“The Day of the Lord and True Revival” – Malachi 2:17-3:5

There’s a line from Waylon Jennings’ “Good-Hearted Woman” that says a lot about life sometimes: “The good life he promised ain’t what she’s living today.”

Sometimes, we all take notice of such a time. We reach a point in our lives when we look around and wonder if this really is all life has to offer. For some, this life assessment turns positive and that person resumes his or her life with a renewed sense of purpose. Others answer in the negative, and he or she then begins to look elsewhere, reassessing their life and their decisions going forward. Perhaps some begin to earnestly yearn for the second coming of the Lord.

In today’s passage, the people of Israel are at that critical junction of life. In fact, the entire book of Malachi speaks to this societal malaise. To such a people, and to us, Malachi offers a message of hope and warning.

Background

The book of Malachi is the last of the Old Testament, in part because it is widely believed that Malachi is the last of the prophets and the last message of God to His people prior to the coming of John the Baptist.

Looking at the book, it is probable that Malachi was a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah. Both Ezra and Nehemiah served as governors of Judea under the Babylonian Empire. In both instances, the people who lived in Judea—both the returned exiles and those who had been left behind when the others were taken—were discouraged and beaten down by life.

Ezekiel had promised a return to God’s glory once the temple was rebuilt, but the temple that was built paled in comparison to the temple Solomon had had built. The promises of a land flowing once again with milk and honey had not materialized, either. As a result, the people were spending all their time and energy just trying to get by.

The seeming failure of God to fulfill His promises given through Ezekiel and Isaiah, coupled with the harsh living standards, left the people discouraged not only about their lives, but about their relationship with God as well. They were so focused on just getting by that they had little or no time or energy for God.

The problem with their lackadaisical view of God was that it was having an effect on their living standards as well. God knew that the people needed to be right with Him before they could begin to get their lives in order in other areas of living. So He sent Malachi to speak to His people, to encourage them to come back to Him.

Malachi’s style of introducing topics is to make a statement from God, followed by a response from the people, which would then give an answer from God. His messages were short and to the point, and more often than not it was pointed at the religious leaders of the moment.

The people had become lax in their relationship with God and it had spilled into the way they worshiped, the way they treated one another and the way they viewed their world.

These were a people who looked around at the seeming and real disasters in their world, and they yearned for revival, a return to the glory days of David and Solomon.

In this passage, Malachi speaks to their yearning for the Day of the Lord and revival. What he tells them is that, along with revival, it will also be a day of God’s judgment, with the following stress:

Central Truth: The day of God’s judgment will be a day of cleansing.

God’s Day of Judgment

1. Will come when we least expect it (2:17-3:1)

You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied Him?” you ask. 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?” “See, 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.

The malaise of a society can be traced in large part to their relationship with God. When a society is keenly aware of God and seeking after Him with all their heart, then the social fabric is secure and tightly knit. This isn’t because God is rewarding those who earnestly seek Him, but that those who are seeking after God are heeding His will. Doing God’s will affects the way we live and how we relate to one another.

At the time of Malachi’s prophecies, the people were distant from God. They felt that God had abandoned them, or at least that He hadn’t lived up to His promises given through earlier prophets. As a result, the people questioned God and is ways. God’s response to them was to tell them He grew weary at their baseless claims.

This was seen in the way the people misunderstood God’s justice and favor. They looked around and saw that the rich seemed to be getting richer, while the poor grew poorer. The common theology of the day was that God blessed those who grew in wealth. They looked at the examples of Abraham, Jacob, David and Solomon and drew the wrong conclusion. The result was a sense that God didn’t really care for those who were trying to do right. They asked where the justice in this type of society was.

God’s response is that the judgment they were seeking would indeed come, and when it came, it would come quickly and unexpectedly. God promised that a messenger would precede the day of the Lord. God does not say who this messenger would be. Israel understood the messenger to be the angel of the Lord that was seen in earlier days when God spoke with Abraham and Moses and Joshua. Others thought it might be the return of Elijah, the first prophet who had been taken up into heaven with a chariot of fire. In the New Testament, we understand this messenger to be John the Baptist, but the day of judgment God spoke of seems to indicate the second coming of Christ. Regardless of who or what the messenger was to be, God assures those who are hearing Malachi that the Day of Judgment will come suddenly. God would enter His temple and the glory of God would once again reside with the people. But when He does return, it will be a time of reckoning and of revival.

2. Will be a day of purifying cleansing (2-4)

But who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, he wrote about how Christians are not supposed to give our allegiance to one preacher or another. He pointed out that Jesus is the Savior and that God lays the foundation of salvation through Christ. He then wrote about how our life in Christ is spent building upon the foundation of salvation (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:1-17). He wrote that the validity of our work will be judged, saying, “[H]is work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. IF what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through flame” (1 Corinthians 3:13-14).

This same idea is found in these verses we look at today.

God told the people the Day of Judgment will be harsh, involving a purification that will not be pleasant but will have to be endured. He spoke of a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. The purpose of both was to purify. For the refiner, he or she would need to burn off the dross and things that were not consistent with the metal being refined. For the launderer, the harsh soap (lye, really) was used to not only remove the dirt but also whiten the garment.

When God brings judgment on our world, He will come as the Righteous Judge, the Holy One, and He will not show mercy in cleansing us of our sins. While the foundation of salvation has been laid in Christ Jesus, and we will not lose our salvation, we will have to give account for our thoughtless words and thoughts, for our selfish acts and for not following Christ’s will. It will be a day of reckoning and it will be painful. How can any of us look Him in the eye when confronted with our sins?

Yet, the cleansing must take place in order for us to be cleansed, to be finally rid of our sinful nature that Paul referred to in Romans 7. God told the people of Malachi’s day that the result of the cleansing would be genuine righteousness and revival. “Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years” (v. 4).

Judgment brings revival, but it also brings sorrow that leads to repentance.

3. Will be a day of condemnation (5)

“So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear Me,” says the Lord Almighty.

One of the myths of American theology is to assume that most people are good and are worthy of reward in the afterlife. It is a myth that defies the message of the Bible. The Bible tells us that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), and none of us are righteous (Romans 3:10). When the Day of Judgment comes, it will bring not just purification but also condemnation to those who have not had the foundation of salvation laid in their lives.

God Himself will be Judge and the chief witness against those who have rejected Him. The “sorcerers” are those who follow false religions, who fail to seek after God. The remainder of the judgment will be against those who mistreat others in our society. Adulterers and perjurers abuse trust and integrity. The ones who defraud the laborers of their wages are the ones who either delay paying when payment is due or find a way to deprive the laborer of what he or she truly earned. Oppressing widows, the fatherless and aliens is to take advantage of those who are at the mercy of society. They have no one to stand up for them and are the most vulnerable in any society.

All of the things God spoke against in v. 5 are the result of a society that has turned its back on God, or who has at best taken their relationship with God as unimportant. God will take all this into account on the Day of Judgment.

Conclusion

We are in a time in our nation and in our lives when we yearn for revival, when we want God to move once again in our world and in our lives so that we can know once again that God is great. We need to realize, though, that revival begins with judgment. It requires us to turn away from condemning what seems wrong with our world and instead to take an honest look at our own lives. The verse most associated with revival, 2 Chronicles 7:14, says that God’s people need to humble ourselves, that God’s people are to pray and seek His face and seek forgiveness for our own sins. Revival begins when God’s people take our walk with God seriously and give ourselves over to Him once again.

And we need to remember that revival includes judgment and cleansing and purging. It is giving ourselves over to God to scrub us down with harsh soap, to put us under the purifying fire of refinement and to allow Him to burn away whatever hinders our walk with Him.

If we are ready to take those steps, if we are aware of what God’s Day of Judgment will entail, and if we are willing to endure, then revival will come to us and to our land.

The question we have to answer is: “Are we ready? Am I ready?”