1See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, 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 descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. Malachi 3:1 - 4 (NRSV)
You may have seen the “God-signs” on billboards that were popular the last several years. My favorite is the one that says, Don’t make me come down there…God. There’s something about that “parental warning” that strikes a chord from my childhood!
Our text has that kind of flavor. The people of Israel were a lot like my dog, Annie. When Annie was young she chased cars a lot. She never actually caught a car or truck, but what a surprise she would have gotten if she did.
Israel prayed hard for the “Day of the LORD”. They imagined it would be a good thing for God to show up and bring a little justice. The only difficulty with their thinking was that they weren’t practicing much justice themselves. You’ve got to be just a little spiritually-blind and dense to crave justice when you don’t practice justice. The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that we will be forgiven our trespasses to the same degree that we forgive others their trespasses! Justice!
Brace yourselves
Malachi’s prophecy is God’s way of saying, “OK, you want me down there….you got it! Brace yourselves!” This is a very appropriate theme for Advent. There is an element of judgment that we cannot escape, because God’s promise of sending a Savior also presupposes that the world needs a Savior. Judgment is not a popular theme today, but this is a fallen world, and the God of heaven is not silent on sin! Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes of this theme of judgment in an Advent sermon he preached in 1928:
It is very remarkable that we face the thought that God is coming, so calmly, whereas previously peoples trembled at the day of God . . . . We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for every one who has a conscience.
Only when we have felt the terror of the matter, can we recognize the incomparable kindness. God comes into the very midst of evil and of death, and judges the evil in us and in the world. And by judging us, God cleanses and sanctifies us, comes to us with grace and love. [1]
Now that is very different from the kind of judgment the world always ascribes to God –fierce punisher, hateful judge. The God of Scripture is certainly our judge; we should not make the mistake of thinking God won’t judge, or punish sin; he is a holy God and takes sin very seriously. But he is also the God of Calvary, lover of our souls, who would rather die than see us lost! Judgment? Yes! Grace and mercy for the repentant sinner? Beyond measure!
The Promises of Advent
So, at the base of today’s text there are two main thrusts:
1. God will come in judgment of sin
2. God will provide a way for us to be forgiven of sin
And these are the two promises of Advent. These promises began in the Garden of Eden when the first man and woman sinned. God told Adam and Eve they would suffer the penalty of sin – and we all have. We have all been subject to the corruption of sin in our lives; it distorts the image of God on our souls.
But God also told Eve and Adam that he would deal with sin, so as to reconcile us back to him; God would redeem his own [2]. The promises of Advent are judgment and redemption. God must judge sin, but God’s mercy provides grace for the repentant sinner!
Fuller’s Soap and Refiner’s Fire
So, what about the “soap and fire”? God’s word through the mouth of Malachi (3:2) gives us a transcending image of both God’s judgment and redemption. On the one hand, the prophet says: when God comes in judgment nobody can stand up against His power. Let’s face it, if God starts ticking-off the sinfulness of a man, who is good enough to say, “I’m better than that.”? To do so would make God a liar.
On the other hand Malachi gives us a glimpse of redemption in the refiner’s fire and fuller’s soap. We may be sinful and undone before God, but God does something for us that we cannot do for ourselves…cleansing and purifying. This has been God’s intention in every contact with man – to make us whole, and to make us fit for relationship with him.
Fuller’s soap is not your average bar of Dove; it is a harsh, earthy substance that scrubs away the whole top surface of skin. The base of the word’s etymology indicates “brightness”. God offers to make us as brilliant as the sun gleaming off the new-fallen snow. Isaiah asks us to reason this out – our sins are blackness to the soul; God wants to make us clean:
18Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
Isaiah 1:18 (NRSV)
The refiner’s fire calls for an interactive change. Refining precious metals is a wonderful picture of what God does for us. All precious metals dug from the earth have a certain amount of impurities. When subjected to heat, Gold, for instance, will melt and run out of the crucible, leaving the impure stuff behind. The less impurities, the more the shine of your gold ring!
Diamonds are rated by their purity, or lack of flaws. The purer, less-flawed the internal structure, the higher the quality of the stone. It works the same whether you are talking about grit in the gold, or sin in the soul….getting it out increases the value.
And the value of a person’s life is not measurable against the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or a bank account or the automobile you drive – it is in a person’s standing with God – the lack of impurity level!
Hot Stuff
Now, we’ve been talking about refiner’s fire. A refiner’s fire is not for roasting wieners at the Cub Scout camp. A refiner’s fire is intense; it is meant to do some serious separating of the impure from the precious. When it comes to jewelry-grade gold you can be satisfied with 99.9% pure. But that’s only for the ornamental stuff of life, what we wear on the outside. There are other uses for gold.
• Do you know what they use in your computer to make all the little connections that spread information all over the world? Gold!
• Do you know what metal they use to connect the most important technology in the Space Shuttle? Gold!
• Do you know that gold, silver, platinum and more precious metals are used in the construction of those exotic machines the doctor uses to do your MRI and CAT-scan?
Why is this important? All the satellites and information technology in the world help us share information and make a myriad of vital human advances possible in healthcare and human relationships.
Now the point is that if you want to go from jewelry grade precious metals to the really pure stuff that can really help mankind you’ve got to turn up the heat. The hotter the fire, the purer the gold! Jewelry is 99.9% at its best; Technology grade is 99.9999% pure.
God – says Malachi – wants to purify his people way beyond jewelry or technology grad – he wants us fit for heaven. And the fact is, only he can do that with the likes of you and me. And that’s why the cross was necessary. His blood turned up the heat on sin.
In the Mean Time
We’re not in heaven yet; so what application can we see for how we live our lives in view of the refiner’s fire? It all has to do with the heat that comes your way. The purification process is not just so you’re fit for heaven – it is the heart and life holiness that makes you a fit vessel for God’s use here on earth. And the bigger the assignment, the hotter the purification fire!
Nelson Mandela was South Africa’s first black president. He was elected in 1994. But from the early 1950’s Mr. Mandela had led the charge in speaking out against apartheid, the South African all white regime’s systematic racial oppression and domination over South Africa’s predominately black population . [3]
In 1963 the white government put Nelson Mandela in prison and threw away the key for 27 years. That’s fire!
You don’t have to be involved in the highest level of politics to feel the heat…it will happen right where you are. It will happen without jumping in the furnace. It will happen whenever you decide to get serious with God. That simply requires a decision – a decision to offer your life to God as a servant, promising to put aside everything that he requires, and take-up everything that he requires – nothing more, and nothing less.
Prayer
Father, help us to go beyond mere jewelry-grade refining; may all our decisions be technology-grade. Cause us to be pure by your refining hand! In Christ, Amen!
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ENDNOTES
1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Ed. Geffrey B. Kelly and F. Burton Nelson (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1995) pp. 185-186.
2] Genesis 3:15
3] Wikipedia.com
