1 Corinthians 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire… There can be no doubt as to what day it is that is here intended. It is that "great and dreadful day" of the Lord's coming to judgment, to which all Scripture bears more or less distinct prophetic witness - the day when the final issues of time shall be gathered up, and time itself shall melt into the measureless eternity. One special characteristic of the day is that then all human works will be put to the supreme and decisive test. Consider - I. THE INSTRUMENT OF THE TEST. "The fire shall prove each man's work." 1. Literal elemental fire. It is the plain teaching of Scripture that the visible, material world around us shall undergo some wondrous transformation by fire, that out of the ashes of the old there may arise "the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (see Malachi 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 2 Peter 3:7, 10). And science confirms the possibility, if not actual probability, of such an issue. 2. The fire of Divine holiness. The elemental fire is but the outward symbol of moral judgment. It was for such judgment that Christ came into the world at first (Isaiah 10:17; Malachi 3:2, 3; Matthew 3:11, 12). He will finally and completely fulfil in the last day this judicial function. The holy love of God, in its fiery antagonism to all evil, is incarnated in "that Man whom he hath ordained to be the Judge of quick and dead." II. THE PURPOSE OF THE TEST. To make manifest "every man's work of what sort it is." To make manifest: 1. The basis on which it rests. Christ is the Source of all true saintliness of character and righteousness of life in men. Only as our souls are "rooted and grounded" in him can we build up a fabric of personal virtue that will stand the searching test of that day. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (John 6:29). 2. The spirit that inspires it. The mere form of the work, the place and space it has visibly occupied on the stage of the world's history, is of comparatively small moment. The spirit that has animated it, this is its living substance, its essential quality. It is this that makes it of "the sort it is." 3. The practical results of it. Not all the works even of the best of men will bear the revealing light and the consuming fire of that day. When the good die, "their works do follow them," as grateful memories, as enduring fruits of goodness and of blessing to the world. And yet not all. There may have been works among them that were too much "of the earth, earthy." They perish with meaner things, not worthy of immortality. While in the case of some men it is as if all were lost; they leave no lasting memorials behind them, over which the living may rejoice; but like one flying from his burning house, escaping with bare life, they are "saved; yet so as by fire." Prove yourself and yore work now by the Divine standard, "that when He shall appear you may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." - W. Parallel Verses KJV: Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. |
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