Advent 2 2018
Context: “Where is the God of Justice?”
Malachi 3:1-6
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.
The verse is no longer talking about purifying people so that they will worship in righteousness, but condemning people for their sins. Here those to be judged are said not to fear the LORD, meaning that they are not believers
The sending is not without a purpose, and its description is set forth in the second element of verse 1 (“in order to open a path before me”).
The refiner’s fire does not consume everything; it only removes impurities. The second simile is “like fullers’ (washermens’) soap,” again, a piel participle מְכַבְּסִים serves as the genitive modifying “soap.” These two similes illustrate how the Lord will purge sin out of the people, soap recalling the washing process, and fire the refining. In both cases the element is purged of imperfections and spots, but not destroyed.
From the historical perspective, since this is an oracle about John the Baptist preparing people for Jesus the Messiah, then the covenant must be the new covenant that Christ inaugurated in the upper room and sealed with his blood at the cross.
This moment, and no other, is the moment at which all the paths to God are suddenly made straight, there are no more valleys to be trudged through, no more hills to be climbed, no more winding lanes to take us out of our way. At this particular historical moment, God’s salvation comes to us as a gift, not by our own effort.
The refiner’s fire does not consume everything; it only removes impurities. The second simile is “like fullers’ (washermens’) soap,” again, a piel participle מְכַבְּסִים serves as the genitive modifying “soap.” These two similes illustrate how the Lord will purge sin out of the people, soap recalling the washing process, and fire the refining. In both cases the element is purged of imperfections and spots, but not destroyed.
From the historical perspective, since this is an oracle about John the Baptist preparing people for Jesus the Messiah, then the covenant must be the new covenant that Christ inaugurated in the upper room and sealed with his blood at the cross.
This moment, and no other, is the moment at which all the paths to God are suddenly made straight, there are no more valleys to be trudged through, no more hills to be climbed, no more winding lanes to take us out of our way. At this particular historical moment, God’s salvation comes to us as a gift, not by our own effort.