Bible Dictionary
Furnace
A furnace was used for baking, smelting, refining, or burning materials. Scripture also uses the furnace figuratively for severe affliction, punishment, and the final judgment of the impenitent.
Biblical Usage
Furnace imagery describes severe testing, affliction, and destruction. God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt is compared with removal from an iron furnace, while the fiery furnace appears in the account of punishment in Babylon. In the New Testament, the furnace of fire symbolizes the final destiny of the impenitent.
Scripture References