Malachi 2:17-3:5 - The Refiner's Fire - Who Can Stand? (Rev. Erik Veerman)

Malachi 2:17-3:5

We are returning this morning to our study of the prophet Malachi. We’re basically half-way through. Our sermon text this morning is from 2:17 to 3:5. You can find that on page 954.

As you are turning there, I wanted to briefly remind you of what we’ve considered so far.

Chapter 1 opened up with God reminding his people of his love for them. Even though they didn’t recognize his love, yet God confirmed it. He said, “I have loved you.” They were his chosen people, not because of anything they did, but because he called them to be his.

The reason God opened up with his unconditional love is because they needed to hear some tough love.

So, Malachi’s prophecy turns to their failures.

First, he called out the people for bringing polluted offerings to the temple.

Next, he turned his attention to the priests. They were supposed to guard and teach knowledge and be a model of uprightness, but they failed.

Then, in the middle of chapter 2, God revealed their unfaithfulness in their marriages. Despite God’s faithfulness to them, they had displayed faithlessness to him.

In all of these things, God was calling them back to himself. He was calling them to repent and return to him by faith.

Which brings us to our passage this morning. We’ll see that there was an underlying problem. In their hearts, they had been questioning God’s goodness and justice. Listen for that as we now read

Stand

Reading of Malachi 2:17-3:5

Prayer

In 1968, a man filed a lawsuit against his former employer. He alleged that his former employer ruined his life. He had been unjustly fired. This began a protracted 30-year legal battle against the company. But in the end, despite all his efforts, he lost. As you can imagine, that was greatly disappointing.

So, in the late 1990s, this same man filed a new lawsuit against a new defendant.

This time his lawsuit was against God, whom he identified as “the Sovereign ruler of the universe.” The lawsuit claimed that God had taken no corrective action against… (now listen to this) his nation, his company, or his church for the extremely serious wrongs which ruined his life.

A judge declared the lawsuit frivolous, of course.

None of us here have sued God in a state or federal court, but let me ask: have you put God on trial in your heart? Have you witnessed or experienced injustice (against yourself or someone else) and subsequently questioned God’s character because of it?

I mean, if God is indeed sovereign and just, why does it appear that those who hate justice are the ones who seem to prosper? Why do those who hate the truth or who oppress and kill seem to get away with it over and over?

In our verses this morning, God addresses and responds to those very questions. And it’s deeply personal. It was deeply personal to the returned exiles in Jerusalem and it is deeply personal to us.

Look at chapter 2 verse 17. The Lord tells the people, through Malachi, that their words had “wearied him.” They had been believing and saying something over and over which God was displeased with.

Look at what they had been saying. “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” They had been witnessing that evil people were thriving. And they assumed that because these wicked people prospered, that God was therefore pleased with them… even delighted in them.

And then at the end of verse 17, they put God on trial. Notice the rhetorical question they asked. “Where is the God of justice?”

They were implying that even though God declared that he was just, yet his inaction against injustice meant to them that God therefore loved sin and evil.

Now, we’ve talked about the returned exiles’ plight before, but I want us to consider their situation from a different angle.

It had been at least 80 years since the people began to return to Jerusalem from exile. To be sure, there were multiple waves of people who returned, so not everyone had returned at once. But a lot of time had passed since they started returning.

And a couple positives things had happened. First, the temple had been rebuilt. And second, the walls of Jerusalem had been repaired.

And because of that, they expected at any moment, the Messiah would come. After all, this was the time in their history when it was to happen, right? God had promised in Isaiah that out of the stump of Jesse, out of king David’s line, a righteous branch would emerge.

So, when the royal lineage of David appeared dead, that was when God would raise up a humble king, the Messiah, who would restore the kingdom and bring peace.

At that time. The lineage of David was indeed a stump. The exile had happened. And so, when some of the exiles started returning and when the temple was restored and when the city walls were rebuit. There was eager anticipation that the Messiah was about to come. He would come and usher in a new kingdom of prosperity and power.

That’s what they thought. But he hadn’t come. In fact, in the 20 or so years since the walls of the city had been rebuilt, things got worse. We’ve talked about some of this before. Remember, a famine caused widespread hunger and poverty. Even though they were back in Jerusalem, the whole region was still under control of a godless nation. God’s people had few rights. They were oppressed and weak and struggled to survive.

And do you know who was thriving? The people who rejected God… who denied his laws… who lived in sin… and who oppressed God’s people. They were making out pretty well.

Do you see now why they put God on trial? Their expectations had been up here, but reality was way down here.

In a word, they were disillusioned. God had made promises. He declared that justice was part of his very nature. Yet, none of that seemed to be reality.

And we struggle with the same thing. We ask the same question: does God delight in evil and injustice? Because Lord, it sure seems that way.

Maybe you’ve lost someone you love – a spouse, a child, a parent. Or maybe you’ve been betrayed. Or maybe you’ve struggled to make ends meet. “Lord, my prayers have not been answered. My family seems to be breaking apart. Yet those who reject you seem to be the ones whom you are prospering. Are you just?”

Or let me take it to a different level. Why, Lord, have thousands of Christians been killed in Nigeria this year? Why did you allow dozens of pastors to be imprisoned in China last week? Why have you allowed evil regimes or evil organizations or evil leaders to oppress and torture and kill? Lord, where are you?

When we start to become disillusioned with God, we sometimes get angry with him. Or we sometimes become complacent in our faith or sometimes anxiety begins to burden us, or sometimes we even rebel against God.

The returned exiles were experiencing this. Their disillusionment with God even explains their actions. It doesn’t justify it. But it explains why they had been going through the motions in their worship and why they had been faithless to God and to their spouses. It explains why the priests, even, had failed to faithfully lead and teach. After all, they must have thought, if God didn’t care about them, why should they care about him?

Maybe they didn’t verbalize that, but it’s what they felt, and we sometimes do the same thing.

Well, God answers.

And he answers with a promise which includes a warning.

By the way, chapter 3 verse 1 is the very center of the Malachi. The themes before lead up to 3:1 and the rest of Malachi echoes and expands on what God declares there. So, it’s a critical verse in the entire book.

Let me read it again. “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.”

It was a bold re-affirmation of God’s promises. The Messiah, in fact, is coming soon! That word “behold” is used throughout Scripture to emphasize the surety of something happening. Pay attention! It’s happening. Twice in this verse. “Behold”

And did you notice that there are 2 different messengers in this verse. There’s the messenger who will prepare the way, and then there is THE messenger of the covenant. The one who will suddenly come to the temple. Malachi was prophesying about the Messiah. He will come. Christ will come. But he will be preceded by one last prophet who will prepare the way.

In October 2024, we were driving back from the airport. It was evening, so it was dark. We were on 285 northbound near interstate 20. And something very strange was happening. In the southbound lanes (you know, across the barrier), there were absolutely 0 cars driving south. It was weird. There were no headlights. We wondered if there had been an accident? Then we saw one police car after another after another. Then all of a sudden, there was a whole bunch of police cars… and following those cars were 2 or 3 large black SUVs. Turned out that the former vice president had been campaigning in Clarkston.

All those police cars were in a sense preparing the way. It’s like that similar verse in Isaiah 40 that we read earlier “A voice cries in the wilderness ‘prepare the way of the LORD;

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’”

God would be sending a messenger who would prepare the way of the Lord.

This was a common thing back in those days. Before a king would arrive for a special event, an envoy would often precede them. There would be an announcement about the coming arrival of the king. The people would then prepare for his arrival.

This prophecy about the first messenger has been fulfilled in John the Baptist. In fact, the first half of Malachi 3:1 about the messenger preparing the way is quoted three times in the New Testament declaring that John the Baptist is that messenger who has come. John came to preach that the Messiah was coming. John was preparing the way. He announced that the Christ was coming and indeed had come.

And that first messenger pointed the way to the second messenger – the Messiah, the Lord himself. He will come to the temple.

By the way, I want to make side comment here.

Most prophecies of the Messiah in the Old Testament have a more near-term fulfillment and a long-term fulfillment. The near-term is usually about a king or a crisis resolved by a redeemer of some kind, and the long-term fulfillment is in Christ.

But this prophecy is different. Malachi gives no near-term historical events. In fact, the near-term historical event is the coming of the messenger and the Messiah. The prophecy in 3:1 directly points to Jesus’ coming. There is no interim fulfillment. His is coming soon, this was saying.

Now, you may be thinking, ok, but for them it was still 400 years before Jesus would come. And that is true. And that is something that we and all God’s people have struggled with throughout history. God’s timing is not our timing. A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day to the Lord. That is part of our angst and anxiety when it comes to not experiencing his promises or the delay of his judgment. We want to see immediate judgment and we want an immediate fulfillment of God’s promises. But God’s timing is not our timing.

They needed to hold on to this promise and believe.

By the way, this prophecy about the Messiah is part of the answer to the people’s complaint. God, have you forgotten us? Will you not fulfill your promise? Because it sure feels like evil is winning out and your people will fade into oblivion. But God’s answer: Behold, he is coming! Turn your disillusionment into delight! Fix your eyes on the one who is to come.

And for us, Christ has come. God has come into the world. That does not mean that this life will be free of trials and heartaches and pain and persecution. No. But God gives us things that are far greater than health and stability. He gives us himself. He gives us peace in our hearts. He gives us hope beyond all the suffering and trials. His promise has come true, and his promise will come true. They could count on the promise of Jesus’ first coming… and we can count on it for his second coming. He has and will come again.

To be sure, these verses are not all positive. No, there’s also a warning. Besides the promise, Malachi’s prophecy warns them about their standing before God. Look at verse 2. “But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?”

They had been questioning his justice, but he turns the question back on them. Can you endure my justice? Will you be able to stand in my presence?

Because, as it says next, “For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.” And it goes on to describe that they will be purified like silver and gold.

Unrefined precious metal is placed in a crucible of some kind where it can be refined. A crucible is something that can endure high temperatures. Silver, for example, is heated to about 1800 deg. Fahrenheit. The silver then melts and all the impurities burn off.

That’s pretty hot. But did you know that the temperature at the very center of the sun is 27 Million degrees Fahrenheit. But if you think that is hot, in France, they are building a nuclear fusion power plant. That plant is not dividing atoms, no, it’s combing atoms or rather atomic nuclei. That reaction will generate temperatures up to 270 Million degrees. 10 times the temperature of the sun’s core… here on earth. 10 times. Maybe France will melt.

But nothing compares to the refining fire of Christ. The light of his righteousness and holiness is so hot that nothing will be able to endure the intensity of his refining.

That is why the question is there in verse 2. Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand? The answer is, no one will be able to endure the refining fire of his just judgment. Or I should say, no one in his or her own righteousness.

God is THE great refiner. No evil. No unrighteousness. No idolatry... No sin at all will be able to endure the day of his coming. All sin will be exposed and dealt with.

Look at verse 5. When the refiner comes… it says here that the Lord will come near to you for judgment. And then verse 5 lists several things that he will judge. Those who practice sorcery; adulterers; those who swear falsely; those who oppress… who oppress workers and widows and the fatherless. And he will judge those who thrust aside the sojourner.

That list is a representative list of those who had been breaking God’s law. God will judge sin and unrighteousness.

Remember how they had been questioning God’s justice. Well, verse 5 answers their skepticism. Not only will God fulfill his promise of the Messiah, but God will execute his judgment. Justice will prevail.

But remember, we still have a problem. Who can endure this judgement?

Well, there’s only one group of people who are not subject to God’s judgment. Look again at verse 5. After listing the types of people who will be judged, he describes their heart. Do you see it there? They are the ones who do NOT fear the Lord. They will be judged.

Who then are NOT judged? Well, it is those who fear him.

We come across that phrase often. Fearing God. It is not cowering before him. No, fearing the Lord is a faith-filled awe of his glory and power which leads to salvation.

Those who fear the Lord will not suffer on the day of his judgment. In Malachi’s day, it was those who looked forward by faith to Christ who was to come. For us, it’s believing by faith in Christ who has come. And not only that he will or has come, but also that Christ is the great refiner.

The other analogy here is the fuller’s soap. That soap was the most intense, most penetrating soap of the time. It was the bleach of the day. They used it used to whiten garments, especially wool.

So, the Messiah was promised not only to come but to also refine and cleanse.

This is what Christ has done. He has cleaned us. And he has and is refining us.

He can do this because he himself endured the crucible of God’s judgment for us. In other words, the reason those who fear God by faith are not consumed by the fire of his justice IS BECAUSE Jesus endured the refiners fire for us. The flames of God’s wrath fell on Jesus in our place. And when we fear him, he will refine us. He will burn off our sin and cleanse us from our unrighteousness.

So, where is the God of justice? The answer is: he has come and he has displayed the ultimate justice by enduring the judgment we deserve.

As we come to a close, let me note a couple of other encouraging promises in these verses. Right after Malachi prophesies in verse 3 that the Messiah will sit as the refiner of silver, he says two things.

·      First, that he will purify the sons of Levi. Remember, those are the priests, whom he had excoriated at the beginning of chapter 2. They had failed in their duty. Even they will be purified.

·      And then in verse 4 he says that all the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord. Instead of polluted offerings, their offerings would be pleasing.

Do you see what he is saying? Christ, who is to come, will reverse their trajectory. The refiner will take their disillusioned complacency which has caused them to lose faith in God, and he will restore their faith and make them pleasing in his sight.

And God has done that for us in Christ. Through the cleansing blood of the Son of God, we have been made righteous and are pleasing in his sight.

So, as we see or experience injustice and as we see evil prosper, may we not put God on trial… may we not lose heart nor blame him… but rather, may we know that God will judge all evil and unrighteousness. And may we know that the judgment we deserve has been endured by the great Refiner, Christ, through whom we can stand in his presence.