King James
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"Nor... the Smell of Fire..."
(4) The Supreme Glory - No Smell of Fire, but Joy Unspeakable
But to me, the crown of this whole matter is what follows after, and it is this that is the real burden on my heart. They came out of the fire, and there was not even the smell of fire upon them. I think that is wonderful. Yes, greater knowledge of the Lord; yes, a liberation and an emancipating; yes, but not even the smell of burning! What is the interpretation of that? Well, I think there is no doubt that one very great effort of the adversary in the fiery furnace, if he cannot stop us getting out and cannot consume us in the fire, is so to leave the marks and smell upon us that for all succeeding days people will associate with us the matter of suffering and trial.
You see what that does, it draws attention to us; and the devil does not mind that, because if attention is drawn to us, the Lord is hidden. Having a smell of burning about us means that the suffering and the trial that we have been through have beclouded the glory.
To come out of the fiery trial of our faith without the smell of burning means, I think, the fulfilling of that word in Peter, "Whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (I Peter 1:8). That follows this word concerning the fiery trial of our faith, "joy unspeakable and full of glory." Here is the crown of a desperately dark time, of maybe years of suffering, of the testing of our faith, joy beyond speech, full of glory. The enemy ever seeks to rob us of our joy and frustrate the desire of the Lord that we should be radiators of His glory; and by the fiery trial all too often he succeeds.
I recently had occasion to see a brother who before the last war was on the Continent, and he was incarcerated for years in one of the big concentration camps. Without attempting to describe his harrowing experiences in detail, suffice to say that, by reason of the stand he took, at least three times he was trussed head downward over the bough of a tree and thrashed into unconsciousness. I was interested to see him and to note what were the effects of his suffering upon him. That man's faith is undimmed; he has waxed strong; and the outstanding mark is not the suffering, though you can see the traces in his face; the outstanding mark is not the suffering, it is the glory. He is full of joy. Yes, I think he knows something about this "joy unspeakable."
The Need for Watchfulness
Now the enemy is making a very big effort to rob us of our joy. If he cannot keep us in the furnace, he will bring us out so smelling of the fire that everywhere we go people will say, "Poor So-and-so! He is having a terrible time; I don't know how he goes through; I don't know what he will do." You see what the smell of fire is doing, it is drawing attention to ourselves.
I have been quite impressed with the amount that there is of joy and gladness relating to the Anointing. We are so familiar with the thought that the Anointing brings power and the exercise of the authority of the Throne, but you know the word in Psalm 45:7 quoted in Hebrews 1:9 "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Here is the One Who is supremely standing true to God, committed to a way of trial, of suffering, to the fiery furnace; yes, but this One is outstanding in gladness and joy.
Again, the Lord takes up the prophecy concerning Himself in Isa. 61, and says, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me...." Look at that prophecy, and see the amount of joy and gladness that follows that anointing; for mourning, the oil of joy; for ashes, beauty; for heaviness, praise. Because of the greatness of the pressure and adversity in which you are found, are you in danger of losing your joy? Are you as glad in the Lord now that you are well on the road as you were when you began?
Of course, we can disdainfully attribute the original joy to the superficiality of things at the beginning 'These young believers,' we say, 'do not know what suffering and trial and testing mean. if they did they would not be so radiant.' Ah, yes, but have we lost something? Have we 'gone on with the Lord' and lost the joy of the Lord? If we are conscious of having lost something of this, we must take steps to regain it. I was reading of an advertisement that had been put in the paper, "Wanted, Christian, cheerful, if possible." Yes, we smile at that, but evidently the advertiser did not think there was much chance!
True Godliness and glumness do not go together. We have got to watch, for the enemy is out to rob us and to keep us with the smell of fire upon us. Oh, that we can come through the darkest experiences and be those who are so full of what we have gained in the fire that the fire takes a secondary place, and all that meet us after the trial find us with "joy unspeakable and full of glory"!
It may be that some to whom these words come do not know what we are talking about, this trial of our faith. All I would say to such is, "Don't worry about that. Just store up the word, because if you are going on with the Lord, if you have any faith to purify, God will purify it, and somehow, some day, by some means, you will find yourself in the fire; you are not going to escape. It is not the experience of some special saints only. The Lord is after the purifying of the faith of all His people, and you will come to the day of the fire.
"When you do, remember the Lord wants these things to issue from it. Do not be too concerned about the enemy; he is not on top in the matter at all. In his fury and malice and hate he is doing certain things; but God is turning those things to account and using them to perfect that which concerns Him and concerns us, to bring about the end which He desires, even the glory of God in us."
From "A Witness and a Testimony" July-August 1949; pages 86,87.
In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks' wishes that what was freely received should be freely given, his writings are not copyrighted. Therefore, we ask if you choose to share them with others, please respect his wishes and offer them freely, free of changes, free of charge and free of copyright.
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