Originally posted: 12/09/2021
“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,” (3:2).
He is coming. And with that comes the question, will anyone be left standing on That Day? These last words communicated through His prophet, preceding His 400 years of silence, call us to give serious consideration to That Day; a call to realize that in and of ourselves we have not a leg to stand on before Him; a call to trust Him in His Refining and Purifying Work.
His proclamation comes: it will be by His Refining and Purifying Work that His people will be enabled to worship Him in righteousness and offer Him gifts that are pleasing to Him.
“He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. 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,” (3:3-4).
And from there, a dividing line is swiftly drawn by His Refining and Purifying Work; He will separate those who belong to Him from those who don’t, the wicked from the righteous, those who blatantly scorn His Word from those who fear Him.
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts, (3:5).
On That Day, His Refining and Purifying Work will purge away all wickedness and evil, leaving not a trace of it behind.
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch,” (4:1).
From https://www.gotquestions.org/refiners-fire.html:
“A refiner uses a fire to heat metal to a molten state; then he skims off the dross that floats to the top. The refiner’s fire is, of course, maintained at an extremely high temperature, and such a high degree of heat is the prophet’s picture of the testing people will face on Judgment Day. All judgment has been entrusted to the Son (John 5:22). Upon Christ’s return, the intense flame of God’s judgment will purify the earth, removing the dross of sin.”
His Refiner’s Fire will Purify the earth. But even in His judgment His amazing promise of grace and mercy is revealed: He will limit His wrath, for He is faithful to His unchanging Covenant.
“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed,” (3:6).
Ultimately, That Day will dawn when He brings forth those who fear His Name into the healing and strength of His Light and Righteousness.
“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall,” (4:2).
Until then, He Prepares Us for That Day by His Refining and Purifying Work
Consider Him Who Prepares Us for That Day by His Refining and Purifying Work
In these final words of the Lord before 400 years of silence ensues, it is clear that His people need His Refining and Purifying Work. They have turned aside from obedience; and though He invites them to return, they act as though they’ve never left.
“Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’” (3:7 NLT).
The many ways they have departed from God are revealed in the charges that are leveled: they have robbed God (3:8); they have spoken arrogantly against God (3:13); they have determined that serving God is useless unless they receive a personal benefit (3:14); they have concluded that evil goes unpunished, thereby putting God’s Holiness and Justice to the test (3:15).
The heat is turned up as His Refining and Purifying Work separates those who faithfully fear Him from those who don’t. And those who come forth as Refined and Purified are recorded in His book of remembrance.
Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name. 17 “They will be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him,” (3:16-17).
Ultimately, His Refining and Purifying Work will distinguish between the righteous and the wicked.
So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him, (3:18).
That Day, that is great and terrible is coming. And in His grace and mercy, He Prepares all who are willing to be Refined and Purified through faith in Christ.
The book of Malachi closes with the prophecy that would be fulfilled by the forerunner of the Promised Messiah Who will come “like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap” to Refine and Purify the land and the hearts of His people.
“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord . 6 He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse,” (4:5).
This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
…23 He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
…26 John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. 27 It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
…29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me,’” (John 1:19, 23, 36, 29-30).
“As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire,” (Matthew 3:11-12).
How do we respond to Him Who Prepares Us for That Day by His Refining and Purifying Work?
The Lord always calls us to remember His Word; to take His Word to heart; and to live according to His God-Breathed Truth He has graciously provided.
“Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel,” (4:4).
While He will purge the land of evil, it is His people He will Refine and Purify for Himself. And as we remember His Word, we will remember that He uses trials and tribulations to raise the heat and skim the dross of sin from our lives that we would be Prepared for That Day.
“They will be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him,” (3:17).
Oh, let us pray that as we remember and believe His Word, we will be strengthened to see with eyes of faith and enabled to embrace His Refiner’s Fire and Fuller’s Soap with exultation and joy, knowing He is Preparing Us for That Day by His Refining and Purifying Work.
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us, (Romans 5:3-5).
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing, (James 1:2-4).
For as we remember His Word, His Holy Spirit will empower us to live by faith in His Refining and Purifying Work that will Prepare Us to worship Him in righteousness and offer Him gifts that are pleasing and acceptable to Him
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship, (Romans 12:1).
Oh, may we live ever mindful that He is coming and that this life is not our inheritance. May we rejoice, even in our distressing trials, knowing the day is coming when our faith will come through the Refiner’s Fire and we will stand with our offerings of praise and glory and honor before Him Who Prepares Us for That Day by His Refining and Purifying Work.
In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls, (1 Peter 1:6-9).