"A REFINER AND PURIFIER OF SILVER"
Hugo McCord
Charles and Hugo have been edified by a brief article by an unknown author concerning Malachi’s words (3:3), "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver":
A few ladies were meeting to study the scriptures when they came upon the remarkable statement above. One lady decided to visit a silversmith, and report to the others on what he said about the subject. She went and without telling the silversmith the reason for her visit, begged him to tell her about the process of refining silver. After he had described it to her, she asked, "Sir, do you watch while the work of refining is going on?" "Oh, yes ma’am," replied the silversmith. "I must sit and watch the furnace constantly, for if the time necessary for refining is exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured." The lady at once saw the beauty and comfort of the statement, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." God sees it as necessary to put his children into the furnace but His eye is steadily intent on the work of purifying, and His wisdom and love are both engaged in the best manner for us. Our trials do not come at random, and He will not let us be tested beyond what we can endure.
Before she left, the lady asked one final question, "How do you know when the process is finished?" "Oh, that’s quite simple," replied the silversmith… When I can see my own image in the silver, the refining process is complete." (Author unknown.)
Matthew (11:10-11) quoted Jesus as saying that Malachi (in the 5th century B.C.) was predicting the work of "John the immerser" (in the 1st century A.D.): he was to be a "refiner and purifier of silver." For thousands of years, silver has been looked upon as a precious medal, but Malachi did not mean that John would be a literal silversmith.
But silver as being precious is parallel to the preciousness of every human being. Every baby (black, white, yellow, red, brown) has an invisible "spirit," an eternal soul (Revelation 6:9), formed "within him" (Zechariah 12:1), created in "the likeness of God" (Genesis 5:1), yes, in "the image of God" (Genesis 9:6), "a little lower than the angels" (Psalm 8:5), and even "one" (Luke 15:10) is more precious than all the silver and gold and diamonds in the world.
However, the people who went out to hear John preach had so besmirched God’s image in sin that John even called them "offspring of snakes" (Matthew 3:7). John’s work was to bring them to repentance, a "change of heart" and so of life, and to immerse them in the Jordan River "to obtain the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4). In Malachi’s language, John was to refine and purify the sinners’ silver souls with which they were born (Ezekiel 18:20).
In parallel, one can say that Jesus is the supreme "refiner and purifier" of the silver souls of all sinners. He, like the earthly silversmith, is watching the inward change in a sinner’s heart when the gospel takes hold! There is joy in heaven when a sinner goes down into the water of purification (Luke 15:7; Romans 6:4; Acts 10:47; 1 Peter 1:22), and rises up with heavenly assurance, while he is still wet, that his soul is as pure as it was the day he was born (Ezekiel 18:20; Matthew 19:14), even as refined and purified silver, "perfected forever" (Hebrews 10:14) as far as his former life is concerned, hearing God say, "I will remember" his "sins no more" (Hebrews 8:12). The "refining process" of the supreme silversmith is "incomplete" until he can see his own sinless image in the purified silver. If that soul dirties himself again, there is, thank God, the merciful provision for all erring Christians that "If we confess our sins, he is dependable and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from every wrongdoing" (1 John 1:9), making us ready day or night to "die in the Lord" (Revelation 14:13).
8-3-01