Four hundred years before the birth of
Christ, Malachi prophesies about Him (the Lord whom you seek and the
messenger of the covenant) and His fore-runner, John the Baptist (my
messenger). Jesus will usher in the last judgment and will judge between
the self-righteous who simply pay lip service to Him and those who worship Him
in truth and purity, trusting not in their own efforts, but in the Savior who
alone can gain our salvation.
“But
who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears?” (v.2a).These
words may sound familiar as they have are been put to music in a now famous
Aria from Handel’s Messiah which is
sung especially this time of year.
Whose coming?
The Lord’s coming! “The day of his coming” is most likely
synonymous with the “great and terrible
day of the LORD” that is mentioned in Malachi 4:5.
The Day of the Lord is an end of time event
that will bring judgment to the guilty and deliverance to the faithful. There are numerous references in the prophets
to the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 13:6, 9; Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 13:5; 30:3;
Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14; Amos 5:18, 20; Obadiah 1:15; Zephaniah 1:7, 14;
Malachi 4:5). Most of these references
emphasize God’s wrath, but some also include a note of vindication for the
righteous. [2]
“Who
can endure?” and “who will stand?”
suggest a great ordeal—a trial by fire.
The expected answer is that no one can endure—or that very few are
prepared for this test.
“For he is like a refiner’s fire” (v. 2b). The image here is of a person refining metal by melting it over a hot fire. As metal melts, pure metal remains at the bottom while impurities float to the top to be drawn off and discarded. A visit to a metal refinery would be educational. Metal refineries are hot, dirty, dangerous places. The process by which metals are purified is uncomfortable at best and deadly at worst.
So it will be when the Lord comes. He will use fire to separate the pure from
the impure so that the impure can be drawn off and cast aside. By this refining process, the LORD makes his
people worthy.
Malachi likewise directs us to the "refining" that the Christ child
seeks to bring about in us. The Almighty becomes a child.... God challenges our
way of being human. By knocking at our door, he challenges us and our freedom;
he calls us to examine how we understand and live our lives. I pray that each
of us may avail ourselves of the grace of Christmas and open our hearts to the
Christ child that he may cleanse and purify as He refines us with the fire of
His love.
A prayer for a right knowledge of Christ: Almighty God, whom to know is
everlasting life, grant us perfectly to know Your Son, Jesus Christ, to be the
way, the truth, and the life, that following His steps we may steadfastly walk
in the way that leads to eternal life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
A prayer for innocence of life: O God, whose strength is made perfect in weakness, put to death in us all vices and so strengthen us by Your grace that by the innocence of our lives and the constancy of our faith, we may glorify Your holy name; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. [3]
[1] Advent
copyright © Ed Riojas, Higher Things
[3] Collect
for a right knowledge of Christ and for innocence of life, Lutheran Service
Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
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