Two Messengers and one Message
Our OT reading from Malachi is not
the kind of thing you would read at a holiday party! There is no tinsel or mistle toe. But it is a great Advent text. It is a warning text. Yet, rightly understood it can lead to real
and lasting joy. I believe Malachi
probably felt excitement as he wrote these words under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit!
I.
Malachi 3:1 a"Behold, I send bmy
messenger, and che will prepare the way before me. And the Lord dwhom
you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and ethe messenger of the
covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.
But awho can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand
when he appears? For bhe is like a refiner's fire and like fullers'
soap. (Mal. 3:1-2 ESV)
2
3 “Look!
I’m sending my messenger on ahead to clear the way for me. Suddenly, out of the
blue, the Leader you’ve been looking for will enter his Temple—yes, the
Messenger of the Covenant, the one you’ve been waiting for. Look! He’s on his
way!” A Message from the mouth of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.[1]
3
Do you hear the
excitement there?
a.
This is a REAL B I G deal!
b.
“Behold, Look! …the One you’ve been waiting for. Look! He’s on His way”
4 There seem to be
2 messengers in this verse – the one who prepares the way = John the Baptist,
and the Messenger of the Covenant = Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.
a.
Peter
Lange offers an alternative translation that is possible calling the second
Messenger “The Angel of the Covenant.” “The Lord whom ye seek
shall suddenly come to his temple, even the Angel of the Covenant.”
b.
The Hebrew word here, Malek, is used of a human messenger
OR an angelic messenger.
c. “From a very early
period we find mention of an extraordinary Messenger, or Angel, who is
sometimes called the Angel of God, at others, the Angel of Jehovah.
He is represented as the Mediator between the invisible God and men in all
God’s communications and dealings with men. To this Angel divine names,
attributes, purposes, and acts are ascribed. He occasionally assumed a human
form, as in his interviews with Hagar, Abraham, Jacob, Joshua, Gideon, Manoah,
and his wife. He went before the camp of Israel on the night of the Exodus. In Exo 23:20, Jehovah said, “Behold, I send an angel
before thee to bring thee into the place, which I have prepared. My name is in
him.” In Isa 63:9 he is called the Angel of his Presence,
or face, where there is a reference to Exo
33:14-15, where Jehovah said to Moses, “My presence
(or Hebrew, My face) shall go with thee, and Moses said, If thy face go
not with us, carry us not up hence.” He is called the face of God,
because though no man can see his face and live, yet the Angel of his face is
the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. In him
Jehovah’s presence is manifested, and his glory reflected, for the glory of God
shines in the face of Jesus Christ. [There is thus a gradual development in the Old Testament
of the doctrine of the incarnation, of the distinction of persons in the
Godhead, not brought to light fully, lest it should interfere with the doctrine
of the unity of God.”] (For a more full
discussion of the Angel of Jehovah, see Hengstenberg’s Christology, vol. 1. p. 161, Keith’s Translation; Lange On Genesis, p. 386; Keil On Genesis, p. 184).
d. Matthew Henry, “2. He is the Messenger of the covenant, or the angel
of the covenant, that blessed one that was sent from heaven
to negotiate a peace, and settle a correspondence, between God and man. He is
the angel, the archangel, the Lord of the angels, who received commission
from the Father to bring man home to God by a covenant of grace, who had
revolted from him by the violation of the covenant of innocency. Christ is the angel
of this covenant, by whose mediation it is brought about and established as
God's covenant with Israel was made by the disposition of angels, Acts vii. 53; Gal. iii. 19.
e. The ESV could be making a distinction between the Lord and the Messenger
of the Covenant.
i. But other leading translations side with Lange and many others in seeing
the Messenger and the Lord as the same!
ii. KJV 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.
iii. NIV, “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.
iv. [CSB, “Then the Lord you seek3 will suddenly come to
his temple,4 the Messenger of the covenant you delight in -- see, he
is coming," says the Lord of Armies.]
f.
Covenant,
“The
covenant referred to here is the single plan of God contained in the succession
of covenants beginning with the covenants made with Eve (Gen. 3:15), continuing
with the covenants with Shem (Gen. 9:27), Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3), Moses (Ex.
6:2–8), and David (2 Sam. 7:12–19) and concluding with the renewal of that same, but progressively enlarged, covenant for the
age to come (Jer. 31:31–34).[2]
II.
Verses 2-4
a. Somewhat true in the Lord’s first
coming, but this applies more to His Second Coming.
i. Even in His earthly ministry Jesus consistently rebuked the hypocrisy of
the religious leaders of His day.
1.
Cf. with Malachi 3:3!
2.
The Second Coming of Christ will lead into the Great
White Throne Judgment,
a.
The Last Judgment!
b.
“Who can endure the day of his coming?”
3.
The Message, “ But who will be able to stand up to that
coming? Who can survive his appearance?
He’ll
be like white-hot fire from the smelter’s furnace. He’ll be like the strongest
lye soap at the laundry. He’ll take his place as a refiner of silver, as a
cleanser of dirty clothes. He’ll scrub the Levite priests clean, refine them
like gold and silver, until they’re fit for God,
fit to present offerings of righteousness. Then, and only then, will Judah and
Jerusalem be fit and pleasing to God,
as they used to be in the years long ago.[3]
4. Christ will come to put an end to all sin and injustice.
5.
He will do whatever it takes to purify His priests and
His church
6.
“Who will be able to stand up to that coming? Who can survive His appearance?”
7. The answer is in what 1 John 3:2 says
“2 Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has
not yet been revealed.1 We know that when he appears,2 we
will be like him3 because we will see him as he is.4 (1 Jn. 3:2 CSB17)
8.
Those of us who have died in Christ will already have
been transformed into His likeness.
9.
Those who are alive at His return will be transformed in
the twinkling of eye – the blinders will be ripped off our eyes and we see
Jesus in all His glory and purity and we shall be like Him!
10.
We shall be like Him!
b.
But right now part of our calling is to rest in His grace
and love yet seek His grace to be more like Him.
i. You can rest knowing that your sin will never outweigh the grace of God in
Christ Jesus!
ii. You can rest knowing that the Cross is greater than any sin you or I can
ever commit!
iii. God’s ability and willingness to forgive is greater than my ability to fail
and sin!
iv. Because of this, out of gratitude I need to earnestly seek God’s grace to
be pleasing in His sight, to live in way that pleases Him and honors Him.
III.
V. 5 gives us an idea of some of the things He is looking for!
a.
5 "Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be aa
swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who
swear falsely, against those bwho oppress the hired worker in his
wages, cthe widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside
the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. (Mal. 3:5 ESV)
i. Against the sorcerers
1.
God doesn’t want His people seeking guidance from fortune
tellers, or séances, or astrology, or horoscopes, or Ouija boards.
2.
We are to avoid anything occult.
3.
We are to avoid witchcraft in all its forms.
ii. Adulterers.
1.
God insists we avoid sexual sins of all kinds!
2.
Don’t have sex with anyone you are not married to
3.
Don’t get involved with pornography.
4.
Guard your eyes, mind and heart from lust.
5.
Years ago a friend
of mine said he had been taught you
can’t help the first look but the second look is sin, so he made the first look
as long as he could!
6.
I’m afraid the decision to linger on that first look IS
sin!
7.
In the BCP daily prayers there a quote from Psalm 51, “Create in us clean hearts, O God; And take not your Holy
Spirit from us”
8.
For us men especially, this needs to be an earnest prayer
from our hearts!
iii. Those who swear falsely,
1.
Don’t lie!
2.
Don’t twist the truth
3.
Work to be honest in all you do (including your taxes!)
iv. And against those bwho
oppress the hired worker in his wages, cthe widow and the
fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner,
1.
God is very concerned about the poor, the weak, the
powerless.
2.
And He wants His people to share that concern!
3.
We should be concerned that people get paid a fair wage.
4.
We need to be involved in ministry to widows and orphans
and the homeless.
5.
God adds the sojourner to that list.
a.
Who is the sojourner?
b.
KJV – strangers
c.
NIV Foreigners
d.
CSB resident alien.
e.
Eerdmans’s Bible Dictionary, “A “foreigner” or
“resident alien” residing among a people or in a land not his or her own (Heb. gēr, usually translated “stranger” or “alien”).
f.
In several passages the OT law required Israel to treat
resident aliens fairly and in many ways even equally because Israel too had
once been resident aliens. [(Exod.
22:21[MT 20]; 23:9; Lev. 19:34; Deut.
10:19, (Exod. 22:21-24[20-23]; Deut. 24:17, 19-20; cf. Mal. 3:5).]
6.
We may be politically conservative or progressive,
Democrat or Republic or other.
7.
But God demands we have compassion on aliens in our land.
8.
We may differ on what compassion looks like, but if we
are serious about pleasing God, we will seek to be compassionate people.
v. “I will be a swift witness
against….. those who do not fear me.”
1. Our hearts need to have a profound reverence for the Lord!
2. We need to have the deepest possible respect for the power and holiness of
God.
3. One writer (lack of fear of God) - “the source of all
sins.”
4. If we have a loving reverence for God and understand what sin cost Christ
at the Cross, we will strive to avoid sin and deeply repent when we fail.
5. The fear of the Lord that is a
loving reverence will cause us to avoid sin as much as we can.
Advent is a doorway.
We enter a new Church year. And
we look back on the birth of our Lord as a baby and forward to His coming again
as King.
Liturgical
churches, like ours, decorate the building and vest the clergy in purple as a
reminder this is a time for repentance. The
One we are looking for, the One we delight in, will come suddenly.
May the Lord give
us continued grace to be about His business and living in love and holiness
through the power of His Holy Spirit, trusting His love and grace till He come
again.
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, Amen!
[1]
Peterson, E. H. (2005). The Message: the Bible in contemporary
language (Mal 3:1). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
[2]
Kaiser, W. C., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1992). Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi (Vol. 23, p. 496). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.
[3]
Peterson, E. H. (2005). The Message: the Bible in contemporary
language (Mal 3:2–4). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
