Advent with the Prophets 2: Malachi 3:1-4
And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11
The reading from the prophets for this week comes form the little book of Malachi which contains six oracles, of which this is number four. So we are seeking guidance about how we live through the days of Advent. and the first thing I noticed is that this writer throws out a personal challenge.
A personal challenge
Little is known of this prophet, except that the name means ‘my messenger’, and that it was composed in the Second Temple Period (after 515 BCE – see Ezra 6:15). The text itself informs us that the main target for the prophecy were the priests who had despised the name of God (1:6) and strayed from the covenant of life and well-being (chapter 2).
Many Protestant churches place substantial emphasis on the priesthood of all believers, which, taken seriously, means we would do well to pay heed to the messenger for this is above all a deeply personal challenge.
The promise is given by the Lord of Hosts. An image of ‘Dominus Deus Sabaoth’ is probably not one that everyone will feel comfortable with, as it is a military image. But before you dismiss it out of hand, you probably use the more temperate version during the communion service, when we address the God of power and might.
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. [Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.]
So first of all, I thought we ought to be familiar with what was meant by the ‘hosts’ or army of God. And Scripture offers several embodiments of the hosts
- God’s hosts are the natural forces of thunder, rain, and hail:
You will be punished by the Lord of hosts, With thunder and earthquake and great noise, With storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire (Isaiah 29:6).
- God’s hosts are the angels surrounding the throne:
Then Micaiah said, ‘Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left’ (1 Kings 22:19).
- God’s hosts are the angels sent to protect the Lord’s servants:
And Elisha prayed, and said, ‘Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:17).
The thought of the heavenly hosts joining with us in worship Sunday by Sunday is appealing, but I rather like Henry Burton’s thoughts of a different kind of ‘hosts’:
He is breaking down the barriers, he is casting up the way; he is calling for his angels to build up the gates of day; but his angels here are human, not the shining hosts above; for the drum-beat of his army are the heart-beats of our love.
Living with contradictory beliefs
Advent is a time of tension, between the present and what will be, between longing for a better world and knowing that there is no room for complacency, between those things we can change, and those we cannot. It is a tension that Malachi knew only too well: living in the in-between time of awaiting the messenger of the covenant who will prepare the way, and the consequences of the arrival of the messenger. For who can endure the day of his coming?
There is a tension between those who had never left Judah and those who had returned from Babylon and perhaps had differing comprehension and expectations of what it meant to be faithful. Just compare the beliefs of Isaiah 56:1-8 and Ezra 9:1-2 to find a huge contrast in understanding. I find this encouraging when facing those kinds of issues within the church where people hold passionate and opposing views – particularly when appeals are made to Scripture. And I suspect we are all guilty of appealing to our favourite scripture passages. Perhaps the reconciliatory approach of Malachi is just the message that we need to hear: God’s justice may be punitive, but it is also restorative.
Refiner’s fire
For those who prefer cosy, comforting images when reflecting on restoration, it is probably a good time to stop reading. Malachi employs two images – of purifying fire and of caustic cleansing soap – and my hymn book very kindly includes a useful index linking scripture to hymns, and I found two meditative hymns to accompany this text:
From the pen of Charles Wesley, My God! I know, I feel thee mine.
O that in me the sacred fire might now begin to glow, burn up the dross of base desire, and make the mountains flow!
O that it now from heaven might fall, and all my sins consume! Come, Holy Ghost, for thee I call, spirit of burning, come!
Refining fire, go through my heart, illuminate my soul; Scatter thy life through every part, and sanctify the whole.
And a more recent addition:
Purify my heart, let me be as gold and precious silver. Purify my heart let me be as gold, pure gold. Refiners fire, my heart’s one desire is to be holy, set apart for you, Lord. I choose to be holy, set apart for you my master, ready to do your will. Purify my heart, cleanse me from within and make me holy. Purify my heart, cleanse me from my sin, deep within. (Brian Doerksen)
Fact of the day:
In the four short chapters comprising this book, Malachi poses twenty-two questions as a means to draw the reader into critical reflection on the nature of God and our response to God. But there is little room for self-assured certainty and self-righteousness when Malachi thunders ‘who can endure the day of God’s coming?’
However, oddly enough, my hymn book is silent when it comes to this proclamation. But for all who have ever heard or sung Handel’s Messiah, it is pretty much all there in these three bold statements
(5) Thus saith the Lord of Hosts
… The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: Behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts. Malachi 3:1
(6) But who may abide the Day of His Coming?
But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner’s fire. Malachi 3:2
(7) And He shall Purify
And He shall purify the sons of Levi. . . that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.Malachi 3:3
I have sung Messiah on many occasions, and often speculated on the impact on these words on the hearers, particularly in the light of Handel’s fervent longing:
I should be sorry if I only entertained them, I wish to make them better.
George Frideric Handel [James Beattie, letter of May 25, 1780, published in William Forbes An Account of the Life and Writings of James Beattie, LL.D. (1806) p. 331.]
Again, Handel’s notion of what might make people better and a 21st century understanding may differ greatly. But at the end of the day, it is the phrase about being an acceptable offering to God (Malachi 3:3) that surely offers a clue to the kind of change we need to be.
As St Paul so eloquently re-states this thought:
So then, my brothers and sisters, because of God’s great mercy to us I appeal to you: offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. (Romans 12:1 GNB)
Worship at home 