Dear friends in Christ.
I think it was about this time last year when we began talking about the construction project that took place in St. Peter this past summer. I remember hearing people saying things like, “I wonder how they’re going to do it?” and “That’s sure going to be a mess.” Already back around Easter Time. Then sometime in April or May we saw semi trailers positioned all around St. Peter, with their Discover 169 banners, proclaiming that the down town would still be open during the construction. There were articles in the newspaper and even pictures of what it would be like when the project was completed. In short there were quite a number of messengers clearing the way and preparing us for the project that was to come. In our text today the Lord did the very same thing for us and for his people as he sent the Prophet Malachi as the Lord’s Messenger to begin the process of clearing the way for the Lord. In fact, nearly 400 years before the Savior was to be born, the Lord began clearing the way for the Savior through his messengers, just as Malachi wrote in our text: “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. 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. 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, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.” (Malachi 3:1-4 NIV).
Now, when Malachi first spoke these words, he was speaking to the people of Israel a little more than 100 years after they had returned from their Babylonian captivity. Though the people had originally been very excited about returning to the land, rebuilding their homes, the city of Jerusalem, and even the temple of the Lord, by this time, the Israelites had become very apathetic toward the Lord and his worship. Rather than bringing to the Lord the first and the best of their livestock for their offerings, they were keeping the best for themselves and offering to the Lord the blind, the lame, and the crippled animals from their flocks and herds. But the worst part of all of this was the fact that the Levites were accepting these animals and offering them to the Lord on behalf of the people! The very people whom the Lord had established as the spiritual leaders of the community and put in charge of worship were disregarding the Lord’s commands by their actions. They were mocking the Lord by accepting these sub-standard offerings, and they were allowing the people to feel at peace as they continued in their sinful lives.
Because of this, as Malachi begins to clear the way for the coming Savior, he reveals that coming Lord would be the one to refine and purify the Levites so that they might once again bring acceptable offerings to the Lord! And as we know, this is exactly what the Lord Jesus our Savior did. For already with John the Baptist, the messenger whom Malachi promises will prepare the way for the Lord, the Lord began his refining the Levites and the people Israel. For as a refinery will pass precious metals like gold or silver through an extremely hot fire so that the impurities might be melted out of them, the Lord began this refining process with the fiery preaching of John the Baptist. As the people came to him by the Jordan River, he did not wink at their sins, but he stood before them proclaiming the truth of God’s Law. Unlike the Levites of Malachi’s day, John breathed the fire of God’s Word, designed to burn away the impurities of sin, and to purify the people of Israel by assuring them of the forgiveness that the Lord offered them through Jesus the Lamb of God. Even when the self righteous Pharisees and Teachers of the Law came to him, he did not hold back, but unleashed the flame thrower of God’s Word at them, going so far as to call them a brood of vipers so that even their sins might be burned away and so that they might turn to the Lord in repentance, receive his forgiveness and pass through to the other side as God’s refined people.
It was in this way that the Lord used John as his messenger to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus so that when Jesus did come to his people he would be able to not only continue refining, but add fuel to the refiners fire so that it might burn even hotter. And that is exactly what Jesus did, for he is the one who traveled throughout all of Israel proclaiming the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” He is the one who continually went head to head with the self-righteous religious leaders of the day. He answered every challenge they gave him and continually used his word to burn away stubbornness and sins so that he might forgiveness. Though there are very few recorded instances of religious leaders turning to Jesus and following him on the way that had been prepared, through his preaching and teaching, there were many in Israel who were convicted of their sins, turned to him in repentance, and received the forgiveness that he offered them. There were even some from the Sanhedrin, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who were refined by the Lord’s Word and brought from their self-righteous ideas to the forgiveness that Jesus provided.
Just as the Lord Jesus traveled the road that his messengers had prepared him and then served as a refiner and purifier of his people, so also the messenger of the Word has been doing the same thing for you and me. In fact, for the past few weeks, we have been reminded again and again of how our Savior will return on the Last Day. We have heard the Word of our Savior proclaiming to us our need to repent of our sins, draw near to him, and receive the gift of his forgiveness. In many ways the Lord has used that message of his imminent return as a flint and stele to light our hearts on fire so that the impurities or our sins might be burned away so that we might receive his forgiveness and pass through to the other side as God’s refined people! Just as Malachi said in our text: “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. 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. 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, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.” (Malachi 3:1-4 NIV).
This is exactly what the Lord has done for each and every one of us! Through the messengers he sent, messengers like Malachi and John the Baptist, the way was cleared for Jesus to enter our hearts and create faith there. Through messengers like Malachi and John, the way was clear for Jesus to enter our hearts and assure us that through his perfect life lived on our behalf that we are now without sin in God’s eyes. It was through God’s messengers that we have are now assured that when our Savior went to the cross, he not only carried the full weight of our debt on his shoulders, but he went so far as to replace our guilt with his innocence. Now, through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we have been refined and purified before him and the Lord for all our days. Through faith in Jesus Christ we have come to enjoy our daily trips through the fire of his Word. We have come to enjoy our daily trips because we know that it is only through his law that the impurity of our sins is melted away, and we are purified before the Lord. We enjoy those trips because we know that once purified through our sorrow over sins and the repentance to which the law moves us, we are once again molded into God’s holy people through the press of the gospel.
Now, because of all the work done by the Lord’s messengers, to prepare the way before him, we look forward to the Lord’s appearing with nothing less than joy. Since we know that he is the one who came as a little child so that he might free us from our sins forever, we joyfully look forward to the celebration of his birth. Because we are so familiar with every aspect of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection through which we have been made righteous before the Lord our God, we give praise to the Lord who loved us so much. Because we know that we have been made righteous before the Lord through faith in Jesus Christ, we not only reflect on the fact that he will return, but we look forward to it with all our hearts. We look forward to that grand and glorious day, because when Jesus does return we will be refined and purified one last time. For on that day, as all believers are gathered before the Lord, all the world will hear that we who believed in him are his holy people. We have been declared not guilty through faith in him, and all people will see as we are made righteous forever!
How well we have been prepared for that day! In the same way that the messengers prepared the way for the construction project through St. Peter, so also the Lord’s messengers have prepared the way for our Savior to enter our hearts. We have heard the call to repentance, we have been refined by the fire of God’s law and formed into his people through the gospel, and we are now looking to our Savior’s appearing as the baby in Bethlehem as well as his reappearing on the last day. Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
