October 3

Read: Isaiah 6:1-7

Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged (Isaiah 6:7).

Like A Refiner’s Fire

How shall we picture God’s power to cleanse the human spirit? The Bible often uses the figure of fire, and that was the form in which God made the experience real to the prophet.

Isaiah knew the fires that burned continually in the Valley of Hinnom, cleansing Jerusalem by consuming the city’s refuse. He knew also how the refiner applied fire to the crucible to cleanse his gold of impurities. As the melting metal grew hotter and hotter, the lighter-weight dross came to the surface and was skimmed off. When the hottest fire released no further impurity, the work was done. When the refiner could see his own image clearly reflected in the pure molten metal, he was satisfied. God thus proposes to purge the dross from our lives, and when He has cleansed us, to see in us a clear reflection of His own image.

Isaiah saw that the cleansing fire which brought him moral purity came from the altar of God. In Old Testament times this altar was the altar of burnt offering, where atonement was made for sin. But our Offering for sin is Christ. It is through His atonement that we have forgiveness and sanctification. “wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate” (Hebrews 13:12). Oh, blessed provision for our cleansing! Millions have borne witness to the power of Christ to deal with sin — a power that takes away a man’s guilt and cleanses the deeper stain. Today I join in their glad praise:

Blessed be the name of Jesus! I’m so glad He took me in. He’s forgiven my transgressions; He has cleansed my heart from sin.

— M. J. Harris