346. Purified and Made White
Daniel 12:10 Many shall be purified and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
We who believe in Jesus Christ are the many; and we are the wise who understand. The power of the Spirit has brought us to faith in Jesus and given us the wisdom to understand the meaning of the death of Christ and His words and promises. Many also hear the Gospel but it is not mixed with faith; therefore, they do not understand. Thus unbelievers remain wicked.
But for us who believe in Jesus, we understand, for we are wise. Wisdom is faith in Christ. “The fear (faith) of the Lord (Jesus) is the beginning of wisdom.” It is the Word of God that makes us wise to understand. “The sacred writings are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [I Timothy 3:15].” The Holy Spirit uses the Scriptures to make us wise. And wisdom is faith in Christ, and so we are saved eternally. God is gracious to open our eyes to see and understand. He uses the Writings to make us see. This is all by grace; no credit to us. God gets the credit for our wisdom.
The promise is that these wise believers who understand Christ will be purified and made white. “The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Can you imagine? There are no impurities in us; we are perfectly white without spot or stain, wrinkle or blemish. We keep dirtying ourselves by sin, of course, but the blood of Christ continually flows like a shower to continually purify. We don’t look pure, white and holy to the eyes of the world, for they do not see the blood washing over us, inside and out. What matters, however, is what God sees when He looks on the heart. He sees purity, and He is pleased.
It is not so easy to believe such total purity, however. Therefore, the Lord must try us, like in a furnace of affliction. Through the experiences of life the Holy Spirit uses the heat to purify our faith.. We are already pure and white by even a little faith. But since we have such little faith it must still become purer faith, that is, to purely and 100% believe that Jesus Christ is everything. God uses (He does not generate) the afflictions of life to grind us smooth and to refine our faith. We are purified and white. Faith sees what Jesus has done. And we rejoice in the promise.