DAY 3: Malachi 3:1-4

 1 "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. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.

“Suddenly.” The word is used in stories all of the time. It is usually the precursor to an exciting and plot-altering event. “Suddenly, a car crashed through the diner window.” “Suddenly, Dennis remembered what the clue was.” Here in Malachi, the event is not only exciting - it is terrifying. “The Lord you are seeking…the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come…but who can endure the day of his coming?” Why is it terrifying that the Lord, who is sought and desired and longed for, is now appearing – suddenly? Because the coming we expect is not the coming we see. The work that Jesus came to do is to refine, to launder, to purge and make clean. We often dwell on the happy, comfortable stories at Christmas – the wise men’s gifts, the little drummer boy, and the like. But it is critical to understand that the baby in the manger came for a purpose – to make us pure by his sinless life and atoning death. The end result is that we will all “bring offerings in righteousness,” and be able to stand before God as His accepted and holy children. But the sin problem causes a collision – evil must be dealt with, sin must be paid for. And the process will be costly. The crowds who cheered when Jesus rode on a donkey on Palm Sunday were shocked when, suddenly, their king was not leading a rebellion against the Roman government, but instead was in their own temple, cleaning out the corrupt money changers. This is not what they expected either, and it scared them. Jesus didn't come to overthrow the oppression and rule of Rome, but to root out the oppression and rule of sin in our very souls. Accepting Jesus as He comes to us will involve pain, sacrifice, and ultimately death to our own desires. But his refinement brings about results. Like precious gold and silver, we will shine and be His prized possessions, made new by the sudden coming of the Lord.