PURE GOLD Part 1
The wisdom of the fathers
PURE GOLD Part 1
The Scripture explain in numerous lessons how God’s children, after being fully sanctified, are led through severe trials and hot furnace-testings that are intended to reveal with ever-increasing glory the life and character of Jesus. These are the conflicts that correspond with the seven years of war that took place in claiming the land of Canaan. It has been likened to the process of making gold more pure and refined.?
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Those who continue to respond in faith to all revealed light will be lifted higher and higher into the spiritual life of Jesus. These extraordinary testings may be either external or internal. In whatever shape the furnace may be, God’s purposes are the same: namely, the complete mellowing, melting and transformation of the whole nature into a heavenly transparency and sweetness that provides a more pure display of the Christ-like character.?
The gold needs to be repeatedly put into the fire to reach this greater refinement. "We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." (2 Cor. 4:8-10)?
As the fully sanctified believer will take on a more serious nature as he is repeatedly taken through the furnace. The work of perfect love is marvelously intensified, and broadened, and made more profound and simple in all its characteristics. In this higher state, the love of God glows in the heart like a sweet, steady, spicy flame. The up and down emotions are burned out. There is a steady upward lifting of the spirit with little variation in the experience. It is a state of wonderful simplicity, and every action becomes transparent. There is no longer a need to develop false images or wear masks to change our outward appearance. We no longer sense the need to work at impressing others. Words therefore become fewer. A divine stillness begins to pervade the mind. The understanding is lifted into a higher atmosphere where it sees God in every event and looks for Him to be the source of all progress.?
(from "Pure Gold" by G.D. Watson)