Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all!
You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. (Is. 62:3)
The Lord will make those who fear Him a glorious and royal diadem—a crown—in His hand. The believer in God’s hand, seen by Him, held by Him, loved, comforted, and known by Him. The Christian, a crown held in the Lord’s Hand, the One worthy of honor, power, splendor, dignity, royalty, and sovereignty. A crown is often made of gold and embedded with jewels. Gold begins as ore, mined from deep within the earth at considerable effort, time, and cost. Once the ore has been obtained, the tiresome refining process begins. The unwanted elements are removed leaving behind a precious metal. Refining the ore requires the laborious job of pounding, shattering and crushing it into a fine powder. It must be washed frequently, removing the undesirable parts. It is then placed in a fiery furnace where the dross and impurities rise to the top and are skimmed off. The gold becomes purer—and softer—each time it goes through the furnace.
Our Master Refiner invests substantial time and effort refining us—sinners deep-rooted and lost in the temptations and lusts of the world. Once found, He begins the endless process, ridding us of the undesirable aspects of our lives through humbling and crushing, removing impure thoughts and attitudes as we begin to yield our lives to Him. Like the ore, we require frequent cleansing through the Word, prayer, Bible study, and other spiritual disciplines as He continually washes away the sin from our lives. Then comes the fiery trials, unpleasant but necessary if we are to become a royal diadem, a crown of glory, in our Lord’s hand. The dross of our lives—the unholy, the unsanctified, the unconsecrated—must rise to the top and be removed as we yield ourselves to Him in greater degrees. We are now becoming polished and more valuable in our Master Refiner’s hands.
The Author and Finisher of your faith is rearranging your interests and desires as you become more valuable to Him. He has begun the slow, daily process of refining, cleansing, and purifying you so you may become His royal diadem, His crown of glory. How is He refining you today? Are you going through the fire? Won’t you settle, right now, the matter and allow Him to make you more valuable in His hand as He removes the dross in your life? The story of redemption is the story of God seeking and saving the lost, refining and purifying them that they may “Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all!”