It has turned to God's words
in that portion that we were reading Malachi and I read again
the first three verses in chapter 3 Malachi Chapter 3, reading verses 1 to
3, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way
before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to
his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant,
whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of
hosts. but who may abide the day of
his coming. And he shall stand when he appeareth, for he is
like a refiner's fire, and likefull as soap. And he shall sit as
a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons
of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer
unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. understand with
the Lord's help to consider these three verses for a while this
morning as our text. First of all, here, of course,
what we have is the great promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ as we come to the very end of the Old Testament Scriptures.
So, it concludes on this glorious note the promise of Him that
was to come. We only have to turn over to
the beginning of the first book of the New Testament Scriptures,
the Gospel according to Matthew, where we read the book of the
generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So immediately there we have
the fulfillment of this great promise that Malachi declares
in these verses that we've read. Behold, I will send my messenger,
it says, and he shall prepare the way In the opening words
there is clearly a reference to him who was the forerunner
of the Christ, a reference there to the ministry of John the Baptist. In fact, in the opening words
of Mark's Gospel there is a specific reference to these words of Malachi. In Mark's Gospel we read the
beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it
is written in the Prophets. And then the quotation there
from Malachi 3, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying
in the wilderness, a reference there to Isaiah 40. prepare you
the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." It was him who
was to be the great harbinger of the Christ. And so he is spoken
of, John the Baptist here at the end of Malachi. The last
but one verse of the book, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And it is John the Baptist who
comes in that spirit of the prophet Elijah, preparing the way for
the appearing of Jesus Christ. But then, after those opening
words, Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare
the way before me." We're then introduced to another person.
It says, "...the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to
his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight
in. Behold, he shall come saith the
Lord of hosts." This is not now John the Baptist, this is the
one of whom John spake, the messenger of the covenant. This is the
Lord Jesus. Remember how he is spoken of
by the Apostle in Hebrews, Hebrews 8, 6 and 9, 15. We read of Christ
as the one who is the mediator, of the New Testament, or the
mediator of the New Covenant. It's the same as we read here
in this verse, the messenger of the Covenant. Now when we
consider the general context in which all these words are
set, the context in which we have this great promise concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, we see how, in fact, the Jews were a
people who were continually querying God's words. They were, it seems,
constantly calling into question the promise that God is giving
them. Look at the opening chapter,
for example, there in Chapter 1 at verse 2, God says, I have
loved you. I have loved you, saith the Lord,
yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's
brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated
Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the
dragons of the wilderness. God makes a declaration and all
they can do is to question what God is saying. Again, at verse
6, there in chapter 1, he says, "...the son honoureth his father,
and the servant his master. If then I be a father, where
is mine honour? If I be a master, where is my fear, saith the Lord
of hosts unto you? O priest that despised my name!"
And you say, where in have we despised thy name? Whatever God
says, they immediately question it. Verse 7, Ye have a polluted
bed upon mine altar, and ye say, Wherein have we polluted them? In that ye say, The table of
the Lord is contemptible. Now they are those who are constantly
wearying God as they challenge Him, as they question the things
that He is saying to them by His servants, the prophets. Look
at the language that we have there In the second chapter,
at verse 17, you have wearied the Lord with your words, says
the Prophet, yet you say, wherein have we wearied him? When you
say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord,
and he delighteth in them. Or where is the God of judgment? This is what they're doing all
the time, questioning God, questioning the Word of God, wearying God
with their rejection of his truth. And yet we see that it ever was
so. It was so also when we come to
consider something of the New Testament Scriptures. We see
the same sort of spirit being exposed by Peter there in his
second epistle, in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 3. It says, knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after
their own last and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation." Amen are those who only want
to question the things that God is saying. And so we have it
here in this book of Malachi where God gives these great promises
And yet men only live to reject his word. Verse 8 of this third
chapter, will a man rob God? Yet he hath robbed me. But ye
say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings, he says. Verse 13 of this chapter, your
words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say,
what have we spoken so against thee? O God, keep us that we
be those who tremble at His Word and do not reject His Word or
question His Word, but those who reverence the sacred page
of Scripture. We considered on Thursday evening
there in Nehemiah chapter 8 the spirits of those who did at that
time truly tremble at God's Word, how they treated it with all
due reverence, how they stood solemnly for the reading of the
Word of God. And yet Malachi was mentioning
in the days of Nehemiah that there were those who were of
a different spirit, who were always calling into question
the things that God says. And yet God gives this great
promise concerning him who was to come, who would come in the
fullness of the time. God would send his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law. And so we have it here in this
opening verse. The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly
come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom
ye delight in. Behold, he shall and this is
the word of the Lord. But then in that second verse,
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 fuller's soap. Now, we know that there are those
two comings of the Lord that are spoken of in Scripture. There's
that first coming how that in the fullness of the time God
sends forth His Son and He's made of a woman and He's made
under the law and He comes to redeem those who are under the
law He comes to stand in that law place of His people to accomplish
all righteousness and having fulfilled all righteousness by
the obedience of His sinless life He then dies the accursed
death, He dies in the room instead of the sinner, he sheds his precious
blood in order to redeem his people from their sins. There's
that first coming, of course. Clearly that is being spoken
of when we consider the reference to the messenger, the harbinger
who comes beforehand in the opening words of the chapter. And then
also there is that coming again. same law that those disciples
witnessed ascending to heaven, there in Acts chapter 1 they
are assured that He will come in like manner. There is that
day that has been appointed in which God is going to judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom He has raised from the
dead. Even the same Lord Jesus is to
be revealed from heaven as the judge of all there is a second
coming of the Lord but then also there is another coming there
is what we might say is a spiritual coming when the Lord comes to
his people when they experience in their own souls something
of his approach and his dealings with
them And it's that experimental aspect of His coming that I want
us really to consider from these words this morning. Who may abide
the day of His coming? Or when He comes to deal with
us in our souls, who shall stand when He appears? For He's like
a refiners fire and like fuller soap. and he shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness." There is that realization then
of the coming of Christ, the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ
when He comes into the soul of the sinner. And what do we read
here? In verse 1, He shall suddenly come, it says. Behold, He shall
come. And then, if we go over to chapter
4, and there, in verse 5, we read of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord. The great and dreadful day of
the Lord. Oh, when the Lord comes, and
He comes to sin us in this day, does He not? Behold, now is the
accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. And He comes, and He deals with
us. He meets with us. Surely, as we come together in
this fashion, Lord's day by Lord's day, we should desire that the
Lord Himself would come and visit us again and deal with us. and
deal with us under His Word and apply His Word and make us feel
something of that good and that gracious presence. But who may
abide the day of His coming is the question that we have here
at the beginning of this second verse. Now, when the Lord comes,
of course, we discover this, that His presence is a holy presence. His presence is a holy presence. He is the Holy One of Israel. Isn't this the name of the triune
God as we have it in Scripture? Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of
hosts, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. He is Holy Father,
He is Holy Son, He is Holy Spirit, He is three persons, but He is
one God and He is three times holy. Oh, He is the Holy One. And if the Lord comes and appears
to us, we must be those who recognize Him as that One who is truly
holy. No wonder we read of His coming
in these terms time and again as that that He's terrible, because
we're those who are not holy, we're those who in our very natures
are sinners, we're those who were conceived in sin, we're
those who were shapen in iniquity. with those who are the offspring
of Adam and Eve, and we partake of their fallen nature, and how
the sin of our first parents has come down to generations,
who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. It's an impossibility. Even David,
who by the grace of God was the man after God's own heart, has
to acknowledge he was conceived in sin, and he was shapen in
iniquity. And so when the Lord comes, what
a day it is! Joel 2.11, the day of the Lord,
it says, is great and very terrible. Who can abide it? Oh, if the
Lord deals with us, how can we abide those solemn dealings of
the Lord? Look at the language there at
the beginning of chapter 4, Behold, the day cometh, it says, that
shall burn as an oven, and all the proud Yea, and all that do
wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn
them up, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall leave them neither
root nor branch. This is a God, Holy One, that
we have to deal with and we have to deal with Him as those who
in our very natures are sinners, with those who are the transgressors
of that Holy Law of God. He is a vice, we are told, too
pure to behold evil, and he cannot look upon iniquity. And it is interesting, and it's
instructive, I believe, to consider what we have recorded in Scripture
with regards to the experiences of men and women in the Old Testament
and the New Testament. Remember, for example, the experience
of Jacob. when he flees from his brother
and there in Genesis 28 we find him at Bethel and you're familiar
with the chapter where as he sleeps in the open he sees that
ladder set up on the earth and his top reaches to heaven and
he sees the angels of God ascending and descending upon the ladder
and he's afraid He's afraid. He says, how dreadful is this
place. This is none other but the house
of God and the gates of heaven. It was Bethel. It was God's house. It was the Lord God appearing
to him. But what was the experience of the patriarch? It made him
afraid. It made him afraid. It was a
dreadful place for him into being. and there is Jacob who becomes
Israel isn't that to be the experience of all those who are the true
Israel of God will know something of that that dread that fear
of the Lord that Jacob knew we see it also in others we see
it in the experience of Job when we come to the end of that book
of Job what does he say in chapter 42 I have heard of thee by the
hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor
myself and repents in dust and ashes, or when he has some sight
of God, some spiritual apprehension of who God is, how he is abhorrent
in his own sight, he feels himself to be a great sinner indeed. The same in the experience of
the Prophet Isaiah, when he receives his call and his commission there
in that sixth chapter we're familiar again with the account that we
have as he relates something of the Lord's dealings with him
when the King Uzziah died and he was called to be the Lord's
servant, the Lord's prophet. And what does he say woe is me
for i am a man of unclean lips for i dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips and mine eyes have seen the king the lord
of hosts he feels his uncleanness and is to be the lord's servant
is to speak the lord's words he has unclean lips and we're
told how one of the angels one of the seraphim takes a living
coal from off the brazen altar there in the temple and puts
it to his mouth to purge away his sins. But how the Prophet
has to pronounce a dreadful woe upon himself. These things are
repeated time and again. Think of the experience of Daniel
as he tells us there in the 10th chapter of his book. In Daniel 10, 7, I Daniel alone
saw the vision. He tells us For the men that
were with me saw not the vision, but the great quaking fell upon
them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left
alone, and saw this great vision. And there remained no strength
in me, for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption,
and I retained no strength." Or who can abide the day of His
coming? how dreadful it is when the Lord
himself comes and appears to us and makes himself so real
in our soul's experience. If we know nothing of the Lord's
dealings with us in this personal way, what do we really know of
the Lord? wanting to come together to hear the Word of God and to
be instructed in our minds, in our intellects. Another thing
is it not to feel something of the presence of this One that
He's spoken of, who does indeed appear, who comes into the midst
of His people. We have not only those things
that are recorded concerning the believers of the Old Testament,
we see the same in the New Testament. We see it in Peter. in Luke chapter
5 with that miraculous draught of fish. How the disciples, experienced
fishermen, have been laboring through the night, they've caught
nothing, and the Lord appears and tells them to cast the net
on the other side of the ship, and they bring in this great
draught of fish. The nets break, and the boat
is likely to sink. And what does Peter say? All
depart from me. for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
That was Peter's experience. He saw something of the glories
of the Lord Jesus Christ and he was made to understand something
of the holiness of this One that's spoken of in this portion before
us. And that's his response, depart
from me. How can he stand the presence
of Christ in all His glory, the Holy One of Israel? And then
again, of course, John, in the Revelation, as he sees that vision
of the glorified Christ, I fell at his feet as dead, he says.
I fell at his feet as dead, he's overwhelmed. Oh, this is the
one, you see, the Holy One of Israel, who may abide the day
of his coming, Who shall stand when He appeareth? He is like
the refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. He's like the refiner's
fire. Why? Our God, we're told, our
God is a consuming fire. People say he's a consuming fire
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, but in a sense he doesn't say
that, he simply says that God is a consuming fire, however
we consider him. Even when we consider him in
the Lord Jesus Christ, is he not that one who is a consuming
fire? When he comes with his word to
us, what is his word likened unto? Remember the language of
Jeremiah 23, he's not my word like as a fire. and like a hammer
that breaketh the rock in pieces. These different figures are used
to describe to us something of the Word of God, it's like a
fire. And that was the case with Jeremiah himself, that Word of
God was a fire in his very bones, he couldn't forbear, he had to
speak the Word of God. God's Word is a hammer, breaking
the rock, breaking the hard heart of the sinner to pieces. And
then of course we know in the New Testament, there in Hebrews
4, God's Word is said to be quick and powerful and sharper than
the two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing of the soul and
the spirit. It's a discerner of the thoughts
and the intents of the heart. And as you know in the context
there in the end of that fourth chapter in Hebrews, Really, it seems to be speaking
not so much of the inscripturated word, but the word incarnate.
It's Christ who is that word of God that is quick and powerful
and piercing. We have these different figures
here. He is like a refiner's fire,
it says, and like fuller's soap. The fuller's soap. in the transfiguration
we're told how that those five disciples Peter and James and
John they saw the glories of Christ and his garments was as
white as snow as no fuller could make them oh he's so pure he's
so holy and this is the one that we read of who comes the holy
one his holy presence In the context here, of course, as I
said, there's some reference to the
days of Nehemiah. This is the period when Malachi
was exercising his ministry, about 440 B.C. That time when Nehemiah was engaged
in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. And he says here,
in verse 5, I will come near to you to judgment, and I will
be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers,
and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the
highling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that
turn aside the stranger from his right. And fear not me, saith
the Lord of hosts." Again in chapter 2 and verse 7, as a rebuke
of the priests. The priests live should keep
knowledge, they should seek the Lord at his mouth, for he is
the messenger of the Lord of hosts." Now, if we turn to Nehemiah,
we would see how opposite these words are, as words of rebuke
to what was going on in those days. He continues, as the prophet,
as he speaks here in this second chapter, exposing the sins of
the people. Verse 11 he says, "...Judah hath
dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in
Jerusalem. For Judah hath profaned the holiness
of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of
a strange God." Verse 14, Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the
Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth,
against whom thou hast dealt treacherously. Yet is she thy
companion, and the wife of thy covenant." Now, as I say, if
we refer back to the book of Nehemiah, we see that these were
the very sins that were being committed at that time. Just turn to Nehemiah and the last chapter
there in Nehemiah chapter 13 verse 23 in those days also Nehemiah
says saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashtot of Ammon and
of Moab And their children spake half in the speech of Astad,
and could not speak in the Jewish language, but according to the
language of each people. And I contended with them, and
cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their
hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give
your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto
your sons, or for yourselves. And then, verse 28, One of the
sons of Jehoiada the son of Eliashib, the high priest, was son-in-law
to Sanballat, the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me."
It does appear that Malachi is addressing these very sins, how
that they were forsaking their own and they were taking wives
of these other nations who were the enemies of the children of
Israel. And so we see how that the prophet
exposes exposes the sin of the people and of course he is speaking
here in our text really of him who was to come as the great
prophet the Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophetic
office and it's interesting when we do come to the to the New
Testament and we see the gospel fulfillment We see something
of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Now the Lord Jesus speaks sharp
words on occasions. When he's spoken of in Matthew
chapter 3, for example, whose fan is in his hand, it says,
and he will throughly purge his floor. His ministry then is very
much a searching ministry. There's that negative aspect
even to the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Think not that I am come
to send peace on earth, he says. But a sort, nay, rather division
he comes. He makes a division amongst men.
There's those references in John's Gospel to that aspect of his
ministry. There was a division amongst
the people because of it. There was a division because
of his sayings. when he speaks at the end of
John chapter 9, that lovely chapter where we see him performing a
very notable miracle in giving sight to a man who was born blind,
and the gracious ministry that Christ exercised to that man
whom they cast out of the temple, they excommunicated him. What
does the Lord say to his persecutors, to those Pharisees? the end of
John 9, for judgment am I come into this world, that they which
see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. Those men, those Pharisees who
thought they knew it all, they knew nothing at all, they were
blinded. Oh, the ministry of the Lord Jesus, as that one who
is the Holy One, when He comes, who may abide the day of His
coming, who shall stand when He appears, for He is like a
refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. And He shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness." Let me say Also, he has something
about his gracious presence when he comes. Yes, he comes in all
his holiness, but there's grace as well. As he engages in this ministry,
we have this figure of the smelter or the refiner, working at his
crucible, seeking to purify the metal. And what does he do? Well, as
he engages in this work, of course, he applies the heat. The process
is one whereby he will seek to separate all the dross from the
pure metal. And he will watch over the crucible. He'll carefully watch. And in
time he'll begin to see his own reflection in that pure metal
as the dross is tapped away and taken away and removed. How he
watches over these things. We have that word in Isaiah,
Isaiah 48.10, he says, Behold, I have refined thee, but not
with silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace
of affliction." This is how the Lord purges His people, purifies
His people. He puts them in the furnace.
He has made choice of them in that furnace of affliction. And
interestingly there in Isaiah 48, the comment of Dr. Gill is that that
process is not lengthy or severe. The Lord is tender. He's watching
over. the crucible at all times what does he go on to say here
at verse 6 I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed we will not consume his children in the fires
but he will see to it that they are carefully kept and and preserved
this is his gracious way with them is it not Remember what
we read in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 10, 13 concerning
those temptations. Now God does not tempt His people,
but God does test His people and try His people. But God is
faithful and will not suffer you to be tempted above that
you are able, but will with the temptation, Paul says, make a
way of escape. that she may be able to bear
it. He watches over his children
at all times. When thou passest through the
waters, he says, I will be with thee. And the rivers shall not
overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
furnace, thou shalt not be burned. through the fire there shall
not be burned and the flame shall not kindle upon thee. This is
the promise that God gives to his children. He knows them.
And how Job makes that great confession in the midst of all
the trials and all the troubles that he has to pass through.
That strange way of God with him as Satan is permitted to
come and to trouble him in so many ways. And yet that great
confession he knows the way that I take. when he has tried me,
I shall come forth as God." All God has a gracious purpose to
fulfill as he deals with his people when the Lord comes to
us and deals with us in contrary ways. We're not to lose sight
of that. We can so easily misjudge our
God. Again, the psalmist reminds us,
he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we're dust. He never deals
with us above that that we are able to bear. This is our comfort. He is such a good and such a
gracious God. And here we read of these sons
of Levi. He shall purify the sons of Levi
and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness. It's interesting that we have
this reference to the sons of Levi, speaking, of course, there
of the priestly tribe. And back in that second chapter,
we do find words that are addressed onto the priests, they're rebuked.
In verse 1 of chapter 2, And now, O ye priests, this commandment
is for you. And he goes on to remind them
what they should believe. Verse 4, He shall know that I
have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be
with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him
of life and peace, and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith
he feared me, and was afraid before my name. The Lord of truth
was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips. He
walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should
keep knowledge, and they should seek the Lord at his mouth, for
he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." Now, ultimately those
words, of course, are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is that One who is the true
Priest of God. But those words, are they not
also to be fulfilled in the lives of his children we believe in
the priesthood of all believers you know the language of Peter
you are a chosen generation he says a royal priesthood and holy
nation that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvellous light and he says
to them be ye holy as I am holy and so those words so what we
have in that second chapter is being addressed to the priest
in the Old Testament these things are written for our learning
there's an application to New Testament priest, the priesthood
of all believers, we are to be those who are that holy people,
and the Lord will make His people and holy people. This is what
He is about, here in this third verse. His intention is that
they offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. And what is
it that produces it? It's God's dealings, it's Christ's
presence, It's that smiling of the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver. He is watching over the whole
process. He's engaged in this work for
a purpose to make his people that holy people. And how does
the Lord do it? He does it so graciously. when
we think of the way in which the Lord dealt with Peter. When
Peter denied his Lord. Remember how we have the record
of it there in Luke chapter 22. The Lord had told him that before
the cock crow he would deny his master three times and so it
was. But we're told there how the
Lord turned and looked upon Peter And it was when the Lord turned
and looked upon him that Peter remembered that word of the Lord.
And then he went out, we're told, and he wept bitter tears. Oh, there it is, you see, that
godly sorrow, that worketh repentance and salvation not to be repented
of, so different to the sorrow of the world. The Lord looked
upon him. And here is the Lord, how He
looks, over this whole process. He sits as a refiner and purifier
of silver, purifying the sons of Levi, purging them as gold
and silver, always watching over them. And it is that look of
the Lord. Again, the language of the wise
man in the book of Proverbs, he tells us, in the light of
the King's countenance is life. And we need that look of the
Lord Himself. When we think of the Psalmist
again in the 42nd and the 43rd Psalms, those twin Psalms, where
he addresses himself there in the form of a soliloquy really.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted
within me, he says. He addresses himself, hope thou
in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. It's the help of His countenance,
it's when the Lord looks, when the Lord beholds us, when He
watches over us. We have that great blessing in
the Old Testament, the Aaronic blessing that was to be pronounced
upon the children of Israel, the Lord bless thee and keep
thee, the Lord make His face to shine upon them. and be gracious
unto thee the Lord, lift up his countenance upon thee, and give
thee peace. This is how the Lord comes when
he comes in. He comes in that blessed way
of salvation. Turn us again, says the psalmist,
and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. all we need that the Lord Himself
then would come, would bend the heavens, would visit us, would
draw near and lift up the light of His countenance upon us. Who
may abide the day of His coming? Who shall stand when He appeareth?
For He is like a refiner's fire and like full of soap, and He
shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, And He shall purify
the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they
may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." Oh, the Lord
grant that we might know then something of the fulfillment
of the Word. It's fulfilled, yes. Historically
it is fulfilled. Christ has come. Prophetically
it will yet be fulfilled again. He is to return in power and
great glory, or that it might also be fulfilled experimentally
in our hearts, that we might know what it is for the Lord
Himself to come. The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly
come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom
ye delight in. Behold, He shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. The Lord then be pleased to fulfill
His word in us. Amen. Let us conclude this morning
as we sing the hymn 710, the tune is Ferndale 806. The hymn
710, no wisdom of man can spy out his heart, the Lord only
can show his hidden part. nor yet are men willing to have
the truth told. The sight is too killing for
pride to behold. A look from the Lord discovers
our case, and bringeth his word attended with grace. The man
is convicted, and filleth his hell, and groweth afflicted more
than he can tell." 710.