“’See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in — see, he is coming,’ says the Lord of Armies.
But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach.”
Malachi 3:1-2
Last time we continued on with the people of God acting treacherously toward their wives, clothing themselves with violence. We also saw God wearied with words questioning His character and justice. Today we begin to look toward Good News.
“See, I am going to send my messenger”
See is our familiar hen – lo! Behold! Send is shalach from last time – to send, cast away, forsake, bade his farewell, burned, cast off, certainly let them go, delivered, dismissed, divorce, driving them away, escorted him away, gave them over, get rid, gets his own way, let them down, let them go, release, remove, send them away, set free, stretched; and messenger is malak (as in Malachi).
Lo and Behold! I am sending, letting go of, giving over, my messenger…
“And He will prepare…”
Prepare here is panah – to turn, approaches, cleared away, dawns, empty, faced, have regard, prepare, return, turn; appear, at eventide, behold, cast out, dawning, empty; to turn, by implication, to face, go away, lie, look, mark, pass away.
This messenger will clear any night, dawning the light…
“The way before me…”
Here the way is derek – way, road, distance, journey, manner, actions, conduct, course, crooked, direction, example, favors, highway, impulses, line, manner, mission, path, practice, safely, street, toward, walk, way, way toward; along, away, because of, by, conversation, custom, eastward, journey; from darak; a road, figuratively – a course of life or mode of action; and before me is paneh – before my face.
“Prepare the way before me” is more literally “Panah the way paneh.”
Put together, this is My messenger will clear away the night from the mission, path, safe street, course of life before My face.
Behold, a voice calling in the desert…
“Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple…”
This one is very straightforward: The Lord whom you (attah – you yourself) seek (baqash – aim, beg, concerned, consulted, eager, inquired, investigated, pursuit, request, search) will suddenly (pithom) come (bo) to el (to, into, towards) His temple (hekal)…
The Adonai you yourselves eagerly pursue will suddenly come into His Temple.
“And even the Messenger (malak) of the covenant (berith – covenant, allies, treaty) in whom you delight…”
This one is a different messenger, One from whom the delightful covenant comes. Delight is chaphets again – desire, to delight in, to be pleased with; to incline to; by implication (literally but rarely) to bend; figuratively, to be pleased with, desire — favour, be well pleased.
The Messenger of the covenant treaty in whom you are well pleased and delight in…
It seems, based on this Hebrew reading [“in whom” versus “in which”], that it’s the Messenger in whom the people delight. In some English translations it looks as though the covenant is what they are pleased with. Either way, He’s coming!
“Behold! He is coming!” says Jehovah-sabaoth”
Now for the intensity of Who He is:
“But who can endure the day of his coming?”
Who (mi) can endure (kul – to comprehend, contain, calculated, endure, hold, provided, sustain; be able to, can abide, bear, feed, forbearing, guide; properly, to keep in; figuratively, to maintain (in various senses); nourish(-er), be present…coming (bo again)?
Who is able to comprehend Him and bear, keep in, be fully present when He comes?
The knowledge of His holiness, paired directly with our unholiness, is intense.
It seems the next part is the reason for the intensity:
“And who will be able to stand (amad – take one’s stand) when He appears (raah – to see, show self, sight of others, view, behold, enjoy, have experience, gaze, take heed, be near, perceive, present, provide, regard)?”
What footing do we have when He sees right through us? Every unkind thought, angry word, bitter whisper under our breath, word spoken in secret, selfish act, and hidden sin will be revealed. Laid bare in His gaze, perception, view. Indeed, who can stand? We know who because of the Gospel, but let’s dig in a bit more…
“For He will be like a refiner’s fire and launderer’s bleach.”
Here fire is esh – blazing, burned, fiery, flame, flashing, man; refiner is tsaraph – to smelt, refine, test, cast, refiner, founder, goldsmith, melt, pure, purge away.
Both painful and purposeful, the goldsmith heats up the metal to refine it, his fiery flame fully deliberate.
The root word for launderer’s is kabas – to wash; to trample; hence, to wash (properly, by stamping with the feet.)
Once again, a painful-sounding process that from the outside could look like meanness.
But bleach here is borith – lye, alkali, soap; from bor; vegetable lye (from its cleansing); used as a soap for washing, or a flux for metals; purely.
Hmm, that “purely” strikes me.
And once again, metal is brought up. I wasn’t sure what a “flux” was, so according to Britannica.com:
“...flux [is] any substance introduced in the smelting of ores to promote fluidity and to remove objectionable impurities…”
Bleach, fire, soap, flux: all used to remove impurities. You don’t just take out impurities for no reason; you do it so what is left is pure.
Yes.
It is interesting to hold all this holiness, refining-talk in tension with the Advent season and how this Messenger came: completely helpless as an infant. Unable to meet His own needs let alone ours. Yet.
He had to go through the neediness to understand ours. He embraced the vulnerability to know in the flesh how scary it is to be human.
And yet, all that holiness was as much in Him at birth. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His Being.
This Baby God came to make us pure. To refine us individually and as His Church. No matter how uncomfortable or even painful, may we listen, lean in, and join where He is working.