Separating Wheat from Chaff

4 APRIL

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

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Zechariah 13

When the church's filth has been washed away, she will be clean, and all who belong to her will truly be the elect of God. Now, it is certain that what Isaiah says here does not apply universally to the external church, into which many have been admitted under the designation of believers and who have nothing that corresponds to their profession. 

The number of unbelievers in the church may even exceed the small number of true believers, as chaff often exceeds wheat in a barn. And though the captivity in Babylon was used by God as a sieve to remove a large portion of chaff, yet we know that the church was still very far from being as pure as she ought to have been. Still at that time there was, in some measure, a resemblance of that purity which will be truly and perfectly manifested after the lambs are separated from the kids (Matt. 25:32). When Isaiah speaks of those beginnings, he includes (as his custom is) a period that extends to the end, when God will bring to perfection that which he has begun.

We see the same thing today, for though chastisements and punishments do not entirely remove all spots from the church, yet when spots have been washed out, she recovers a part of her purity. She suffers no great loss by the strokes inflicted in her because, while she is diminished, she is at the same time comforted by casting out many hypocrites. For it is only by casting out offensive or corrupt matter that a diseased body can be restored to health.

In this we obtain a most useful consolation, for we tend to want a multitude of believers and to estimate by it the prosperity of the church. On the contrary, we should rather desire to be few in number in which the glory of God shines brightly. But because our own glory leads us in another direction, the consequence is that we more greatly regard a great number of men than the excellence of a few.

John Calvin 

FOR MEDITATION: 

What is the use of a great number of nominal Christians if few behave like Christians in any sense of the word? The greater concern is building a holy church, not building a mega-church. How can you help your church become more holy?

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke