Who May Abide the Day of His Coming?

“Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap: And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.”  Malachi 3:1-3

Malachi, along with Haggai and Zechariah, was a prophet who prophesied to those of Judah and Jerusalem after the return of captives from Babylon who were freed by Cyrus, the Persian king, in order to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:1).  The people of Judah began building the temple, but adversaries had hindered them, and they became somewhat disinterested in finishing God’s house.  Haggai and Zechariah rebuked the people for their delay in finishing the temple, and Malachi’s rebuke was because of the people’s neglect to properly care for it after it was built and also for idolatry that they had allowed into their worship services.  Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets.  It would be well over 400 years before John the Baptist would begin his ministry as the forerunner of Christ.  We might wonder why God allowed several generations of His people to live and die without a word from Him.  Matthew Henry suggested that God allowed this long interlude without a prophet so that John the Baptist and then Jesus would make a very great impact upon a people without direction.  And they did, but not every person was positively impacted, but impacted, nonetheless.

The prophecy of Malachi, along with most of God’s prophets, gave direct prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, beginning with the sending of John the Baptist, Jesus’ second cousin, born six months before Mary gave birth to Jesus.  John was the forerunner of Christ who preached repentance of sin and introduced Jesus to the world.  Isaiah (40:3) made the same prophecy over 330 or so years prior to Malachi.  John called on the people of Israel to repent of their sin, baptizing those who did, but acknowledging that One was coming who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, that is, One who could truly purge sins and bring forgiveness for all eternity.  It would be the Lord Jesus Christ, the One whom Israel looked for but would come in a way completely unexpected and with a mission completely different than what God’s people desired.

Jesus came to bring a new covenant to the people for the old covenant could never bring righteousness and a relationship with God that the new covenant brought.  When Christ returns to earth, He will come suddenly.  Those on earth, with the exception of those who believed in Him during the tribulation of the last days, will not be looking for Him.  He will come to the newly built temple wherein the antichrist has set himself up as a god to be worshiped.  The Jews were looking for their Messiah the first time He came to earth, but they rejected Him because He wasn’t the conquering hero they envisioned.  Some Jews are still looking for Him to come the first time while others no longer believe that He is coming.  But He is, maybe sooner rather than later.

When Jesus came to earth the first time, He came to bring salvation to all who would turn from sin and trust Him, putting all faith in Him and committing the remainder of their lives to Him.  The most notable display of His judgment came when He drove the cheating moneychangers out of the temple (Matthew 21:12-13).  This was a response to how men had polluted His Father’s house, and He thus became angry.  There was no record that He actually struck anyone or any animals with His whip.  He also verbally rebuked the self-righteous religious leaders for how they had abused the law and placed difficult burdens on the people.  However, none of these leaders appeared to fear Him except that they feared that the people would increasingly follow Him, causing them to lose their power over the people.  When they crucified Him, they thought they had won a major victory and continued as self-righteous rulers until Rome destroyed their stranglehold over the people.

It is going to be quite a different story when Christ returns to judge the world.  He won’t be coming again to make another sacrifice of His life.  Quite the contrary.  He will come as a “refiner’s fire” and “fuller’s soap”, two methods which purify and cleanse.  Those who think they can withstand His judgment will fall down before Him.  We don’t know what the world will be like exactly when Jesus returns, but we know that it will be worse than it is now, and it increasingly becomes more ungodly and perverted by every day that passes.  Jesus will refine and purify the sons of Levi, who either are the religious leaders at that time or all believers who have come to faith in Christ during the tribulation.  He won’t accept a half-hearted commitment to Him and to righteousness, thus He will refine and purify those souls who claim to know Him likely through hardships and persecutions, making them pure like how gold and silver are melted, and the impurities are poured off.  Once they are made pure, He will accept them and their offerings in righteousness.  Then the offerings of God’s people will please Him as they did when the law was first instituted, and the people were obedient to serve and worship the LORD.  But this time, they won’t rebel and turn against Him.

These prophecies were given by Malachi and other prophets to encourage God’s people in Israel in those days, particularly those who were loyal to the LORD and believed in the promise of a Savior and, of course, to warn those who were straying far from the LORD.  The prophecies are also to us who are living in what seems like the final days before the tribulation and Christ’s return as an encouragement to rely on our faith in the Lord and as a warning to those who have rejected Him.  I might be wrong, but I believe that Christ’s return for His church could come at any time.