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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Seven Steps to the Rest of God, #16
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. (Isaiah 4:4)
Many passages of the Prophets speak of the coming of Christ to purify His saints with the fires of Divine judgment.
Notice the following description of the coming of the Lord. It is a sudden coming, an intervention and visitation that will catch the hypocrites in Zion by surprise. It is not a coming to the world but to the Temple of God, to the Church, to God's people:
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. (Malachi 3:1)
"The Lord, . . . shall suddenly come to his temple."
It seems this is not the return of Christ to the earth in the clouds of glory but the coming of Christ to judge His people.
For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. (Hebrews 10:30)
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 fuller's [a launderer's] soap: (Malachi 3:2)
This is a true description of the coming of the Lord. First, the Lord will come to prepare His people for His return to earth. Second, the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven to make war against Antichrist and to judge the nations of the earth.
Note the question, "Who shall stand when he appeareth?"
Is the answer, He who professes belief in Christ? Indeed it is not. The only answer, the answer that was true yesterday, is true today, and will be true forever, is as follows:
He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; (Isaiah 33:15)
When the Lord Jesus comes He will look for this kind of behavior in each of those who profess faith in Him. If it is found the individual will be rewarded. He will inherit eternal life.
If Christ does not find these behaviors the believer will be visited with fire. If he turns to God in his affliction he will be saved. If he does not repent, choosing instead to continue in his unrighteousness, uncleanness, and disobedience to the Father, he will be cut out of the Vine, out of Christ. He will be cast into outer darkness.
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. (Malachi 3:3)
Christ is coming to judge His royal priesthood (I Peter 2:9). "Silver," as used symbolically in the Scripture, signifies redemption. Christ is coming to purify the redeemed, to test their faith with fire. Then their spiritual sacrifices will be presented with clean hands and holy hearts.
To be continued.