Refiner

Forecasting the Christ: Refiner

Two problems in the questions of v.17:

“Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.”

“Where is the God of justice?”

Verses 1-5: Answers where the God of justice will be!

John the Baptist will come as a messenger

Then the Lord who you seek will appear to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whim you delight is coming

who is this messenger of the covenant and how is he a messenger of the covenant??

v.1 answers this question in poetic form: “And the Lord who you seek” parallels with “and the messenger of the covenant.”

v.2-3: Refiner’s fire and fuller’s 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, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.

2:17: God wasn’t coming and so “His delays were being taken as an excuse for atheism.”

Introduction:

Our passage begin with a fascination accusation:

“You have wearied the Lord.”

Like, the Lord has had it up to here with their issues… To the point where he’s exhausted dealing with them...

“The Lord doesn’t take evil seriously… Those who do evil he must view as good because he’s clearly not doing anything about them!”

“Where is the God of justice, anyway?”

These questions come in such an interesting context… Malachi is one of the last books in the Old Testament, and timewise, one of the latest to be written as well… It’s written after Judah was in Babylonian exile. It’s written even after the Temple was rebuilt: By this time, people are wondering: Okay, we’ve got this great Temple, but where is God? We’ve got these priests, but their corrupt. Our culture is splintering due to rampant breakdown of the family unit and major social injustice...

Worship is blah. No one is tithing.

This isn’t both the last book of the Old Testament and the last book written before the New Testament would arrive centuries later…

And so the question on their minds are: Where’s this God of justice, really?

Sarcastic tone

The rest of this passage is God answering them directly:

You want to know where I am?

You want to know where I am??!! Well, let me tell you!

v.1: This is Personal!

Well let me tell you where I am…

3.1: Behold=behold ME! LISTEN TO ME AND PAY ATTENTION! I’m right here...

I will send my messenger (Malachi=messenger), and he will prepare the way before me!

Very personal:

behold ME, I send, messengerMINE, and he will prepare the way BEFORE ME.

I will fulfill the covenant!

Poetic structure: Parallelism

The ‘Lord’ who you seek will come to where the Temple!

The ‘messenger of the covenant’ in who you delight

behold, he is coming!!

Fulfilled Prophecy!

John the Baptist was the messenger that prepared the way… (like a bulldozer)

Jesus was:

a) the LORD in the Temple:

Jesus presented at the Temple

b) Messenger of the Covenant

Jesus Christ: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

New Covenant

In our time of waiting...

Evil people seem to get away with stuff

Social injustices are here, there any everywhere

Worship, well, worship is less than ideal right now!

We could complain and wonder...

I will Refine and Clean

How? I will refine you like a purifier of silver

‘The beauty of this picture is that the refiner looks into the open furnace, or pot, and knows that the process of purifying is complete, and the dross all burnt away, when he can see his image plainly reflected in the molten metal.’ J. Neil: “Everyday life in the Holy Land”

Refiner is looking intently into the silver—concern for its purity

Like a fuller’s soup: soup=alkali plant based cleaning agent: applied in order to whiten cloth (soap didn’t exist yet…)—lye soap

Begins with the ‘Sons of Levi”

Priests: Worship needed to be purified: “Have so polluted the ritual practice and themselves that they now need purification before they can offer sacrifice on behalf of others.” NIVAC

Two Consequences of Refinement

I will make you a pleasing offering

Sacrifices will be righteous and pleasing

About your own personal spiritual growth

We are the “Sons of Levi”: Priesthood of All Believers

What do you need to process through? What do you need to refinement in?

Does refinement look like botox or detox?

Botox: Filling ourselves with remedies that will fix our pain

Washington Post: Zoom has helped out plastic surgery...

Because you’re not happy with what you see in the mirror, you’re not happy with the person you have come to be… You are disappointed with your marriage, your kids, your job, your life choices… And so you fill it up with botox, hoping the cracks and lines in your heart will go away...

Rather than botox, Christ helps us with our detox...

Reflection of Christ

To see his reflection in your life

I will put you on THE TRIAL:

“I will draw near to you for judgement”

Judgment, same root as justice

I will purify you from the unjust and fearless

Swift witness=expert witness against:

Magic: Sorcerers: Religious purity from black magic, occult

Marriage: Adulterers: basic social structure

Perjurers: Swear falsely: “Perjurers” (lit. “those who habitually lie under oath” NIVAC)

Oppressors: Oppress the laborers, the widows, orphans, thrust aside the sojourner...

Prideful: And don’t fear me!

I will not only make myself known.

I will not only hold up to my side of the covenant

I will not only purify you so that you will worship me with purity!

I will also finally answer your question about where I am as the GOD OF JUSTICE!

JOY!