The LORD Draws Near For Judgment!

Malachi 3:1-7 Everyone and everything in this world changes but the Bible tells us that the LORD does not change.  That is what we hear tonight in the words of Malachi—I the LORD do not change.  And those words are both a warning and a comfort to us. 

God has not, and will not, change who he is.  He has not, and will not, change his holy expectations of us.  He will not adapt himself to our changing morals.  But neither will he change his love for us—his mercy in Christ is from everlasting to everlasting. 

In the midst of a changing world, what a blessing to know that the LORD does not change—that he is still the God of power and might and love-- who is strong to save! 

He is the LORD of hosts—the LORD of heavenly armies—the God of power and might who commands legions of angels and archangels and rules the world for the sake of his people.  This Lord of hosts is exactly the same today as he was in Malachi’s day despite man’s efforts to deny his might and majesty. 

Liberal protestant Christianity portrays God as a kind of an exalted Ward Cleaver up in the sky with a sweater and a pipe whose only attribute is niceness and whose goal for his children is to make them happy.  Feminist theologians have even gone so far as to rob God of his fatherhood--calling him mother and womb. 

Others have tried to rob God of his almighty power by ridiculing the biblical teaching of a God who creates simply by his almighty, spoken Word.  You can even hear this idea within the Church as faithless people try to make room for evolution. 

But why would anyone worship a God who is not mighty enough and powerful enough create?  Can such a God provide for us or protect us or save us from our enemies?

These attempts to change the biblical picture of an unchanging God are blasphemous!  Yes, God is good and yes, God is kind and yes, God is loving--but his holiness and righteousness have not changed—he is still (and will always be) the God of heavenly armies—the God of might and power.

The people of Malachi’s day were no different than the people of our day in that they were questioning the ways and purposes of God—not just in their hearts—but openly questioning God’s power and might. 

But the God who created the world and the God who caused rain to flood the earth and the God who destroyed Pharaoh had not changed—he was still the LORD:  the God who rescues his people and destroys their enemies and keeps his promises. 

Despite the flightiness of his people—despite their wavering devotion—despite their divided hearts--God had not changed—he was still the God who was faithful to his promises and strong to save-- and Malachi prophesied that God himself was about to come to his people. The LORD said:

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; and the Angel 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. 

The God of heavenly armies—the God of power and might—the covenant God who rescued and protected his people-- was coming to earth.  A messenger would be sent to prepare his way and then he himself would come.

And that’s exactly what was fulfilled 400 years later as John the Baptist came to the river Jordan calling people to repentance and faith in Jesus of Nazareth—the Lord who saves—our Immanuel—God with us—the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  In Jesus, God came to his people just as he had promised. 

The One who was known as the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament--the eternally pre-existent Second Person of the Trinity-- became Man.  Looking forward to that day when God himself would dwell amongst his people, Malachi asked the question that all of us must answer:  Who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears?

The reason that people want to change God by denying his might —the reason that people want to make God into their image (despite the fact that we are made in his image) --the reason people will not confess God as Creator-- is because this God has an absolute claim upon every human life that cannot be ignored. 

The unchanging nature of God is expressed in an unchanging will for his people and that will is expressed in the Law.  God has never and will never change his mind about the Law or reduce its righteous demands or adapt it to suit a constantly changing moral landscape.  His expectation and his demand for all people is that we be holy in exactly the way that he is holy—and that has never changed.

All of the purity laws given in the Old Testament were placed there so that people would come to realize that God cannot and will not abide with moral filth.  All the laws that demanded a perfect sacrifice were placed there so that the people would understand what is pleasing in his sight.  All the moral laws were given so that people could understand the holiness of God himself. 

And yet it was those very laws that the people of Israel were treating with contempt.  It is those same moral laws that are under attack in our country today.  Then and now God has this to say to those who do not fear him:

I will draw near to you for judgment.  I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in is wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. 

At the heart of all these sins is a lack of fear of the LORD.  Sorcerers act as if they are in charge of heaven and earth.  Adulterers abandon the solemn commitment to another that they made in God’s presence.  Those who swear to a lie call upon the God of truth to witness that their lies are true and in so doing treat him as if he were not there.  Those who misuse the poor and weak do it because they can get away with it for a time in a world that values only wealth and power. 

These sins may be hidden from view since they are done in the darkness of night or to those whom the world refuses to recognize as people-- but God sees-- and his judgment upon sin and sinners is inescapable. That doesn’t change and we need to remember that and fear his judgment. 

But neither does his love for us change.  His desire to save all people from his terrible judgment extends right up until the Last Day.  That is why he sent his Son Jesus to purify and cleanse a people for himself—a people whose holiness would be like his own.  Malachi writes of the Savior and his cleansing, purifying work: 

He is like a 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. 

It’s a beautiful illustration that Malachi uses because it so perfectly captures the truth that:   if we are to be clean and pure in God’s sight—we must be cleansed and purified by another--we cannot do it ourselves.

Precious metal remains trapped in worthless ore and laundry remains dirty until a refiner or launderer takes them in hand and does what they cannot do for themselves. 

In the same way we can never reform ourselves, or straighten ourselves out, or change in any meaningful way that is sufficient to present ourselves holy to a perfectly clean and pure God.  The LORD must do it for us—and so he has.

The Heavenly Father sent his Son Jesus Christ to be the refiner who purifies our souls and the launderer who washes us clean-- and the refining fire and cleansing soap is his shed blood upon the cross.  God’s promise is that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from ALL sin and it purifies us from ALL unrighteousness! 

This is the new, unchanging covenant in Christ’s blood and Jesus is the Mediator of that new covenant.  He’s the one who made it happen by his death and resurrection and the Spirit bestows it’s blessings upon us in Preaching & Baptism and Holy Communion so that we are perfectly clean and pure in God’s sight.  Of those who are purified and cleansed through the atoning blood of Jesus, Malachi writes: 

Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. 

This is the unchanging will of the unchanging God for our lives—this is what pleases him-- and this is the purpose of our salvation:  that we offer up to him the pure offering of lives cleansed by Jesus—that all we are and have and do is placed at the LORD’S disposal for his use—that we live for his glory and for the good of his people. 

            At the beginning of our meditation on God’s Word we were reminded that the Lord does not change—he is holy and has holy expectations of us.  And with Malachi we asked:  Who can endure the day of his coming?  Who can stand when he appears?

The Good News for is that:  we can.  Purified and cleansed by the blood of Jesus—partakers in the new covenant of grace that comes through faith—we live our lives in the eager expectation of his return in glory for it is nothing to fear-- but a day of gladness and rejoicing for the people of God! Amen.