Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Okay, so if you are new, we have been walking through in the month of December, our Jesse Tree devotional that I just led with the children in the back. I'm having real time to go from talking to kids to talking to adults. So hopefully I don't treat you like children this morning. I think we'll hopefully get over that speed bump pretty quickly. We just did our Jesse Tree devotional in the back and all it is is a slow, daily walking through much of the story, the prophecy, the narrative of the Old Testament as we consider and we get ready to worship and celebrate Jesus for his coming on Christmas morning. That's what Christmas is about, right? We celebrate and remember the coming of Jesus. So through Advent or Jesse Tree readings have been walking us through this long story of God drawing near to his people.
[00:01:06] Right. Again and again, through promise, through judgment, through rescue, through hope.
[00:01:13] Each ornament in our story, we're now on day 2021. What's the dates? The 21st.
[00:01:21] Yeah, we're now on Ornament 21. It's been a symbol, it's been a reminder that God always comes for his people.
[00:01:31] And this past week, as we quickly walked through the stories with the kids in the back, our devotionals and the narrative that we walked through each day have got us to here. As we considered the shepherd and the river and the scroll, Jesus, his death on the cross, the lion, Jonah and the big fish and the whale. And all of these things bring us to today.
[00:02:03] All of these symbols, these threads of God's work through history, bring us to today's ornament of the heart.
[00:02:13] It's Malachi, chapter three and four. In the adult reading today, as well as Revelation 22:20, Malachi stands. If you have your Bible, you can. You can see that the Book of Malachi is the very last book in the Old Testament. It stands at the very end as God's final word before four centuries of silence.
[00:02:38] And the question that really is prevalent through the Book of Malachi, it's simple, but it's piercing. The question is this. Why? When will the Lord come to make things right?
[00:02:52] That's what the people of God want to know. Lord, when are you coming?
[00:02:58] And maybe let's think through our personal story, our personal narrative and our experience, and just ask ourselves, has this ever been you?
[00:03:11] Have you ever sat through a season of longing, of suffering, of waiting, of desiring?
[00:03:22] There's a couple people. There's only a few. Luckily, there's a few people in the room that knew me when I was in High school, no one else. I'm looking around the room just to make sure. So in case you did know me in high school, I was loud, I was obnoxious. Like take any character trait that I contain now as a middle aged man and just ratchet it up to like 30 million, right? Just off the scale annoying and obnoxious and stubborn and so if you knew me in high school it might surprise you. But as I was considering this question for me, where have I considered longing and waiting and desire? One of the first things that really came to mind was just my desire for a family.
[00:04:09] I was a 14 year old kid who was just pumped about being a dad again, you might not, if you knew me in high school, that might surprise you, but I was, I was in like high school math class, just like praying and thinking of my kids names, dreaming of throwing a ball and pushing swings like I so badly wanted to be a father.
[00:04:36] Katie and I started dating in 2006, the year of our Lord 2006. Fun fact, this is actually our 20th Christmas together. So that's fun.
[00:04:47] Thank you. Yeah, yeah, there we go.
[00:04:50] We got married in 2012 and we had a plan. Or at least I had a plan, right? I was going to work for a couple years, she was teaching math. We were going to do the young married, double income, no kid things for a second and then we were going to start a family.
[00:05:05] And God had other plans. In 2014, I lost my job.
[00:05:12] I walked through what I lovingly refer to as my quarter life crisis.
[00:05:18] I had a season of considering what was next and what the Lord had for me. And at the end of it I decided, hey, I want to go be an engineer. I'm going to go back to school.
[00:05:29] Katie at the time was like, do you even know how to do math? Do you know what things? She's a math teacher, right? I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I can do got, I've got it right. But what it meant was returning back to school.
[00:05:42] And we both knew in that season that I was going to be committed to academia and working through the degree program so that I could hopefully get back to the workforce as soon as possible and continue to provide for this family that I felt called to. And so what that meant for Katie and I was for a season of four years, we felt it most wise, most prudent to not start a family.
[00:06:14] And it was really challenging when we were right on the cusp of the season where we felt ready to start trying to consider the lay of the land and say, okay, I Guess let's be wise and maybe consider putting this off.
[00:06:29] That was a challenge. There's a lot of.
[00:06:35] A lot of anger.
[00:06:37] I found out that I. That I wasn't good at waiting in that season.
[00:06:42] Perhaps you've had a similar season or are in a similar season where you feel like the thing that God has called you to or the thing that you truly desire is just out of reach.
[00:06:55] So God's people teach us how to wait.
[00:07:01] To understand the weight of Malachi's promise, we. We need to feel the moment that he, that he speaks into in history.
[00:07:10] So most, almost all commentators place Malachi during the Persian period after the return from exile, right?
[00:07:21] So the temple is rebuilt.
[00:07:24] God's people are home, but the glory they expected hasn't come.
[00:07:34] The book of Malachi opens with Malachi penning these words. He says, I have loved you, says the Lord, but you say, how have you loved us?
[00:07:48] What a question to the God of the universe. He says, I've loved you, but you ask me, how have you loved us? The heart of the people, they're disillusioned.
[00:08:00] They've been through pain and suffering and season.
[00:08:03] They don't see where God is bringing them. They feel like there are promises that are unmet. And so God says, I love you. And the people say how and what results from this posture in their hearts is just sin that dominates.
[00:08:23] There's a lot of parallels with Ezra and Nehemiah if you go read those books. There's priestly corruption, there's intermarriage with God's people and the people of the other nations that the Lord had warned against to protect his people from worship of false gods that the nations worship. There's neglect of tithes, there's weariness with covenant obligations, there's sin.
[00:08:52] The promised restoration of Haggai and Vagai and Zachariah and Ezekiel seems delayed or incomplete.
[00:09:01] So quick, quick history lesson just to to get us all on the same page.
[00:09:06] In 586 B.C. was the fall of Judah when the temple was destroyed.
[00:09:14] 538 B.C. 50 years about later, the decree of Cyrus ended exile. For 50 years, God's people served as slaves to the nations.
[00:09:27] About 20 years later, Haggai prophesies in Haggai 2 and listen to how beautiful this is. This is what is in the eyes or in the minds and the ears of the people that Malachi is writing to. They have Haggai's prophecy in mind when he says, for thus says the Lord of hosts.
[00:09:48] Yet once more in a little while, I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in. And I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of Hosts.
[00:10:00] This silver is mine, the gold is mine, declares the LORD of Hosts. And the latter glory of this house, speaking of the temple, shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of Hosts. And in this place I will give you peace, declares the LORD of Hosts.
[00:10:19] This is what's on the minds of the people. The temple has been destroyed. The temple has been rebuilt. There is promises that have been spoken. On the other side.
[00:10:28] And Then in about 460 B.C. is the prophetic ministry of Malachi.
[00:10:36] The ESV study Bible offers this for context and commentary that I think is just really helpful. It says, Malachi's ministry took place nearly 100 years after the decree of Cyrus, which ended the Babylonian captivity and allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple.
[00:10:57] This was some 80 years after Haggai and Zechariah encouraged rebuilding of the temple.
[00:11:03] Those two earlier prophets had said that rebuilding the temple would result in peace, prosperity, the conversion of people from other nations, and the return of God's own glorious presence.
[00:11:19] To the discouraged people of Malachi's day, these predictions might have seemed a cruel mockery.
[00:11:25] In contrast to the glowing promises, they faced economic difficulties due to drought and crop failure. They remained in insignificant territory, no longer an independent nation ruled by a Davidic king. And worst of all, despite the promise of God's presence, they experienced only spiritual decline.
[00:11:49] It's heavy.
[00:11:50] It's weighty, right? Scholars often describe this moment as a community living in eschatological disappointment.
[00:12:00] They had a view of what God was going to do, and it just didn't seem like he was doing it. They longed for God to finish what he said he would begin.
[00:12:13] Here's the cry of the people right before our text in Malachi 3, Malachi 217 reads this. If you have your Bible, you can find them right next to our text.
[00:12:27] Malachi writes, you have wearied the Lord with your words.
[00:12:32] You've wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, how have we wearied him?
[00:12:38] By saying, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.
[00:12:45] Or by asking, here's the key question, where is the God of justice?
[00:12:53] Where is the God of justice? This is why I opened with the statement that the key question of our text is, when will the Lord come to make things right? They're asking, where is this God?
[00:13:08] Can't be certain. We don't know these people as well as we get to know each other in the room. We're not with them. But I think it's reasonable to believe, as we read through the narrative of the the people of God post exile, that these questions likely come from a place of exhaustion.
[00:13:29] I think they're think they're tired, think they're frustrated.
[00:13:35] They want God to come.
[00:13:38] They want wrong things made right. They want cleansing and renewal and justice.
[00:13:46] They don't see it.
[00:13:49] So there's doubt and there's sin that defines the inner workings of their community. And at the end, they stand in a place where rather than having faith, they have question and they ask God, where are you?
[00:14:10] Malachi 3 that Dallas, so beautifully read. Thank you, brother.
[00:14:15] Is God's divine answer to the crisis that we read in Malachi 1 and 2.
[00:14:25] So it's into this discouraged and spiritually weary world that God speaks a word of both hope and warning.
[00:14:37] I'm coming, God says. He says, I'm coming. And that brings us to what I believe is just one of the most profound, beautiful advent texts in Scripture.
[00:14:50] So I want to read this for us again, just as we get into this text. This is Malachi 3.
[00:15:00] Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.
[00:15:08] And the Lord who you seek will suddenly come into his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like refiner's fire and like fuller's soap, he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
[00:15:44] Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in former years.
[00:15:55] So starting in verse one, behold, I send my messenger.
[00:16:04] This is John the Baptist. We read in Matthew 3 that John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.
[00:16:13] And he came on the scene and had a single message. He said, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.
[00:16:23] Matthew says that this is the one spoken of the prophet Isaiah, the voice in the wilderness preparing the way for the Lord. We believe that John the Baptist is this the same messenger preparing the way before him.
[00:16:39] And then in the back half of verse two, the Lord whom you seek, this is Christ, will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. So the messenger of the covenant, the Lord who we seek, he's coming.
[00:17:05] This text in Malachi is.
[00:17:09] It's a beautiful version of what we would call a day of the Lord text.
[00:17:17] A day of the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is this beautiful idea woven through both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
[00:17:30] And often the day of the Lord can be thought of through four different lenses.
[00:17:37] There's a divine visitation where the Lord comes. He draws near. He makes his presence manifest, oftentimes unexpectedly and unexpectedly and decisively.
[00:17:50] We see this in Isaiah 13 or Joel, chapter 2. There's judgment.
[00:17:58] The day of the Lord is a day of reckoning, often against the nations, often against God's people.
[00:18:05] Often both.
[00:18:09] There is purification.
[00:18:12] Judgment leads to cleansing, not damnation, for God's people.
[00:18:18] Zephaniah3 says, at that time, I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord.
[00:18:32] And then there's restoration.
[00:18:35] God's coming ends with the wholeness of his people.
[00:18:42] There's this beautiful picture throughout the entire chapter of Joel 2.
[00:18:47] Maybe take a note. Go read it this afternoon.
[00:18:50] Read it in your spare time with your kids or one another.
[00:18:54] But it starts in Joel 2, verse 1, when Joel writes, let all inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming near.
[00:19:05] This day is something to be feared.
[00:19:07] It's near a day of dark and gloom. Yet even now, declares the lord in verse 12, Return to me.
[00:19:15] Return to me with all your hearts.
[00:19:17] Rend your hearts and not your garments.
[00:19:20] In Joel 2:18, the Lord has pity on his people.
[00:19:25] And then in 2:27, we see this beautiful picture of restoration when he writes, you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel and that I am the Lord your God, and there is none else.
[00:19:42] And my people shall never again be put to shame.
[00:19:46] Right? So the day of the Lord spoken by Joel starts with fear. That moves into restoration as God cleanses his people.
[00:20:01] In Malachi, in our text this morning, all of these converge in a single text.
[00:20:10] There's a divine visitation.
[00:20:13] Malachi writes, the Lord, who you seek, will suddenly come to his temple.
[00:20:17] There's judgment.
[00:20:19] Malachi asks the question which we'll revisit later. He says, who can stand when he appears?
[00:20:26] There's purification. Perhaps as a surprise to the people. Malachi writes, to this purification comes first to God's people rather than the nations.
[00:20:39] He'll purify the sons of Levi, that's the Israelites. Themselves, that's God's priests.
[00:20:45] He'll refine them like gold and silver.
[00:20:48] And then there's restoration.
[00:20:51] Malachi writes that after purification, the offering of Judah will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the day of old.
[00:20:59] And so when we, when we think about this idea of the day of the Lord, we can think of it as a single day in multiple phases, if you will.
[00:21:14] The first phase, the first horizon marked from the incarnation of Jesus through his life, his death, his resurrection and his ascension.
[00:21:27] And then the second horizon marked by the final coming, his eternal reign, right? There's one day, the day of the Lord, in which there is visitation, judgment, purification and restoration. And we see that day across multiple horizons, looking at Christ's first advent and his coming again. And so let's first look at this partial but decisive fulfillment in Christ's first coming.
[00:22:03] We know Christ divinely visited Christ, both God and man came, entered human history as a child, as a baby. John 1:14 says that he was the Word of God and became flesh and dwelt among us.
[00:22:26] This is, this is a great Advent news for us. Amen.
[00:22:31] The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is, this is the entire story of Advent leading to the incarnation.
[00:22:40] The day of the Lord begins when God refuses to be distant. God comes close.
[00:22:46] He's a God who enters in. We see this throughout the entire narrative. We see this when Adam and Eve sin in the garden and God, rather than proclaiming judgment from far off walks with them.
[00:23:00] We see this time and time and time again when God's people, and perhaps you know this experientially yourself, you deserve judgment, you deserve isolation, you deserve pain on your head. And instead God comes.
[00:23:19] He's gentle, he's soft, he sends his spirit. He reminds you of the person of Jesus.
[00:23:29] There's judgment.
[00:23:32] Jesus came, he lived perfectly, and he pronounced judgment on corrupt leaders. Matthew 23, he cleansed the temple. John 2.
[00:23:43] And in all of this, and Pastor Sean did a beautiful job reminding us of this last week, this first judgment of this horizon of the day of the Lord fell not on us, but fell on Christ that it might not fall on us.
[00:24:02] There's purification.
[00:24:07] Christ created a new priesthood.
[00:24:11] 1st Peter 2. 9. He purified a people for his own possession. This is Titus 2:14. It reads, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, who are zealous for good works.
[00:24:29] He purifies us.
[00:24:32] There's restoration.
[00:24:34] The new covenant began we'll take communion here in a bit. The new covenant began with the blood of Christ, as He declares, as he institutes of the Lord's Supper. God dwells with us not as a temple or as a building, or in a building as before, but in a body.
[00:24:55] Right? The first horizon. When we consider the Lord's first coming in Christmas, it tells us that the promises of restoration that the prophet spoke of doesn't begin at the end of all things, but instead begins with a manger and a cross.
[00:25:17] Restoration begins with Christ's first coming.
[00:25:25] Here's an empty tomb, but Malachi's prophecy, it reaches much beyond Bethlehem. The fulfillment that began in Jesus first coming will arrive in fullness when he comes again.
[00:25:40] This is the second horizon, the second advent.
[00:25:45] It's the same day in two phases.
[00:25:50] So what has already begun? The Incarnation, Jesus ministry, His death, his resurrection, the outpouring of His Spirit, the formation of the Church as His purified priesthood.
[00:26:03] Yet this is not the end.
[00:26:05] It's pretty good.
[00:26:08] It's pretty good, but it's not the end. It gets better.
[00:26:13] Christians are awaiting the final return of Jesus, in which he returns once for all, to make all things new and reign among us forever, where there's no pain, no sin, no tears.
[00:26:29] We believe this is a text that perhaps we've heard once, perhaps we've heard a million times. But this is our future hope that we look forward to as we think of the second horizon. This is Revelation 21, John writing, Prophesying in a vision. He says, I saw a new earth. I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
[00:26:52] The first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
[00:27:14] He will dwell with them, and they will be his people and. And God Himself will be with them as their God.
[00:27:21] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more.
[00:27:29] Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
[00:27:37] There's our future hope.
[00:27:40] We believe this, that Christ not only came in the first Advent on Christmas, but that he's coming again.
[00:27:48] And so, while much has been initiated, the incarnation, the ministry, his death, his resurrection, again the outpouring of His Spirit, the formation of the Church, what is not yet consummated, what is not yet here is the visible return of Christ's final judgment, final Purification and new creation of all things.
[00:28:14] We live in this already, but not yet. Where Christ has come, but not yet are all things made new, right? It's in this tension that perhaps we should resonate with the readers of Malachi's day. Already their nation had been restored. Already the temple had been rebuilt, but not yet had God returned in the way they envisioned.
[00:28:42] So what do we do with this?
[00:28:44] How do we live in this tension? How do we avoid the eschatological despair in our waiting?
[00:28:54] One way that might be helpful to us as a people, you as an individual, is remembering how truly good the already is in the already, but not yet. The Bible is full of promises of who we are to Christ because we have union with him, right?
[00:29:16] Matthew 6:26. You're very valuable to Christ.
[00:29:21] Luke 12:4. You're a friend of Christ.
[00:29:26] John 1:13. You were born a child.
[00:29:31] You are a child born of God.
[00:29:34] Romans 5:9. You are saved, delivered from the wrath of God.
[00:29:40] Romans 10:11. You'll never be put to shame.
[00:29:44] Galatians 4. You're no longer a slave to sin, but a son or a daughter of God.
[00:29:52] Ephesians 3:19. You are filled with the goodness of God, the fullness of God. These are good things. Amen.
[00:30:00] The already holds promise upon promise upon promise. For us, the already of the not. The already of the already, but not yet is tremendous. Already do we have so much hope. Already do we have so much peace? Already do we have so much joy? Already are we so, so loved?
[00:30:28] And even still Christ will come and make things even better, even fuller.
[00:30:38] Towards the middle of our text, Malachi asks a sobering question.
[00:30:43] He says, who can stand?
[00:30:48] Who can endure the day of his coming?
[00:30:51] Who can stand when he appears?
[00:30:57] Isaiah 45:23 says, by myself I have sworn from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return to me.
[00:31:12] Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear allegiance.
[00:31:19] Philippians 2 says so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.
[00:31:33] Who can stand?
[00:31:36] No one.
[00:31:39] No one can stand.
[00:31:41] No one can stand. Every knee will bow.
[00:31:46] Every tongue shall swear allegiance.
[00:31:51] Our only hope, our only hope by the Spirit of God for you and I is that the first time we bow is before the end of all things.
[00:32:08] It is the only hope we have that we that you and I would trust the gospel. And the Gospel is simply this, that because of sin, wrong things, we do wrong things. You do that. Our relationship with God is fractured beyond what we can repair.
[00:32:32] We can't fix it. We can't work hard enough. We can't do the right things, we can't say the right things. We can't be the right person. We can't be the right kind of leader. You and I, from birth, because of sin, are fractured and there's nothing we can do.
[00:32:50] And that's really bad news. But the good news is that God sent away. Sin's a really big deal.
[00:32:59] Romans says that the wages of sin is death, that death is required as payment for sin. In the Old Testament, we see God leading his people through the sacrificial covenantal system by which they sacrificed animals as appeasement for their sin.
[00:33:19] In Christ we have the once for all sacrifice. Who came for us, lived perfectly when we couldn't, died the death that we deserved. And now in his grace, God is willing for you and I to look at this, that perfect life and that perfect sacrifice, and count it as ours. This is the gospel.
[00:33:45] That all was lost. And yet God made a way that we were broken, but Christ came, that we had no hope in life and death, but instead. But God sent his son. Amen.
[00:34:01] This is the gospel. And so my plea.
[00:34:05] My plea is at his coming, none can stand.
[00:34:13] The Christians in the room believe this, that on the second coming of Christ, that it will be a global event by which every knee has no choice but to bow in submission.
[00:34:30] And so my ask, not knowing when the day comes, but hoping that it's soon, that Christ would return and make all things new. If you have not bowed the knee to King Jesus yet, would you do so today?
[00:34:49] Much better is it today than at the end of all things, when our knees are bowed and we're refined by the mighty refiner, what happens?
[00:35:04] Malachi writes, our offering is pleasing to God.
[00:35:09] Our offering is pleasing to God.
[00:35:11] And to be clear, this has absolutely nothing to do with us, right? Malachi isn't saying that. Hey, once we get you, once we get you cleaned, once we work you through some judgment, you're now going to figure out how finally to rightly live life perfectly.
[00:35:31] That's not in store for us. This is all about. It's all about Jesus.
[00:35:36] It's all about Jesus. He's the king. We've spent all of Advent worshiping and preparing for Jesus. He's the one who created the heavens and the earth. In Genesis 1. He's the one who. Who promised. In Genesis 3, after the fall, God promised that Christ would bruise the head of the serpent, and the serpent would bruise his heel.
[00:36:02] He's the one foretold in God's promise never to flood the earth again.
[00:36:07] He's the culmination of Abraham's family. He's the better Isaac, the sacrificial lamb that carried wood up a hill and obeyed his father to the point of Jesus is he's the better Joseph, who would save all of God's people not from drought, but from sin.
[00:36:26] Jesus is the true way, not across just the Red Sea into more suffering, but into eternal life. He's the better David, who never sinned. He's the one the prophets foretold. He's the one who came to heal, the one who came to save.
[00:36:46] That hour that our offering pleases God has. Has nothing to do with you and I. Our offering that pleases the Father is God himself, the Lamb of God who laid down his life.
[00:37:01] This is our hope.
[00:37:06] This is the good news for us. And so as we, as we close, we think on the two horizons, Advent asks us to hold these two Advents in our hands. The first coming, where purification began.
[00:37:24] The second coming, where purification will be completed.
[00:37:30] For the believer, the day of the Lord is not one of terror, but joy upon joy.
[00:37:38] Because the one who comes to judge, he's our King. He's the one who first came to save.
[00:37:48] And so as we, as we finish the final days before Christmas, it's the 21st, we've got a few more days.
[00:37:58] I'd encourage you.
[00:38:02] Would we continue to fight, to slow, to hope because the Lord has come and because he's coming again? Would you take time with your friends, with your family, with your children, with your neighbors and discuss these things, ponder these things, wait upon the Lord with these things, worship Christ because He came.
[00:38:24] Let's live as people, ready to bow now, purified by God's grace, offering worship that's pleasing in his sight, remembering the Christ who came for us.
[00:38:41] It's Revelation 22:20.
[00:38:45] It says. Amen.
[00:38:47] Come, Lord Jesus, let's pray.
