Malachi 2:17-3:5--The Messenger of the LORD

Malachi 2:17-3:5
English Standard Version

The Messenger of the LORD
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?”

3 “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. 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. 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.

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.

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The LORD is tired of the people speaking blessing over those who do evil and acting like the LORD will never execute justice ever again.  They have a little view of both God and sin, and they think much of themselves because of this.

The LORD is going to have to send a messenger to them like the prophets He sent before to correct the record and call the people to repentance, but this messenger will be spectral, because he will be the one to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah they have been waiting for.  The Lord whom they seek (that's Jesus, the Messiah) will appear in His Holy Temple (notice how the text says the Holy Temple is His--it belongs to Him because He is God).  He will bring about a New Covenant with His people which will be their delight if they believe in it--no longer will it be a covenant of works that they feel burdened to do, but it will be a covenant of faith, grace, and mercy in which they believe in what has already been done on their behalf.  They should be glad at His appearing (many were not).

However, His coming doesn't just bring in a day of salvation for the righteous, but it also marks a day of judgment for the wicked.  He who is Savior of His people will also be the Righteous Judge whom all will stand before and give an account one day.  He will tell those on His right (the righteous) to enter into the place of goodness, peace, and rest that He has prepared for them and to those on His left (the wicked), He will tell them to depart into the Lake of Fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels.  Even the righteous will face the refiner's fire when He appears so that they will be remade into the image of God once again--temples of the Living God and reflections of His glory.  He will purify the priesthood that is so corrupt so that their offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable in His sight once again (it doesn't say how He does this, but we know He does this by making a priesthood of believers with Jesus as our Great High Priest and we no longer depend on the blood of bulls and goats for atonement because we have a better and permanent atonement by the blood of Jesus).  We who are in Christ and now part of the priesthood of believers as I mentioned yesterday, so read the correction of Levi (especially for the priests) carefully as we are now ministers of the New Covenant and are to help keep the people holy and pleasing to the LORD and teach them the LORD's Covenant (the New Covenant), who He is and what He commands them be and what they should do in response to that transformation that happens inside of them (that is the better sacrifice that is acceptable here--doing the things that cause people to glorify our Father in heaven because our works do not come from our flesh and it is a miracle that we can do them through the power of the Holy Spirit that is at work within us).

The Day of the LORD will come when Jesus will bring swift judgment against the wicked.  He will not need to ask for additional witnesses because He Himself will know all things about all people since He is God in the Flesh.  The books that record all the names of those that belong to Jesus and the those that record all the works that the unrighteous will be judged by will be there as evidence, but He will not really need them.  He knows all of His sheep and will recognize each and every one of them and He knows which ones do not belong to Him.  In that day, there will be no question as to who are the sheep of His pasture and who are the imposters (the goats or the wolves in sheep's clothing).  Their sin will find them out in that day.

Let's me take a moment here to say that all those who are in Christ were sinners in need of forgiveness.  It's not that a group of us didn't sin or even that we no longer sin, but we should no longer be happy about sinning and sin should no longer reign and rule over us.  That is, we should no longer feel like we have to sin and can't say "No" to sin.  One day, those of in Christ will be freed completely from the presence of sin and we won't be able to sin at all.  The wicked that are being described in this passage are living out their sinful lusts and taking pleasure in it or are in slavery to sin and are doing wicked things by compulsion because that's just what sinful people who haven't been saved from sin do.  They have to give into their sin.  They take advantage of the innocent and rape, steal, pillage, and murder those who cannot defend themselves from their aggressors (widows, orphans, and sojourners who would have a hard time finding justice in the legal system).  The LORD promises to avenge the crimes committed against these innocents who could not find justice in this life and that the wicked will face judgment in His court, and they will not escape justice or the day of wrath that has been prepared for them (unless they give their lives to Jesus before they die and Jesus took all the punishment for them that they deserved--justice has been satisfied even if we don't feel it fair for Jesus to pay the penalty that the one who wronged us deserved, but, that is the gospel.  He took our place and none of us deserve His grace or forgiveness--it is unmerited.)