The Lord Is Coming to His Temple

Written Excerpts:

Malachi 3:1-5; John 2:13-17

1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV) Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Introduction:

One of the OT Scriptures that has long been considered one of the prophetic passages relating to the coming of the Messiah is found in the 3^rd chapter of Malachi. If you are familiar with “Handel’s Messiah” you will also recognize that this text is the theme of one of the pieces in the “Messiah.” The text is also quoted in the NT as being fulfilled in the coming of both John the Baptist and Jesus.

As we continue through the Advent season, I would like to draw your attention today to the theme, “The Lord Is Coming to His Temple.”

For the next several minutes I want to briefly explore the context of the prophecy, the expanded meaning of the prophecy and the application of the prophecy.

I. The Context

It appears most OT scholars agree that the words of the prophet in 3:1 come as the answer to the question posed in 2:17.

Malachi 2:17 (NKJV) You have wearied the LORD with your words; Yet you say, "In what way have we wearied Him?" In that you say, "Everyone who does evil Is good in the sight of the LORD, And He delights in them," Or, "Where is the God of justice?"

As he speaks for God, the prophet proclaims how the people have wearied the Lord by two things:

·        Saying, “These are good people and the Lord delights in them!” Even though they do evil. And…

·        Saying, “Where is the God of justice (judgment)?”

The people of Israel were guilty of moral confusion. They looked at people who were committing all kinds of evil and they basically said that they are “good people” and “These are God’s people.”

This is definitely a description of our culture in America. As a whole, we have lost our ability to distinguish between good and evil and everyone is “going to heaven!”

The second part of the charge involved what appears to be a mocking question, “Where is the God of justice [anyway]?” These words sound very similar to the words of St. Peter as he quotes the mockers in the last days.

2 Peter 3:3-4 (NKJV) … scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, ⁴ and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

When God delays judgment, people begin to assume that it is never coming, but God has a different answer.

I remember hearing a sermon years ago when I was a young boy and the preacher was using the theme: “Payday isn't always on Friday.”

So Chapter 3:1 is God’s answer to their mocking question. “Behold” – Look! I’m going to send My messenger to prepare the way, and then “the Lord will suddenly come to His temple.” The time of justice is coming.

II. The Expanded Meaning

There are several prophecies in the OT that were fulfilled literally in the months and years following the prophet’s delivery of the message, yet NT writers also saw their fulfillment in the life of Jesus. (We talked a little about this in Wed. night Bible study.)

However, this prophecy in Malachi appears to be strictly talking about the coming of the Messiah. (“The Lord will suddenly come to His temple.”) Malachi was the last prophet to bring God’s word to the people of Israel, then there was silence for 400 years until John the Baptist. So, there is no other OT Scripture that describes the fulfillment of this prophecy prior to the coming of JtB.

A. John the Baptist is the first “messenger.”

Jesus Himself said that John the Baptist was the one this prophecy was speaking about.

Matthew 11:9-11 (NKJV) But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰ For this is he of whom it is written: 'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.' ¹¹ "Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

(Adam Clarke's Commentary) In allusion to the custom of sending pioneers to prepare the way for the march of an eastern monarch, the coming of Christ's forerunner is described, and then the coming of Christ himself, v. 1….

(Commentary on the Old Testament, C. F. Keil) Preparing the way … by clearing away the impediments lying in the road, denotes the removal of all that retards the coming of the Lord to His people, i.e., the taking away of enmity to God and of ungodliness by the preaching of repentance and the conversion of sinners. The announcement of this messenger therefore implied, that the nation in its existing moral condition was not yet prepared for the reception of the Lord, and therefore had no ground for murmuring at the delay of the manifestation of the divine glory, but ought rather to murmur at its own sin and estrangement from God.

B. Jesus is the “second Messenger.”

The word “messenger” appears again later in v. 1, and language scholars believe that the construction of the sentence as understood in Hebrew literature implies that the “Messenger of the covenant” is equivalent to “the Lord” who comes suddenly to His temple.

(Commentary on the Old Testament, C. F. Keil) "The Lord" is God; this is evident both from the fact that He comes to His temple, i.e., the temple of Jehovah, and also from the relative clause "whom ye seek," which points back to the question, "Where is the God of judgment?" (Malachi 2:17).

(Commentary on the Old Testament, C. F. Keil) When the way shall have been prepared, the Lord will suddenly come. ‏…Not … immediately (Jerome), but unexpectedly. "This suddenness is repeated in all the acts and judgments of the Lord. The Lord of glory always comes as a thief in the night to those who sleep in their sins" (Schmieder).

The fulfillment of this prophecy is recorded in John 2.

John 2:13-17 (NKJV) Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business. ¹⁵ When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. ¹⁶ And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!" ¹⁷ Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."

This account is the “first cleansing of the temple.” (Jesus did this again near the end of His ministry right before the crucifixion.)

As indicated in the prophecy of Malachi, so it happens here. The coming of the Lord to His temple does not produce the “warm, fuzzy feelings” concerning the Lord’s Anointed as some might have expected.

When He shows up at the temple He behaves in a way that coincides with the prophet’s words in 3:2-3.

 Malachi 3:2-3 (NKJV) "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderer's soap. ³ He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.

The people of Israel in Malachi’s day as well as Jesus’ day probably had preconceived notions about what the Messiah was going to be like. They no doubt imagined that they were going to be the “favored sons” and happy to join in His campaign to remove all foreign oppression and their perceived ills and injustices of society. But… when He comes, He is coming to purge them; to refine them; to put them through the fires of cleansing.

JtB predicted this aspect of Jesus’ ministry when he proclaims,

Matthew 3  ¹¹ “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹²  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

In this passage in John, He comes to the temple to upset their pet enterprises that cheated and took advantage of the common people; especially the ones visiting from outside the city. The Lord, The Anointed One, The Messenger of the Covenant has an agenda and that is to make individuals clean and holy and useful for God’s Kingdom.

III. The Application

My final and closing point today is to take these words of Malachi and apply them to our own lives by comparing the words of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV) Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

The Spirit of God does not dwell in man-made temples and buildings, but He dwells in the lives of each believer.

We may be sitting here today and thinking how great it was for the Israelites to be “straightened out,” but I believe God desires to “come to His temple” in each one of us! We can talk really spiritual, and we can speak about how much we want the Lord to come and visit us with revival and renewal, but just as indicated in this prophecy, I have a feeling that when He does come, He will be wanting to make some major changes in us that we won’t be too thrilled or excited about.

Just like JtB said, “He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

When He comes into His temple in us, He will want to cleanse out everything that is incompatible with His holiness and His purity. He’ll want to change some of our attitudes and our priorities.

Let’s all purpose today to invite the Lord to come and visit us in a new and fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. Amen.