Rejected Silver, part 3 of 3
These last two posts may have come across as dismal at best. I will offer no apologies for that, however. The Gospel must bring us low. The discipline of God is a result of His love for us (Deut. 8:5 | Hebrews 12:5-7) and despite the heat of refining, it’s for our good. During the refining process, the Gospel lifts our countenance as we trust that it is God Himself that is refining and will complete our refinement.
This post will take us on a slight detour from the book of Jeremiah, but the theme is very much interwoven with the passage in view today. This passage is from Malachi, a post-exilic minor prophet that is again calling God’s people to repentance. The exiles of Jeremiah’s day had returned from Babylon. Temple worship resumed. Yet, the dross of idolatry and sin was ever before God.
Malachi, which means ‘God’s messenger’, pointed repeatedly to the coming Messiah who would bring about the reform and refinement of sin in a miraculous and perfect way. This promise, now complete in Christ Jesus, is what we’ll look at today. We’ll not be left low! Hallelujah!
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, says the Lord of hosts. 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 fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. 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 3:1b-4
As we rejoice in this promise that we know as both ‘already’ and ‘not yet’, let us gaze at the “He” in this passage. God’s messenger (Malachi) signals the ‘messenger of the covenant in whom you delight’- the Christ. Malachi facetiously mentions that Messiah is one in whom God’s people delight. In deed, we do delight in Him, but there are several senses in which His advent and presence result in fear and judgement (x-ref. Malachi 2:5). Only when there is repentance, awe, and humility will fear give way to delight as we gaze upon Christ. Sermon: Messenger of the Covenant
Malachi moves on to his rhetorical question (for those fans of Pauline epistles, this is great)- ‘Who can stand appears when He appears’? Answer- no one. Not a soul. Everyone is culpable. But, God reveals Christ here, not merely as a judge, but as a refiner. Notice, and this is important, that the refining is not of the entire nation. It’s of the Levites. The priests. We can dive into this some other time, but the refining is dealing with the priests (a remnant, the elect, a subset of the nation, the repentant, those who respond to His effectual call). We understand this to be New Covenant believers - those who belong to Christ, the refiner Himself. These sons of Levi are so precious to Him that He, with a semblance of fire and harsh cleaning soap, will cleanse and purify.
What is the effect of this purification? The dross is burned away. What remains is pure. Pure gold. Pure silver. It’s no longer reject silver, but it is precious. And it is useful. The following verse, verse 3, talks about how these priests of God are righteous (imputed through Christ) and will be able to present pleasing and acceptable offerings. Is that not our desire?
Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel.
-Proverbs 25:4
In summary, through the first advent of Jesus the Christ, we who have turned in repentance for Him to be our Savior are being refined. The heat of the crucible brings us low. But thanks be to God - Christ refines even rejected silver to become useful, acceptable, pure, priestly vessels in service of God the Father.