What to Expect When You Are Expecting Jesus

Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 3:1-6

Christmas is only a couple of weeks away. I hope you are ready! Hopefully the Christmas shopping is getting done. Certainly the decorations are up by now – candles in the windows, wreath on the door, maybe your Christmas tree up and decorated. Christmas cards on their way out – if people still do that sort of thing anymore. These are the types of things that Americans do to prepare for Christmas.  On top of these preparations, Christians do some other preparations – spiritual preparations, Advent preparations. I know it is a busy time of year, but it is important that the spiritual dimension of the season does not get swept aside by the secular aspects. It is important that as a community of faith during December we listen to the prophetic voices of scripture that instruct us to prepare for the coming of the Lord. In our OT passage today we hear from the prophet Malachi, traditionally considered (at least in Protestant Christianity) the last of the prophets to speak before the birth of Christ. Between this last book of the OT and the first book of the NT, there were 400 years of silence from the prophets. It is as if God were taking a breath before sending his Son at Christmas.

The name Malachi simply literally “my messenger” and is used in the first verse of our passage today in the third chapter.  “Behold, I send My messenger, [Malachi] And he will prepare the way before Me.” That is what this prophet does. He prepares the way in the OT for the coming of the Savior in the NT. Malachi was probably not the prophet’s real name. The book is simply given that title from this verse in 3:1. We don’t know his real name. Almost certainly the nameless prophet who authored the book of Malachi did not have himself in mind when he penned verse 1. He was thinking of another messenger who was to come in the future. Christians see this prophecy fulfilled in part by John the Baptist and fully in Jesus Christ. Our passage says:

And the Lord, whom you seek,

Will suddenly come to His temple,

Even the Messenger of the covenant,

In whom you delight.

Behold, He is coming,”

Says the Lord of hosts.

² “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 launderers’ soap.

³ He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.

In our passage from the Book of Malachi, the prophet gives us two powerful images connected to expecting the coming of the Lord. We can apply this to the future advent of the lord in glory. It is also valid to apply this to the coming of the Lord in the incarnation of God at Christmas. In either case, these verses tell us of the effects that the coming of the Lord has on our lives. They describe ways that God works in us, as we expect the coming of Christ. There are three powerful images used in our texts today. Two in Malachi and one from Isaiah used by Luke in our gospel lesson.

I. The first is the Refiner’s Fire. “For He is like a refiner’s fire…. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.” It says that the Lord is like fire. The Letter to the Hebrews says, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” We have seen a heard in the news a lot about fires this year. Most recent are the the fires that struck the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, in New York City, during Hurricane Sandy. These fires destroyed 80 homes. During the summer we heard of forest fires in Colorado, Washington, Idaho, Califormia and elsewhere in the West. We know how fire can completely destroy everything in its path. That is not the type of fire that Malachi is speaking about. A forest fire destroys indiscriminately everything in its path. The fire that Malachi speaks about is different. It is not a forest fire or a wildfire; it is a refiner’s fire. It is under the control of a Refiner. A refiner's fire purifies in a controlled and intentional manner. “For He is like a refiner’s fire…. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.” A Refiner’s fire melts down the silver, separating the impurities. The refiner’s fire burns up impurities in the precious metal, and leaves the silver intact.

“He is like a refiner's fire.” We are the silver and God is the Refiner.  This tells us that we need to be refined. That there is a work that needs to be done in our lives, and the process to accomplish that is hot and dangerous. This is not a message that is welcome these days. People don’t like to hear that they need to be refined or purified. They do not like to hear that they need to be change at all. We in America like to hear that we are perfectly fine just the way we are. No change necessary. This is the cheap grace of the Americanized gospel that treats people like pampered children. Many churches have bought into this philosophy, thinking that if they challenge people then it might damage their self-esteem, or even worse, keep them away from church.

The concept of sin is unpopular these days. It is viewed as too negative. It might be destructive to tender egos. To this psychological pabulum masquerading as enlightened spirituality, I want to say, “Grow up!” Human beings do not have to be coddled and protected from the theological bogeyman of sin. We need to be challenged to grow. Growth means growing pains. That means to face our shortcomings – and not be afraid to call them sins. Sin is not a four letter word. We need to be willing to be spiritually refined in the refiner’s fire. The truth is that we do not really have a choice when it comes to whether or not we are going to go through the fire. You can’t go through life without going through some fires. The only choice we have is whether we will see these events as senseless tragedy or as spiritual opportunity.

What is the refiner’s fire that Malachi is talking about? In what form does it come to us in life. The NT tells us that it is the Fire of Affliction. 1 Peter 1:6–7, "Now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." James 1:2–4,"Count it all joy, my brethren when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Life has trials. Life involves suffering. You cannot get around it or avoid it. Life involves hardships. Life involves emotional suffering. Life even involves spiritual suffering. That is another thing that the superficial spirituality of today does not like to hear. People want to hear a prosperity gospel, a health and wealth gospel, that says that it you have faith in God then God will put a hedge of protection around you and yours and you will live happily ever after. That fairy tale gospel is not true, as anyone who looks at the facts of life honestly will admit.

Life has trials – whether people believe in God or not or in Christ or not. It is all about how you approach the trials.   You can approach them in faith believing that God can use the sufferings and difficulties of life to purify you, so that you come out of the furnace with your faith stronger. Or you can curse the injustices of life, and see fiery trials as hell on earth with no redeeming value – just senseless suffering in an uncaring universe. If you see it as the latter, it will destroy you completely like a forest fire -  body, soul and spirit. If you see the trials of life as a Refiner’s fire then it will purify you.

II. I want to move on to the other metaphor that the prophet Malachi uses. ² “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 launderers’ soap.” Personally I like the translation that says, “For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.” Fuller is not a brand name, like Ivory or Dove. There are Fuller’s brushes – the Fuller Brush company – but Malachi is talking about fuller’s soap, which is not a brand name but a type of soap made and used in biblical times.

A fuller in biblical times was one who fulls cloth, that is make the material it fuller, makes it bulkier, richer, softer, more malleable and therefore more usable for clothing. Specifically it refers to the process of wool being cleansed. In biblical times there were people who specialized in cleansing wool. In fact there is a place called Fuller’s field in an area west of Jerusalem where the fuller’s practiced. The area around Jerusalem and Bethlehem 9only a few miles away) were known for their sheep. The shepherds who were residing out in their fields on Christmas Day when the angels appeared to them raised sheep, mostly for the temple sacrifices and for Passover lambs. There were a lot of sheep. That means there was a lot of wool that was sheared before the sheep were offered. A group of tradesmen arose in Jerusalem who specialized in cleansing the wool to prepare it for the making of it into cloth.

All the wool that was sheared from the sheep was brought to the fullers at Fuller’s Field. The fullers cleaned, conditioned and bleached the wool. I don’t know how wool is processed these days, but in those days they used a strong alkaline soap. Fuller's soap was no gentle dishwashing detergent, easy on your hands. Remember the commercial for Palmolive dishwashing liquid, “tough on grease but not on your hands.” Fuller’s soap was not Palmolive. Tide and Cheer laundry detergent will advertise how gentle they are on your colors. Fuller’s soap was not gentle. Fuller’s soap was strong alkali used for serious cleaning.  When the fuller was finished the end result was a pure white soft wool. The New Testament's story of the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountaintop refers to Christ's white garments as whiter than any fuller could get them. This is the metaphor in the Bible for the purifying work of the Lord in our lives.

We would love it if God would use the nice gentle soap – Ivory or Dove, with cold cream added preferably, so afterwards our skin will feel soft and smooth. That is not fuller’s soap. That is not the way life is. We wish that life would treat us like Johnson & Johnson’s baby soap that is so gentle it will not even bring tears to an infant’s eyes. But that is not the way life is. Life often brings tears to our eyes. But it also cleanses us and makes us usable to God.

III. There is a third image used in our texts for today. The first two were from the OT prophet Malachi and talk of cleansing and purification. The third is from another OT prophet name Isaiah, whose prophecy is quoted in the Gospel of Luke to describe what John the Baptist was doing in expectation of the coming of Jesus Christ. This prophecy is not about fire or soap. It is about road construction.  The gospel writer sees John the Baptist’s ministry as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, who said he is “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” Every one of these metaphors could be a whole sermon in itself, but let me expound this one just briefly.

It is saying that in expectation of the coming of the Lord – and I would also say in preparation of the celebration of the coming of the Lord – we are to build a road to welcome him. When the space shuttle Endeavor was retired this fall, it was transported to its final resting place in California. First it was flown piggyback on a modified Boeing 747 jet into the Los Angeles International Airport. Then it was pulled on the ground to its destination at the California Science Center where it is now on public display. To get it there through the streets, they had to cut down trees and take down power lines and street lamps in order to make room for its wingspan and height. They had to prepare the road for the coming of Endeavor.

We are to prepare the road for the coming of Christ. This passage describes serious roadwork. It is not just putting a new layer of macadam over the frost heaves to smooth it out. This talks about cutting through mountains, and straightening out the curves of the old winding road. It would be like taking all the curves and hills out of the Holderness Road and replacing it with a four lane highway. I would not want that happen to the Holderness Road, but that is what the prophet Isaiah is saying is necessary for people to welcome the Messiah. This means digging down deep to bedrock and building our foundation. It means clearing the forests of habitual sin and carelessness, which has allowed second growth to strangle our spiritual lives. I could go on and on with this metaphor, but you get the idea. There is preparation work to be done this Advent. There is purifying with fire, cleansing with fuller’s soap, and carving a highway in the wilderness for the Savior to travel until he take up residence in our lives and in our church.