The Purification of Gold 🤌🏾:
Matthew Chapter 3 NIV:
The favor of the Lord is upon you!
As you all know, I'm in the book of Matthew. Now I'm at the part of Matthew where John is to prepare the way for Jesus. As John operates in his purpose (baptism), he then saw the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees and Sadducees were hypocrites.
John says to them in verse eight, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance."
How can we produce fruit in keeping with repentance? 🤔
To repent means to change and to produce fruit means to change as well. The difference between these two is, repentance takes humility. When you humble yourself, allowing God to water you, you will flourish and produce many good fruit.
In verse eleven, John mentions that Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire 🔥. Meaning two things, Jesus will provide us with help because the Holy Spirit is our helper. And change - Job 23:10: "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as pure gold."
Now let's look at the process of the purification of gold!
1. The gold is separated from the cyanide solution and smelted to remove some of its impurities
2. The molten gold is then cast into mold
3. The gold is further refined into pure material by electrolytic refining
Now let's compare that to our process of purification!
1. God separates us from the "Cyanide Solution" also known as a flammable and poisonous gas - or those "toxic people"
flammable - trouble making
poisonous - toxic
Then we become "smelted" - the extraction of metal with the use of heat - in this sense the metal can be hatred, jealousy, anger, lust, or anything that's blocking the purification of your heart.
2. Then we are cast into a mold - the word cast means to assign. This "new mold" is our new identity in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
3. We are then further refined - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."
The word refined means purified.
The process of the Electrolytic Refinement: the process of refining- purifying a metal by the process of electrolysis.
Now what is that?
Electrolysis is the process of decomposing ionic compounds.
The word decomposing means to disintegrate - to break down.
This process also includes the breaking down of your flesh.
I hope this helped you because it sure did shock me when I received it 🔥😮💨! Holy Spirit cooked for sure 👍🏾!!! I love y'all and God does too 🤭🫵🏾