Malachi 3:2-3
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Malachi 3:1-5
The Messiah will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. Simply put, the Messiah will wash away sin and refine us into becoming righteous people of God. Like a refiner’s fire purifies gold, Jesus purifies us so that we can stand blameless before God:
“These [trials] have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet 1:7-9).
“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see” (Rev 3:18).
Like a launderer’s soap washes a garment clean, Jesus washes us clean from sin through his sacrifice on the cross:
“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22).
“And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name” (Acts 22:16).
“But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11).
Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn it. When he came, he came to save us by providing us salvation. He came to make a way for the forgiveness of our sins.
“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:76-77).
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).
“Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39).
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us” (Eph 1:7-8).
However, when Jesus returns again, he will come in judgment. In fact, the day he returns again will be called Judgment Day. Everyone will be judged. Those that are covered by the blood of Jesus will receive mercy. Those who refuse to repent of their sins and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, will receive God’s wrath.
“The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment” (2 Pet 2:9).
“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom 2:5).
Malachi asks, “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?” Whoever believes in Jesus will be able to endure that day and stand when he appears. Don’t be stubborn and refuse to repent. That day will come when we least expect it.
Christ in the Old Testament 
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