Saturday, October 2, 2010

The Lake of Fire

So what happens next?  What happens to these new 'pagan' believers as they are placed in the lake of fire? 

I'll be writing in more detail about the lake of fire in future posts, but for the purpose of following up the last post, I'll just share a story which has appeared on the internet over the years in various forms which gives some insight into this question.

I love this story as it helps me appreciate one of God's methods of making us Christ-like in our process of sanctification (sorry for the big word) and also helps me understand the references to  fire and brimstone and God's purpose in using these cleansing agents.

While reading Malachi 3, a group of women in a Bible Study were struck by the reference to God sitting as a refiner and purifier of silver.  To gain a better understanding of this verse, one of the women offered to visit a silversmith, watch him at work, and report back to the group on her observations the following week.

She called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him work, but didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up.  He explained that in refining silver, he needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest in order to burn away all the impurities.

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.  The man answered that yes, not only must he sit there holding the silver, but he also had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire.  If the silver was left in the fire a moment too long, it would be injured in some way.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot sometimes, and began to see the purifying purpose in these experiences under the watchful eye of the Master Silversmith. 

The woman remained silent while she let these thoughts run their course, then asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”  He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — it is fully refined when I can see my image in it.


We were made in His image originally, and we need to be remade in that image for fellowship with Him in eternity.  He does this through the work of His Holy Spirit now, and through his judgements at the Great White Throne.

I think this story perfectly describes the purpose of the lake of fire during the last age - the age of the new heavens and earth.  It is for purifying the new believers.

Most mainstream Christians think that the lake of fire is the hell of eternal torment that they have been taught about in their churches for many years and is the final place of unending punishment for all those who do not become believers by the time they are called to leave this planet at the end of their physical lives here.

I would rather see the fire and sulphur as pictures of the cleansing and purifying processes which God undertakes to make these new believers ready for life in eternity with him. 

Actually, the lake is also called the second death, the death of all that offends God and needs to be removed from those who have not had the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit involved in their lives as we've had.

Different pieces of silver will obviously take different amounts of time in the flame to be purified, depending on how 'unpurified' they were when they were placed there, but when the lake of fire (the second death) has finally finished its work it will no longer be needed and will be destroyed as Paul promises in 1 Cor 15 : 26.

Barry

2 comments:

  1. Hi Barry,
    I love the story about the lady investigating the silversmith's refining process. Quite by coincidence, after reading your post this morning I was listenning to Aliki Flodine's song "In The Fire" based on Malachi 3:3. Her interpretaion seems to be about a refinement happenning right now as we live our Christian lives, the fire being a "bitter sweet" power of the Holy Spirit working in us with Christ patientlly guiding the refinement process. Not the lake of fire after judgment.

    Barry,
    Is it possible there is a connection here between the lake of fire and the refining work of the Holy Spirit?
    Glenn

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Glenn
    You are absolutely on the money.

    The lake of fire is for bringing those whose names are NOT in the Book of Life into the image of God, ready for eternity with Him.

    Those whose names ARE in the Book of Life (believers) are sanctified (brought to Christ-likeness) by the perfecting work of the Holy Spirit as you said. And God often uses fiery experiences (trials, disappointments, tragedies, etc.) in our lives for that purpose.

    James says it well ...
    "My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure.
    Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." [GNB}

    So yes, there is a connection between the lake of fire and the refining work of the Holy Spirit. They are designed to achieve the same result but for two different groups of people.

    John the Baptist may have been predicting this would happen when he said that the One who was to follow him would baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire?????

    I'm so glad I'm in the group the Holy Spirit is working on, even though that's very uncomfortable at times.

    Thanks for your question. Barry

    ReplyDelete

All relevant comments are most welcome. However, please express any disagreement you might have without being disagreeable and with grace towards those who might not hold your point of view.