Mal 3:3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier (Um'Taher) of silver;
He will purify (V'Tiher) the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the LORD
An offering in righteousness.
The Hebrew verb Taher s Strongs defines it this way: H2891 טהר
(taw-hare) A primitive root; properly to be bright; that is, (by implication) to be pure (physically sound, clear, unadulterated; Levitically uncontaminated; morally innocent or holy): - be (make, make self, pronounce) clean, cleanse (self), purge, purify (-ier, self).
Most Americans have lost a connection to the value of Gold and Silver - which we read of its value as "money" The Hebrew word for silver - Kesef. is the same word that is used for the word money. The first place we see it used as a store of Value is with Abram when He buy the land and the Caves to bury Sarah. - If you have bought a house in America - you have had a title search done on the land to make sure that you actually have a deed to ownership. This is one of several of the greatest recordings of a land transaction in the world, a few others are the Temple mount - Mount Moriah - that King David bought.
I digres. I use this verse because - Gold and Silver have often been presented as items of Values. The buried Treasure chest filled with items of Gold and silver, and coins and tokens and jewels. This is what Treasure is or a "Segullah" Heb. We read of it in Mal 3:17 and how HE will spare them.
Truly we will see the YHVH ( The LORD) Purify His sons and daughters, in these last days.
Those that Fear the LORD. The Hebrew is Yare (Yiray) YHVH. We read that those who fear HIS name.
Mal 3:16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another,
And the LORD listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the LORD
And who meditate on His name.
Mal 3:17 "They shall be Mine," says the LORD of hosts,
"On the day that I make them My Treasure Heb. Segullah (Exo 19:5-6; 1 Pet 2:5-10)
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him."
Mal 3:18 Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.
In verse 18 we read that He will make a distinction once again. We read of distinction being made on behalf of peoples. The children of Israel had to go through some of the plagues. Just the first three of them, then He made a distinction between the Children of Israel and the Egyptians.
While it popular and comforting to think that God is just going to wisk His people away and protect them from any discomfort or trouble. I think that if HE doesn't do it now in "normal" life, and more "normal times, why should that change? Do we not know or have we not seen many that have had a small taste of discomfort or trials or tribulations in life?
I am not looking to debate, "rapture eschatology". I will present this question - what happens when a generation perhaps close to a billion people have been told that the ride only cost $.25 and that your going to be wisked away in the twinkle of an eye. What happens if the reality is that the ride is really going to cost us $1.25 or that your going to go through some or all of the tribulation?
I think that this will be a portion of the great falling away. When people are shocked, when they look around and the things that they read that were not supposed to happen to them, are shockingly happening to them, that they are still here and not up there. I think that another portion of the great falling away is the seeker friendly - Golden Ticket Gospel.
I am greatly grieved when the people are crying out that their Constitutional rights are being taken away. Many are more concerned about thier "rights" than their righteousness. It is righteousness that exalts a nation. The nation that Murmurs together, gets to die together in the wilderness.
Frankly, unless we have a major heart change, and start crying out to YHVH (the LORD), and stop crying about what ails the political system. I pray for hearts that will do Teshuvah (Heb. word for repentance) that we will not see an acceleration of the downfall. I shared a prophetic word in 2007 or 2008 that we were at the end of Pax Americana - or Peace of America. Sadly, we are that ride, and the roller coaster clicks ratchet by ratchet, slowly toward that sudden plunge and drop.
Many people are worried that they are going to be rounded up or enslaved through our loss of personal freedoms. I embrace it. Cause I can see it now and coming fast and furious. We are already slaves or prisoners in a cell without walls. Most just don't get it yet. I am just waiting for more people to wake up. Then they can repent, and cry out, then those that start to cry out will see salvation or deliverance.
Rather than repenting and praying for forgiveness, they pray but for the wrong thing. They pray for a "return to the hey-day of extravagant and luxurious living , of easy money, easy credit and easy street.
Eze 22:18 "Son of man, the house of Israel has 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.
Mal 3:3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the LORD
An offering in righteousness.
