“Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple” (Malachi 3:1—read Malachi 3:1-6).
Malachi, like Haggai, reports that the Lord will visit his temple. This Jesus did—as an infant, and as a boy, and as a man. He came to rescue sinners. He came in grace to fix what sin and evil have broken. He came to fight, not against Romans and other foreign powers, not against all sinners, but against sin itself and against the consequences of sin.
Malachi compares the Lord in his coming as a refiner’s fire and a fuller’s soap. Both are very powerful cleansers. A refiner’s fire is hot enough to melt silver or gold and to burn away any impurities in the metals. A fuller’s soap is coarse enough to add body to fabric (making the fabric fuller, hence its name) and also to remove dirt from the fabric. Either of these products can cause injury and death if misused. Both of them, used properly, add value to the metal or the fabric to which they are applied.
So Jesus, in his coming, is dangerous to sinners, but he did not come at first to judge sinners. He came at first to rescue sinners. He came to melt our hearts, to burn away our impurities, and to recast us in his own image. He came to wash us so we can be clean and pure, useful for his purposes and acceptable for his kingdom.
On the Day of the Lord Jesus will have to judge and condemn those who rejected him. Some loved their sin more than their Savior and clung to their sin, refusing to be rescued. Others thought they needed no Savior: they clung to their good works and demanded that God give them what they deserve. In sorrow, Jesus must send both groups away. But those who have trusted his promises have already been washed clean and refined. Those who trust in him will live in his new creation, celebrating eternally the victory Jesus won.
On his birthday, Christians like to pull out the baby pictures of Jesus. We remember him wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger. We remember him visited by shepherds. Later he was visited by wise men bringing gifts. But that baby grew to be a man. As a man, he fought evil, and he won. He resisted the devil’s temptations. He refused to be dragged by the world into sin. He suffered the consequences of sin, and he paid in full for the world’s sins. He died, but he rose again victoriously to live and reign eternally. He is our God, our Savior, and our Redeemer. We belong to him today and forever. Thanks be to God! J.
Salvageable 