The Launderer's Soap

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"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." Malachi 3:1-4

Main Readings: Luke 1 & Malachi 1:1-2:9

Supporting Readings: Psalm 24 & Malachi 2:17-3:4

I won’t lie, this week I had doubts about preaching this text. Not because I don’t believe in the text – I do, massively. Not because I doubt that it’s right for this moment – it’s relevant for this moment for sure. But because I didn’t know how to handle it.

Handling God’s word is not a matter of fuzzy feeling; it’s a matter of faithful interpretation. God has something to say, and we’ve got to come away knowing what it is. 

Every time I come to the lectern, I want to have the sense that I’ve faithfully handled the passage. I want you to learn to carefully interpret the bible yourselves – so I want to be modelling that approach Sunday by Sunday. Hence the doubt this week.

And yet here we are with the passage open before us and ready, I pray, to hear God speak to us through it. Which means that God has helped me to understand, and digest, and now, to explain it to you. 

So, and this is true every single Sunday, if you receive anything good for your soul this morning, let your thanks and praise rise to God. All the glory belongs to him. And then come and share it with me so that I too can give thanks and praise to Him.

This is the last Sunday in November. We’ve been in a passage of scripture for 3 weeks now that has been pointing squarely at the arrival of Jesus into the world – Isaiah 40:1-11.

And now, we’re jumping onto a stepping-stone, if you like, that gets us from the Old Testament prophetic word to the New Testament reality of the incarnate Lord Jesus Christ.

Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets – 400 years before Jesus. His aim was to preach to a nation who had grown indifferent to God. 

And like all good preachers, Malachi preached to stir up the hearts of the people to new commitment and fervour for God.

The people had been looking at their situation and feeling abandoned by God. 

After all, since returning from exile they’d had no king, they’d been under foreign taxation, surrounded by hostile neighbours, and trying to rebuild the economy with crops failing. And now they were feeling it, hard!

So, God said to them, ‘I have loved you’ – chapter 1, verse 2. And they looked at each other and at their circumstances and said, ‘how have you loved us?’

Chapter 1 and 2 spell out the reason for God’s distance. The people were linking their circumstances to God’s unfaithfulness. And lots of people do that don’t they? ‘I’ve got cancer, where’s God now?’ That kind of thing.

But they were failing to acknowledge the real reason for God’s distance - their own sins. They didn’t recognise that there were good reasons God had been refusing to accept their offerings.

They weren’t living in the real world! They had gone their own way and had reaped the consequences. Only then to blame God for abandoning them. But it was their sins, by which they had abandoned him, that had really put distance between them and him.

The end of chapter 2 sums up the problem: ‘You have wearied the Lord with your words’ Malachi says. And their response is: ‘How have we wearied him?’ 

They’re not looking at themselves, they’re looking at their circumstances. The answer to the question, ‘How have we wearied him?’ comes from Malachi: ‘By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice”’.

But now, because of their situation, and because everything else they depended on proved to be useless to bring them lasting hope and happiness, they are now seeking God again – even if they’re misdiagnosing the cause of their distress. 

In biblical terms, Israel is like a youtube short for the whole of humanity. They serve to show us what the world is like. Has always been like. Will always be like. 

When God got things started with humanity, people revered him, and he walked closely with them. Then Adam, on behalf of all humanity, blew it and rejected God - going his own way. And after that, God stood apart from humanity. 

Ever since then, every human life is an expression of this reality: Rejectors of God. Despairing in the face of life’s calamities. And deeply yearning for God to come back to us. Just like Israel here in Malachi.

The rejection of God and the yearning for God sometimes are conscious, but mostly are subconscious – we don’t consciously reject him; we don’t consciously yearn for him; but they are always there. 

And, just like Israel, humanity looks to blame-shift. It never faces up and stares into the mirror of reality, beholding the main problem – me!

God tells us in Romans 1 that Human Beings make a great exchange. They exchange him for other things. 

In chapter 2 he shows us how we all know that it’s a problem with us and not with him. And then, in chapter 3 he says there is no one who seeks God.

Now, that’s interesting because Malachi 3:1 says they do seek and desire God. So, what’s going on there? 

Well, it’s like this: In our deepest longings we know we were made by God, for God. 

God has set eternity in our hearts and that is what the ache of dissatisfaction really is. It’s not an ache for a new iphone, or for a skiing holiday, or for a better house. It’s the ache for God! That’s what Malachi is recording. 

But what he’s also showing is that the pride of the heart and lust of the flesh will not let us go where we need to go to acknowledge that the real problem is not with God, but with us. 

That’s what Romans means when it says, ‘no one seeks God’ – it means people know they need him, but they are too proud to acknowledge that they are the problem.

If we end the story at the close of chapter 2, none of us has any hope. We’re left wallowing in our own pride and pity – ever hungering after God but never getting any closer to him. That’s the picture at the end of chapter 2.

The book of Malachi doesn’t end at chapter 2 though; it has a chapter 3. And thanks be to God that it does! Because chapter 3, verses 1-4 presents the answer to the question ‘what can be done about all this?’

The answer that comes to our hearing, loud and clear, is: ‘God will do something’. 

He’s going to do something so great to remedy this massive problem that infects all of us, that when we hear it, it will make our ears tingle. 

We call it Christmas. And even though 2,000 years later Christmas is largely stripped of its meaning, yet Christmas endures; and it still makes the ears of many people tingle.

Chapter 3, verses 1-4 represent God saying, ‘I’m going to intervene and sort this out once and for all’. 

And if we have ears to hear, it will make our whole body, soul and mind tingle – it’s that magnificent!

Out of nowhere then; without any introduction, chapter 3 cuts through the gloom. 

God speaks. And God promises to intervene in this world and solve this problem.

His promise is this: ‘The Lord you seek will come’. ‘You don’t deserve it, Israel; you don’t deserve it world, but the desire of nations will come to you’. ‘He will come to lift your gloom by restoring you to God’. That’s the message of verses 1-4. 

God takes the initiative. God makes the first move. Why? Because he’s full of love and compassion; and mercy and grace towards people. He’s not desirous that any should perish but that all should come to him.

If you haven’t got a relationship with God – he wants one with you. He doesn’t want your sin to keep you out in the cold!

So, let’s see who this saviour is then.

I found it amazing to reflect on the fact that John the Baptist is prophesied on at least two separate occasions and by two separate prophets, nearly three hundred years apart in the Old Testament. Why would that be?

And then also, that the details around John’s birth are not only given substantial space in the New Testament but are also quite unique. 

His birth is foretold by angels for example. He’s conceived by a barren and aged mother. And he’s said to be filled with the holy spirit before birth. 

Those details don’t make John the Baptist different to other people. But they do demonstrate that his purpose was different to other people’s. 

Set apart from birth for God’s purposes - he was unique in that sense.

The circumstances of John’s birth put us on high alert, then, about the coming of the Saviour he testified to. If John came in the manner he did, what might the one he points to do?!

It begs the question why the fanfare about John the Baptist? Well, it wasn’t the man himself – we know that because he said so, himself. 

He said, ‘I must decrease’. But he also said that it was all about the one he came testifying to – namely Jesus. ‘He must increase’, John said.

So even though the fanfare seems to be about John, what we learn from John is that the fanfare is about the one John was appointed to testify to. 

It is exactly as though the king sent his herald – Malachi calls him God’s ‘messenger’ - ahead of the prince to sound the trumpet and cry out at the top of his voice: ‘behold the king’s own prince comes!’

Imagine William and Kate plan a visit to Wakefield. Imagine that the king sends his herald into every town in the region to prepare them to receive their prince. Imagine how the streets would throng. How the bunting would hang. How the flags would fly.

It's like that. Heaven’s courts prepare the way for the coming of the prince of peace into the world. That’s how precious and wonderful the coming of Jesus is.

And so it is that Jesus is worthy to receive fanfare - preparing the world for the coming of its prince. 

Let every heart prepare him room at Christmas. Let every person ready themselves to receive their prince of peace. That’s God’s message through John.

When the saviour comes what effect does he have? Verse 2 asks the question like this: ‘Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?’

And this might sound negative to us. We thought Malachi was saying he was coming to sort out the gloom but now it sounds gloomy again. ‘Who can endure?’ God says. ‘Who can stand?’ 

Why is God talking this way?

Let me put it in Jesus’ own words and then explain. Jesus said, ‘Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces [that’s a good thing in Jesus’ estimation]; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed [and that’s a terrifying thing]’.

There are only two responses to Jesus: either, broken heartedness that causes a person to fall on him leading to eternal life. Or stubborn heartedness that will not receive him, in which case he will fall on them with judgment, and they will be crushed forever.

Do you remember what Simeon said as he held the baby Jesus in his hands? ‘This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed’.

When Jesus came into the world, according to Malachi, he came as a refining fire or a launderer’s soap. 

When faced with Jesus no one can remain neutral. No one can stand just as they were. They will either yield to his refining fire or be consumed by it. They will either be cleansed by his launderer’s soap or be drowned underneath its waters. It’s one or the other. No middle ground.

At his first coming, Jesus’ posture is like this: ‘anyone who wants to be cleansed of their sin and brought back into relationship with God, I’m here for you’. ‘I won’t cast anyone away who comes with a humble heart’.

But when he comes the second time, his posture will be that of a consuming fire - not a refining one. And that day will be dreadful, scripture says!

So, make no mistake: Malachi is still in the territory of good news here. No one can stand before Jesus at his first coming because they must either run from him or fall on him. If they run from him, at his second coming, he will fall on them in judgment. But if they fall on him – he will embrace them.

That means today is the day of salvation. The advent of Jesus comes with the good news of sins refined and purged away so that the relationship we seek with God can be restored.

Well, what’s going to happen when he comes, according to Malachi? 

Verse 3 says that the refining that Jesus does will make a people who bring offerings in righteousness. Specifically, these people will be Levites it says. Who, in old covenant terms, were the priestly order of Israelite. The priests of God came from the tribe of Levi.

The idea of ‘covenant’ that you can see in verse 1, and ‘temple’ that you can see in verse 1, and ‘Levite’ that you can see here in verse 3, are very closely connected in God’s scheme of things.

You’ve got the temple being where God resided. You’ve got the ark of the covenant containing the documents of the covenant located in the temple, over which God specifically appeared. And then you’ve got the high priest who went into the place where God appeared, whilst the other priests served outside the holy of holies.

And Malachi says in verse 1, Jesus will suddenly come to his temple. Then he says in verse 1 also, that Jesus will be the means of a covenant. 

And then, finally, he says in verse 3 that Jesus will purify Levites to present offerings in righteousness.

And this is massively relevant for us. Let’s look at covenant first because God appeared over those first covenant documents, so covenant must be important. And it is! Massively important!

No one ever rented a house or took the keys for a new home – like you did this week, Dan – without an agreement or a deed document, right? No one ever takes a job or gets a mobile phone deal without a contract, right? 

Contracts, deeds, written agreements – they all guarantee and evidence that which is meant to be permanent. 

Those agreements exist in acknowledgement of the fact that people are changeable. People forget things. They change their minds don’t they. They’re sneaky. Sometimes they lie. They’re unfaithful. 

If people weren’t like this, the world wouldn’t need contacts, or deeds, or agreements. A person’s word would be their bond.

God showed us this truth in the old covenant. 

Even when relationship with him was the focus of the agreement, people wandered off. And, let me tell you, there’s no house, no phone contract, no job to compare with the thrill of knowing God intimately! And yet people wandered away from him. They went off and took other lovers.

That’s what Israel had done. God had made a solemn agreement with them, and they consistently exchanged him for other gods.

So, Malachi has Jesus down as a covenant-maker. And you think to yourself, ‘well you’re telling us the last covenant didn’t turn out too well. So why should this one?’ 

The answer is: because this new covenant that Jesus made when he came into the world wasn’t like the old one where the agreement relied on both parties keeping their end of the bargain. Back then, God kept his end and the people defaulted on theirs.

This new covenant doesn’t depend on the performance of both parties, but only on one faithful, perfect, unchangeable party - who is Jesus! That’s the difference!

When Jesus shed his blood on the cross, he made a new covenant guaranteeing that every single person who belongs to him by faith will remain in God’s love forever.

Hebrews says: Jesus has become a great high priest forever and the guarantee of a better covenant. One that can never fail because it doesn’t depend on the performance of people like us! It depends on him alone. And he is perfect!

So, there’s a new covenant, just like Malachi said in verse 1 and it comes through Jesus. What about temple and Levites?

Let’s go for temple next. When Jesus came into the world, he was born in a stable not a temple. But he came to his temple just like Malachi said.

Yes, he was taken as baby to the temple on the 8^th day. It’s also true that before his death, he went to the temple calling it the ‘house of his father’.

But above everything, coming to his temple means this: ‘In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit’. Ephesians 2:21-22.

God means to dwell with us again. Can you believe that? 

Our sins have set us apart from him, but through the appearing of Jesus, God’s design is to make us his home, all over again. 

You know, homes are where relationships are established, and deepened, and enjoyed. So that’s what Jesus came to make – a new temple made from people saved by Jesus, in whom God lives and where he deepens in relationship with us.

So that’s covenant and temple. What about the Levites? The priesthood came from the tribe of Levi. And then the Apostle Peter says this, ‘you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ’.

By faith in Jesus, who came into the world, we are a purified priesthood like verse 3 says. 

And we come to God with offerings which are spiritual, and which are acceptable to God because Jesus has perfected them. So that those offerings are righteous in God’s estimation – just like Malachi says! Amazing!

So, what’s the result of Jesus’ coming then? Remember how distant people were from God? Remember how they wanted him but didn’t want to humble themselves before him? Remember how gloomy their situation was, with no remedy in sight?

Well now God has come near to us - in Jesus. And we have been humbled before his almighty hand. 

We have confessed our sins and been made partakers of God’s grace in Jesus. 

And now suddenly we find the gloom has lifted because we have come into relationship with God again.

The ‘acceptability’ of verse 4 is the acceptability we have before the living God when we put our faith in the Saviour God has sent into the world – who is Jesus.

As in the former days, in years gone by, when God made people in his image and they walked closely with him in the garden, so now he has made a way for them to walk that closely with him again!

What glory is wrapped up in the appearing of Jesus? What magnitude of change has he accomplished in his appearing to us and being found to be with us?

Israel belonged to a performance-based agreement with God, and it showed how woefully short people fall of God.

So, when Jesus came into the world and made the new covenant in his blood, and made us partakers of that covenant, he gave us something radically different to what the Israelites had of old.

He gave us profoundly altered hearts so that we would desire him in ways the Israelites never experienced. 

The appearing of Jesus, and his translating us into a relationship with God, is actually accompanied by a spiritual renovation of our souls. Like a new spiritual birth. So that our hearts are inclined towards God. So that we want him!

What that creates in Jesus’ people is a transformation of character and behaviour and desire. 

Such that Paul says this in Romans 12: ‘Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy [he means in view of Jesus], to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship’.

The work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of Jesus’ people doesn’t create perfectly performing people – that’s why Paul had to urge the brothers and sisters. 

But His work does prompt and enliven Jesus’ people towards God, so that when directed by God’s word, they are inclined to make, what Malachi calls in verse 4, ‘acceptable offerings to the Lord’. 

Paul says it to us like this: ‘offer your lives sacrificially – not for your own pleasing but for the pleasing of God’. And then he says, ‘when you do this, it is considered by God, through Jesus, to be true and proper worship’.

And that is what relationship with God is meant to look like. It's what the Israelites had rejected. It’s what Jesus came into the world to create in a new people of God, so that they could be at peace with him. Worship!

Worship is what the incarnation of Jesus is for – it’s what it’s about. And Malachi anticipates it. He speaks into the gloom of trashed relationships with God – of hopeless searching for God-sized satisfaction. 

He says: ‘suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple’. And he has! And we can rejoice that he has, because he is our gloom-lifter and our relationship-restorer. 

How could we fail to be impressed with God’s great gift to the world? His very own Son – the Lord Jesus Christ. 

He came and did what was absolutely necessary. He changed the building. He changed the contract. And he changed the people, so that, we could enjoy God forever. 

What an amazing gift-giving God we have! And what an amazing promise of God’s gift Malachi gives us here!

If we’re looking at our circumstances this Christmas and wondering where God is in it all. We need to look at ourselves and see that we’re the problem not him. 

And then we need to quickly look to Jesus, who God sent to restore us to himself. If we do, our hearts will be satisfied like never before, and God will receive what is rightly his – our devoted worship.