MALACHI 3:1-5 - Refined and Purified

Introduction

A couple of weeks ago, I ran across an article titled “Pessimists have been saying America is going to Hell for more than 200 years”. The author, Maurizio Valsania, quotes from different Founding Fathers to illustrate his point that Americans have always had a pessimistic streak about the direction of the country, and that our current belief that “America is on the wrong track” is simply the latest manifestation of a uniquely American attitude that goes back to the beginning of our country. In other words, “We’ve been hearing that the United States is doomed since the 1700’s; don’t worry about it...”

But Mr. Valsania’s choice of quotes from our Founding Father’s sounds very different to a Christian’s ears. He quotes Thomas Jefferson’s words, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever” as an example of Jefferson’s “white guilt”, for instance—but Christians hear those words and understand that Jefferson was saying something thoroughly Biblical and God-fearing. We do understand that the justice of God is not something to be easily dismissed or ignored: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

Our text from Malachi this morning falls along the same lines—there are those who think that the judgment of God is no big deal, and there are those who know that judgment is coming, and who in fact are longing for it. That is the sense of Malachi 2:17:

Malachi 2:17 (ESV)

17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

The book of Malachi was written about 80 years after the return of the exiles from their captivity in Babylon and Persia, as detailed in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The people had returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple and the city wall, but their initial enthusiasm for God and worship had waned—God charges them with scorning His love and being bored with Him in worship (Chapter 1), breaking faith with God’s covenant (Chapter 2) and robbing God of the worship and reverence He deserved (Chapter 3).

Here in the verse immediately before our text, God accuses the people of “wearying” Him with their words. Like the scornful voices around us today, they were saying, “God doesn’t think sin is any big deal—in fact, if He were here today, He would agree with us that these things we are celebrating aren’t sinful at all! God delights in these things!”

And other voices that ask “Where is the God of justice?”— Either asking ironically: “I don’t see God taking any interest in things down here, we can just do what we want!” Or perhaps it reflects an earnest cry: “Where is God’s justice? Why doesn’t He stop the injustice and evil that is being committed every day?”

Whichever sense you read those words, it’s clear that they weary Him—it is tiresome to God to hear people claim that their perversions and wickedness have His stamp of approval, and it’s tiresome for Him to hear people wondering if He has abandoned His justice.

And so God gives Malachi a message for those who think God approves of their wickedness as well as those who wonder whether He has given up executing justice and righteousness. And as we move through this Advent season with those same wearisome words echoing around us, we have this promise from God’s Word today:

Jesus fulfills God’s PROMISE to PURIFY His PEOPLE

All of the wearisome words of dismissal and doubt would be answered by the arrival of the “Lord who comes to his temple”, the “Messenger of the Covenant”—the final word of God to man, Jesus Christ.

The first thing that God says about the coming of that Messenger of the Covenant is that

I. His ARRIVAL will be SOONER than you expect (Malachi 3:1)

See Malachi 3:1:

Malachi 3:1 (ESV)

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.

The Gospel writers identified that “messenger who prepares the way” as John the Baptist, who we read about earlier in our service. The text here in Malachi says that the “Lord”, the “messenger of the covenant” would come suddenly to His temple.

Now, the people had been waiting for decades for the glory of the LORD to fill the temple—the prophet Haggai had declared a message from the LORD years earlier that

Haggai 2:9 ESV

9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ ”

But here, 80 years later, that “greater glory” still hadn’t been seen. When Malachi tells the people that the Lord would come suddenly to His temple, it didn’t mean that He was coming quickly—it meant that His arrival would be unexpected—it would be unlooked-for. And this was first of all a warning

For those who WEARY Him (Malachi 2:17a)

God is warning those cynical scoffers who say, “Well, God must approve of the evil he sees all around—He must be okay with all of this!” He is warning them that He is coming sooner than they think, and when He does it will not go well for them!

The Apostle Paul makes a similar observation in the book of Romans, when he writes

Romans 2:3–5 (ESV)

3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

In other words, do not mistake God’s patience with your sin for indifference to your sin! Because when He comes, He will come when you least expect it, and He will come to expose your sin and display His righteousness over you!

And this is exactly what we see happening with Jesus’ first advent, isn’t it? The Pharisees and Sadducees and chief priests and scribes should have seen Him coming and been ready to receive Him, but they weren’t expecting Him the way they should have been. And when He arrived, He exposed their wickedness and hypocrisy for what it was.

His coming will be sooner than you think—for those who weary Him by their words they will not have time to change their tune before He arrives because He will arrive when they least expect it. And in the rest of Verse 1 you see that His coming will be sooner than expected

For those WEARY of WAITING for Him (Malachi 2:17b; cp. Luke 2:25-32)

For those who are crying out, “Where is the God of justice? Why doesn’t He answer, when will He come and set all this right?” we see God’s promise that He has not forgotten them, and He is surely coming!

In the New Testament we see an example of that faithful waiting—Luke’s Gospel tells the story of Simeon, who had been waiting in the Temple for the fulfillment of Haggai’s promise that “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former” and that He would grant peace in that house. In Luke 2:25-32 we read:

Luke 2:25–32 (ESV)

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

The promise that Haggai and Malachi made about the arrival of the Lord in His temple to bring peace and light and salvation was fulfilled that day when Simeon took the baby Jesus into his arms and blessed God—nobody was looking for the Glory of the Most High God to arrive that way, no one expected the Messenger of the Covenant to appear in the Temple wrapped in swaddling clothes, but God kept His promise to His people to send the One Who would make purification for sins—not only for His people Israel, but for all the peoples of the world!

Jesus’ arrival was the fulfillment of God’s promise to provide a purification that pleases Him—Jesus Christ Himself was the Messenger of the Covenant, the Final Word who came to speak God’s peace to us. And as Malachi assures his readers that the Messiah’s arrival would be sooner than they think, he goes on to warn that

II. His RECKONING will be more DRASTIC than you expect (Malachi 3:2; Amos 5:19)

Look at verse 2:

Malachi 3:2 (ESV)

2 But 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.

God gives Malachi two pictures of what His coming is going to look like—a refiner’s fire, and fuller’s soap. In other words, what is coming is not just a quick touch up—as one preacher put it, God does not say that the Covenant Messenger is coming like a Swiffer mop and a bottle of Febreeze!” The coming of the Lord of the Covenant to His Temple would be a drastic cleansing!

They didn’t need to be polished a bit to remove a little tarnish--they needed to be thrown into a crucible at 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit and melted down into liquid so that the evil, wicked impurities at their core could be swept away! They didn’t need “freshened up” with a light deodorizer; they needed to be washed the way a shepherd would wash the fleece that was shorn from a flock of sheep--soaked in fuller’s soap (literally, “whitener’s” soap), a dangerously caustic combination of lye and soda that would destroy the wool if left too long, followed by grinding or thrashing it against a rock and beating it with sticks to drive out the filth and stench of their sin! (Sermon, Clean Enough, T. Thompson, 2018)

The arrival of the Lord of the Covenant will be a drastic affair

For those who are PLAYING a PART (Amos 5:18-19; cp. Matt. 7:21-23)

Over a century earlier, the prophet Amos wrote to the pious-sounding Israelites who were putting on a show of their religious fervor for God:

Amos 5:18–19 (ESV)

18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, 19 as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.

We see this in Jesus’ first advent, don’t we? The pious and religiously fastidious Pharisees all claimed that they wanted to see the arrival of the Messiah, that they were waiting for Him to come and “Make Israel Great Again!”—but when Jesus came, His words stung them like lye, He burned them like fire:

Matthew 23:27–28 (ESV)

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

The arrival of the Lord of the Covenant into His Temple meant a drastic cleansing for those who were playing the part of faithful believers, but who were full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. But we see also that His reckoning will be more drastic than expected

For those who are SEEKING to SERVE

The Apostle Paul describes the way that his ministry would be judged by God someday:

1 Corinthians 3:13–15 (ESV)

13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

It’s easy to think that, “Well, of course God will judge the hypocrites and the posers”—but the Scripture is clear that there is a reckoning for those who are genuinely seeking to serve and glorify God with our lives:

1 Corinthians 4:5 (ESV)

5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

We saw this earlier in matters of conscience, that “before one’s own Master he stands or falls” (Romans 14:4) . But here as well we see that each of us will stand before God someday to have the stewardship of our lives judged—what did we do with the ministry opportunities He gave us? What did we do with the talents He entrusted to us to expand His Kingdom? He will do what no one else ever did throughout the course of our whole lives—He will judge the motives of your heart for everything you ever did in His Name. All of it—the good, the bad, and the ugly—will be evaluated in light of His righteousness and perfection. The refiner’s fire will burn through all the work you did for God and His Kingdom. And what will survive?

The reckoning when the Lord of the Covenant comes to His Temple will be stricter than we think—but the great hope that God holds out for His people on that day is that

III. His GRACE will be DEEPER than you expect (Malachi 3:3-4)

Malachi 3:3–4 (ESV)

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. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

The “sons of Levi” refer to the priests there in the Temple—God promises that the Lord of the Covenant is not arriving to destroy them for their sin, but to rescue them from it so that their deeds and offerings before Him will be pleasing to Him! When He comes, He promises by His grace

To REFINE them from their HYPOCRISY (v. 3)

Even the pretenders and hypocrites, the ones who make a good show of their faithfulness on the outside and are full of the bones of spiritual death in sin—the grace of the Lord of the Covenant when He comes into His Temple will reach even to them!

Think of the Apostle Paul—a “Pharisee of Pharisees” as he calls himself—outwardly so zealous for God’s glory but inwardly full of hypocrisy and lawless hatred for God. And yet the grace of God reached even him on that road to Damascus! Think of Nicodemus, rescued from his dead works as a member of the Sanhedrin and born again by God’s grace!

Jesus came to refine and cleanse all of those self-centered, self-satisfied motives for ministry and service—all of those hypocritical and insincere motives, all of those works done ionly n order to be seen by men—and He refines the dross of those sinful motives and mindsets out of His servants to make them pleasing to God:

1 Peter 2:9–10 (ESV)

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

To take a race of hypocrites and make them into His royal priesthood, the grace of the Lord of the Covenant goes far deeper than you can believe—to refine them from their hypocrisy, and

To PURIFY them from their CRIMES (v. 5)

God speaks to the people through Malachi in verse 5 of our text:

Malachi 3:5 (ESV)

5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

God reminds the people of Judah and Jerusalem that He has seen all their crimes, He will witness against their crimes, and He will draw near to judge those crimes. And so today, the judgement of God draws near. Those who are into the occult, spells, Wicca, Ouija—He draws near to judge. Those who either get into bed with someone else’s spouse or who fantasize about getting into bed with someone else’s spouse—He draws near to judge. Those who lie under oath and those who lie to their friends or family—He draws near to judge. Those who cheat their employees out of their wages and those employees who cheat their bosses out of an honest day’s work—He draws near to judge. The ones who create the conditions for women and children to be caught in an endless cycle of government dependency and those who take advantage of that cycle—He draws near to judge. The ones who hate and despise the illegal immigrants flooding over the southern border, and the ones who are engineering that flood in order to use them as nothing more than political pawns—He draws near to judge.

And who can stand when He draws near to judge? How will you stand when He draws near to judge your wearisome words? For the scorn and dismissive joking that God is cool with your sin? For the passive-aggressive complaint that He never listens to your prayers, that He ignores you when you call on Him? How will you stand when your claim to be a Christian is stacked up against all of your hypocrisy and self-centered, self-satisfied motives?

The only way you will stand on that Day is by standing in the grace of God that runs deeper than any of your sin! On that day when Mary and Joseph brought their Baby to the Temple, that day when he was praised by Simeon as the fulfilment of God’s promise to restore His glory—Jesus was brought there that day to be given the mark of circumcision that showed Him to be a member of God’s covenant people. The same Covenant that everyone in the Old Testament had broken. The same covenant that the faithless Levites in Malachi had ignored and scorned, Jesus Christ kept perfectly, starting with that first trip to the Temple when He was eight days old. And because He kept that Covenant perfectly, He counts His obedience as yours when you come to Him in repentance and faith!

Because Jesus did not just come to His Temple to keep the Covenant—He did not just come to bring the refiner’s fire and the fuller’s soap to our sin, He Himself was burned by that fire. He Himself was stung by that lye and soda—He Himself became the sorcerer, the adulterer, the perjurer, the oppressor, the bigot, the charlatan and swindler, and He Himself was burned and stung and punished and cast down to death for your sin!

When Jesus Christ came at His First Advent, the Pharisees couldn’t stand at His appearing, the Romans couldn’t stand, Herod and his court couldn’t stand—even the Temple itself trembled and fell within a generation of His First Advent. But when He came, He came to purify His people not just with fire or soap, but with His own blood shed on the Cross for sin.

And someday soon He will return again—He will return

2 Thessalonians 1:8–10 (ESV)

8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

Do you want to endure that Day of His coming? Do you want to be able to stand when He appears? The only way to be purified and refined from your pride and hypocrisy and doubt and self-centered motives is to put all of your hope, all of your trust in His death on the Cross for the forgiveness of your sins. You have no other argument, you have no other plea—you have the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord of the Covenant for you, and nothing else. He came in His First Advent to prepare you to stand in His Second Advent someday. So call on Him for forgiveness, for cleansing, for refining and purifying so that you may bring righteous offerings of praise and service to your Savior, Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Hebrews 13:20–21 (ESV)

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

How often do people think about the return of Jesus Christ in our world today? What is the typical attitude that people have toward the thought of Christ’s return? How do those attitudes compare with the way God describes the people’s “wearisome words” in Malachi 2:17?

Why does God describe the Day of His coming as being like a “refiner’s fire” and “fuller’s soap”? What do those images communicate about the nature of God’s judgment? Read 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 again. Are Christians exempt from having their lives examined and judged by God? Why or why not?

How do we see God’s grace toward His people on display in Malachi 3:3-4? What does God promise to do for the “sons of Levi”, who were becoming more and more faithless in their ministries? How is this different from merely punishing their faithlessness? How does this promise give you hope as you seek to serve God and His Kingdom today?