But who shall endure the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he will be like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' lye.
The chapter opens with God answering cynics who asked where the God of justice had gone. His reply promises that the Lord will come. Then it turns their demand back on them: could they survive the arrival they asked for?
The question is aimed at people who had asked for exactly this.
They professed to want the presence of the God of judgment. They little knew the force of their own words, and so the prophet says, "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." Their spirit was the complete opposite of the psalmist's. He said, "Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you" (Ps. 143:2). Who could survive if God judged his walk and ways by the standard of His own holiness? But this is what fire pictures, and that baptism of fire belongs to His appearing. He has baptized His Church with the Holy Spirit; He will baptize Israel with fire when He returns.
Verse 1 promises a messenger who prepares the way. The tone changes at verse 2, and commentators see a shift in time.
The first verse of our chapter, as we saw, contains predictions that found a fulfilment at the first coming of Christ. The second and third verses, however, make it clear that the main emphasis is on His second coming. Then the fire of the refiner will come into action with purifying effect, and this means judgment, as verse 5 states. Bringing the two comings together is not unusual in Old Testament prophecy.
Another writer separates what was already fulfilled from what is still ahead.
We can fully allow a partial fulfilment of Malachi both in John the Baptist and in Christ's coming to the temple. But when we come to the fourth chapter, it is clear that it is entirely future... The first coming of Christ did not bring out everything that is said even here.
A fuller was a cloth-worker who washed and whitened cloth. Both pictures come from everyday work, and both are about removing what is wrong.
The word kabas simply means 'to wash', as it is often translated, and would include 'bleaching'. The coming of the Lord is compared to a 'refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap', when the dross and dirt will be cleared away.
The fire does not treat everyone alike.
The fire of great tribulation will test the faith of believers... This refines the silver. Fire does this: it separates the dross from the true silver or the gold, so that the pure metal may shine in all its brightness and give delight to the great Refiner... The same fire that will refine and purify believers will burn up unbelievers, for there is nothing of pure silver in them.
The next verse pictures the Lord seated at the refining. What is He waiting for?
It is said that a refiner of metals watches by the crucible until he sees his own face in the molten mass. In the same way the Lord Jesus sits as the refiner and purifier of His silver until His own image is seen in it. This is the end and object of all His dealings with His people. And the comparison is certainly true. God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. So we may be sure that He will never rest until He has fulfilled His purpose.
At Christ's first coming, some people were ready to meet Him.
The Scripture continues, "Who can endure the day of His coming?" It is good to see the inward work done in hearts. Both a man and a woman were able to stand at His appearing. That carries a challenge to each one of us! It shows the two sides of the truth. God draws near in His well-beloved Son, and on the other side vessels are prepared to receive Him.
Today the Lord is dealing in grace, not yet in judgment.
Right now Jesus is preaching the gospel of redeeming grace through His servants. He says, "Let the one who desires take the water of life without price"... Now grace reigns through righteousness leading to eternal life. But in a little while Christ will take His great power and reign. Now is the favourable time; now is the day of salvation. Then men will be judged in righteousness, and ruled with a rod of iron. Well might the prophet ask, "Who can endure the day of His coming?"
- Demand. They asked where the God of judgment was. The verse asks back: could they survive Him?
- Delay. Verse 1 found a fulfilment at Christ's first coming. The fire of verse 2 points on to His appearing in judgment.
- Difference. Fire and soap both remove what is foul. The same fire refines real silver and burns up what has none.
- Design. The refiner sits over the crucible until His own image shows in the metal.
- Decision. A man and a woman stood at His first coming because God had prepared their hearts. He offers grace today, so the question is still open to you.
And he shall sit [as] a refiner and purifier of silver; and he will purify the children of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; and they shall offer unto Jehovah an oblation in righteousness.
Malachi's hearers said they were waiting for the Lord's messenger, sure that all was well. He is coming, this verse answers — as a metalworker who sits by the furnace, and the first metal in the fire is the priesthood itself.
Verse 1 promises a messenger. Verse 3 describes fire. The two do not land at the same moment:
The first verse of our chapter, as we saw, predicts things that came true at the first coming of Christ. The second and third verses, however, make it clear that the main emphasis is on His second coming. Then the refiner's fire will start its purifying work. That means judgment, as verse 5 states. Old Testament prophecy often brings the two comings together.
He begins with the sons of Levi — the tribe set apart to serve at the altar. One writer notes why in a single aside:
He will purify the sons of Levi — beginning with what most needed it, and what was nearest to the Lord — and refine them like gold and silver.
He will come — and their claim will not survive it:
They claimed to be waiting for this messenger, and so took the ground that all was well with them. It was all hollow, and it would not do for God. They heard the rebukes against it, but they refused to accept the sentence. Then comes the message — He will come. Do you think He will accept this state of things? Do you think this messenger is someone like yourselves? He will come — the One you claim to delight in; but He will come in judgment. He will have a remnant, but the state of things He finds will not be what is acceptable to Him. He will have to "sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This is not simply God coming in to rescue people from the fiery furnace. He will come in and show the hollowness, before He comes down in blessing. He must come in as He is, in His character of truth, and there must be room made for Him.
The cleansing itself rests on something already finished. And notice the verb: He does not pass the furnace by; He sits down beside it.
He will purify His people by fire, though the cleansing rests on the perfect atonement He made in His death... It is said that a refiner of metals watches by the crucible until he can see his own face in the molten metal. In the same way, the Lord Jesus sits as the refiner and purifier of His silver until He sees His own image in it. This is the end and object of all His dealings with His people... God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. So we may be sure that He will never rest until He has fulfilled His purpose... One thing should be added. God's means of making us like His beloved Son is a glorified Christ set before our souls in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The metals named are precious. One writer presses what that choice already assumes:
It is because they are "silver" that He refines them. No one ever refined into silver what was not silver.
The purifying is not the goal. It clears the way for worship God can receive — and the same principle reaches every believer:
No one can present an offering to the Lord in righteousness until He has purified His priests. Until then the offering cannot please Him or be acceptable to Him. This in fact is also the teaching of the letter to the Hebrews... The only difference is that now all believers are priests. Appearing in the immediate presence of God is no longer the right of a privileged class, as it was with the sons of Levi. Everyone cleansed by the blood of Christ, and therefore having no more conscience of sins, has freedom — yes, boldness — of access.
- He comes. Verse 1's messenger belongs to Christ's first coming; the refining fire of verses 2–3 points on to His return.
- He starts nearest. The furnace is lit first under the sons of Levi — what most needed it, and what stood closest to God.
- He sits. The refiner does not walk away from the crucible; He stays until He sees His own face in the metal.
- He refines silver. No one refines into silver what was not silver — the fire is for what God already counts precious.
- He receives. Only purified priests can bring an offering in righteousness that pleases Him — and now every believer cleansed by the blood of Christ is a priest with boldness of access.
Then shall the oblation of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto Jehovah, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
The word "then" points back: everything here depends on what the Lord has just done to the priests. One day Judah and Jerusalem will bring Him an offering that pleases Him — so when does that happen, and why were their offerings not pleasing already?
The verse is the last link in a chain that starts with a messenger and ends with worship God accepts. One writer traces that chain, and shows where the cleansing starts:
There is more than a messenger now; it is Messiah Himself — "the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in." But who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears? He is like a refiner's fire, and like the soap a launderer uses. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi — beginning with what most needed it, and what was nearest to the Lord — and purge them like gold and silver, so that they may offer the LORD an offering in righteousness.
John the Baptist and the Lord's visit to the temple answered part of this chapter. But one writer shows that the promise in this verse reaches past them:
Malachi was partly fulfilled both in John the Baptist and in Christ's coming to the temple (chapter 3), while chapter 4 is clearly future only. Chapter 3 does touch on the past in part. But we keep being stopped short: the first coming of Christ did not bring out all that is said even here. "Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years." It is well known how far this was from fact.
The order in the verse matters: first the priests are purified, then the offering pleases God. One writer finds the same order in the letter to the Hebrews:
No one can present an offering to the Lord in righteousness, and no offering presented can be pleasant, acceptable, to the Lord, until His priests have been purified. This is also the teaching of the letter to the Hebrews. There the apostle shows that Christ by one offering has perfected forever those who are sanctified, before he points out that we have boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The only difference is that now all believers are priests. Appearing in the immediate presence of God is no longer the right of a privileged class, as it was with the sons of Levi.
Malachi then turns from the cleansed priests to the wrongdoers he names next. The same writer shows how God deals with such people now, and how He will deal with them later:
Now God sends out His pleading message of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5) to all the classes named here — to all sinners alike. This is the day of His grace, and He waits to save everyone who comes to Him in the name of Christ. Grace reigns through righteousness. But when the Lord appears He will come to reign in righteousness.
If sacrifice returns to Jerusalem, does that undo the cross? One writer answers that in the millennium — the coming age of Christ's reign — those offerings will look back to the cross:
Some have found a difficulty in the restoring of sacrifices. The difficulty vanishes once we remember that these sacrifices belong to an earthly people and an earthly temple, and that they will be memorials. Under the old order they had no power at all apart from their reference to Christ, for it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins (Heb. 10:4). In the millennium they will look back to that one sacrifice for sin offered on the cross, just as those under the law of Moses looked forward to it.
- Refiner. The Lord sits as a refiner and starts with the sons of Levi — with what most needed it, and what was nearest to Him.
- Purged. No offering can be righteous or pleasing until the Lord cleanses the priests who bring it. Hebrews states the same rule: one offering perfects those who draw near.
- Priests. In Malachi's day this was the right of one class. Now every believer cleansed by the blood of Christ can enter God's presence with boldness.
- Pleasing. Christ's first coming did not make this promise good — "it is well known how far this was from fact." It waits for His return, when He reigns in righteousness instead of pleading in grace.
- Pointing back. Restored offerings in Jerusalem take nothing from the cross. They look back to the one sacrifice, as the old ones pointed forward to it.
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hired servant in [his] wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.
The people had watched wrongdoers prosper, and they demanded to know where the God of justice was. Verse 5 is His answer: He comes close, not as a distant judge but as a witness, and the crimes He lists end with the one that caused them all.
This verse closes a reply that started with their complaint.
They were worn out by the confusion their own folly had caused, and they cry out, "Where is the God of justice?" They get an immediate reply: "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." "But," the prophet asks, "who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears?" Then the Lord Himself adds, "Then I will draw near to you for judgment." When the Lord comes He will be a swift witness against evil and against those who do evil.
Part of Malachi 3 already happened. The messenger came and prepared the way, and the Lord came to His temple. But the sweeping clean-out described in verse 5 never came with it.
We can fully allow that Malachi was partly fulfilled in John the Baptist and in Christ's coming to the temple (chapter 3). But when we come to the fourth chapter, it is clearly the future only. The third chapter touches partly on the past. Still, we keep meeting things that stop us short: the first coming of Christ did not bring out all that is said even here… What follows far exceeds anything realized then in the judging of all wickedness among them.
The people listed in this verse are exactly the ones God calls to Himself today. That sets this age apart from the coming kingdom.
This clearly explains the difference in character between Christianity and the kingdom. Now God sends out His pleading message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5) to all the classes named here — to all sinners without distinction. It is the day of His grace, and He waits to save everyone who comes to Him in the name of Christ. Grace reigns through righteousness. But when the Lord appears, He will come to reign in righteousness.
"People make a great mistake when they confuse grace and judgment, the present with the future," writes William Kelly.
The verse names those who oppress "the hired worker in his wages." That worker stood outside the household.
These were different from the house servants, who were generally slaves. People hired these servants by the day and paid them at the end of the day. A servant hired by a priest was not counted as one of the family and could not eat the holy food, while the slaves were counted as part of the family.
So his pay was due the same evening he earned it, and he had no place in the household to fall back on. Notice who else is grouped with him.
Look at the classes of sinners named here, and it is very interesting to notice who draws out God's compassion — the hired worker, the widow, the fatherless, and the stranger. This opens up the heart of God. It is always so in the Scriptures: the lonely, the sorrowful and the oppressed are the special objects of His tender mercy… Surely such a scripture teaches us how we may have practical fellowship with the heart of God. If we want to walk with Him, His interests and His aims must be ours too.
The last phrase is not one more crime. It is the source of them all, and its opposite marks out the faithful few.
The Lord lists many serious sins that call for judgment, but they are all summed up in this one great sin: the people "do not fear Me, says the LORD of hosts" (Malachi 3:5). Looking at the mass of the people, the Lord has to ask, "Where is My fear?" (Malachi 1:6). Looking at this godly remnant, He is glad to own that they "feared the LORD" (Malachi 3:16). The man who fears the Lord lets the Lord rule him, not other people… He gives the Lord His right and supreme place, and this is very precious in the sight of the Lord.
Verse 6 explains verse 5. One fact about God drives both the judgment and the mercy.
He never changes in His holiness, so He must be a "swift witness" against all sin and iniquity. His purposes of grace and blessing can never be altered, so His people are not consumed… This is a sure foundation on which His people can rest in every age and in every era of God's dealings. It is a rock that no storm can shake.
- Near. They asked where the God of justice was. He answers that He will come near — and the prophet asks who could stand when He does.
- Named. God names the people others exploit — hired worker, widow, fatherless, stranger. His heart is set on them.
- Root. Sorcery, adultery, false swearing and oppression all trace back to one thing: they do not fear Him. The faithful few show the opposite.
- Now. Today God invites the same people on that list instead of sentencing them. Grace reigns first; reigning in righteousness comes later.
- Rock. He is a swift witness because He never changes in holiness — and for the same reason His people are never consumed.
For I Jehovah change not, and ye, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
Malachi speaks to a people going through the motions of religion, and God has just warned that He is coming to judge them. Verse 6 says why the guilty nation is still standing — and the reason lies in God, not in them.
The promise rests on the name God took up when He pledged Himself to Israel.
But now the moment had come to unfold it. The Almighty One stood forth, pledged to Israel as the I AM — the self-existent and therefore unchanging One, always true and faithful to His word. Israel's history proved this again and again. At the end of the Old Testament God said, "I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed."
The same fixed nature behind the warning of verse 5 stands behind the mercy of verse 6.
All God's dealings, whether in judgment or mercy, rest on the unchanging nature of God. That is why He formally declares His unchanging character before He calls them to repentance… God does not change in holiness, and therefore He must chasten His people when they sin. Neither does God change in His purposes of grace and blessing, and therefore His people are not consumed.
Read it quickly and the logic looks backwards. An unchanging God sounds like bad news for a guilty people.
Verse 6 gives the guarantee of all this: the unchangeable character of the LORD. We might have expected the next words to be, "Therefore you sons of Jacob must be consumed." They are just the opposite. God exercises much patience, and He has power to reach His own purpose in the end. The Apostle Paul asks, "Has God rejected His people?" and he at once answers, "By no means!" (Rom. 11:1). When Christ comes again, judgment will fall on the Jew, yet God will preserve and bless a godly remnant of the sons of Jacob. The same thing is true today.
Israel had already tested this. At Sinai they made a golden calf and broke the covenant, yet they survived — and not because of anything in them.
Take the golden calf, for example. They set it up in the camp, and by it they broke the covenant of Sinai and earned the penalty of death. On what ground did the LORD spare His guilty people? It was on the ground of His oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Ex. 32:12-13). So it was in the sovereignty of His grace, and in His faithfulness to His word, that He was gracious to whom He would be gracious, and showed mercy to whom He would show mercy (Ex. 33:19). This is a sure foundation on which His people can rest in every age and in every dispensation.
The sight God gave Moses at the start of the nation's story matches the verdict at the end of it.
That sight was the exact mark of Israel under the covenant of law: in complete failure, yet not destroyed. "For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed" (Mal. 3:6). They presumed to obey the law given through Moses, and forgot God's promises to the fathers — promises the LORD never forgot. Despite their self-confidence, the bramble bush went on burning, but never burned up, because He, the Eternal, had promised.
God said this at the close of the Old Testament, not at its start. One writer sees the timing as deliberate.
He waited three thousand five hundred years before He would say these words. He waited until man, until Israel, until Judah, until the remnant brought back from Babylon — until all had corrupted their way. Then He tells out what He always is — the resource of faith — the unchanging God! If God could change, nothing would be secure: there would be nothing left to rest on.
The verse is addressed to Jacob's descendants, but commentators apply the same ground of confidence further.
Under the government of God the nation of Israel had passed through many a change, but His purpose for them remains unaltered. "The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable" (Rom. 11:29). These remain, God does not change His mind, and because the LORD does not change, the sons of Jacob were not consumed.
- Unchanging in name — He is the self-existent I AM, always true to His word.
- Unchanging in holiness — so He must chasten His people when they sin; the judgment of verse 5 is not a mood swing.
- Unchanging in purpose — so His people are not consumed; the "therefore" runs to mercy, not to destruction.
- Unchanging toward the guilty — Israel survived the golden calf because of God's oath to the fathers, not their own record. The bush burned, but it did not burn up.
- Unchanging still — God said this only after everyone had failed. It is the last word of the Old Testament on security: if God could change, nothing would be safe.