Malachi, the last recorded prophet of the Old Testament, has an amazing message, telling what God will do in the end time. It contains little reference to the first coming of Christ, but much is portrayed of the times and events of His second coming.
For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts. Malachi 1:11.
This has been a disturbing prophecy, for the Jewish people have clung to the idea that because they were a chosen people, revelation began and ended with them. And yet the prophet was very careful to proclaim that a time was coming when the pure worship of God would come forth, not from among the Jewish people, but from the Gentiles. Some may say that this took place during the church age, but the fact remains that many Christians have not given a pure worship to the Lord either. But now, at the end of this whole church age, is a time when God moving by His Spirit to bring forth pure worship unto the Lord.
The thought is picked up again in the third chapter of Malachi, showing the kind of worship that will come forth in the end time in the days of judgment, and how God will bring to pass the worship that He has prophesied.
But who can abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? (This identifies it with the day in which we are living, for we are expecting the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ again.) for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer unto the Lord offerings in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. Malachi 3:2–4.
The offerings and the worship are to be pure again. How will they be pure? God is refining the worshipers. He will sit as a refiner and refine the sons of Levi as silver is refined. The sons of Levi were the priestly order who offered to the Lord the incense which was always symbolical of the true praise to God that is to come forth in the end time.
God will refine His people as silver is refined in the fire. In this process the silver is heated until it is melted and the impurities within it rise to the top. These dark impurities are then carefully skimmed off. A refiner of silver is not satisfied until he can look into the pot of molten silver and see his face reflected as clearly as in a mirror.
The Lord is doing a refining work in His people in this day and He will not be happy until all the black impurities are removed, until He can look down upon His people as they are worshiping and see His own reflection coming up. O Lord, refine us as silver is refined in the fire, because we want to offer that pure, holy worship and praise to God.
If you were to ask the people of some churches, “What is the most important thing you do,” they would answer, “Winning souls and doing missionary work.”
But actually, our greatest concern should be to give God what He wants—that worship and praise—and the second, to become His witnesses to the ends of the earth.
Let us put the most important thing first: to be worshipers of the Lord and to love Him with all our heart and soul.
When people whose hearts are not wholly set upon the Lord are sent out with the message that the Lord loves all people, they become a contradiction. First we must love Him to the extent that our heart is wholly set upon Him and we worship Him; only then are we ready to go with the message.
What will happen when this worship comes forth? And I will come near to you in judgment (notice the kind of judgment that is going to come); and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers.
In this day when the worship is coming forth, the first thing God will do is to judge and cast down that which has come against His people in psychic forces, spiritual forces, sorcery, and witchcraft.
Our message will continue to focus on the Lord, what He is doing, and what is glorifying to Him. We are not overly conscious of devils, even though we are aware of floods of them coming against us. Anything that presents itself as a foe of this walk with God will be brought down and judged.
And I will be a swift witness (not delayed) against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and the against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the sojourner from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. For I, the Lord, change not; therefore ye, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. Malachi 3:5, 6.
He doesn’t change, therefore they were not consumed. Judgment was His unrelenting purpose; therefore the children of the Lord would be able to prevail.
Then they that feared the Lord spake one with another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, even mine own possession, in the day that I make.
“The day that I make”—this is the key. God will create a day, and when He brings forth this particular day, then those who are worshiping and praising Him, thinking upon His name and talking about Him, will be His own possession.
And I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. Malachi 3:16–18.
God is making this day, and those who worship Him will be His own possessions. God will make known the difference between the one who serves Him and the one who doesn’t, between the righteous and the wicked.
For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. Malachi 4:1, 2a.
The sun of righteousness is shining with healing in its “beams”; is beaming forth healing. This is what God wants us to see. I’m glad the showdown has come.
God is making a day which will be different from what has been before, when we didn’t see any resolution of problems, or who was right and who was wrong, when God didn’t seem to make a difference between what was really of God and what was not of God.
Babylonian churches seem to prosper in their programs. The average person out in the world doesn’t know the difference between a church that is serving God and a church that is not serving God.
For a long time there has been no clear-cut manifestation of what is right and what is wrong. God says, “In the day that I make, I will take as My own precious possession those who love me and fear me and talk about My name.” The King James version reads, “My jewels—the day I make up my jewels,” which is the literal meaning.
The Hebrew language did not have many words, and “jewels” was considered synonymous with “possessions.”
He is saying, “In the day that I make up the things that are precious to me, these people will be My own little treasure. They will be my jewels. In that day all will know the difference between those who serve God and those who do not serve Him.”
Now we will see a change. The satanic assault against the righteous is giving way to God’s assault against the ungodly. We have just begun to see what is to happen in the earth.
As the Spirit of the Lord brings the pressures upon the ungodly, it is described as, “That day will be like a fire burning in the furnace.” You will see how God will leave neither root nor branch of the wicked. He will utterly consume them so nothing is left of their lives. God will bring forth His righteous ones and upon them He will arise like a sun—the sun of righteousness with healing in its beams.
Imagine what it will be like to bathe in the rays and beams of God, to have Him fill your heart with His love and blessing.
There will be two forces at work: the fire that burns and the sunbeams that heal and bring forth God’s people.
I would like to see the Lord bring such mighty victories that the fear of the Lord would fill the land again.
God is bringing a day in which all who have been arrogant against the Lord will be brought down. This is the vindication of His own Word and of what He is bringing forth in the earth.
He allows people to go on for quite a while—scorning it, rejecting it, casting it down, saying all manner of evil against it—but in this end time He will show the whole world His vindication of that which is right.