2 Esdras 7:51-61
“For whereas you have said that the righteous are not many but few, while the unrighteous abound, hear the explanation for this. If you have just a few precious stones, will you add to them lead and clay? I said, “Master, how could that be? And he said to me, “Not only that, but ask the earth and she will tell you; address her, and she will declare it to you. Say to her, ‘You produce gold and silver and brass, and iron and lead and clay; but silver is more abundant than gold, and brass than silver, and iron than brass, and lead than iron, and clay than lead. Judge therefore which things are precious and desirable, those that are abundant or those that are RARE? I said, “O sovereign YAHWEH, what is plentiful is of LESS WORTH, for what is RARER IS MORE PRECIOUS.” He answered and said, “Weigh within yourself what you have thought, for he who has what is hard to get rejoices more than he who has what is plentiful. So also will be the judgment which I have promised; for I will rejoice over the FEW WHO SHALL BE SAVED, because it is they who have made My esteem to prevail now, and through them My Name has now been honored.”
2 Esdras 8:1-3
“He answered me and said, “The Most High made this world for the sake of many, but the world to come for the sake of few. But I will explain the parable to you, Ezra. Just as, when you ask the earth, it will tell you that it provides VERY MUCH CLAY from which earthenware is made, but only A LITTLE DUST FROM WHICH GOLD COMES; so is the course of the present world. Many have been created, but few shall be saved.”
YAHWEH is looking for rare gold which are the few righteous in the world that will be saved this is obviously the narrow path that YESHUA speaks of saying:
Matthew 7:13-14
“Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the way that leads man to destruction, and many are entering by it. But the gate and the way that lead to life, it is exceedingly narrow; and FEW are they who find it.”
The rare gold are the few righteous who are walking the narrow path which are those who keep the commandments of YAHWEH and faith in YESHUA (Revelation 14:12).
So, what does it take to get us to become rare gold? It is a process that YAHWEH sends His all of people through to refine them. Are you willing to let YAHWEH refine you or are you going to be content with being clay and lead (the unrighteous) with no value that will be destroyed with the multitude?
2 Esdras 9:14-22
“I answered and said, “I said before, and I say now, and will say it again: there are more who perish than those who will live, as a flood is greater than a drop of water.” He answered me and said, “As is the field, so is the seed; and as are the flowers, so are the colors; and as is the work, so is the judgment; and as is the farmer, so is the threshing floor. For there was a time in this age when I was preparing for those who now exist, before they came into being the world was made for them to dwell in, and no one opposed Me then, for no one existed; but now those who have been created in this world, which is supplied both with an unfailing table (plenty of food to eat) and an inexhaustible pasture, have become corrupt in their ways. So I considered My world, and behold, it was lost, and My earth, and behold, it was in peril because of the devices of those who had come into it. And I saw and spared some with great difficulty, and saved for Myself ONE GRAPE OUT OF A CLUSTER, AND ONE PLANT OUT OF A GREAT FOREST. So let the multitude perish which has been born in vain, but let My grape and My plant be saved, because with MUCH LABOR I HAVE PERFECTED THEM.”
YAHWEH labors hard to perfect us to get us on the narrow path and keep us there, to by the leading of the RUACH HA’KODESH! So, as we saw from the scriptures earlier that only a few will be saved and are likened to rare gold. So, lets view an article about the gold refining process to see if it applies to us in our walk with YESHUA!
09 Feb 2018
Trial by fire: gold refining
591 VIEWS 2 MIN READ
“Once upon a time, your favourite gold necklace was part of a bunch of other metals congealed together in a rock. When gold is mined, it is barely discernible as the metal we have come to love. It is in fact what experts called an ore. An ore can have a high or a low amount of gold content depending on where it was extracted. Goldsmiths use cyanide to extract the gold from the ores, forming something called a ‘dore’.
Onward to the next stage. The dore has to go through a trial by fire at a refinery. In an exciting process called refining, it is re-liquified in a furnace and then heaped with generous amounts of soda ash and borax. This effectively separates the gold from impurities and other metal traces. There are actually a range of interesting scientific and technological ways gold can be refined. Whatever the method, what remains is the purest gold on the planet and it is cast into a beautiful bar that glitters like the sun.”
As we see from the article that gold did not just come out as pure gold as we know it, rather it was BARELY DISCERNIBLE before it was refined. It had to be effectively SEPARATED FROM THE IMPURITIES, just as we the believers are refined by the blood of YESHUA and keeping the commandments out of obedience, which then SEPARATES us from the IMPURITIES OF THIS WORLD and SEPARATES us the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats.
2 Corinthians 6:15-16
“Or what accord has Messiah with Satan? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? Or what harmony has the temple of ELOHIM with idols? For you are the temple of the living ELOHIM; as it is said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their ELOHIM, and they shall be My people.”
Matthew 13:37-42 (Hebrew)
“So He answered and said, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of the virgin. The field is the world and the good seed are the righteous ones, but the thistles are the evil ones. And the enemy who sows them is Ha-Satan. And the time of the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the messengers. For like a man who gathers the thistles and burns them, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of ELOAH will send His messengers. All the stumbling-blocks in His kingdom and the evil ones, He will place in the fire of Gei-Hinnom, and there will be weeping and trembling of teeth.”
If YAHWEH had not refined us then we also would be BARELY DISCERNIBLE from the rest of the world just as gold started out before being refined, because you would be celebrating pagan holidays like them, eating unclean foods like them, dressing like them, and talking like them, you would look just like the rest of the world and therefore UNDISCERNIBLE from them.
2 Corinthians 6:17
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be SEPARATE, says YAHWEH, and TOUCH NOT THE UNCLEAN THING; and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, said YAHWEH Almigty.”
Leviticus 19:1-2
“And YAHWEH spoke to Moses, saying, speak to all the congregation of the children of Yisra’el and say to them, you shall be set-apart; for I YAHWEH your ELOHIM am set-apart.”
The scriptures that I will list below shows us that ELOHIM wants us go through the same refining process as gold to be set-apart from the world, so that we can become rare gold in His sight and not the abundance of brass, lead and clay that the earth produces. ELOHIM is also molding us physically and spiritually to stand for Him, to have unwavering faith regardless of what goes on this world, no matter the level of persecution and injustice, and not being swayed by every wind of doctrine. Remember, gold has to go through a TRIAL OF FIRE as the article mentioned to become a precious metal just as we have to be TRIED AS GOLD IN THE FURNANCE to become that precious stone that is pleasing in YAHWEH’s sight!
Sirach 2:1-5
“My son if you have come to serve YAHWEH prepare your souls for TRIALS. Set your heart aright and constantly endure and do not hurry in times of trouble. Cleave to Him and do not depart, that you may be increased at your last end. What is brought on you take cheerfully and be patient when you are changed to a low estate. FOR AS GOLD IS TRIED IN THE FIRE SO ACCEPTABLE MEN IN THE FURNANCE OF ADVERSITY.”!
Wisdom 3:1-6
“But the soul of the righteous are in the hand of ELOHIM and no torment shall touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is mistaken for misery, and their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace. For though they are punished in the sight of men, yet their hope is full of immortality. And having been chastised a little, they shall be greatly rewarded: for ELOHIM proved them and found them WORTHY of Himself. AS GOLD IN THE FURNANCE HE HAS TRIED THEM AND RECEIVED them as a burnt offering.”
Zechariah 13:9
“And I will cause the third part to pass through the fire and will refine them as they refine silver, AND WILL TRY THEM AS THEY TRY GOLD; they shall call on My Name, and I will answer them; I will say, they are My people; and they shall say, YAHWEH is My ELOHIM.”
1 Peter 1:3-9
“Blessed be ELOHIM, the Father of our Master YESHUA HA’MASHIACH, Who by His abundant mercy has again renewed us spiritually to a lively hope by the resurrection of YESHUA HA’MASHIACH from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that does not fade away and is prepared in heaven for you, while you kept by the power of ELOHIM through faith for the life eternal which is ready to be revealed at the last time. Wherein you will rejoice forever, though at the present you are sorrowful for a while, through DIVERSE TRIALS WHICH HAVE come upon you, so that the PROOF OF YOUR FAITH, being much more precious than REFINED GOLD which has been purified by FIRE, may be made manifest for the esteem and honor and praise at the appearing of YESHUA HA’MASHIACH, Whom you have not seen, but Whom you yet love, and in whose faith you rejoice with exceeding joy that cannot be described; and you will receive the reward for your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”
Go through the furnace of adversity to be tried as gold in the fire to test your faith which will bring forth endurance in all things, and you will come out on the other end as rare precious gold, and will be rewarded when YESHUA comes because He will have found you to be an obedient servant that endured until the end. Are you willing to go through the fire and trust YAHWEH without complaining or giving up? Or are you content with being lead that is abundant on the earth and has no value? That choice is yours and I pray that you give your lives completely to YESHUA and become sold out disciples of His. This is why James tells us:
James 1:2-3 (CJB)
“Regard it all as joy my brothers, when you face various kinds of trials; for you know that the testing of your trust produces perseverance. But let perseverance do its complete work; so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing.”
The article also said this about the finished product of gold: “and it is cast into a beautiful bar that glitters like the sun.”
In the same way the finished product of the righteous, who are likened to rare precious gold will also shine like the sun:
Matthew 13:43
“Then the righteous ones will SHINE LIKE THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. Whosever has ears to hear, let him obey.”
Daniel 12:3
“And those who have done good and the men of understanding shall SHINE as the brightness of the firmament; and those who have turned many to righteousness shall SHINE and stand like stars for ever and ever.”
2 Esdras 7:97 (order of the righteous)
“The sixth order, when it is shown to them how their face is TO SHINE LIKE THE SUN, and how they are to be made like THE LIGHT OF THE STARS, being incorruptible from then on.”
2 Baruch 51:10
“For on the summits of that world they will live, and they will be like the malachim (angels), and they will be deemed EQUAL TO THE STARS…”
As always may YAHWEH bless you in YESHUA’s Name!