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If you were marooned, what
music C.D. would you most want with you (assuming your I-Pod is there
too!)? I might choose Handel’s masterful Messiah whose every refrain I find
uplifting. For example, recall his
rendition of, “And he shall purify”, that climaxes in a stirring full-choir
affirmation, “that they may offer unto the Lord…”
Pause to consider the
context from which this forecast comes, Malachi 2:17-3:12, and reflect on this
prophetic word, which relates the [nearly] final message of God prior to the
appearance of Jesus. We listen in on a
back-and-forth exchange between Malachi’s contemporaries and God. It is disheartening to read that the LORD was
weary of people’s words: their twisting interpretations of what truly pleased
their Maker and Deliverer, their meager demonstrations of authentic adoration
or their flagrant disobedience to basic community responsibilities. “So I will come… to testify against
sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of
their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the
foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty.
This may characterize 2011 A.D., not only 430
B.C. But during Advent we prefer
messages that warm the heart against December chills and distract nicely from
the distressing updates that fill the inboxes of our days. Malachi however, whose name means “my/his
messenger”, insists on a reality check.
The Lord, in whom you say you delight, shall come. “Who can endure His coming; who can stand
when He appears?” asks the messenger. “I
will draw near to you for judgment (ESV).”
With His coming the LORD indicates that He will bring fire, but not one
that thoroughly incinerates all as might the massive eruption of a
volcano. Nor does his fire destroy
indiscriminately like an out-of-control forest blaze. Rather He promises to purify, in other words,
to decontaminate, sterilize or get rid of all impurities. The Lord’s intention is that we be His holy
people, set apart completely and wholeheartedly for His
high purposes.
How or when the Lord
chooses to purify us is not ours to reason or resist. But surely it is our confidence and
conviction to hear the good news: “I, the LORD, do not change” (v. 6). Read it again aloud. Speak it back to our awesome covenant-keeping
God with thanksgiving. Stand in worship
that in being lovingly purified you, we, may tender Him, who has himself
through Christ borne the shame of our rebellion, “offerings in righteousness”
(v. 3).
Prayer: LORD God almighty, how awesome you are. You rule over all with perfect justice,
wisdom and goodness. All who trust you
and Jesus Christ, your agent of righteousness, are particularly blessed. All that we are and hope to be – we owe
everything to you through Jesus.
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