Malachi 3 · The Lantern

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.

As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. [Malachi 3:1] The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

Of these two comings the prophet Malachi says, "And suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek"; that is one coming. Of the second coming he says, " 'And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire, yes, he is coming,' says the Lord of hosts. 'But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears?

Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before thy presence. This passage the Lord applied to himself and to John the Baptist.

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:

But as it is in mockery that Celsus says we speak of "God coming down like a torturer bearing fire" and thus compels us unseasonably to investigate words of deeper meaning, we shall make a few remarks, sufficient to enable our hearers to form an idea of the defense which disposes of the ridicule of Celsus against us. And then we shall turn to what follows.

The same Christ who did all this will hereafter stand before us as our judge. Certainly the prophets did not pass over this but foretold it. Some saw him in that very form which he would stand before us; others predicted this only in words. Daniel was in the midst of the barbarians and the Babylonians when he saw Christ coming in the clouds.

(Verse 2) Look, says the Lord of Hosts, who can think of the day of his coming? And who will stand to see him? For he will come like a refining fire and like the fullers' soap. LXX: Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts, and who will 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.

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.

Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

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 false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling 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.

For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

But let us look at what Celsus next with ostentation announces in the following fashion: "And again," he says, "let us resume the subject from the beginning, with a larger array of proofs. And I make no new proofs. And I make no new statement but say what has long been settled. God is good and beautiful and blessed, and that in the best and most beautiful degree.

He does not lack things that are of Him and through Him and in Him. The Source and Maker of all, Who contains all, Who is beyond all, does not need that which is within Him, the Creator His creatures, the Possessor His possessions. Nothing is prior to Him, nothing derived from any other than Him, nothing beyond Him.

That the divine being is immutable is shown thus: First, by authority, Malachi 3: I am God and I do not change: the Gloss says: "He says this lest it be thought that there is any mutability in God." It must be said that without doubt the divine being is altogether immutable: and this indeed must be maintained, although we cannot perfectly understand it; whence all agree in main…

Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

And while God is provoked with frequent and continual offenses, he softens his indignation, and in his patience waits for the day of retribution, once for all determined. And although he has revenge in his power, he prefers to keep patience for a long while.

(Verse 7 and following) Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?' Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

On account of its great intensity, this reflection is sometimes mingled with wonder. For the heart of those who see the Lord will rejoice. Seek the Lord, O sinners, and be strengthened in your thoughts because of hope. And seek his face through repentance at all times, and you will be sanctified by the holiness of his presence, and you will be purified of your iniquity.

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough

And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.

And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken

Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?

(Verse 14) You have said, 'It is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his precepts, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?' LXX: And you said, 'It is vain to serve God; and what good is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?' To whom the Lord replied: You have said, It is in v…

It was, in fact, of their purely material interpretation of the law and of their failure to perceive that its temporal promises were but symbols of eternal rewards that they broke into such rebellious resentfulness as to say, "He labors in vain that serves God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances and that we have walked sorrowfully before the Lord of hosts?

And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, 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, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth

Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth

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