[Read Malachi 2:17-3:5]
I came across an amazing story a few weeks ago that has me longing to dive deeper and understand this man more. It’s the story of a man named Moses Ordway. Have any of you heard of this man? If not, I think it’s really important that you know him for a number of reasons.
First, he was instrumental in the founding of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Here’s what he has to say about Beaver Dam when he arrived in 1842, "Take for example our life in Beaver Dam. When we came here it was a dense forest—no houses, no mills, no roads, and no fences. Only a few scattered people and not a rich man among them, but in a few years Grubville,9 as it was called, became a very noted place with mills, churches, stores, and factories. But it cost much hard work and it is true that I had no small hand in it. I owned the first sawmill…Mr. Brower and I surveyed and located all of the roads in and out of Beaver Dam as they now run to Watertown, Waupun, Columbus, Fox Lake, Lowell, Horicon, and Fall River. We helped to build the pole bridges and other improvements without one cent of pay.” (As an interesting side note, Beaver Dam was called Grubville by envious neighbors who wanted to belittle the town and its growing development). Anyway, Moses Ordway was a phenomenal man and hard worker who was essential in developing this city in its very early stages.
However, there’s something else he’s known for—actually he’s on one of the murals in Beaver Dam for this. He was a church planter. He planted the first Presbyterian church in Wisconsin amongst Native Americans up by Green Bay. Then he came down to Beaver Dam and planted a church here, then one in Rolling Prairie, one in Juneau, one in Horicon, one in Fox Lake, and one by Lake Emily. All Presbyterian churches. So, this man was devoted and diligent in his work to develop the Kingdom of God through cities and churches.
But, here’s what I loved about Moses Ordway. In one of his letters he describes his church planting strategy, and let me tell you, you’ve never heard anyone with this church planting strategy in your entire life…lol… also keep in mind he’s describing the places he planted churches—meaning, he’s describing this area. Here’s what he says, "I have in all my ministry never sought for an easy place where they could pay a large salary but on the contrary have always looked for a miserable place where no harm could be done. I would look for a place where the people were so poor, stupid, or heartless that they would not ask a minister to preach to them and would take pains to say that they would not be able to pay, as a gentle hint for you to let them alone. In such a place I delighted to put my foot. But I never preached to them the love of Christ to harden them for a long siege but began with St. Paul's doctrines, and very soon there would be a new face on things. As soon as they were awake and God began to increase them and they began to want to pay me, I would open the door for some anxious minister, who was ready for work and I would go to another place. This has been the order of my ministry from first to last and I have had not a little comfort in my service." \
Not only do I find it hilarious that he describes the Beaver Dam community, 180 years ago, as being a place like this, but I also appreciated that line in the middle where he said, “But I never preached to them the love of Christ to harden them for a long siege but began with St. Paul's doctrines, and very soon there would be a new face on things.” This was his preaching strategy. He intentionally chose hard places to do ministry, with people who had hard hearts, and he preached hard messages. He believed that soft messages would end up hardening people’s hearts further. So, he preached hard messages, reminding people that they were sinners and that God’s wrath was upon them and they needed a Savior and they needed to repent and believe. And after doing that for a while he said that there would be a new face on things.
This is the sort of thing we’re seeing in the book of Malachi. It’s also what this passage is prophesying and talking about. God’s people were in a tough situation. Things hadn’t turned out the way they thought they would. One commentator described their situation as, “The promised land did not become a paradise, but instead crops failed due to locusts and drought (3:11). Religious activities were becoming burdensome (1:13) and without spiritual effect (2:13). Priests and people alike were violating the covenants of the fathers (2:8, 10). As a result the question had arisen whether it still made sense to adhere to the promise of the coming of the Messiah.” (Verhoef, 284). So, they were tired, worn out, and frustrated with how things were turning out for them. These are ripe conditions for hearts to become hardened.
Hearts were getting hardened throughout Israel. Their hearts were so hardened that they were beginning to approach God with some accusations. In this passage, we see two accusations in particular. The first accusation they bring is, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” (Malachi 2:17, ESV). That’s a pretty strong accusation to bring against God. They look around themselves and see lots of evil and wickedness happening, but God hasn’t done anything about it—at least not in their minds. So, they basically say, since God allows this evil to continue, He must think it is good. Even worse, God must delight in this evil. That’s the first accusation.
The second accusation is, “Where is the God of justice?” (Malachi 2:17, ESV). This flows from the first accusation, really, and there are two accusations backed into this one question. First, they question whether God is just. How can a just God allow these things to happen? Since he’s allowing them to happen, he must not be just. OR, the second accusation is, IF God is just, where is He? Why hasn’t he done something about all of this evil and wickedness that we see?
So, either God isn’t just OR He’s absent OR maybe he delights in evil and wickedness. Again, these questions are not written as true, honest questions. They are written as accusations. It’s kinda like the question you “ask” your children every once in a while, “Is that an intelligent thing to do?” You’re not asking, are you? You’re telling them it’s not intelligent. In the same way, God’s people are not truly seeking to understand God’s justice or seeming inactivity. They are bringing accusations against God.
So, God responds to these accusations. He begins by saying, “You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”” (Malachi 2:17, ESV). Remember the last chapter when the people said that it was so wearisome to worship God—it was such hard work? Now, God is coming to them and telling them that they have wearied HIM with their constant complaining and accusations. He was tired of it.
And so he corrects their misunderstandings. He addresses their accusations one at a time. He begins by telling them, “I’m coming. I’m not far off and absent like you think, I’m coming.” He says, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. 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.” (Malachi 3:1, ESV).
He first says, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.” (Malachi 3:1, ESV). This is referencing an eastern custom of literally sending messengers ahead of a king to do two things: (1) to inform the inhabitants of the towns that the king is coming and (2) to literally prepare the path by clearing obstacles and making it passable. So, when God says that he is going to come to his people, he tells them that he’s going to send someone to them to announce his coming and to clear away any obstacles to his arrival.
Now, many of us know that this messenger is John the Baptist. Not only did John the Baptist take up this passage as his own, but Jesus also said that this passage was speaking about John the Baptist. And HOW did John the Baptist prepare the way for the coming of the Lord? He did this by preaching a hard message of repentance. We read, “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”” (Matthew 3:1–2, ESV). This is how he prepared the way. It’s the same way that Moses Ordway prepared the way in the hard places with hard hearts, he preached a hard message of repentance to prepare the way for the Lord. This is the reason why we preach hard messages of repentance. Many have built large walls and hardened their hearts. They have created strong obstacles. Therefore, in order for the way to be prepared, those walls, obstacles, and hard hearts need to be broken. This is also why John Calvin says, “Repentance, therefore, is the commencement of true docility, as I have already said, and opens the gate for entering into the school of Christ.” (John Calvin, 154).
Then he will come. We read, “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.” (Malachi 3:1, ESV). We see two things in this statement. First, we see that the Lord is coming—the Lord they seek, the Lord they accuse of being far off and distant. He is coming suddenly. Second, we are told the messenger of the covenant is coming. The way this is written, it’s the same person. It will be the Lord and the messenger of the covenant, which means this is referencing Jesus, who sealed God’s covenant through his life, death, and resurrection.
Then we read this, “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 3:2–4, ESV). This is the answer to their first accusation—the accusation claiming that God must delight in evil since he doesn’t do anything about it. God responds that he’s going to do something about the evil he sees. He’s going to send a messenger to pave the way, he’s going to send Jesus Christ, and he is going to sit like a refiner and purifier over Israel, heating them over and over and over again—like a master craftsman purifying gold and silver—until they have been purified. And he says he’s going to “sit” while doing it because it’s going to take a while—a long time. Then, once they’ve been purified, they will finally be able to bring sacrifices that are pleasing to the Lord.
Now, this wasn’t the answer the people were looking for. They wanted God to come and do something about all of the evil “out there.” They didn’t think God needed to do something about the evil and wickedness in their midst. They wanted God to do something about all of those evil people and wicked people “out there” who were causing a bunch of problems for them. And God’s response is, “Oh, I’m going to do something about all of the evil and wickedness that I see, and I’m going to start with my people first. I’m going to do something about the evil and wickedness that is in your midst. I’m going to sit over you with some hot fire, that’s going to hurt and burn and be difficult so that I can purify you and cleanse you so that you can actually offer sacrifices pleasing to God so that you can actually live a life that is pleasing to God.” The goal isn’t just punishing God’s people for their rebellion, it’s to purify them from their rebellion and restore them to faithfulness.
Then, God responds to their second accusation, where they ask, “Where is the God of justice?” He says, “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:5, ESV). They have been accusing God of being far off, slow to come, and lacking in justice. God responds that he will not be far off, but will draw near, and He will draw near quickly, and He will be quick to testify against all of the wickedness in their midst, and he will be quick to bring judgment against it. They ask, “Where is the God of justice?” and he responds by saying, “I’m coming to you in judgment.”
This large list of injustices and sinfulness and evil and wickedness is summed up at the very end in one short phrase. It’s summed up by talking about those who “do not fear me.” That’s the root of each of these sins—lack of a fear of God. That’s the only reason someone would mess with sorcery, adultery, or lying, because they don’t actually fear God. That’s the only reason someone would oppress their workers and the widow and the orphan or the traveler, because they don’t actually fear God. They actually don’t fear him or care what he thinks, that’s why they just keep doing whatever they want to do. And God says to them, “I will draw near to you quickly in judgment for this lack of fear and for these wicked actions, and I will draw near to you quickly to bring an accusation against you for these things—testifying against you.”
Again, this was not the answer they were looking for. When they were asking, “Where is the God of justice?” they were not thinking of themselves. They were only thinking of the people “out there” who needed God’s justice—only the bad people who were causing them problems and difficulty. They wanted to know why God hadn’t done anything about their evil and wickedness and their injustices. And God says, “Oh, I’m coming in my justice, but it’s going to start with you first.”
This is the importance of the season of Lent. Like I mentioned at the beginning of Lent, this is typically seen as a season of self-reflection and penitence. It’s a season where we honestly take a look at our own lives, our own sinfulness, and our own failures, and then bring those to Christ. That’s important because it’s our natural tendency to always be concerned about the sinfulness and evil and wickedness of the people “out there.” It’s easy for us to fixate on their issues and their problems. It’s easy to pray to God that he would do something about their issues and their problems. It’s easy for us to call on God to bring justice to their messed up situation. This passage—and this season of Lent—reminds us to look at ourselves and our own sinfulness and failure first and bring those to Christ first, before we look anywhere else.
This passage is here to remind us that our hearts are prepared for Jesus Christ through repentance and faith. Our hearts are not prepared for Jesus by hardening them and creating more obstacles. Our hearts are prepared for Jesus when the obstacles are removed, the walls torn down, and rocks thrown out by repentance and faith. Our hearts are prepared for Jesus Christ through the red-hot refining fire of our God, as he sits over us in trials and difficulty and struggle, removing all of our impurities and softening our hearts to receive Jesus.
I also want to remind us that it’s repentant hearts that are prepared for Jesus Christ—not guilty hearts, not beat up hearts, and not weary hearts. It’s the repentant heart that is prepared for Jesus. There’s this beautiful passage in the book of Corinthians where the Apostle Paul shows some concern for the harsh way he spoke with the Corinthians. He wrote them a hard letter with some very hard words. He says, “For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:8–10, ESV). His hard letter with hard words resulted in a Godly grief. A Godly grief produces repentance, which produces a heart that is prepared for Jesus, which means life and peace and redemption and salvation without regret. However, this is different from a worldly grief that produces death. It produces death because it feels really bad and guilty but never repents. It only feels bad and continually beats itself up over and over and over again. It completely consumes and destroys a person. That’s not a heart prepared for Jesus Christ. Repentance is the way for a heart to be prepared for Jesus. A heart that acknowledges its faults and failings then turns from those things—repents—and looks to Jesus Christ in faith for cleansing, forgiveness, redemption, and new life.
That is my prayer for every one of you this morning. To be honest, I pray this over everyone in this congregation—individually—every month—that God would give you soft, repentant hearts that continually turn away from sin and look to Jesus in faith. That’s the way hearts are prepared for Jesus.
That’s also our calling in this life. I want to end with this passage from Hebrews that takes everything we’ve spoken about and shows us how to prepare our hearts and lives for Jesus by laying aside everything that gets in our way—by repenting of anything that gets in our way. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2, ESV).