The Spirit of Burning

This basic convicting and cleansing work of the Spirit in the life of believers can be illustrated by the words of the prophet Isaiah. He said “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning” (Isaiah 4:4).  Evidently God is quite interested in washing and purging! Isaiah reveals God’s passionate desire to cleanse His people in Jerusalem.

Since this Old Testament passage is not as familiar, it would be helpful to afford some context and consider the primary meaning of this chapter and verse before applying it to Christian experience.  Accordingly, the prophet Isaiah looks beyond the “Day of the Lord” to that time when “the Branch,” Christ’s, kingdom will be established on earth.  In that day Jerusalem and Israel will be marked by holiness. Their sins will be forgiven. They will be saved and inwardly transformed to show forth the holiness of Christ. These will reside there (Isa 4:3) as citizens of the city. 

Isaiah says “the daughters of Zion” (they represent the nation of Israel) will be cleansed “by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning” (Isa. 4:4).  Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (Clarke, 1967, p. 1347) clearly explains this judgment and purging work of God metaphorically as the craft of the refiner:

[Isaiah 4:4] The spirit of burning means the fire of God's wrath, by which he will prove and purify his people; gathering them into his furnace, in order to separate the dross from the silver, the bad from the good. The severity of God's judgments, the fiery trial of his servants, Ezekiel (Ezek 22:18-22) has set forth at large, after his manner, with great boldness of imagery and force of expression. God threatens to gather them into the midst of Jerusalem, as into the furnace; to blow the fire upon them, and to melt them. Malachi, Mal 3:2-3, treats the same subject, and represents the same event, under the like images…. This is an allusion to a chemist purifying metals. He first judges of the state of the ore or adulterated metal. Secondly, he kindles the proper degree of fire, and applies the requisite test; and thus separates the precious from the vile (The Bethany Parallel Commentary on the Old Testament).

This is the work of the Spirit of God! His judgment will be like fire that will burn away the nation’s unwanted filth and sin. God’s new order will not prevail until His Spirit has cleansed and purged the city of its wickedness, carnality, worldliness, and idolatry.  It is the sovereign workings of the Lord that must do this.  No human engineering, efforts, or excellence will be able to achieve this.  God by His Spirit will cleanse the nation (Isa. 4:4; see Zech. 12:10–13:1), revive the fruitfulness of the land, and live with them as He did before (Isa. 4:5–6; Ex. 13:21–22).  The glory of God will be evident in Jerusalem (Mount Zion) providing blessing, security, and peace. Again all of this will be accomplished through the Spirit’s purging fire!  God will produce a holy city to be the capital of the world when Christ reigns. Surely this demonstrates a persistent unrelenting pursuit on the behalf of Jehovah to purify and render his people holy.

The brilliant adaptation in Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (Henry 2000) affords insight into the spiritual implications of this Isaiah passage to the current Christian experience. Note what he said.

By the judgment of God's providence, sinners were destroyed and consumed; but by the Spirit of grace they are reformed and converted. The Spirit herein acts as a Spirit of judgment, enlightening the mind, convincing the conscience; also as a Spirit of burning, quickening and strengthening the affections, and making men zealously affected in a good work. An ardent love to Christ and souls, and zeal against sin, will carry men on with resolution in endeavours to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Every affliction serves believers as a furnace, to purify them from dross; and the convincing, enlightening, and powerful influences of the Holy Spirit, gradually root out their lusts, and render them holy as He is holy. God will protect his church, and all that belong to it. Gospel truths and ordinances are the glory of the church. Grace in the soul is the glory of it; and those that have it are kept by the power of God. But only those who are weary will seek rest; only those who are convinced that a storm is approaching, will look for shelter. Affected with a deep sense of the Divine displeasure, to which we are exposed by sin, let us at once have recourse to Jesus Christ, and thankfully accept the refuge he affords.

Having recognized the primary interpretation of this passage, and some spiritual implications to modern saints, more specific applications for Christians can now be made. 

First and fundamentally, the spiritual realities of the kingdom age have already begun in the children of God, though not in their entirety (Rom. 8:18-29).  Christians have a foretaste of the glory to come and are spiritual previews, though imperfect, of the reconciliation, righteousness, peace, and fellowship with God that will characterize the kingdom age comprehensively. It is the Spirit of adoption living in the sons of God today who provides the anticipation of worldwide glory for all creation (Rom. 8:14-17).  To draw spiritual implications from this passage in Isaiah is not farfetched at all.  No, not by any stretch of the imagination could it be considered a misapplication.

Secondly, the Spirit of judgment and burning will execute cleansing by convictions, punishments, chastisements, and disciplines.  Today the Spirit of God still judges and condemns sinful behavior and will proceed to chasten wayward believers motivating them to live purer lives.  This is often referred to as conviction by God. Thirdly after such conviction, chastening, and cleansing the glory of the Lord, the character of Christ, will be made evident. This is the Spirit of Grace manifesting Christ in God’s people. Christians can currently enjoy the presence of the Spirit, the production of Christlike fruit, and the blessed peace of the Lord. 

This application is not at all an effort to spiritualize the millennial kingdom predictions or relegate them as unworthy of anticipating.  Not at all, this is simply an application and comparison of these future blessings to the spiritual blessings of Christians today.  Also applying this passage to the Christian experience William Evans (1974, p. 113) in his book The Great Doctrines of the Bible made this observation,

This cleansing is done by the blast of the Spirit’s burning. Here is the searching, illuminating, refining, dross-consuming character of the Spirit. He burns up the dross in our lives….

The “Spirit of Burning” searches the heart, illuminates that which is contrary to Christ, consumes the residual dross in the character, and refines believers for deeper fellowship and service of greater impact and magnitude.  The blessed Holy Spirit actually purifies the Christian’s soul.  Like fire He penetrates the self-assured veneer, probes and pierces the conscious deeply, and He creates aspirations to be right with the Lord and clean.

Often in Scripture fire relates to the process of purification and refinement.  For instance Isaiah 1:25, says “And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin”.  Likewise God endeavors to purge Christians’ attitudes, aspirations, and actions like precious metals to remove impurities and refine them for greater usages—these are chastening and judgment acts of God upon His people (Heb. 12).  Fire is a symbol by which the Holy Spirit’s work in believers’ hearts can be understood.  Taken together the result is spiritually purified hearts by the searching flames of the Spirit of Burning.

The Spirit also purifies the believer by freeing him from the dominance, slavery, and mastery of the carnal fleshly human nature.  Upon the new birth He creates this power and potential in each saint.  But it is through yielding to the Spirit that cleansing can be experienced. Paul conveys this in Galatians 5:16, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Note also Galatians 5:25. Through a faithful “walk in the Spirit” believers realize the blessings of freedom from sinful practices even when sin seems unmovable and extremely stubborn!  Additionally, the Spirit, like fire, will illuminate the faintest sins hiding in the deepest recesses of the soul and purge it so significantly that it no longer tortures believers through their motivations and desires. Then the Spirit of God affords the people of God the power to refuse and deny those base desires satisfaction, expression, and ventilation. This is victorious freedom as one continually walks in the Holy Spirit’s sin-purging fire! This is the purifying role of the Holy Spirit—The Spirit of Burning. Note the following comment from the Bible Knowledge Commentary (Walvoord & Zuck 1985),

The Promise of Victory Over Sin (Gal. 5:16-18). The answer to the abuses described in the previous verse is to live by the Spirit. The phrase literally means to, “keep on walking.” As a believer walks through life he should depend on the indwelling Holy Spirit for guidance and power. But the Spirit does not operate automatically in a believer’s heart. He waits to be depended on. When a Christian does yield to the Spirit’s control, the promise is that he will not in any wise gratify, “complete, fulfill” in outward action) the desires of the sinful nature. Thus, while no believer will ever be entirely free in this life from the evil desires that stem from his fallen human nature, he need not capitulate to them, but may experience victory by the Spirit’s help.

The Spirit of the Lord will ‘burn’—convicting of sin and creating a passionate desire for holiness—to purify the hearts and practices of believers (John 16:8–11).  He will not allow anything to coexist with Him in His temple that is not holy, pure, and righteous.  For that reason, the Holy Spirit convicts believers continually when they sin. They may refuse to yield to His convictions for such a long period that it seems His voice has been reduced to a whisper.  Still He will seek to persuade them of their sin until they face it, confess it, judge it, repent of it, are forgiven for it, and are cleansed of it (1Jn. 1:7-2:2). Our sinfulness is revolting to the Holy Father, and the Spirit of Burning will not allow it to stand unchallenged.

The Lord Jesus identified the heart of man as the center of his spiritual problems.  He taught that corruption, impurity and filth come from the inner motives of the fallen mind and heart (Mark 7:20–23).  No doubt the Holy Spirit targets the heart of the believer with a yearning to cleanse it of all base desires and carnal motives.  The fact is the heart of the matter is the heart!  The Spirit not only wants believers to behave correctly, but He longs for them to also have correct beliefs, values, motivations, and godly desires. The Lord Jesus taught that genuine purification is possible by following Him and giving heed to His message (John 15:3; Ps. 119:9-11).  This is the same as walking in the Spirit (Eph. 5:18-21; Col. 3:16-17).

In light of this each believer should be sensitive to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit in his life.  Christians should respond to Him with a contrite and humble heart. David the Psalmist said that, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Ps. 51:17).  When the Spirit of God identifies something in the Christian’s heart that does not resemble Christ, they must submissively humble themselves before Him recognizing the gravity of their offense to a holy, righteous, and good God.  Remember all sins, big and small, are a vicious assault on the Majesty and Authority of Jehovah God!  Every sin expresses treasonous rebellion and despises God and His Law (Lev. 16:21; 2Sam. 12:9-10).  The Spirit of the Lord presses the enormity of their sin upon their conscious and encourages them to make things right with the Lord immediately.

Recall when King Josiah humbled himself before the Lord, God responded by saying,

But to the king of Judah…Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard; ¹⁹ Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord” (2 Kings 22:18-19). 

Josiah’s reaction to this confrontation with his sin and that of the nation is highly instructive for Christians today.  Many are far too tolerant and permissive regarding personal sin. Clearly this attitude is not from God. Believers can become rather insensitive and harden to what violently offends His Majesty. But when the Spirit convinces us of sins we must face, confess, and forsake them (1Cor. 6:9-11; 1Jn. 1:7-2:2; Tit. 2:14). Thank God there is cleansing and purification through the precious blood of Jesus Christ (1John 1:7-9). Only then can we be forgiven of it and restored to the fellowship necessary for the Lord to use us as He desires.