Malachi 3:1-3. 1“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. 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. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
Malachi is the last prophet to speak before the birth of Jesus Christ. But as the nation of Israel awaits their savior, they will wait through 400 years of silence and the hiddenness of God. They will live through years of oppression at the hands of nation after nation. But Malachi has a message of hope from God for the nation and the world. I will send my messenger, he says. And, don’t miss what God says next, he will prepare the way before ME.
Me.
The messenger will go before the Lord himself – The Lord will come to his temple. Malachi’s message is earth-shattering – God’s Messiah is God himself.
As with all the prophets, Malachi paints a picture of impending judgment and doom. Who can endure the day of his coming…who can stand when he appears? So much for hope. Yes, God will return, but no one can withstand the judgment of God. Can they? But look at verses 2b and 3 again. The judgment of God is a refiner’s fire.
There is hope. We can survive. Not only can we survive, but we can also come out of the judgment better than how we went in. The judgment of God upon us won’t destroy us, it will refine us. But how? How is this possible? Because of our union with Christ.
400 years later, John the Baptist will be the messenger Malachi predicted. And if John is the messenger then Jesus is the coming Lord God. The divine Messiah. The one who will suddenly come to his temple. The one who brings refinement through judgment.
In this is the greatest of hopes – Christ our judge is also Christ our savior. The One who will judge you and me has already been judged FOR you and me. By our union with Christ’s death, God has already judged us at the cross. There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Malachi’s prophecy finds its fulfillment in our hearts. The one who has judged us at the cross has entered into his temple – us! Our hearts are now the dwelling place of God.
Now we can answer Malachi’s question – But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? Those who are united to Christ, that’s who.
How? Because the refining fire and fuller’s soap has worked in us by the Spirit of Christ to cleanse us of all sin and to purify us for eternity. Now what the prophet declared can be said of each of us:
Malachi 3:17-18. 17“They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
To live is Christ is to be hope realized. The hope of being God’s treasured possession. The hope of being spared by God because of the Son who served him. The hope of finally being righteous, not wicked. Of being one who serves God forever.
You: Where is your hope today? Is it in Jesus your Savior Judge?
You in Christ: In Christ you are the cleansed temple of God, his dwelling place. How does this change your heart today?
Christ in you: Can people see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked in your life?
To Live is Christ 