Today we continue our journey of Advent where we take time to contemplate the meaning of "Christ's Coming," Advent meaning "coming" and his promise to come again to judge the world.
It is very difficult as Christians to really keep the season of Advent. The world wants to move to Christmas on Black Friday, if not before. We seem to rush for Christmas and then start to take down the tree on December 26th, or the latest on the 1st of January, even though Christmas doesn't end until the 5th of January. Unfortunately, when we want to take time to prepare the way for the Lord as we are instructed in Malachi 3 and for which John the Baptist was called in Luke 3 we find that it is a dichotomy of advent to be both preparing for the final coming of Jesus and judgement while also preparing for the great joy of remembering the baby in Bethlehem.
We can spend all of Advent in great JOY of Anticipating the King in Bethlehem! Emmanuel: "God with US" and forget about the tremendous responsibility we have to remember and let others know that the Lord will return at anytime for judgement. Not wanting to be a scrooge I tend toward the JOY part. But there are some, especially this year with the Mayan calendar ending on December 21 who tend toward the fear of the return of Christ, judgement and the end of the world. Both extremes lead us to miss the beauty of both the manger in Bethlehem and the return of our Lord. Both events are a call to refining, washing and preparing!
In Malachi 3:
3 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
5 “So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
Malachi is calling us to prepare for the Day of the Lord. He is telling us to prepare and that the Holy Spirit will refine us with fire as gold and silver are refined and wash us clean with alkali, a strong bleaching agent or launderer's soap. This sounds painful and yet we know the Lord disciplines those he loves. We recognize that we are preparing since our Baptism to live as a covenant people knowing the Father has given us eternal life though Christ and named us as his own therefore we are obedient to him because of who we are. Now as we look from the perspective of this side of the Cross we see the empty tomb and our Lord at the right hand of God so we know that the Kingdom of God is near and here. We are already living as kingdom people, for our King has sent His Holy Spirit to refine and purify us, giving us the authority to speak the gospel into this world and the power to live as HIS chosen people. We walk as KINGDOM people. This is what it means when the Lord says "He does not change and he will return to us." He will go on to tell us that we can test him with money and he will show us that if we believe in him for our salvation then our lives, money, possessions etc.. are nothing to worry about.
May we, during this Advent Season, both ANTICIPATE THE JOY OF LOVE THAT GOD SHOWED WITH CHRIST'S BIRTH AS "EMMANUEL" BORN IN BETHLEHEM AND CELEBRATE THE PROMISE OF HIS (THE LION OF JUDAH) RETURN TO JUDGE US.
Yours in Christ Jesus our Risen Lord and KING,
Pastor Bryan
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