Refiner’s Fire
Source: google.com via Linda on Pinterest
The Refining Fire: “In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong. In this way the divine image can be mirrored from the soul. It is part of the purging toll exacted of some to become acquainted with God. In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd.” Pres. Faust
Malachi 3
King James Version (KJV)
3 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
2 But 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:
3 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, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.
6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lordof hosts.
13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?
15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.
17 And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
Refiner’s Fire (worship video w/ lyrics)
Christ’s Second Coming
English: Mount of Olives. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Zechariah 14:3-9
Then the Lord will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
And in that day His feet will stand on
Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split
in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half the mountain shall move toward
the north
And half toward the south.
Then you shall flee through My
mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to
Azal.
Yes, you shall flee
As you fled from the earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Thus the Lord my God will come,
And all the saints with You.
It shall come to pass in that day
That there will be no light;
The lights will diminish.
It shall be one day
Which is known to the LORD—-
Neither day nor night.
But at evening time it shall happen
That it will be light.
And in that day it shall be
That living waters shall flow from
Jerusalem,
Half of them toward the eastern sea
And half of them toward the western
sea;
In both summer and winter is shall
occur.
And the LORD shall be king over all
the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“The LORD is one,”
And His name one.
Final Siege of Jerusalem & Second Coming of the Messiah Zechariah 14:1-8
Mount of Olives. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then the LORD will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of the battle.
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half toward the south.
Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee As you fled from the earthquake In the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the LORD my God will come, And all the saints with You.
It shall come to pass in that day That there will be no light; The lights will diminish.
I shall be one day Which is known to the LORD— Neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen That it will be light.
And in that day it shall be That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, Half of them toward the eastern sea And half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur.
Jeremiah 24
Some Figs (Ficus carica) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The LORD showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”
Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
“Thus say the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans.
‘For I will set My eyes on them for good and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.
‘Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.
‘And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’— surely thus says the LORD— ‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.’
‘I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.
‘And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave them and their fathers.’ “
Physical Salvation of Judah Zechariah 12:1-9
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - JUNE 01: Israelis carry national flags outside the old city during a march marking the anniversary of east Jerusalem's annexation June 1, 2011 in Jerusalem, Israel. This is the 44th anniversary of the annexation of the eastern part of Jerusalem by Israeli forces during the Six Day War in 1967. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
The burden of the word of the LORD against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him:
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem.
“And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all the peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations on earth are gathered against it.
“In that day,” says the LORD, I will strike every horse with confusion, and it’s rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.
“And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of hosts, their God.’
“In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—- Jerusalem.
“The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah.
“In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them.
“It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Lamentations 1
How lonely sits the city
That was full of people!
How like a widow is she,
Who was great among the nations!
The princess among the provinces
Has become a slave!
She weeps bitterly in the night,
Her tears are on her cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.
Judah has gone into captivity,
Under affliction and hard servitude;
She dwells among the nations,
She finds no rest;
All her persecutors have overtake her in dire straits.
The roads to Zion mourn
Because no one comes to the set feasts.
All her gates are desolate;
Her priests sigh,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she is in bitterness.
Her adversaries have become the master,
Her enemies prosper;
For the Lord has afflicted her
Because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy.
And from the daughter of Zion
All her splendor has departed.
Her princes have become like deep
That find no pasture,
That flee without strength Before the pursuer.
In the days of her affliction and roaming,
Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things
That she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
With no one to help her,
The adversaries saw her And mocked her downfall.
Jerusalem has sinned grievously,
Therefore she has become vile.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.
Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
For the enemy has magnified himself!”
The adversary has spread his hand
Over all her pleasant things;
For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary,
Those whom You commanded
Not to enter Your congregation.
All her people sigh,
They seek bread;
They have given their valuables for food to restore life.
“See, O Lord, and consider, For I am scorned.”
“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Behold and see
If there is any sorrow like my sorrow.
Which has been brought on me,
Which the Lord has inflicted on me
In the day of His fierce anger.
“From above He has sent fire into my bones,
And it overpowered them;
He has spread a net for my feet
And has turned me back;
He has made me desolate
And faint all the day.
“The yoke of my transgressions was bound;
They were woven together by His hands,
And thrust upon my neck.
He made my strength fail;
The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.
“The Lord has trampled underfoot all my might men in my midst;
He has called an assembly against me
To crush my young men;
The Lord trampled as in a winepress
The virgin daughter of Judah.
“For these tings I weep;
My eye, my eye overflows with water,
Because the comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy prevailed.”
Zion spread out her hands,
But there is no one to comfort her;
The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob
That those around him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become and unclean thing among them.
“The Lord is righteous,
For I rebelled against His commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my sorrow;
My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.
“I called for my lovers,
But they deceived me;
My priests and my elders
Breathed their last in the city,
While they sought food To restore their life.
“See, O Lord, that I am in distress;
My soul is troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
Outside the sword bereaves ,
At home it is like death.
“They have heard that I sigh,
With no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are glad that You have done it.
Bring on the day that You have announced,
That they may become like me.
“Let all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as You have done to me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint.”
