Ultimate Christianity

“Tried with fire.” Was Peter thinking of his forefathers in the book of Daniel when he penned these words? Possibly so. You remember those three brave believers would not bow to the intimidating threats of the hierarchy, though it meant being put into the fires. Their answer to the King is the ultimate Christian testimony: “Our God...is able to deliver us...and he will deliver us...But if not...” A general consensus—God is able; an individual trust—God will; a personal acceptance—if God doesn’t.

You can’t stop a person armed with this philosophy. These three Jewish saints are undoubtedly the ones referred to in Hebrews eleven, where we are told, “and others...not accepting deliverance.” They knew it was just as great, if not greater, to be delivered in the fire, as it was out of the fire. Maybe they were trusting the promise of Isaiah, “When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

There is a double blessing to be found in the fire. They had a Divine Companion Who entered with them, and they had a glorious liberty. Both fellowship and freedom are found in the midst of the flame.

Amy Carmichael tells the following precious story. “One day we took the children to see a goldsmith refine gold after the ancient manner of the East. He was sitting beside his little charcoal fire. ("He shall sit as a refiner"; the gold- or silversmith never leaves his crucible once it is on the fire.) In the red glow lay a common curved roof tile; another tile covered it like a lid. This was the crucible. In it was the medicine made of salt, tamarind fruit and burnt brick dust, and imbedded in it was the gold. The medicine does its appointed work on the gold, "then the fire eats it," and the goldsmith lifts the gold out with a pair of tongs, lets it cool, rubs it between his fingers, and if not satisfied puts it back again in fresh medicine. This time he blows the fire hotter than it was before, and each time he puts the gold into the crucible, the heat of the fire is increased; "it could not bear it so hot at first, but it can bear it now; what would have destroyed it then helps it now." "How do you know when the gold is purified?" we asked him, and he answered, "When I can see my face in it [the liquid gold in the crucible] then it is pure.”