xxxi. 9. _The Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and whose
furnace is in Jerusalem._
There is a variety of purposes for which fire is used. One of them
was of old for the sacrifice, the burnt-offering; another was for
incense, to keep it always smoking. Furnaces were used by the workers
in metals.
I. THE FIRE. "Whose _fire_ is in Zion." Without the sacred fire there
would have been no burnt-offering, no clouds of incense; and
therefore God commanded that it should be kept ever burning. In this
sense, the fire is the emblem of the life Divine, the Holy Spirit's
work. May it be for ever burning! Where it burns strongly, what
clouds of incense of praise and prayer ascend to heaven!
II. THE FURNACE. "Whose _furnace_ is in Jerusalem." It is there for
the purpose of accomplishing God's designs with regard to His people.
A furnace is nothing without fuel, and the fuel may be of various
kinds. God heats His furnace with different kinds of fuel--sometimes
with bodily afflictions, sometimes with losses of various kinds,
sometimes with bereavements, sometimes with persecutions, sometimes
with all these combined. Oh, the fast importance of viewing every
trial of a temporal kind as sent on purpose to constitute a little
fuel for God's furnace! God is doing three things with His furnace.
He is melting, He is manifesting, He is making useful. 1. He is
_melting._ We are so hard and stubborn, so full of dross, that
nothing less than the fire will serve (Isa. i. 25). 2. He is
_manifesting._ The fire tests both us[1] and our work (1 Cor.
iii. 13). In this way God manifests the difference between His people
and the false professor, and shows who are His own (Zech. xiii. 9).
3. He is _making useful._ Take a lesson from the very vessels you use
at table every day; they would have been of no use at all, had they
not passed through the fire.
_Conclusion._ The trials of God's people tend (1) To exercise and
develop their spiritual excellence; (2.) To demonstrate the Divine
love and faithfulness; (3.) To prepare them for the enjoyment of
Himself at last.[2]--_Joseph Irons: Thursday Penny Pulpit,_ vol. vii.
109-120.