October 2, 2018

A FAMILIARITY

Malachi 3:1-5

“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come into His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom you desire. Behold, He is coming,” says the Lord Almighty. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can withstand His appearance? For He enters like a refiner's fire and as soap in one's wash. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver and gold. He will purify the sons of Levi and pour them out as purified gold and silver, and they will bring an offering to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in former years.

“And I will draw near to you in judgment, a swift witness against sorcerers, adulterers, those who swear falsely by My name, those who exploit wage-earners, those who oppress widows and afflict orphans, those who pervert the justice due foreigners, and those who do not fear Me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Personal Challenge

We, as a post-modern culture, have developed a "familiarity" with Jesus. We act as if He is just one of us and in that process, we minimize His God-ness. In this prophecy of Malachi, Jesus is presented as our coming Messenger of God. As with many of these prophecies, both His first coming and His second coming are comingled. When Jesus first came, He came to be the Savior of the world, to provide us the way to eternal life with Him in heaven. When He comes again He will be judging the world, especially His church on how well we did His work. And what is that work? How well do we love our neighbor? Do we treat those who work for us with honor and respect? Do we take care of the widows, the orphans, and the foreigners amongst us? And the hardest part of all of this is how well do me treat those who do not fear Him. He wants us to be His salt and light in the world for these people so that the might see Him and turn to Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!