The Rev. Charlie Camlin: “The Lord Will Come to His Temple” (Malachi 3:1-2)

From the Rev. Charlie Camlin of Holy Trinity REC in Virginia, we have another Advent sermon, this one being The Lord Will Come to His Temple.  This sermon is based on Malachi 3:1-2, a passage that speaks of not only the coming of John the Baptist, but our Lord Himself:

As we come to the beginning of the Christian new year, we once again encounter the themes for the season of Advent. We see the change in colors—notice that violet now adorns the altar. Violet is used primarily for seasons of penitence. We notice that the mood of our hymns has changed—we go from celebrating the rule of Christ being extended to the ends of the earth to longing for His Coming. Our culture would have us move immediately into the festive spirit of the holidays but the Church has historically recognized that there needs to be a period of preparation before celebration. Before we joyously celebrate the birth of our Savior, we will be directed through our readings and hymns to examine ourselves and amend our ways.

The word Advent simply means coming. In the Church’s use, it points to the first Advent of Jesus Christ but it also points ahead to His Second Advent. In preparation for this event, the Church is called to cast away the works of darkness and to purify ourselves to meet Him. All of this has been presented this morning in our collect for the season of Advent; it has been heard in our lessons for the day; and it has been voiced in our hymns.

I want us to examine these themes as they appear in our Old Testament lesson from the Book of Malachi. I particularly want to focus upon verses 1-2 of the third chapter. I will briefly explain what is being said in this context and then will go on to develop how this prophecy has been and will be fulfilled and what we must do in light of this truth.

There is a definite pattern in the Book of Malachi. The book was written to the Israelites after the return from Babylonian exile. They had been able to rebuild their city and more importantly, to rebuild their Temple. In this book there are a series of six disputations. The general pattern is that there is an assertion by God, then a question posed by the Israelites, followed by God’s response to them and the implications of their actions. In the first passage that we read today, the assertion that is put forth by God is found prior to our reading in verse 17 of chapter 2. The prophet clearly states, “You have wearied the LORD with your words.” After this assertion, the anticipated response of the people is, “In what way have we wearied Him?” The prophet then says on behalf of God, “In that you say, “Everyone who does evil Is good in the sight of the LORD, And He delights in them,” Or, “Where is the God of justice?” So we see that the Israelites have apparently begun to doubt God. They have begun to question whether or not God will really deal with evil. They have begun to doubt that God will ever come and bring justice. The bottom line is that they want the LORD to come and to deal with the wicked in a decisive way.

That leads us to the beginning of the response of God to their doubts. He says to them in the first verse of chapter 3: “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me.” Notice first of all that in this statement that the LORD is promising to come—that is the answer to their cry for justice. But before He comes, He is going to send a messenger before Him to prepare the way for Him. This implies that they are not ready to meet Him. This verse sounds very much like another prophecy in the Book of Isaiah: [Isa 40:3-5] “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; 5 The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Now if you listen carefully to both of these verses and if you have read the New Testament carefully, then you will know that these passages point to the promise to send John the Baptist. He came in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare Israel for the coming of their God. Of course this also implies what we already know from numerous other clear statements in the New Testament—that Jesus Christ is God.

Thus Fr. Camlin reiterates a point we have seen elsewhere this week about our Lord’s Divine nature.  He goes on to speak about this prophecy of Malachi’s being only partially fulfilled in the First Advent, and its being completely fulfilled at His Second Coming.  As Fr. Camlin asks: are we ready for the final fulfillment of this prophecy? I commend the rest of this sermon to you–another good one for Advent!