REFINING PREPARATION
"Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, 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. "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. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jersualem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years."
(Malachi 3: 1-4)
The Lord is coming! And to make sure you are ready, He will send a Messenger ahead of himself!
We can't say that we weren't warned, when the Lord shows up on our doorsteps, especially at Christmas time. At best, we can say that we didn't pay attention to the Messenger and his message.
And why would it matter that we be warned ahead of time? God loves us, after all, doesn't He? How can that be something we need to be warned about?
Well, Malachi tells us why -- None of us will be able to stand when He comes!
Not because we will be struck down and beaten, at least not in the sense of violence being done to us. No, we will not be able to stand because the Lord is like a refiner's fire: the heat of His presence will melt us down. That's why we won't be able to stand before him, why we won't be able to endure in our current form or state His coming. We will be changed.
When I was growing up, the holiday season meant some major entertaining in our family. My parents had a set of friends that liked to gather together. At some point during the holidays we were sure to be having a Big Dinner, with the good china, and the silver cutlery, and all the best serving dishes. This meant getting the silver pieces out and polishing them. A couple of silver platters, a silver water pitcher, the silver tea and coffee service as well as the "Brown Betty" teapot with its inlaid silver ornamentation, the knives, forks and spoons, and some candlesticks. I often got the task of doing this polishing, so I became very familiar with Wrights Silver Polish. But it was a task I actually enjoyed.
I liked the sense of unveiling the beauty of these objects. Often when we took them out of their storage containers, the silver would have tarnished a bit. The darkened metal would be mottled with grey coloring. I would rinse the item down with warm water and then spread the silver polish paste over the surface. Once it had dried, then came the polishing, gently wiping the surface, letting the Wright's cream lift the tarnish off the surface of the silver.
That is what Malachai means when he talks about the "fuller's soap." It's the substance used to make the precious metal shine beautifully.
But also note, that the use of the fuller's soap is a very minor part of the Lord's coming. Much as we would like to believe that the Lord's coming involves only polishing us up, that isn't what Malachai says. He tells us that the Lord's coming is something much more drastic.
The refiner's fire melts down precious metals. In the process, any impurities can be separated out from the metal, leaving behind a much purer metal. The molten metal is then repoured and reshaped into beautiful objects, and when finished and cooled, given a final polish.
Our problem is that we resist the refiner's fire. We feel that we will lose ourselves, we will be destroyed! What will be left of ME, if I submit to the Lord's fire? We are afraid.
But look again. From the Lord's point of view, we are precious. We are silver and gold, material of great value and beauty. He wants to make us even more beautiful. But to do that, He needs to melt us down, refine us, purify our substance so that we are not marred by impurities. He will then pour us out and make us into something even more beautiful. He will take our precious essence (silver and gold) and make it into something beautiful and useful - a silver platter, a golden pitcher, an infinite variety of beautiful things. There is a purpose to the refiner's fire.
How long will we resist the refining? There is work to be done, in order to have the gold and silver prepared and purified, and then remade into the beautiful things to be used for the celebrations. We certainly want to be there bright and shiny for the celebration of the Lord's coming. To be ready, the Refiner must start now.
"Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, 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. "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. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jersualem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years."
(Malachi 3: 1-4)
The Lord is coming! And to make sure you are ready, He will send a Messenger ahead of himself!
We can't say that we weren't warned, when the Lord shows up on our doorsteps, especially at Christmas time. At best, we can say that we didn't pay attention to the Messenger and his message.
And why would it matter that we be warned ahead of time? God loves us, after all, doesn't He? How can that be something we need to be warned about?
Well, Malachi tells us why -- None of us will be able to stand when He comes!
Not because we will be struck down and beaten, at least not in the sense of violence being done to us. No, we will not be able to stand because the Lord is like a refiner's fire: the heat of His presence will melt us down. That's why we won't be able to stand before him, why we won't be able to endure in our current form or state His coming. We will be changed.
When I was growing up, the holiday season meant some major entertaining in our family. My parents had a set of friends that liked to gather together. At some point during the holidays we were sure to be having a Big Dinner, with the good china, and the silver cutlery, and all the best serving dishes. This meant getting the silver pieces out and polishing them. A couple of silver platters, a silver water pitcher, the silver tea and coffee service as well as the "Brown Betty" teapot with its inlaid silver ornamentation, the knives, forks and spoons, and some candlesticks. I often got the task of doing this polishing, so I became very familiar with Wrights Silver Polish. But it was a task I actually enjoyed.
I liked the sense of unveiling the beauty of these objects. Often when we took them out of their storage containers, the silver would have tarnished a bit. The darkened metal would be mottled with grey coloring. I would rinse the item down with warm water and then spread the silver polish paste over the surface. Once it had dried, then came the polishing, gently wiping the surface, letting the Wright's cream lift the tarnish off the surface of the silver.
That is what Malachai means when he talks about the "fuller's soap." It's the substance used to make the precious metal shine beautifully.
But also note, that the use of the fuller's soap is a very minor part of the Lord's coming. Much as we would like to believe that the Lord's coming involves only polishing us up, that isn't what Malachai says. He tells us that the Lord's coming is something much more drastic.
The refiner's fire melts down precious metals. In the process, any impurities can be separated out from the metal, leaving behind a much purer metal. The molten metal is then repoured and reshaped into beautiful objects, and when finished and cooled, given a final polish.
Our problem is that we resist the refiner's fire. We feel that we will lose ourselves, we will be destroyed! What will be left of ME, if I submit to the Lord's fire? We are afraid.
But look again. From the Lord's point of view, we are precious. We are silver and gold, material of great value and beauty. He wants to make us even more beautiful. But to do that, He needs to melt us down, refine us, purify our substance so that we are not marred by impurities. He will then pour us out and make us into something even more beautiful. He will take our precious essence (silver and gold) and make it into something beautiful and useful - a silver platter, a golden pitcher, an infinite variety of beautiful things. There is a purpose to the refiner's fire.
How long will we resist the refining? There is work to be done, in order to have the gold and silver prepared and purified, and then remade into the beautiful things to be used for the celebrations. We certainly want to be there bright and shiny for the celebration of the Lord's coming. To be ready, the Refiner must start now.
Labels: Advent
posted by Sarah | 10:31 AM
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