Malachi 3:1-4 *
In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
What do you want for
Christmas? From school classrooms to
dinner tables to long distance phone conversations, that question is being
asked a lot these days. And when asked,
“What do you want for Christmas?” most people have an answer. I am finding out that in my household that
question has many, many answers.
Maybe a more challenging question for us this morning is: What do you want for Advent? Go down to the
Even if the world doesn’t pay much attention to Advent, we
do. We dedicate four weeks to this
season of preparation. We hold special
midweek Advent services. And we know
exactly what we want. We want Jesus to
come. That’s why we sing hymns like “Oh,
Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel.” That is why
we prayed “Come, Lord Jesus!” on Wednesday evening (Prayer of the Church for
Advent, CW p. 123).
“Come” was also the prayer on the lips of God’s faithful
people in the Old Testament. They longed
to see the promised Messiah. They longed
to taste the salvation he would bring.
They trusted that God would remain faithful even though their
forefathers had been faithless, even though their leaders had been faithless,
even though there were times when they themselves doubted that the Savior would
ever appear.
And so the Lord sent Malachi, the last of the Old Testament
prophets, to renew his promise, to reassure the remnant, to warn the wicked,
and to remind us that…
JESUS IS COMING
I. He will come with little
warning
II. He
will come to clean house
When cartoon artists try to picture a sad scene in one of
their cartoons, sometimes they make their frames less colorful. And if the situation is really bad, they make
everything black and white and gray.
This is how I picture the landscape in
About a hundred years had passed since God’s people had
returned from exile in
Sure, the temple had been rebuilt, but it was nothing like
Solomon’s temple. Sure, the priests were
offering sacrifices again, but they were more corrupt than ever. Sure, the walls of
And God was sick of it.
He said: “You have wearied the
Lord with you words. ‘How have we wearied him?’ you ask. By saying, ‘All who do evil are good in the
eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them,’ or ‘Where is the God of
justice’” (
These complaints are not unique. Maybe you have had the same grievances
against God: “God, how come the wicked prosper while the good people
suffer? God, why do you let evil go
unpunished? Where is the justice? Where is the fairness? And as long as we’re on the subject, where is
this Savior you promised? When is he
going to come?”
In response to his people’s complaints, God said: “‘See, I will send my messenger, who will
prepare the way before me. Then suddenly
the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the
covenant, whom you desire, will come,’ says the Lord Almighty” (3:1).
Contrary to popular opinion, the Lord had not forgotten his
promises. No matter how bleak the
situation looked, the Lord had not forgotten his people. Four hundred years later, Jesus burst onto
the scene of human history. And his
appearance came with little warning.
Notice that I didn’t say his appearance came with no
warning. God did send a messenger ahead
of Jesus to prepare the way for him.
That forerunner was John the Baptist.
John didn’t have a very glamorous job.
John didn’t have a very easy job.
His message was direct: “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2). His message anticipated a much greater
messenger: “Look, the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world” (John
The circumstances have changed. The messenger has changed. The recipients of the message have
changed. The message is the same. The same promise God made at the end of the
Old Testament God made again at the end of the New Testament. Jesus said: “Yes, I am coming soon” (Revelation
Which leads to a personal question: If you did know, if you
knew that Jesus was coming back today, what would you do? Would you make any changes in your life? Would you reprioritize the items on your to-do
list? Would you have that heart-to-heart
talk with a loved one that is long overdue?
Would you spend more time with God in prayer? Would you tell more people about Jesus? Would you do anything differently at all?
I remember listening to a sermon when I was in college in
which the preacher said that he believed in his heart of hearts that Jesus
would come back during his lifetime. I
won’t go that far. I won’t make any bold
predictions today.
But I can say one thing for sure. Jesus is coming. Maybe not today. Maybe not on Christmas Day. Maybe not for another four hundred
years. But he will come. And when he does, he will come with little
warning.
“Be careful what you ask for because you might actually get
it.” Those words would have been good
advice for the people of Malachi’s day.
They complained: “Where is
God? Where is God?” They wanted relief, and they wanted it right
now. And so the Lord said: “Okay. I’m coming.
But remember that you asked for it.
And when I come, I am coming to clean house.”
To prepare the people for his arrival, the Lord asked them
two penetrating questions: “Who can
endure the day of his coming? Who can
stand when he appears” (2)? Those
two questions have the same answer. No
one. Not a single person can stand in
the presence of a holy God. Not Malachi. Not Mother Teresa. Not you.
Not me.
When Jesus came to earth the first time, do you know what he
saw? He saw a king who tried to kill
him. He saw his disciples desert
him. He saw the own countrymen condemn
him. He saw one of his closest followers
betray him. He saw one of his most
trusted friends deny him.
And if Jesus came back today, he would find the same
things. He would see the evil deeds done
with our hands. He would hear the
slander that spouts from our lips. He
would uncover the evil thoughts and desires we try to hide in our hearts.
Malachi used a couple similes to describe the coming of the
Messiah. He said: “He will be like…” Fill in the blank. Taking into consideration the
corruption of the clergy, taking into account the spiritual conditions in
“He will be like…a sledgehammer that breaks everything to
pieces.” “He will be like…a deadly
pestilence that spares no one from death.” “He will be like…a mighty army that destroys
everyone and everything in its path.”
That’s what the people deserved, but that isn’t what they received.
Listen to what Malachi actually wrote: “He (the Messiah) will be like a refiner’s fire or a
launderer’s soap. He will sit as a
refiner and purifier of silver” (2, 3). Jesus
didn’t come to earth to be a weapon of destruction or a deadly disease or a
killing machine. Like a fire that burns
off all impurities and leaves behind only precious metal, Jesus came to purify
his people. Like the launderer who scrubs
long and hard to remove dirt, Jesus came to wash away sins.
Not too many of us have experience with the smelting of
metals, but most us know what it’s like to do laundry. So maybe Malachi’s second picture is more
meaningful to us. You know how tough
some stains can be. You know that some
types of stains are almost impossible to get out.
The stain of sin penetrates deeply. The stain of sin is permanent. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you
try, you will never be able to remove it completely. As stubborn as sin is, there is one
solution. There is one cleaning solution
that is guaranteed to get rid of sin for good.
It isn’t bleach. It isn’t
detergent. It isn’t soap.
What is this miracle product? Blood, but not just any ordinary blood. The blood of God’s Son. “The
blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (I John 1:7). Jesus shed his blood on the cross to wash
away your sins. Jesus poured out his
lifeblood to give you eternal life.
Because Isaiah knew that Jesus would come, he could say: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah
Some phrases can mean very different meanings depending on
the situation. Take the word, “fire,”
for example. The shout of “fire” is a
welcome sound to cold and hungry campers.
But the same exclamation strikes fear in the hearts of people trapped in
a burning building.
On the Last Day, “Jesus is coming” will evoke a wide range
of emotions in the hearts of people. It
will be a cry of despair for everyone who rejects him. God’s justice will be swift, and God’s
judgment will be severe.
But when we hear those three little words, we will have no
reason tremble in fear. “Jesus is
coming” will tell us to look up into the sky.
“Jesus is coming” will be music to our ears. Jesus is coming to judge the world. Jesus is coming to take us home. Jesus is coming, and the sooner the
better. Amen.