Who can stand when Jesus appears

Malachi 3:1-4

3 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

A messenger will precede the arrival of “the Lord” (that is, Jesus). This fit the ancient practice of a runner being sent ahead of a great personage, announcing they were on their way. (Think the police car that leads the parade to tell people here comes the parade get out of the way.)

Everyone gets excited anticipating the coming of the great personage (end of vs. 1), but the preparation for that arrival will not be easy. People and their actions will need to get cleaned up in preparation for the arrival of the Lord. The images of the clean up are dramatic. “Fullers’ soap” was an alkaline crystal – so both caustic and rough – it was not easy on the things it was used on. It was used when people were serious about cleaning up a mess/strain/etc. Likewise to remove the impurities from silver required heating the ore to 981 C – very hot, it literally burned away the dross, the impurities.

While the arrival of the great personage was exciting. The process of being prepared for that arrival was not exciting, in fact it was something people wanted to avoid. Who wants to be scrubbed with alkaline crystals or heated to burn off impurities. So the line in vs. 2 makes sense – who can stand in the face of such preparation? 

The good news is two-fold: first, this hard, demanding work is worth it, for it allows the people of God to be ready for the praise and worship of the Triune God of grace (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) who has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. This preparation fit us for the reign of God that Jesus is bringing to the world. Second, we do not go into this refining process on our own or in our own strength. The community of the church, the people of God, is with us in this process. The promise of God is that the Holy Spirit will work in us bringing about the transformation we need. We do not do this alone, we participate with God in the holy work of preparing our lives for Jesus’ return. 

PRAYER:

O Lord, send the Holy Spirit to our lives to cleanse us from sin, send the Holy Spirit to burn away the impurities in our lives, come and prepare us to welcome your Son, Jesus Christ, as he comes to take up his throne. In Jesus’ name. Amen.