ARE WE DROSS?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, the people of Israel have become dross to Me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a furnace to be melted with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in My anger and My wrath and put you inside the city and melt you. I will gather you and I will blow on you with My fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the Lord have poured out My wrath on you.’”

Ezekiel 22:17-22

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We seem to marvel over the beauty and value of metal, especially when it is crafted into art or jewelry but did you know that there’s a process that has to take place before metal gets to a place of splendor or worth?

The overall science of working with the nature and state of metals is called metallurgy and one aspect of that science is the act of refining and/or purifying metals. This process of removing impurities from metals has been around since biblical days as we will see in today’s scripture passage and the very words of God but before we go there, I need to describe the simple process that took place to refine metals.

First, we need to know that the impurity in metals was and is referred to as dross. A simple look at the dictionary renders this definition:

Something of low value or quality such as unwanted material that is removed from a mineral (such as gold) to make it better.

Obviously, the goal of the metal refiner is to remove the dross from the metal they are purifying and the best way to do that in biblical times was to heat the metal to a molten state and then skim off the impurities that would rise to the top of the molten metal. The end state would be a metal free from those impurities.

With this metal picture of the metal refining process in mind, let’s now turn to today’s verses and our continuing study of Ezekiel 22:

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, the people of Israel have become dross to Me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a furnace to be melted with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in My anger and My wrath and put you inside the city and melt you. I will gather you and I will blow on you with My fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the Lord have poured out My wrath on you.’”  Ezekiel 22:17-22

As God begins to speak to His prophet Ezekiel, note the first words that come from His mouth:

“The people of Israel have become dross to Me.”

In essence, what He is saying is that His people have become impure entities within Jerusalem, a holy city of great value. The numerous sins of the Israelites, many of which are mentioned within this same chapter, caused the once valuable and precious people of God to be reduced to nothing more than worthless dross in His eyes. It’s important to grasp the power in His opening statement and the sad, fallen state of the Israelites captured within it.

So what would any good metallurgist do if something of value was full of impurities?

He would fire up the furnace, heat up the thing of value, and remove the unwanted elements within. And as we see this is exactly the analogy God uses in describing what He is going to do within Jerusalem with His people.

For you see, Jerusalem is the furnace God is talking about in His word and once He had His people in the furnace, He was going to send a fiery blast fueled by His anger and wrath, an anger and wrath stoked by the disobedience and disrespect shown Him by the Israelites. And with the fires of God’s wrath imparted on His people through the Babylonians who would attack Jerusalem, set it ablaze, and reduce it to smoldering rubble, God would have His impurities removed from the city and taken away into a seventy year exile. They had lost their worth and value to Him through their sinfulness and would only return to Him and their homeland to start anew after they had undergone the penalty of His judgment.

All this leads me to the question which forms the title of today’s devotion:

Are we dross?

Have we allowed sin to make us so impure before God that He needs to send His refining fire upon us?

It’s a question we all need to ask ourselves and if we find ourselves having failed to conform with God’s word, will, or way in some way, then the path to avoiding judgment is to repent and ask the Lord to forgive us and guide us back to His righteousness. This move toward self-refinement is much easier in the long run and will always lead us to the place where the Lord wants us to be, a place where we can experience His favor and blessings instead of His consequences, a place where He sees us of great value instead of dross.  

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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