“Are we there yet? How much farther is it? I’m bored! I can’t stand it any longer!” Have you heard that before? Flights can be agonizingly long. Recently we flew back from Poland for 8 ½ hours arriving finally in Chicago. It’s a long flight especially for someone with long legs like me. It helps to have movies to watch but you end up going between movie and then that screen that shows how far across the ocean your jet is at the moment – and it never seems to move far enough! Well, we arrived in Chicago by evening and were anxious to get on our last short flight to Minneapolis when to our horror, the flight was cancelled – the last one of the day! There we were waiting in line for another hour to get tickets for the next day. In our exhaustion I cried out: How long Lord?
This was the question these Jews were pestering the Lord with. They were waiting for justice, for the Lord to arrive and make things right. They hadn’t been waiting a few hours – they had been waiting centuries – actually since the call of Abraham - that was over 1500 years! And so they plead: “Where is the God of justice?” (2:17)
Little did they realize that the birth of Jesus was just around the corner. And so Malachi focuses again on that promise – the Lord is coming. Oh we need to hear that today too when we look around at our world. We need the encouragement that he’s on his way. Malachi prepares them and us about the Lord and his coming.
One thing that it’s important for us to understand when we read the prophets, is that they saw the first and second coming of Jesus as ONE event. They didn’t see His birth and then the second coming as separated by over 2000 years. So that helps us to see that sometimes we read about the first coming here and sometimes the second coming. Either way, we learn what it is to be prepared because the Lord’s coming is before us!
a. The Lord’s coming is CERTAIN
The first word of preparation is found in 3:1 "Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me.” This is talking about the coming of John the Baptist. How did he prepare the way for the Lord to come? He preached for people to repent and return to God. His goal: get ready to put your eyes on the Lord!
And did you realize that every one of us is to be a John the Baptist in this world? We are called by the Lord to turn people’s eyes onto Jesus. Few of us are preachers, but you don’t have to be. Your life and your everyday words are a testimony to your Lord.
Why is this so urgent? Because it’s so certain. Just as Jesus first coming was doubted and questioned, so also is the second coming doubted and questioned. But there is NO DOUBT that Jesus came the first time. And so also there should be no doubt that he’s coming again!
b. The Lord’s coming is SUDDEN
Then comes the second word of preparation to people waiting for the Lord, waiting for justice. “And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.” The Lord is coming suddenly. It’s hard to wait so this is a great encouragement to be prepared – it can happen at any moment.
I think of how many years I waited before I met my wife. All through High School – nothing. Then four years of college – some dating but still nothing. Then I went on to seminary – more waiting and waiting. I finished and prepared to go on the mission field. I had basically given up the fact that I would ever meet a girl that would be right for me. I was fine with surrendering that idea up to the Lord. But then SUDDENLY, I met this beautiful Polish lady in St. Paul on July 7, 1994! Half a year later we were engaged and the following year we were married in her home church in Poland. That was sudden! But without the wait, it all would have been missed.
And so will the second coming of the Lord be. We’re reminded of this in Matthew 24:40-42 “Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” An ordinary day like tomorrow at work - and you never come home!
It will be sudden but well worth the wait. How do you know this is not the last day of your life and the Lord will call you home? How can you even guess? Are you ready today? What is left undone? What regrets would you have? Seize the day today! Be prepared!
c. The Lord’s Coming is Frightening
Then, the prophet prepares the people for the coming Lord by asking a very pointed question: can you handle it when he comes? “But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?” Do you think you can handle it when the Lord comes? Are you going to be ready? Will you be prepared?
The question the prophet asks assumes a negative answer. Who can stand when He appears? NO ONE! Here you are looking forward to welcoming the Lord and he says – it’s going to be doomsday! You can’t stand in front of Him!
Why not? Because we’re not worthy – but we so often think we are. We’ve been watching the Olympics this week and for me the most amazing was to see the gymnastics and especially the US team go on to win the gold medal. And then a couple days later watching that little Gabby Douglas win it all was incredible. The thing that became so obvious was that the gold medal was the one that really mattered. The girls that didn’t get the gold cried and wept like it was the end of the world. And there’s some truth to it – there is only ONE winner. All the rest are losers. No one else has the right to stand on that podium. As one comedian says, silver just means you’re the top loser.
To stand before the Lord, you have to be the best. You can’t have any point deductions or shaky moments. To get the gold you can’t fail even once. There is no silver or bronze or consolation prize in heaven. Only pure gold makes it before God. And so, this is the point: you can’t stand before the Lord – you don’t have the gold! It’s not a matter of working harder or overcoming adversity. It’s not a matter of training and enduring pain and suffering. None of it is going to be good enough for the Lord.
There is only one man who can stand in that place before God the Father – Jesus Christ who lived the perfect life with no blemish or spot, with no failures, no mistakes, no wobbly moments, no guilt, shame, or regrets. Perfect gold! Neither you nor I are in that category!
d. The Lord came to do deep cleaning. (2b-3a)
Malachi prepares us for the coming of the Lord by describing what he will do when he arrives – his ministry is the refine and purify – to do deep cleaning. “For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver,
God needs purity of our soul before we can appear before him and so he compared the work of his Son Jesus Christ to a metal worker who needs to purify his silver in order to make it acceptable. It’s an ancient method of refinery called cupellation in which they mix the impure silver with another metal like lead. Basically, as these metals are heated to liquid form, the impurities are attracted to the other metal and then what remains is pure silver – bright and shiny. We are the impure silver and the Lord is the refiner and the refiner’s fire. He purifies us so that we are acceptable to him.
Now, before we make some applications from this verse, it’s important to make clear what this DOESN’T mean. It doesn’t mean that in order to make you acceptable before God, he needs to raise the temperature – to give you some hardship so that your faults are worked out. Finally your character will be purified and you will be acceptable before God.
God does use suffering to bring us closer to himself and to shape our character. Suffering reveals our faithfulness to God and builds our patience and endurance. (Isaiah 48:10 – the furnace of affliction to try their faithfulness). But it does not and cannot make us pure. Suffering does not make us righteous and acceptable to God.
So what is Malachi saying here? He is simply saying that the only way to stand before God is if we are separated from our sins. He only accepts pure silver or pure white clothes. That’s righteousness. How does God do that? By the means of his sacrifice on the cross. He came to this earth – no one is able to stand before him and thus he is providing the way so that men CAN stand before him.
JESUS took the heat for us. JESUS went through the furnace of affliction. He received the punishment we deserve for our failures. On the cross, he became the refiner’s fire that sucked out all the impurities of sin out of our soul like a magnet. But that only will happen under one condition – you must be IN CHRIST.
Romans 8:1 says “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” In Christ means that you have entrusted your life to Christ. It’s as if you are giving your life into his hands to do with as he wishes. You see, when you are in Christ, everything that he has done is what you have done. Everything he desires becomes your desires. Everything he has accomplished is what you have accomplished. You are IN HIM. So that when Jesus died on the cross and rose again, you too died to sin and rose from the dead. As Christ is in heaven, so you too are already considered a member of heaven.
Are you truly IN CHRIST? Surrender your life into the refiner’s hands and you will be pure, clean, acceptable and beautiful in his presence!
e. The Lord came in order that we can worship Him (3b-4)
Finally, the last word of preparation for the coming of the Lord is reminding us of the reason that Jesus came. Why did he bother to do all this for us? Let’s read the last portion of our text: “and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.”
He refines us and purifies us for one clear reason: Because he LONGS for our worship. God cannot accept the worship of sinners. It’s a blasphemy. He can’t receive it because it is tarnished, it is dirty. So he cleansed us by his own perfect life and death on the cross. We are able to be in him and purified. For what reason? To bring Him the honor and glory that will please him.
I don’t know about you, but for me the best part of Christmas gift giving isn’t receiving the gifts but giving them and seeing the joy on the face of the person as they get that special gift that is just right. The more time and effort I’ve spent on finding the right gift for that person, the more exciting it is and rewarding to see when they open it with joy.
And isn’t that what the Father longs from us? He spent the most on that gift – the life of his Son. He wants to see us open up that free gift of forgiveness, of cleansing, of freedom from the past. He wants to see our face as we rid ourselves of that burden and adore Him above all. He wants to receive our heart of love for him over everything on earth. You bring the Almighty joy simply by receiving his gift of Salvation with love.
That’s what David expressed in Psalm 30:10-12 “‘Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me; O LORD, be my helper." You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.”
Praise and worship – it’s our eternal occupation! It’s what God created us for. So let’s look forward to the certain coming of the Lord. Let’s be ready for his sudden coming. It will be a horrible day unless you are refined and cleansed by being in Christ, by trusting your life into him. And then you will welcome him with open arms and praise Him for eternity! I’m looking forward to that day – are you?
