Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: Scepticism abounded, but no moral gloom could deaden the prophet's faith. God, whose authority was contemned, would reveal Himself. I. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS ARE SEARCHING. If God were fully to disclose Himself no flesh could live. Veiled in material glory, His ancient saints found it difficult to bear His appearing. The manifestation of God in Christ, though veiled in the weakness of human flesh, was not easy to bear. Men felt it as a piercing light. Corrupt and oppressive rulers, selfish and self-satisfied moralists, hypocritical religionists, and ruthless evil-doers could not bear His presence. Some could bear His coming, and stand when He appeared. They were those — 1. Who were willing to feel, confess, and turn from their sinfulness. 2. Those who were sincerely waiting for His coming, as Simeon. 3. Those who had within them true faith, or spiritual receptiveness, as the Roman centurion and the Syrophenician woman. These could bear the most searching day in the world's history, when the Lord appeared among men. II. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS ARE SEPARATING. He is "like a refiner's fire." The appearance of the Lord on the earth tested and separated men. Society was then like seething, molten metal. The good were revealed and refined; the bad, like recrement, were separated from them, to be cast away. In His presence men discovered of what sort they were, and ranged themselves for Him or against Him. As fire, His Spirit still tests and separates men. Fire has been by several nations regarded as a symbol of the Deity. As a Divine heat, enkindling shame, disgust, and remorse at our failures and sins. He will not consume us, but our impurities. 1. That we have much dross in our natures need not lead us to despair. 2. We should be thankful that God manifests Himself to us as a refining heat. 3. We should seek for continued manifestations of God to our souls. III. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS ARE CLEANSING OR DESTROYING. He is like "fuller's soap." The fuller's trade was one well-known in Judaea. White garments were worn by the Jews on all festive occasions; these the fuller cleansed from all stains, and whitened them by rubbing them with a kind of marl. Creta limolia was probably the earth most commonly used. His soap (borith) was a vegetable alkali obtained from numerous plants, such as the Salsola huli, the Ajram, the Gilloo, and a heath which grows abundantly in the neighbourhood of Joppa. If a garment could not bear the work of the fuller, it was destroyed by it. So the coming of Christ would either cleanse men or hasten their destruction. Christ Himself is the cleansing power. He can wash out the most inveterate stains. None but He can cleanse men. If men will not bear His cleansing, their corruptions will destroy them. All Divine manifestations are essentially the same. There is one yet in the future for mankind. He who came in lowliness to redeem men will come in awful majesty to fix their doom. Who may abide that day of His coming? Who will be able to stand then? Only those who could have borne His first advent — the contrite, the sincere, the believing. (W. Osborne Lilley.) Parallel Verses KJV: But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: |
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