The heavenly event planner must go ahead of the wedding party to get everything set, so that when the groom arrives, everything is just as it should be, prepared for Him to occupy His place.
In Malachi 3:1-2, the identity of the messenger sent to prepare the way before the Lord is intentionally unclear. The writers of the Gospels identify him as John the baptist, but what was most important then, and also now in these end times, is not the messenger but rather the preparation of a people, who can stand before Jesus when He comes, for they have been purified by the refiners fire.
Suddenly, (Malachi 3:1 says) the Lord, the Messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, comes into the temple. This happened historically when the people spread palms before Jesus as He entered Jerusalem on a donkey. Soon after, He entered and cleansed the temple in Jerusalem. This is a model or foreshadow of our welcoming Jesus as King and the purification of His people before His return in glory when He comes again into His temple, this time to overthrow and destroy the antichrist.
Jesus predicted the destruction of the second temple which happened in 70 AD and the raising up of His body, the true temple of God after 3 days. In His power, with all authority in heaven and on earth on our side, Jesus sends us throughout the world to make disciples, baptizing them into Christ, making them part of His body being built up into the holy temple of God.
In Revelation, overcomers given to the Lordship of Christ hold palm branches in anticipation of His arrival. The blood of Jesus cleanses and transforms each one of us from a dwelling place of sin to the dwelling place of God, reclaiming what the enemy thought was his territory. God has the power to make our hearts the throne of Christ’s supreme reign. Cleansing and purification is what Malachi 3 describes.
Ongoing communion with God through His Son Jesus is integral to habitually walking with God. The house where God dwells is to be a house of prayer where only the one true God reigns and the light of Christ’s word shines. In response to the sense of His coming near in judgment, the call goes out to return to the Lord (Malachi 3:7) with the accompanying promise that God would, as well, turn to you.
THE ANGEL OF THE LORD AND THE COVENANT
Malachi 3 asks, who can endure on the day when the Lord comes since He is like a refiner’s fire? The day God appeared to Abraham in Genesis chapter 15 speaks of fire and contains four references to the sun going in and darkness coming (Gen. 15:12,17). The Day of the Lord is a day of both great light and darkness. The sun will not give its light before the great and terrifying Day of the Lord. The fundamental need for God once seemed obvious under the light of sun, but it is no longer visible to many.
Those who can stand before the Lord are those whose hearts are prepared ahead of time.
The lamp of fire passing between the covenant pieces in Genesis 15 signified the deliverance of the seed of Abraham by the hand of Moses through the Red Sea, the way opened for Elijah and heaven, and the power of Christ’s resurrection to raise up His own into glory.
Lamps light the way for the deliverance through the messages of Revelation 2 and 3, which go out to those who hear what the Spirit says to the churches and overcome according to His great promises. Fire itself symbolizes Yahweh, as did the pillar of fire guiding Israel through the desert, the burning bush appearance of the Angel of the Lord to Moses, and the eyes of Jesus described as flames of fire in Revelation 1.
Judges 6 describes fire in connection to another notable appearance of the Angel of the Lord. As God instructed Moses, so God instructed Gideon to go in the confidence of God sending him. We also make disciples under the power of the same promise that Jesus is with us even to the ends of the earth. As God overthrew the powers of Egypt and the gods of the Midianites to deliver Israel, Christ reigns supreme to deliver us from the gods of this age and call us from the four corners of the earth by virtue of His resurrection from the dead and His power to overcome sin and death.
The Angel of the Lord had Gideon place the meat and unleavened things on a rock and cover it with broth. The Lord with His staff consumed it all with fire from the rock. Elijah in challenging the prophets of Baal similarly covered the offering with water, and fire consumed the offering. This also led to the defeat of Baal. Likewise, victory through Christ leads to the kingdoms of this world becoming the Kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. We need a baptism of fire for cleansing and acceptance before God to prepare for Christ’s coming.
Both texts of Genesis 15 and Judges 6-7 speak of separation as does Malachi 3. In Genesis, God separated Abraham to Himself and indicates that the deliverance of Israel from the darkness of Egypt would occur in conjunction with the fullness of the sins of the Amorites. Similarly, deliverance from the final exile and return to God of the last days is connected to the cup of sins of Babylon being filled to overflowing. The deliverance of believers in Messiah, called out of Babylon and purified from the influence of the gods of this age, flee its corruption so as not to receive its judgments.
TWO GROUPS IN THE FINAL DAYS
The apostasy of the final days is a blindness brought on by deception. People no longer realize that they are even doing anything wrong. Deceit is reflected in the question, "How did we rob God?” as if the whole idea is a foreign concept, to which the Lord reveals, “in tenths…”. It is done by holding back from Him portions of tenths rather than giving Him whole. The right response no matter what we feel or perceive is to take action by faith based on truth.
We should turn in whole back to God to the full measure that who we are and what we have completely belong to Him. God promises to open the windows of heaven to pour out His blessings upon us when we truly turn to Him. Denying Christ’s Lordship happens in a life philosophy that detects no deficiency in our service to God and therefore no value in changing what we do. The unpreparing do not perceive what they are missing because apostasy blinds them even to the point of envying evildoers for how they live. That wrong perspective includes jealousy of the arrogant for prospering and getting away with putting God to the test, but they truly do not escape. God sees and He has the final word.
In contrast to those whose eyes were occupied with foreign gods and the lives of those who did not know God are the men and women who wholly devote themselves to the Lord of heaven and earth. Malachi 3:16 describes a people who feared the Lord and spoke often to one another. The Lord listened to their conversations and heard those who respected Him and thought upon His name. As these are speaking with each other, a book of remembrance was prepared in the Lord's presence.
God said these will be His on the day He makes up His jewels, the day He has put away to reward His people. God spares them as a man spares his own son who serves him. It is in returning to God that it will again be obvious who serves God and who does not. People will not get away with neglecting the Lordship of Christ. Those who love and serve God with all their heart will rejoice, while the once-envied wicked are as ash underfoot.
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