{"id":265,"date":"2021-12-09T02:30:06","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T02:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deadmannotwalking.org\/?p=265"},"modified":"2021-12-09T02:30:18","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T02:30:18","slug":"prophecy-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deadmannotwalking.org\/?p=265","title":{"rendered":"Prophecy III"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cBehold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me.  And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,\u201d says the Lord of hosts.  \u201cBut who can endure the day of His coming?  And who can stand when He appears?  For He is like a refiner\u2019s fire and like fullers\u2019 soap.  He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.  Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.”  (Malachi 3:1-4, NASB)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is another of the many prophecies of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ from the Old Testament.  This one is from the Prophet Malachi.  Malachi was the last of the recorded prophets before the incarnation of Jesus.  There was a period of “400 years of silence” between Malachi’s prophecy and the first Christmas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God speaks through His servant Malachi in this narrative above.  He speaks of His messenger to come, Who is Jesus!  Then God asks two questions:  \u201cBut who can endure the day of His coming?  And who can stand when He appears?”  God then answers His own questions:  “For He is like a refiner\u2019s fire and like fullers\u2019 soap.”  On that first Christmas, God sent His Son because He loves us.  He wants us to have a personal relationship with Him, and the resulting eternal life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But God warns us that Jesus may be different than what we think.  He compares Jesus to a refiner and then a cleaner.  You see, we’re full of impurities.  The Bible says we’re like filthy rags.  The smelter sits at the refiner’s fire, melts the metal, and removes the impurities, or dross, leaving a more pure product.  Likewise, the cleaner of the time used fullers’ soap, which was very harsh, to get stains and filth out of laundry.  In like manner, Jesus removes the impurities and filth from us.  Sometimes the heat or the harshness He uses is mighty uncomfortable.  Sometimes it hurts! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"File:El“Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple,” by El Greco, before 1570.  Found at Wikipedia Commons, commons.wikipedia.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus is not always the fuzzy, lovable character we think.  Yes, He loves us with perfect, infinite, agape love.  He only wants what’s best for us.  But during His earthly ministry, He sometimes displayed righteous indignation toward people who showed blatant disregard for His Father.  For example, twice He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and merchants at the Temple, who showed disrespect for His Father’s House. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God loves us so much that He sent His only Son as the most important gift that anyone could give.\u00a0 Jesus loves us so much that He took our sins upon Himself, and went to the cross to die, and take the punishment we all deserve.\u00a0 Salvation is a process.\u00a0 Jesus refines us and cleans us along the way, to make us acceptable to His Father.\u00a0 Have you accepted God’s most precious gift of His Son?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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