The prophet Malachi foretold of a day when God would appear in the flesh at the temple in Jerusalem. This prophecy would be fulfilled when Jesus Christ, born of Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit, came to bring the good news of His coming kingdom. Jesus would then offer Himself on a cross to atone for the sins of the world, establishing a new covenant between the Lord and people of faith.
God will one day appear at the temple for a second time, when Jesus returns as King to rule and reign over a cleansed and purified earth, as foretold by several Old Testament prophets.
Malachi saw both future events as a single one, similar to what happens when two mountains, one close and one distant, appear as a single mountain. The first verse refers to Christ’s first coming, the second, to what will happen at His future return.
1 “See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts.
2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who will be able to stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire and like cleansing lye. 3 He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord as in days of old and years gone by. Malachi 3:1-4 (HCSB)
John the Baptist, the subject of another of Malachi’s prophecies, elaborates on what Messiah Jesus will do when He comes:
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the One who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove His sandals. He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing shovel is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn. But the chaff He will burn up with fire that never goes out.” Matthew 3:11-12 (HCSB)
We live in the age of grace that began with Christ’s first coming. He came to offer the supreme sacrifice on the cross for all believers, dying in our place to remove all of our sins, then rising again for our eternal life. Those who permanently reject Jesus and God’s kingdom ways, instead choosing wickedness and inflicting evil upon others, will themselves experience tough consequences when Christ returns. Jesus taught about this in the parable of the wheat and the weeds, sometimes also called the wheat and the tares.
24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” Matthew 13:30 (ESV)
Jesus later plainly explained the meaning of this parable to His disciples.
37 He replied: “The One who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world; and the good seed—these are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40 Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather from His kingdom everything that causes sin and those guilty of lawlessness. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Anyone who has ears should listen! Matthew 13:37-43 (HCSB)
The people represented by the wheat have been cleansed and live in God’s righteousness, but those represented by the weeds choose the devil and his wicked ways, totally rejecting the generous outreach of a loving God, instead choosing to mock, take advantage of, and lead the “wheat” astray. All people have sinned and have done selfish and wrong things, but God offers a remedy for our sin through the cross and the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. The window of opportunity to reach out for God’s grace is currently open to all, but this parable tells us that the window will be closing at Christ’s return, and the time to turn away from evil and towards life is right now.
Two years ago, a good friend of mine was taking a shower when he received a word of knowledge in his spirit from the Lord. For some reason, it seems that the Lord likes to speak to people when they are either in the shower or at the kitchen sink. Perhaps it is the symbolism of the water cleansing. But as for my friend in the shower, the word the Lord spoke into his heart was: “Let both the wheat and the weeds grow together until the harvest, which works if someone is planting and attending to the wheat”.
When he told me about it, I asked if I could borrow it as a theme for this meditation series. Why not get our mission statement directly from God. My friend agreed, and I pray that God will use these writings to both plant and tend to the wheat, for His kingdom purposes and an eternal harvest.
May the purifying fire of Jesus, through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and the regeneration of His word, burn away all of the worthless chaff and dross in our lives. May He bring us one step closer to the Lord as we walk life’s journey, today.
Reflection
Am I keeping TOO close company with those who mock the ways of the Lord and choose evil? There is a fine line between being “in” the world and being “of” the world.
Psalm 1 warns us that the way of wickedness, however alluring, has its consequences, and the influence of wicked company is something that we must seek to avoid. As someone has said, “If you hang around a barber shop long enough, you will get a haircut.”
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. Psalm 1:1,4,6 (NIV)
Father God, help us to avoid the temptation of wickedness, and to find and choose companions who strengthen and build up our faith and encourage us to live better, more holy lives. Grant us patience, love, and forgiveness towards all those You have placed around us. May we be an influence for good without being drawn into the lure of evil. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Have a blessed and beautiful day walking with the Lord today.
Daily Meditations from the Genealogy of Jesus 