When the Lord Visits

This morning I have been reading in Malachi 3, and this is such an interesting chapter for several reasons.  However, in light of the celebration of Pentecost Sunday this coming Sunday, I thought that the first set of verses was applicable.  Here are the verses, which speak prophetically of Jesus' coming - Malachi 3:1-5 NIV:

[1] “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 to put you on trial. 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 the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty."


I know many who are crying out for revival, for a visitation from the Lord, and that is great!  We do need the Lord, now more than ever!  However, I find the second verse interesting, and consistent with the historical revivals that the church has experienced, in that they all involve repentance, and the Lord bringing correction to the church.  Not that repentance and correction are bad, its just that we want the blessing of God's presence more than we want His correction, but the two go hand in hand!  He is loving AND just.

I had an interaction with the Lord several years ago, where I asked him about the wave of repentance that always leads the way in times of visitation and revival, and He basically said it was the natural reaction of man, when we actually encounter God!  We see ourselves and our state compared to Him, and we are convicted of our need to change (repentance) for He is so much greater than we even imagined or encountered previously.  I like that!  IT makes sense that of all the Saints writings I have read, every single one of them has always considered themselves to be sinners, not saints.  The closer they got to Jesus the more they saw their need for repentance for they saw how little they were like Him!

When Jesus came, for that is clearly what Malachi is prophesying here, He did bring judgment, but not in the way we think.  He showed us who the Father is, through His words and actions, and this revelation is what we are judged by.  Jesus actually said, “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. [48] There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. [49] For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. [50] I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” (John 12:47-50 NIV)

Jesus came to save the world, to bring the Kingdom of God to earth, to set the foundation in place for the coming of Holy Spirit, that we might represent Him to the whole earth in power, truth and peace!  He came to bring true revelation of the Father, to speak every word the Father told Him to speak, to complete the great work of making a way for restoring all men to relationship with the Father.  He is still about this great work, and Holy Spirit is alive and well and working throughout the earth, working in the church.  He is speaking to the church and we need to listen! We are called to hear the Word, to believe the Word, and to be changed by the Word!  We are called to allow His word to purify us, to refine us!  Refinement and purification of silver and gold always means the removal of that which is not pure, usually with fire. 

 Let us welcome His coming, let us embrace repentance and His purifying fire!  Let us allow His word to wash over us, to change us, to purify us, that we might faithfully represent Him to the world!

Amen, Come Holy Spirit!