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 descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. (Malachi 3:2-3)

Judgment is never a popular topic. We avoid it like the plague. And if it does come up, the common rejoinder is “Judge not less you be judged,” perhaps the most misunderstood verse in the Bible. Yet, the Scriptures are filled with the gracious warnings of God about the judgment associated with the coming of the Lord. Even the Lord Jesus spoke words of judgment (cf. Matthew 25:41-46 for an example).

The prophet Malachi, like the other prophets, spoke of this judgment. He uses the common image of fire and the less common visual of fullers’ soap. Both accomplish dual purposes. Fire both burns up and purifies. Soap removes dirt but also makes clean.

So, for God’s people, judgment is not something we avoid. As we saw in our study of 1 Peter earlier this year, “for it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.” (4:17). It is a strange blessing for the church. It is a means by which remaining corruption is removed from us, is burned out of us, to use the fire imagery. But the end result isn’t our destruction. Instead, we are made more like we were originally intended to be and like we will be in the new heavens and new earth.

God's purpose for us is our transformation. But that means he will not flatter us by saying we are perfect just as we are. He loves us too much to leave us in our mixed condition of sin and righteousness. His goal is that we will be holy as He is holy. We see this in Malachi. He is purifying the Levites and will continue to do so “until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness”.

And in refining us, God is also empowering us to fulfill our calling in this world. One of the reasons the prophets in the Old Testament spoke words of judgment was because the people’s sin kept them from being a witness to the world. Instead of being a light to the Gentiles, they were living just like them. They were hiding their light under a bushel if you will.

Saints, we can acknowledge that the purification process is tough. It often involves hardship and struggle. Yet, we need to embrace it. In doing so, it will resound to the glory of God as His image more brightly shines in us. It will lead to peace and wholeness for us as we live more integrated lives. And as the light of Christ shines through us, it will lead to even those outside the kingdom of God giving Him glory on the day of His visitation and perhaps even to their salvation.