth if the soul would catch its blessed inspiration; and
the eye of faith must discern the symmetry of truth and the beauty of holiness,
if the soul would be filled with a burning zeal for God-for his truth and his
righteousness.
But let the soul be thus inspired with deep and abiding love for the
melody of truth and the beauty of holiness, and filled with a holy zeal for
God, then everything else takes a secondary place, and we have the victory by
faith in every encounter with the enemy. The soul thus stayed upon God can
always trustfully sing,-“If on a quiet sea toward home I calmly sail, With
grateful heart, O God, to thee, I’ll own the favoring gale. But should the
surges rise, and rest delay to come, Blest be the tempest, kind the storm,
which drives me nearer home.”