“God’s Refining Fire” (Part I)

Zechariah 13:9 (NKJV)
9 I will bring the one-third through the fire,
      Will refine them as silver is refined,
      And test them as gold is tested.
      They will call on My name,
      And I will answer them.
      I will say, ‘This is My people’;
      And each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”


A prevalent theme among the Minor Prophets is that of the refiner’s fire. Also found in Malachi 3:3 this is a powerful metaphor as it relates to the cultural window in which it was written, as well as the message it conveys to us today. The Minor Prophets date from approximately 800 years before Christ, during a tempestuous time for the tribes of Israel. At this time there was an explosion in humanistic ideology among the greater Jewish people who seemed to be evolving from a penchant for Idol worship to one of self-worship. Although the writing here says; “I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered.” It does not name any specific idols as it scripture often does- i.e. Baal, the golden calf etc. This being a ‘reconciliation’ prophecy and an ‘end times’ prophecy the refining theme is God’s answer to the idea of self-absolution.
Because God is a redeemer of what is lost, the purifying symbolism is not just theologically significant, but spiritually relevant to us in our modernity. Humanistic self-deism is what I believe to be the central spiritual downfall of modern man. What I will attempt to illustrate here is exactly how these words about the work of the Holy Spirit are a timeless and consistent theme of God pouring into the ever self-centered spirit of man. The message of covenant renewal is for all inhabitants of Jerusalem- and for us today as well.


Zechariah 13:1
1 “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.


The term ‘Living Water’(1) and the many references to water and or fire in scripture lend to God’s ever present work of redemption. Below are three key elements found in scripture:

1. Fire is the means by which God removes the dross or impurities from us.
2. The pain and consequences of our self-will, our mistakes, and the way we respond to our self-imposed crisis, is the ‘test.’
3. Water is the Holy Spirit of God manifest in us and doing a work in and through us. A cleansing and purifying work.

So what is the significance of the test? You have to look at ancient metallurgy. These Middle Eastern craftsmen did not have the means to remove all of the impurities from the gold, so the gold had to be tested to know it’s purity. The gold was tested on a touchstone. The mark left on the touchstone after an alloy was dragged across it would determine it’s value.


PAIN = the touchstone to growth.
Pain = Failure of human self-will
Touchstone = Moment of clarity when God’s plan is revealed
Do you get it? Let me break it down:
• God gives us the freedom to choose,
• We make a choice that has consequences
• Then God uses those consequences to redeem us from our own impurities! This is grace 101.


-They will call on My name,
      And I will answer them.
This verse is literally packed with information:

1. They will call is the moment of surrender.
2. On My name is the realization of God’s sovereignty.
3. And I will answer them is Christ Jesus’ return and reclamation of the earth.
4. I will say, ‘This is My people’; God consummates the covenant promise
5. And each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’ The people respond to God’s gift of restoration and re-enter right relationship with God as the Kingdom of Heaven is restored in the new Heaven and in the new Earth

So if pain is the touchstone to growth, does this mean all spiritual growth must come by way of pain? Absolutely not… What it does reiterate is the central theme of all scripture, which is to say the Bible itself is a book of restoration. It’s a book about how God’s pure love works through the mess of our free will to fix what has been broken by our choices, and redeem what has been lost.




(1) Living Water - References