The "gold" of Christ in the Church will be refined in the fires of tribulation and persecution. Then the Lord will appear and receive to Himself a perfected Church, full of His Nature and Substance—the "gold" in the inner man of the saints having been made transparent through fiery testings.

A church filled with human nature and ambition is of little use to the Lord Jesus.

We must be made worthy of the Kingdom of God through suffering.

So we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: (II Thessalonians 1:4,5)

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. (I Peter 4:12,13)

The "gold" must be "tried in the fire."

I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, . . . . (Revelation 3:18)

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: (I Peter 1:7)

As soon as we become sincere and diligent in the building of the Church's defenses against sin, the Lord begins to give us some of the "gold" of His Divine Nature. In order to be able to escape the "corruption that is in the world through lust," we must become "partakers of the Divine nature" (II Peter 1:4).

The Lord's "goldsmiths," who sometimes come in the form of various pains, troubles, afflictions, tribulations, persecutions, have been assigned the task of covering us within and without with His holy Substance.

The Apothecaries

Next unto him also repaired Hananiah the son of one of the apothecaries, . . . . (Nehemiah 3:8)

The naming of the "apothecaries" reminds us that if we hope to make progress in the building up of the defenses of the Church of Christ, we must be anointed with the holy anointing oil, the Holy Spirit, in all that we think, all that we do, and all that we are.

And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. (Exodus 30:25)

Also, the holy perfume of our fervent and Christ-filled supplications and worship is necessary in the work of the Body of Christ.

And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary. (Exodus 37:29)

As soon as the gold in us has been refined, we are ready for the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and our worship becomes as incense to the Father.

One of the principal works of the Body of Christ is Spirit-filled worship and praise given to the Father in Heaven. The adoring of Christ and the Father is the "first work" of the Church. When the Church is praising God and having favor with all the people, the Lord will add to the Church daily such as are being saved (Acts 2:47).

All of the blessings that the churches desire and seek will be added as we place the fervent worship and praise of God first in our meetings and in all else that we do. As faith without works is dead, so religious works without consistent and fervent worship and praise of God are dead.

To be continued.