Sermon for 12/5/21 12 Minutes "

Malachi 3:1-4

This morning I'll be reading Malachi chapter 3 verses 1 through 4. And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Malachi 3:1-4 In these verses,,, Malachi directed the attention of the faithless and hopeless,,, who were questioners,,, from the previous chapter,,, to the future. And there are times today,,, when we might be considered as the faithless and hopeless,,, if we aren't careful! Malachi 3:1–4 (HCSB) 1 “See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who will be able to stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire and like cleansing lye. 3 He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord as in days of old and years gone by. God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning. Let us pray: Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen. ----------------------------------------------------------- Last Sunday,,, being the First Sunday of Advent,,, we had the Hanging of the Greens service as we began our season of looking forward to our celebration of the birth of our Savior,,, Jesus Christ.

During the service, (Adam, Katie Beth and Merritt, - Amanda, Mady and Reed),,, did the reading and lit the candle of hope.

We've talked about the word "Hope" before,,, so we know that when we say "Hope" it's not something we are unsure about,,, but it's definite,,, because of Jesus Christ.

Our "Hope" is Jesus Christ.

This morning we will see how these verses in Malachi help us in our walk with God this week as we continue into our second week of Advent.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 1 says: 1 “See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts.

As I told you at the beginning,,, Malachi is talking to the Israelites who were faithless and hopeless.*

And if you remember,,, it’s impossible to have hope without faith,,, and they have lost everything because they have moved so far away from the Lord,,, and that’s where their “Hope” should have come from,,, but,,, they have failed to keep God first in their life.

So Malachi is warning them of things to come because of their attitude towards God.

And apparently this verse is a prophecy about John the Baptist because Jesus mentions this in Matthew 11:9-10 “But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet. This is the one it is written about: Look, I am sending My messenger ahead of You; he will prepare Your way before You.”

And we know that this also agrees with Isaiah 40:3 “A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.”

And John 1:23 “He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord —just as Isaiah the prophet said.””

So we know that the first part of this verse has been partially fulfilled by John the Baptist,,, but the last part of this verse is still waiting to be fulfilled when Jesus will come again.

When Jesus came the first time,,, they did not delight in Him,,, instead,,, they crucified Him,,, but when Jesus comes back the second time,,, then we will have a totally different story than before,,, as we see in the next verse.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 2 says: 2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who will be able to stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire and like cleansing lye.

The “Day of His coming” will be the second coming of Jesus.

This will be when Jesus comes in judgement on sin.

And it asks the question,,, And who will be able to stand when He appears?

And of course the answer will be that none of the wicked will survive this coming.

Israel will be purified by purging out the wicked,,, and that will happen through Jesus who is compared to a refiner’s fire and like cleansing lye.

The refiner’s fire is used to melt metals such as gold and silver to remove impurities around them.

So fire is both purifying and destructive.

And the cleansing lye is used during the washing of cloth,,, to remove any oil or dirt,,, so that it can be dyed.

So both processes spoken of here involve separating what has value from that which has no value.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 3 says: 3 He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.

In this verse Malachi is saying that the sons of Levi are in need of purification because of their disobedience to God’s covenant*.

The combined figures of a refiner’s fire and cleansing lye emphasize the effectiveness of God’s spiritual purging of the nation.*

Once this is complete,,, the result will be a class of Levites that are pure,,, refined like gold and silver,,, they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.

Which is in contrast to the unacceptable offerings that Malachi had written about earlier in chapter 2:12-13.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 4 says: 4 And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord as in days of old and years gone by.

So we see that after the purging of the Levites,,, they will again,,, as they did in the “days of old” make sacrifices that are pleasing to the Lord.

My Faithlife Study Bible says that in Jeremiah 6:20 “What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.”

It says that it uses this same Hebrew term together with a negative word to describe the unclean sacrifices of his day as not being pleasing to God,,, so this will be a change that God wants for them.

----------------------------------------------------------- So we see that Malachi is giving the Israelites hope by giving them this prophecy,,, but,,, we also know that they must wait 400 years before they see this come to be.

Also during all of this time,,, while they are waiting,,, there is no one that is giving them any word from God,,, they are left with just their faith!

A “faith” that God will send a “Messiah” to save them!

A “faith” that they cannot have without “hope”.

And they have that “Hope” because they are looking forward to Jesus Christ.

Just as they looked back to their fathers,,, Abraham,,, Isaac,,, and Jacob,,, and are now looking forward to Jesus Christ,,, we look back to the life,,, death,,, and resurrection of Jesus Christ,,, and are now looking forward to Jesus’ second coming,,, thousands of years later,,, still waiting,,, in “faith”!

Faith that we only have,,, because of our “Hope” in Jesus Christ!

----------------------------------------------------------- But it’s a faith that we are sure of because of everything that Jesus did for us.

Also faithful waiting as we get nearer to the celebration of Jesus’ birth.

Which is what the advent season is all about,,, faithful waiting,,, for our Savior,,, and King,,, Jesus Christ!

----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Hymn: 337 - Oakdale Hymn: 337 - Seminary Benediction ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- *Blaising, Craig A. “Malachi.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck. Vol. 1. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985. 1583. Print.

*Barry, John D. et al. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016. Print.

*Blaising, Craig A. “Malachi.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck. Vol. 1. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985. 1584. Print.