Malachi 3:1-6
"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. 5 "I will come to you in judgment, and I will be
ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear
falsely; against those who oppress the widow and the fatherless, and cheat the
wage earner; and against those who deny justice to the foreigner. They do not
fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts. 6 "Because I, Yahweh, have
not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
Verse 1 - 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!
•
This is a prophetic reference to John
the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus to come.
•
It refers to the custom of the
oriental kings in that time period to send a messenger ahead of them before the
king would come for a visit.
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The messenger’s job was two-fold:
•
First, he was to remove any obstacles
to the king’s coming.
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Second, he was to make sure they
planned an adequate reception for the king when he arrived.
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What obstacles are in our lives that
keep us from accepting Jesus as our Savior?
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If we have already accepted Jesus,
what obstacles are keeping Him from being fully Lord and Master of our lives?
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What kind of reception would Jesus
receive if He came to our homes today?
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What kind of reception would Jesus receive
if He visited our church today?
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What kind of reception would Jesus
receive if He walked down the Main Street of our community today?
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Verse 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 people of Malachi’s day did not
like the way God was running the world.
•
They had accused God of not being
just because God had allowed bad things to happen.
•
They asked where God was during times
of crisis. They doubted God was really there.
•
Malachi reminds them that one day the
Lord was going to come.
•
When the Lord comes, He will set
right all that is evil and wrong.
•
Malachi then asks the rhetorical
question, “Who will be able to stand on that day?”
•
This is an important question to
think through because we have all done wrong at some point in our lives.
•
We often think it is others who will
be judged, but we must realize that we too will be judged one day and our own
weaknesses and faults will be dealt with.
•
We may not like the Lord’s coming as
much as we think we will!
•
When the Lord comes, it will be like
a refiner’s fire. Fire in any form sounds dreadful, but a refiner’s fire was
unique.
•
Think about the various types of fires
that exist in the natural world.
•
A forest fire rages out of control
and destroys without concern for anyone or anything.
•
An incinerator consumes whatever is
put in it completely until nothing is left but dust.
•
A refiner's fire refines. It
purifies. It melts down a bar of silver or gold, separating out the impurities
that lower the value. A refiner’s fire does not rage out of control or destroy
what it touches. It is controlled by the refiner and has a clear purpose.
•
After the process is complete, the
silver or gold is more valuable because it is more pure.
•
When we go through difficult times in
our lives we often think God has abandoned us, but in reality God is purifying
us and making us more valuable.
•
Trials produce patience and patience
produces maturity and maturity produces hope.
•
Read Romans 5:3-4 and summarize those
verses below:
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•
Read James 1:2-4 and summarize those verses
below:
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Verse 3 - . . . He will purify the
sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present
offerings to the LORD in righteousness.
•
Notice that the Lord will begin the
purification process with the sons of Levi.
•
In the Old Testament the sons of Levi
were the priests and religious leaders of the community.
•
In the New Testament each born again
Christian is a priest before God.
•
Though this was referring to priests
in Malachi’s day, since we now live in the New Testament era, it refers to all
born again Christians.
•
When Christians are more pure in
their faith, they are more useful to the Lord and to the community.
Verse 4 - And the offerings of Judah
and Jerusalem will please the LORD as in days of old and years gone by.
•
Once the purification process is
over, then the offerings that people give to the Lord please Him.
•
The offerings are no longer empty and
meaningless because they are given with a pure heart.
•
Take a moment and reflect on these
questions: Do we offer our time, talent and treasure to God with a pure heart?
Or are we looking for what we will get out of it?
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Malachi refers to day of old.
•
We often refer to the past as the
“good old days.”
•
One of the reasons they seem so good
is that we tend to forget the bad parts and only remember the good parts.
•
When we have been purified by fire,
the Lord helps us heal from the past and look back on it with joy.
Verse 5 - I will come to you in
judgment . . .
•
Judgment is often viewed as a
negative thing in our society.
•
But God’s judgment is always correct
because He knows the whole story.
•
God is not fooled by fast talking
lawyers or legal loopholes. God knows the truth and when He judges, He takes it
all into account.
•
Judgment can be a good thing if we
have done what is right.
•
That is why we must confess our sins
to God and receive His forgiveness, so that we can be right with God when
judgment comes.
•
Read 1 John 1:9 and summarize it
below:
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If we have sincerely confessed our
sins and repented of those sins, then we will not be judged for them. They are
gone forever!
•
How does that truth make us feel?
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Verse 6 - Because I, Yahweh, have not
changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
•
Malachi pointed out to the people
that the only reason God had not destroyed them for their sin already was
because God had not changed His promises to them.
•
God had promised to be with the people
and help them and even though the people had broken their own promises, God had
kept His.
•
Thank God He is faithful to us when
we are not faithful to Him.
•
God is the God of the second chance,
and the third chance and the ten thousandth chance.
•
But one day, we will have our LAST
chance and then all that will be left is judgment.
•
If God is giving us a chance to turn
from our sin right now and start doing right, we should not waste this chance.
Conclusion:
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God sends people into our lives to
warn us that He wants us to prepare to meet Him.
•
God purifies His people through the
fires of difficulty, but in the end, we are better people because of it.
•
When we finally meet God, we will not
be able to offer any excuses because God knows the truth.
•
Therefore we should repent of our sin
now and seek God’s forgiveness while we have the chance.
This is an excerpt from the book, Malachi: Finding Hope in the Midst of Adversity. It can be found on Amazon.
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