Salt and Fire

Salt and Fire

“For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.” Mark 9:49.

Jesus says, “Everyone will be seasoned with fire.”

The intention is for every follower of Christ to be seasoned with fire. In the previous verses Jesus speaks about plucking out your eye and cutting off your hand or foot if they hinder you. Everything has to be taken out of the way; everything has to be sacrificed for the sake of the kingdom of God if it is an obstruction.

Jesus exhorts us, saying: “Have salt in yourselves . . . .” V. 50. What does that mean?

Imagine some people coming together for a meeting, or the same people sitting in their homes. They are all satisfied; they can all be thankful and praise God because they have it so good. They eat well and sleep well; they have sufficient food and sufficient clothing. They are not really warm, but neither are they cold; they are not quite fervent in spirit; they are satisfied and they are at rest, but otherwise they feel neither one thing nor another. They like to have a good meeting, and they like to have it good otherwise. You can be certain that such people lack salt. They could almost be compared to sour milk.

Let us investigate further. Consider a meeting or a prayer meeting. People press into God in order to be blessed, as it is called, and everyone knows what that means. God comes near, people sense His nearness and rejoice; perhaps they exult exceedingly. Is such exultation seasoned? Actually, exultation is the goal of many believers; they hardly think of progress and growth and toil. They avoid sufferings. God’s intention with His nearness was wasted in that they didn’t see any further than their own enjoyment. Do you think you will get salt into yourself by acting like this? Not at all, not if you advance no further than this joy. Salt is still lacking. Jesus says, “Have salt in yourselves”! How can you get it?

At such a meeting, there may be a soul who, in the midst of God’s nearness and goodness, is brought to reflect on his own life—that he has to live more worthy of His gospel. His eyes are opened to see his own life, and he discovers that it should be completely different and wholly for God.

His vision is awakened. He sees his own life in God’s light. Zeal is awakened: I have to advance! Obstacles must be removed. If it is the eye, it has to be plucked out; if it is the hand or the foot, it must be cut off. Light flows in, illuminating the life; zeal for God against everything that hinders is awakened; hatred against the self-life is increasing, In other words, he is awakened, and God intervenes so that his entire life—his mind and his thoughts—is moved, and God Himself points out the sacrifice in his life. It costs him something, but he must advance. Every sacrifice must be seasoned with salt. That is where the battle lies—not against the sacrifice which God has earned for the sake of His unspeakable goodness, but against everything that hinders him. It is then that he first becomes really aware of the obstacles, mentioning them by name: It is his self-love that hinders him, his pride, his strength, his vanity, his laziness. Then hatred rains down on his own wretchedness. Thus the sacrifices are produced without blemish.

If I say to God, “Alright then, take it!” and practically throw the sacrifice at His feet, I will notice that He does not accept it. The sacrifice must not be mixed with any leaven. I must not complain when I bring the sacrifice.

Since the sacrifice was not accepted because it was mixed with some leaven, zeal is awakened against this leaven, against this reticence, and hatred against it increases because you could even think of throwing down your sacrifice before God. Thus the sacrifice is cleansed from this leaven.

God doesn’t accept lame and wavering sacrifices either. We also notice this in our inner man. God does not accept lame sheep. The sacrifice must be spotless. Then hatred is awakened against that which is lame and wavering in our life, and it must be removed. Zeal increases in fervency. In this manner the sacrifice is seasoned so that it does not spoil, even ending up in forgetfulness or in slothfulness.

This is how God works salt in us. Then we can say that we have salt within us. The salt within us becomes the sum total of our love for God and our hatred against sin and our self-life; it is compressed divine power which never gives up before the goal has been reached. It produces an ever-fresh state in the spirit so that we do not drift out into leaven or into sweet, self-indulgent exultation. Corruption is kept at bay; we become clear, pure, brave, and strong.

When the sacrifice has thus been presented without spot, which means that we gave it wholeheartedly, we sense that God has accepted the sacrifice because His fire falls on us and consumes us.

Everyone is to be seasoned with fire. It is our responsibility to season with salt; therefore we read, “Have salt in yourselves,” but it is God’s responsibility to season with fire.

You must not think that being seasoned with fire is the same as the baptism of the Spirit. There are exceedingly many people, even most of those who have been baptized with the Spirit, who unfortunately, totally lack salt and are even less seasoned with fire.

God’s intention with His nearness is not just to give you joy, but rather to work with you so that the salt can become evident in your life.

There are those who have attempted to advance on the way of being seasoned with salt. It began with acknowledgment; they got to see themselves. Hatred was awakened, and they began to cleanse themselves so that the sacrifice could be presented without spot. However, they were reserved; they more or less loved themselves, and when they one day—perhaps with tears of self-pity—came to God with their lame sacrifice, God would not acknowledge it. They did not advance to God’s fire. The fire did not fall on the sacrifice. They lost courage, Satan made things worse, and they became backsliders, content to be without salt and without fire, having sweet feelings as their highest goal in life.

Then they insert a fitting doctrine: “We must not look at ourselves, for then we lose courage and become despondent.” They have suffered shipwreck on the way; consequently, they raise up a “Zion” in their hearts in the wrong place, which constitutes the goal of their faith and striving. Then they line up one after the other, hindering seeking souls from advancing. In this case they also steal a key of knowledge. All their preaching is about love and tolerance as opposed to salt which they say is hardness and unkindness. Their preaching is about grace that covers wretchedness. If they were to look at themselves (which their doctrine forbids them to do), they would ask if there isn’t a way of being set free from this wretchedness, so they could at least be sufficiently saved to be able to look at themselves without collapsing in a swamp of despondency.

Jesus says, “Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.” V. 50.

Jesus knows that those who have salt in themselves are aggressive. They hate sin in all its forms with a godly zeal. When a person hates his own life, he is inclined to get the better of someone who also hates his own life, which can provoke strife. Therefore Jesus exhorts such people to have peace with one another. Those who have salt in themselves see themselves and others; they are so thoroughly saved that they are not disturbed by it. In the “free assemblies” they teach that you get confused when you take heed to each other. This teaching has grown out of their experience. On the other hand, those who are seasoned with salt have a clearer vision by taking heed to themselves and to the others. Those who get confused by it should leave it. It would be terrible to see an assembly of confused people in a meeting place, although I do think that people watch each other on the sly behind the back of their teaching; otherwise there wouldn’t be so much confusion and wretchedness among them. I can well understand that in those assemblies where they do not take heed to each other, they think that Paradise will appear, for there must not be found any backbiting, gossip, envy, strife, or evil with anyone; and if the same people are not to take heed to themselves, the result is pure exultation and “Hallelujah,” to the exclusion of everything else. And because no one is to take heed either to themselves or to the others, no one can control their lives or their conduct. They are altogether blind—all of them. What a wonderful state that is! Those people must get their senses exercised to discern between good and evil!!

Peter uses the image of the earth that now is which will perish by fire. The same applies to us. Our life perishes in God’s fire—the fire with which He seasons us. Just as a new earth arises from the fire, so our spirit arises from God’s fire, new and pure. This is when we obtain God’s nature. This is when “the man of God” arises who is thoroughly equipped for every good work. This is when the Word is manifested in flesh. The person who has gone through the fire will understand it.

It is written that the sons of Aaron took incense and offered profane fire before the altar of the Lord. Incense is a sacrifice of thanksgiving after the Lord has kindled the burnt offering and let His fire fall on it. However, when a person himself sets fire to the incense without first having brought a burnt offering and having passed through God’s fire, he will become like the sons of Aaron who had absolutely no right to do this. The sons of Aaron had to die. The elders, who understood why the Lord had slain them, were not to wail over them, whereas the people could wail over them, for they saw only the outward thing: namely, that they were dead.

Can those who have not come to the fire be thankful? Yes, of course they can! Be thankful for all God’s grace and goodness. Be thankful for what you have and for the hope of receiving more. But you cannot come to this precious incense unless you have been seasoned with fire.

The person who is acquainted with God’s ways will work in the church in order to bring forth the salt so that the sacrifices for God can be pure, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. The others will work only toward a meaningless exultation. They don’t spend a single thought on either salt or fire. Or have you heard it?

Always “have salt in yourselves.” Everyone will also continually be led to the fire when God points out the sacrifice so that they can unceasingly grow and be renewed into the image of God, purified by the fire of God.