Advent 4: Amazing Love

Amazing Love
Micah 5: 2 – 5a

I. Introduction.

Christians at Christmas time do not need to be reminded that Jesus is the reason for Christmas. We know that this is the season of the year when we celebrate God's love for us. In fact, Christmas is the fulfillment of one of our favorite Bible verses--John 3: 16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (NIV)."

Christmas is not an event that sneaked up on us. It was prophesied hundreds of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem...


Read Micah 5: 2 – 5a.


II. Verse 2… "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

The first word of verse 2 is the word “but.” It indicates that Micah is making a transition. In chapter 4, Micah addressed his prophecy to the city of Jerusalem. In chapter 5, Micah addressed his prophecy to the “little town of Bethlehem.”

There are many ways we can draw a distinction between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Jerusalem is the capital city of the nation of Judah. It is the center of Judah’s political life. Jerusalem is home to kings and princes and political movers and shakers and not a few political “want to be’s.” Jerusalem is also the center of commerce for Judah. Businessmen from all over Judah moved to Jerusalem to seek their fortunes. And, many of them found their fortunes there, selling their products at highly inflated rates. Jerusalem was the home for the Temple in Micah’s day. The priests offered sacrifices almost daily. People came to worship God and traveled to Jerusalem on religious pilgrimages. It was also commonplace to see and hear prophets preaching the Word of the LORD on the streets of Jerusalem.

By contrast, Bethlehem was nothing like Jerusalem. Bethlehem was not even big enough to be considered a city. We might think of Bethlehem as a town, but the writers of the New Testament refer to Bethlehem as a village. There are no powerful political figures living in the village of Bethlehem. The citizens of Bethlehem were not members of the social elite. They were not wealthy businessmen, like in Jerusalem. The residents of Bethlehem were more than likely peasant farmers. They worked hard all day, every day and were never able to get ahead. More than likely, they could never get ahead, because they did not own their own farmland. They were renting the farmland from wealthy people who lived in Jerusalem.

This is one of Micah’s consistent themes in his prophecy. Micah was a small town prophet who preached against the big capital cities of Samaria (Israel) and Jerusalem (Judah). In fact, this is another reason why the word “but” appears in verse 2. There is a sharp contrast between the landscape of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. There is a sharp contrast between the people who live in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. AND…There is a sharp contrast in the way God will deal with Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Micah prophesied that Jerusalem would be destroyed by God’s judgment, BUT Bethlehem would be blessed as the birthplace for a new King of God’s people.

It’s no surprise that Micah prophesied destruction for Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the epitome of everything Micah despised. Micah was a bold prophet, who spoke harsh words of judgment against the people of Jerusalem. Micah singled out three groups of people for God’s judgment: the political leaders, the business leaders and the religious leaders.

The political leaders of Jerusalem had turned their backs on the everyday needs of the people of Judah. There was no justice in the land, because the king and his cabinet could be bribed to do whatever the rich wanted them to do. The business leaders of Jerusalem were exploiting the poor. They were engaged in immoral practices like price gouging. The rich were getting richer, while the poor became poorer. The religious leaders of Jerusalem were more interested in money than being faithful to the LORD. The priests were corrupt and the prophets gave good news to anyone who was willing to pay the prophets…Even when they had to lie to give a good report.

Micah’s words to Bethlehem are a little surprising. God’s plan for his people would be accomplished through an insignificant village and not a great city. If you have read the Bible, this might not come as a surprise to you. After all, this is the way God works. God uses the weak to lead the strong. God chooses the youngest to rule over the oldest. We see this in the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Joseph was the youngest of eleven brothers. (Eventually, Benjamin was born and became the youngest, but much of Joseph’s story happened before Benjamin was born.) His ten brothers despised him. Yet, God used Joseph to save the entire Hebrew people from a world-wide famine. We see this in the story of David, the ideal King of Israel. Samuel went to Bethlehem to anoint a king to replace Saul. Jesse brought seven sons before Samuel to see which one God would choose. David was left tending the sheep in the pasture, because surely God would not choose the youngest of eight brothers. Yet, God chose David, because God’s choice does not usually look like the world’s choice. God chooses the least to lead the greatest.

There is another surprising thing about Micah’s prophecy to Bethlehem. When God’s people needed a savior, God would bring that savior out of Bethlehem and not Jerusalem. This is surprising, because Bethlehem is the home of country folk. Bethlehem is the home of peasant farmers. Jerusalem was the home of kings, wealthy men and religious leaders. Think about what that implies. The savior of God’s people will not be a king, a wealthy businessman or a religious leader. The savior will not have any of the earthly characteristics of a leader.


III. Verse 3… Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.

When we read the book of Micah, we encounter a dual theme. On one hand, Micah preached about coming judgment. On the other hand, Micah preached about future hope for God’s people.

More than likely, Micah preached in Judah around 750 BC. His career included the time when the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians. His primary audience was the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Micah used the destruction of Israel as a warning to Judah. He told Judah that they were not exempt from God’s judgment. Just as God brought judgment on Israel for her sins, God would bring judgment on Judah for her sins. Of course, Judah did not experience this judgment for another 200 years. However, Micah was right. Judah was defeated by the Babylonians, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people were carried off as captives into a foreign land.

Yet, even in the face of judgment, Micah preached about hope. One of his common themes to describe judgment and hope was the image of a woman in labor. If you think about this image, it makes a lot of sense. A woman in labor experiences extreme pain and discomfort. But, this pain does not last forever. It will come to an end. And, when the labor pains are over, there is joy in the birth of a newborn baby.

This is how Micah wove together his themes of God’s judgment and hope. Judgment would be extremely painful and uncomfortable for Judah, but it would be temporary. Once the pain of judgment was over, there would be joy and hope and peace and love in the land. This joy, hope, peace and love was dependent on a new King who would be born in Bethlehem.

It’s interesting to me that Micah never gave the people of Judah a precise timeline of when they could expect this new King to be born. He told them WHO the king would be—he would be a descendant of David. He told them WHAT he would be—a new and perfect King. He told them WHERE the King would be born—Bethlehem. He told the WHY the King would be born—to fulfill God’s plan for God’s people. But, Micah never told them WHEN.

It was the later interpreters of Micah that wrestled with the question of WHEN the new King would be born. First, they looked for the new King to come immediately after the Exile. The Judahites were only in Babylonian captivity for seventy years. After seventy years, they returned home…But there was no new King. Then, Jewish religious leaders turned their attention to the future. The new King would be born in Bethlehem as a sign of God’s new Kingdom—when God would reestablish Israel as the center of all earthly politics.

However, the Gospel of Matthew has a different understanding of when the new King would be born. In Matthew 2, we read the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Luke tells us the story of the shepherds, who were “out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.” Luke tells us that the shepherds were the first to visit Jesus in Bethlehem. Matthew doesn’t mention the shepherds. Instead, Matthew tells us about Magi (Wise Men), who traveled to Israel from foreign countries.

The Wise Men were searching for a King. Where do you go to find a King? You go to the capital city. It makes perfect sense that the Wise Men first stopped in Jerusalem to search for the new King. There was no new King in Jerusalem. There was an old king. The old king asked his religious leaders where the new King was supposed to be born, and they quoted Micah 5: 2. The new King was to be born in Bethlehem. Jesus is the new King.


IV. Verses 4 – 5a… He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace.

Micah gave us a great description of the new King that make it easy for us to associate Jesus and the new King.

1. Jesus is not a political King…Jesus did not come to create a new political kingdom through politics or military strength. Jesus came to establish the Kingdom of God, which is a spiritual kingdom with impact on the physical world we live in. A spiritual relationship with God affects our politics just like it affects the way we live our everyday lives, but the Kingdom of God is neither limited to geopolitical boundaries or one political system.

2. Jesus is not a King for the wealthy…Even in the midst of a recession, you and I live in one of the wealthiest nations on the earth. So, it may sound like bad news to say that Jesus is not King of the wealthy. God’s Kingdom is available equally to wealthy, poor, middle class, any economic status. However, not all wealthy people feel attraction to God’s Kingdom, because Jesus teaches us not to focus our lives on accumulating wealth.

3. Jesus is not a religious King…On one hand, this seems contradictory in that Christianity is listed among the world religions. On the other hand, this is not a contradiction in that Jesus calls us to a relationship, not a religious system. Jesus did not come to restore or even to reform Judaism. Jesus came to grant access to God outside the parameters of religion, especially the sacrificial system.

4. Jesus’ origins are from eternity…The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem was not the beginning of Jesus’ life. It was the beginning of his Incarnation. Jesus is fully God and was present with God in the act of creation. However, Christmas is when God condescended to us as a baby in a manger. God did not reveal himself as something to be feared or as something to be manipulated. God revealed himself as a person, with whom relationship is possible.

5. Jesus is our Shepherd…There are several aspects of a shepherd that also describe Jesus. Shepherds nourish, protect and provide for their sheep. Shepherds live among their sheep. Shepherds love their sheep and lay down their lives for their sheep.

6. Jesus is the Name of the LORD…Name in the Bible is a reference to a person’s character. When God changed a person’s character, he often demonstrated it by changing their name. Jesus is fully God in Name and in Character. No other king in Israel’s history drew their authority from the Name of God. Jesus was not wealthy, elite or even of noble birth. His authority comes from his character.

7. Jesus rules over the ends of the earth…Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise God made to David that one of David’s descendants would always be king of Israel. However, Jesus’ reign goes beyond the geopolitical boundaries of Israel. All nations, all races, all peoples are part of God’s Kingdom through faith.

8. Jesus is the source of Peace…The Hebrew notion of Peace does not refer to the absence of conflict. The Hebrew word shalom is built on the root word that means “whole” or “complete.” The only true peace in this life comes from a relationship with God through Jesus, making us complete…


V. Conclusion.

At Christmas, we celebrate and worship, because God loves us so much that he gave us the greatest gift. He gave us himself. This year, instead of thinking of Christmas as a “gift giving” season, let’s think of it as a time to receive God’s gift of love.

Advent 3: Songs of Joy

Songs of Joy
Zephaniah 3: 14 – 20.

I. Introduction.

I’ve told this story once before…About the first time I attended the Rotary Club in Canton, Mississippi. Every pastor of First Baptist Church, Canton, Mississippi had been a member of the Canton Rotary Club. It was either written in my job description, or it was assumed that I would join the Rotary Club.

After I had been in Canton for about a week, a man in the church (Robert Filgo) called and announced that he would pick me up on Thursday to take me as his guest to the Rotary meeting. As I recall, he didn’t ask a question. He simply told me when to be ready.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we went through the buffet line and carried our food into the back room where the Rotary Club met. Mr. Filgo sat down and asked me to sit next to him. We were the first to sit at our table. In a few minutes, we were joined by the men who normally sat with Mr. Filgo. The first person introduced himself to me and said, “You are sitting in Cecil’s seat.” The next person introduced himself to me and said, “You’re sitting in Cecil’s seat.” Then, Cecil came in. I knew him from church. I asked him if I needed to move to another seat. He said, “No. I’ll sit in Jim’s seat.” When poor Jim came in, he had to find another table.

After the meal, the Rotary president called us to order and announced that we would sing the Rotary Song. He told us that since we were singing such a familiar song, we wouldn’t need the song books. Everyone in the room knew the words and sang along. That is, everyone except me.

When Mr. Filgo took me back to the church, he explained how I could join the Rotary Club. Again, he assumed that I would join and assumed that I wanted to join. I remember thinking to myself about how uncomfortable I was through the entire meeting. I wondered why anyone would want to join the Rotary. You don’t know where to sit and they sing strange songs. That is when I realized…This is what church looks like to some people. We sing songs that might be familiar to us but sound strange to the rest of the world. We sit in the same seat every week and think it is appropriate to tell new people they are sitting in the wrong seats.

Do you ever wonder why we sing in church? After all, church is perhaps the only public gathering in modern day life where we sing. But that is not the case with other cultures. If you watch soccer on TV—or if you plan to watch any of the World Cup soccer matches next year—you hear people singing. You don’t usually hear people singing at American sporting events like football, basketball and baseball. But soccer is not an American sport. It is a world sport. And the fans from other cultures sing in unison throughout the entire match.

Historically, singing is the way people express their joy. When the soccer match begins, people sing, because they are excited about what they hope their team will do in the match. As their team wins the game, the singing becomes louder and more joyous. This is why we sing in church. It is an expression of our joy. We have joy because of what God has done for us by sending his Son Jesus. We have joy, because we have been saved from sin, death and the devil. We have joy, because God has given us his presence to sustain us through any trouble or trial we might face in life. We have joy, because one day Jesus is coming back to take us to heaven to live with him eternally.

The prophet Zephaniah preached about the connection between joy and singing. Zephaniah did not describe one song of joy. He told us about two songs of joy.


Read Zephaniah 3: 14 – 20.

I am going to assume that you are a lot like me. Until this week, I have never really studied the book of Zephaniah. I am going to assume that you have not heard many sermons from Zephaniah. After all, today is my first time to preach from Zephaniah in ten years of preaching every Sunday. And I have learned a lot about Zephaniah and the context of his prophecy.

The words I just read come as somewhat of a surprise if you have read the entire book of Zephaniah. These are words of joy and singing, which don’t seem to fit with the rest of what Zephaniah has said.


II. Zephaniah 1: 2 – 3… "I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth," declares the LORD. "I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. The wicked will have only heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of the earth," declares the LORD.

The first words out of Zephaniah’s mouth were words of doom. He predicts that a day is coming when the entire world will be swept away by the hand of God. In many ways, Zephaniah’s words remind me of the words God spoke to Noah in Genesis 6: 7, about the coming flood.

In the days of Noah, the world had become so corrupt that God decided to start over. On one hand, the great flood was an act of judgment in that God destroyed all that he had created. On the other hand, judgment is never God’s ultimate or final goal. The destruction of the flood created a new world inhabited by a new people.

In the same way, this is the kind of judgment Zephaniah described. God does not take delight in judgment. God takes delight in the restoration and redemption that comes as a result of the judgment. Yet, judgment is necessary before God’s redemption can be established.


III. Zephaniah 1: 12… At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs, who think, 'The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad.'

As you can imagine, this was not a very popular message. It would be OK for Zephaniah to preach about God’s judgment on Assyria. After all, Assyria had recently destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It would be Ok for Zephaniah to preach about God’s Judgment on Egypt. After all, Egypt had held God’s people as slaves for hundreds of years and at this particular time in history, they were trying to become an international empire. It would be OK for Zephaniah to preach about God’s judgment on Babylon. After all, Babylon was the empire that eventually conquered the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the empire that God’s people needed to worry about the most.

Yet, Zephaniah preached about God’s judgment coming on God’s own people. The people of Judah. The city of Jerusalem.

This is a message we need to hear today. God was bringing his judgment against Judah and Jerusalem, because God’s people had become complacent. Do you know what “complacent” means? It means to be satisfied with the way things are. It means to have opportunities to make the world a better place and to choose to do nothing. It means to be satisfied with being lazy and doing nothing.

Should I preach a sermon on “complacency” for our church today? I am reluctant to preach on “complacency,” because most of us would hear that sermon and make a list of all the OTHER people who need to hear it, never acknowledging that we are the ones who are complacent!

God’s people had become complacent by carrying on their lives as if there was no God. God sent his prophets to speak God’s word to God’s people. Yet the people ignored the word of God and lived in ignorance. God made a covenant with his people in the form of the Law. God kept his part of the covenant, but the people found the Law to be too constricting and preferred to live free from restraint. God had provided unfailing love and care for the needs of his people. Yet, the people preferred to think the blessings of God were really the results of their own individual hard work. God protected Judah from the political upheavals experienced by the other nations around them. Yet, the people…Well, I don’t really know what they thought. Perhaps they simply thought they were lucky.

Again, God’s people faced judgment because they were complacent. God’s judgment always has a redemptive purpose. Judgment comes so that God can start over with a new people, who will acknowledge him and keep their part of the covenant. Could we, as a church, experience the same kind of judgment? Would God want to start over with a new people, who are not complacent about all God has done for us?


IV. Zephaniah 2: 3… Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD's anger.

Zephaniah’s prophecy contained both a warning and a promise. It’s as if Zephaniah was saying, “God is going to destroy all that you see here, but there is still hope.” This hope is found in the fact that God will start over with a new people. The new people of God will be formed from a “remnant” of those who are God’s people today. If you want to be a part of the “remnant,” then you need to repent—seek the LORD, seek righteousness and seek humility.

The remnant Zephaniah preached about would be the ones who returned from the seventy-year exile in Babylon.

Zephaniah preached these words BEFORE the nation of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians. In Zephaniah’s day, it looked like things were going to turn around. King Josiah had begun wide sweeping reforms by re-committing himself and all the people to the covenant of Law. Josiah had ordered the destruction of all the pagan sanctuaries and altars. But, for some reason, Zephaniah recognized that these reforms would not be enough. The nation was too far gone. They were too complacent and too much like the nations around them. God would have to start over.

God used the Babylonian Empire to accomplish his purpose for Judah. The Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem, torn down the walls of the city and burned the Temple to the ground. Then, they carried off the strongest, wealthiest and best leaders into captivity.
On one hand, Zephaniah warned that this destruction was coming. On the other hand, Zephaniah promised that destruction would not be the end. SOME of the captives would return to Jerusalem.

V. Zephaniah 3: 14 – 17… Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. On that day they will say to Jerusalem, "Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

According to Zephaniah, this is what it would look like when the remnant returned to Jerusalem. Actually, this is what it would SOUND like. There would be singing throughout all the land.

The people who returned from a foreign land would have four reasons to sing for joy.

God has “taken away your punishment.” It’s important to read this in its proper context. God did not prevent their punishment. They were taken captive into Babylon. But there would be an end to their trials. Difficult days would not last forever.

God has “turned back your enemy.” Again, keep the context in mind. It looked like God’s people had been defeated. There was a period of time when it appeared that the enemies had been victorious. In the end, God prevailed over the enemy.

“The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you.” This is one thing that is different about Zephaniah’s prophecy. Other prophecies focus on the Davidic line. Zephaniah seems to say that there will be no need for a king, because God himself will be the King of Israel.

God is “mighty to save.” There may be times when God’s sovereignty is in question. But there is coming a day, when we will see—once and for all—that God keeps his promises. God is faithful and able to keep all that he promised.

Verse 17 contains my favorite part of this passage. When God rescues his people, there is only one thing that can stop God’s people from singing. They will sing and sing and sing and sing. They will sing until they are quieted by the sound of God’s voice. God will not be speaking. God will be singing. When God’s salvation becomes final, God’s people will be so full of joy that they can’t stop singing…Until they hear the sound of God singing his own joy of having a people to himself.


VI. Conclusion.

Zephaniah spoke these words of prophecy to God’s people BEFORE they were carried into a foreign land. They lived as strangers in a strange land. They worshipped God in a land that did not worship God as Lord. However, this was only a temporary arrangement. Eventually, God brought them back to their land and restored them as his people. Does this sound familiar?

Today, you and I live as strangers in a strange land. We worship God and serve him as Lord in a world that does not acknowledge God. However, this is only temporary. There is coming a day, when Jesus will return. He will rescue us from punishment and defeat our enemies. Jesus will be the King in our midst, and we will recognize God’s faithfulness to keep all his promises.
Oh, what a day of singing. We will sing for joy, and nothing will stop us…That is, nothing until we hear the voice of God, singing his joy over us.

Advent 2: Promised Peace

Promised Peace
Malachi 3: 1 – 4.

I. Introduction.

I am really proud of the way our church members responded to my challenge last Sunday. (Some might say it was more of a “guilt trip” than a challenge.) On Thursday night, the downtown Christmas Parade marched by our church property on two streets. The parade began at the Civic Center and marched South on First Street. Then, it turned around and returned to the Civic Center, North on Second Street.

We blocked off Groesbeck Street with tables on both ends. We served free hot chocolate and cookies (from Brookshire Brothers’ bakery). And, we gave away information about our church and our Lord. The information about our church was printed on a color flyer, promoting the music ministry, children’s ministry and youth ministry. The information about our Lord was on a multi-media CD.

When I got home Thursday night, I made a list of all the people from First Baptist who showed up to help with this project. I am not going to read the list, because I know I missed some folks. But I counted 57 names of people who came to help! That is really good, but it’s not my favorite part of the project.

My favorite part of the project is the fact that it was not my idea. Kurt England came up with the idea at last year’s Christmas Parade. Then, Kurt came by and met with our church staff to work out all the details. Kurt claims that he was just the organizer, but without his organization this would not have been successful. Kurt was so organized that he actually counted the cups before we started serving hot chocolate. Then, he counted the cups when we finished to see how many we served. We served 1,100 cups of hot chocolate!

Every time we gave away hot chocolate, we also gave away the flyers and the CD’s. But, most people came to us in family groups. We typically gave away one flyer / CD and three or four hot chocolates. So, we sent out groups of our folks to walk the parade route and give away flyers and CD’s to people who never came by for hot chocolate and cookies.

Let me tell you what is on the multi-media CD… If a person places the CD in a music CD player, they can listen to a dramatic reading of John 3 in either English or Spanish. At the end of the reading, there is a presentation of the Gospel and explanation of how to become a Christian. If a person places the CD in a computer, there is more available. There are six video testimonies of people describing how and why they became Christians. There is a dramatic reading of the entire Gospel of John. There is a Gospel presentation. And, there is a link to an Internet site where the person can download an audio copy of the entire New Testament in one of 350 languages. (You can preview the contents of the CD at http://whatsmissingtexas.com )

There are two reasons why we did this project. First, we wanted to make First Baptist Church more visible in our community. I walked up First Street and Second Street and think I gave away around 100 flyers and CD’s. I told people, “This is a gift from First Baptist Church.” Probably 1 out of 4 people asked me, “Where is First Baptist Church?” Some people asked me that while standing on our church property!

Our second reason was to share the Gospel with our neighbors. I know this is not politically correct, but this is the truth. There is a real heaven and a real hell. Heaven and hell are the final, eternal destinations of all human beings. There is only one way for a person to go to heaven and not hell after death. It is to give your life away to Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life.

Anyone who has faith in Jesus as Lord, has a future. Those who do not have faith in Jesus as Lord, do not have a future.

As Christians, we believe that the decisions made in the present affect the future. In fact, if you live your life with Jesus in the present, you can live in the future with Jesus. If you serve Jesus on earth, you can serve Jesus in heaven. There is no other way to have the promise of heaven, the promise of a future peace.

The Scripture we read this morning is a Scripture about the future. On one hand, the prophet Malachi was writing about the future for a people who lived approximately 450 years before the birth of Jesus. On the other hand, he was writing about our future, 2000 years after the birth of Jesus.


Read Malachi 3: 1 – 4.


My grandfather died in 2004, after suffering with Alzheimer’s Disease for more than 12 years. During these 12 years, we watched his mental abilities deteriorate. My grandmother never wanted to place him in an Alzheimer’s home. She wanted to take care of him at home. But, eventually it became too difficult to meet his needs at home.

I remember one Christmas when he was still at home. He didn’t even know who I was. He knew my grandmother; he knew my dad; but he didn’t know me.

After Christmas dinner and after all the gifts had been opened, I sat down by myself and looked at a photo album. I found a picture of my grandfather’s high school basketball team. While I was looking at that picture, my grandfather sat down next to me and told me every name of the boys in the picture. He knew their names, where they had served in World War 2, which ones died in the war and which ones made it home. He could remember the distant past but could not remember the more recent past.

Soon after this, we had to place my grandfather in the Veteran’s Home in Oxford, Mississippi. He no longer knew my dad or my grandmother. He eventually stopped talking altogether. All he did was smile and laugh. At this point, I think he lived the rest of his life with no knowledge or understanding of his past.

It is a terrible thing not to remember your past. But, imagine how much worse it would be to have a past and no future.

This was the situation facing Malachi and the people of Israel. Technically, it was the people of Judah.


II. Verse 1…"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.

In 587 BC, the Babylonian army destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Judah. They tore down the walls of Jerusalem and burned down the Temple. Then, they selected the strongest, wealthiest, smartest and best leaders to take into captivity into Babylon. With the best leaders held in Babylonian captivity, the people remaining in Judah had no hope of ever restoring their nation or their status.

This captivity lasted only as long as Nebuchadnezzar was the king. The kings who followed him did not have the ability to hold the empire together. Eventually, the Babylonian Empire was conquered by the Persians. The Persians were not interested in holding their conquests as captives. Instead, they returned the captives to their native lands and controlled their politics from afar. So, they sent the Judahites back to their native land and gave them the money they needed to re-establish their nation and to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Persian Empire provided Judah with peace. At least there was no war. Persia valued the small piece of property that Judah called home. It gave them a buffer from their enemies in Egypt. If Egypt tried to move North toward the center of the Persian Empire, Persia could stop them before they got too close. As long as Judah belonged to Persia, there was no threat of war. They were safe. They were at rest. They experienced what the world would call “peace.”

This sounds like a good arrangement, but it wasn’t. Judah was back home in their own land. The Temple was rebuilt. The Levitical priesthood was restored. The sacrificial system was in effect. BUT…Something was missing. The glory of God never returned to the Jerusalem Temple. All of the worship and sacrifices taking place in the Temple were nothing more than simply “going through the motions.” They were doing the right things, but God was not present in their worship.

This is where the world’s idea of peace contradicts the Bible’s idea of peace. The biblical notion of peace is based on the Hebrew word “Shalom.” Shalom literally means “whole” or “complete.” In other words, peace is not simply the absence of war or conflict. Peace is the result of a life that is “complete.” You can go searching for peace in your life, but it will be elusive. You may feel that peace is within your grasp, but it’s not. Peace cannot be obtained. Peace can only be given. Peace is the by-product of a life that is “complete.”

Judah experienced the absence of war. But they did not have peace, because they also experienced the absence of God. If God is not present in your life, you will never experience “wholeness,” “completeness,” peace.

Notice the promise Malachi made. “…Suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple…” There would be no true peace until the Lord, himself, comes. Yet, this coming of the Lord would be preceded by a coming messenger from God. The messenger would not be the Lord. The messenger would be the one to “prepare the way” of the Lord.

It is ironic that these words are quoted in Mark 1 as a description of John the Baptist. This is ironic, because Malachi was the last prophet to speak to God’s people until the coming of John the Baptist. There was a 400 year silence between Malachi’s prophecy and the fulfillment of this prophecy in John the Baptist. John was the one who prepared the way for the coming of Jesus. Jesus is the Lord himself, who has come to bring peace to God’s people.


III. Verse 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.

This is the meaning of Christmas—and the meaning of Advent. Christmas Day is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. Advent is the season in which we prepare for the coming of Jesus. We anticipate the coming of Christmas Day, when Jesus came in the past. We also anticipate the future coming of Jesus, when he does not come as a baby in a manger but comes as our victorious Lord.

On one hand, we look forward to the future coming of the Lord. It will mark the end of our temporal lives on earth and the beginning of our eternal lives in heaven. It will mark the end of sin’s reign over us and the beginning of a new, sinless life in the presence of God.

On the other hand, Malachi tells us this is not something to look forward to. The coming Day of the Lord will be a day of judgment and purification. We should not delight in judgment. And purification is not appealing.

Malachi used two images to describe the way the coming Lord will purify his people. He will be like a refiner’s fire and a launderer’s soap. The refiner used a very hot fire to separate impurities out of precious metals. The metal was melted down and the impurities burned away. The launderer washes clothes by soaking them in water and scrubbing away the impurities with soap. The goal of both the refiner and the launderer was to take something impure and to change it into something pure. The end product was beautiful. But the process was painful.

We say we want the Lord to come. Yet, just like with a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap, the coming of the Lord will produce a beautiful product through a painful process. He separates the sin from our lives and scrubs away all impurities. This is a process that we cannot do ourselves. Only the Lord can take away our sins and impurities.

In its historical context, this passage was a word from God to the people of Post-Exilic Judah. God told his people that he was not willing to give up on them, but he was also not able to condone their sin. Therefore, God would provide a way for his people to be purified…Even if it requires fire and water.

In our modern day context, this is a message about Christmas. God is not willing to give up on you and simply allow you to spend eternity in hell. Therefore, God sent his Son to provide a way for you to be purified. Jesus was born so that our sins can be taken away…That you and I can be pure…That we can stand in the presence of God.


IV. Verses 3 – 4…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, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.

The last thing we read in Malachi’s prophecy is God’s desire not only to purify his people but to purify his priests. In Old Testament times, the Levites were God’s representatives on earth. They spoke God’s Word to God’s people and offered the people’s sacrifices to God. When Jesus came, there is no longer a need for priests. Jesus is the ultimate and final priest—representing God to God’s people and representing you and me before God through the sacrifice of Jesus’ own life.


V. Conclusion.

Perhaps this will help us to understand the words the angels sang to the shepherds on that first Christmas in Bethlehem. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests (Luke 2: 14 NIV).”

Jesus was born on that first Christmas so that we might have peace. Peace can only come when our lives are complete…The presence of God in us. But, the presence of God brings purity, like a refiner’s fire and a launderer’s soap.