Fiery Expectation
The dual focus of advent is shown this week. We see the telescoping of the expectation of the coming of the Messiah as we celebrate it on Christmas Day and the expectation of his return “in the clouds”.
Malachi gives us a picture of the coming Messiah that perhaps reflects John The Baptist’s understanding of what the messiah’s role would be.
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; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.
He did in deed accomplish those things. We see in the ministry of Jesus a way that constantly challenged the religious authorities, but we have yet to see the offerings to the Lord being presented in righteousness by the house of Levi. Instead we see Malachi’s expectation fulfilled in the temples of our hearts, as the Shekinah—the cloud of God’s glory, again fills the temple of our hearts.
The fiery language of the prophets (Malachi and later John) gives a sense of imminent judgment. That sense is not reflected in Zachariah’s song.
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace."
Many have questioned whether John understood his mission in the way his father described it. They wonder if perhaps John later doubted that Jesus was the one precisely because he wasn’t winnowing the chaff to be burned. Perhaps, but his message is spot on.
The language John uses in Luke is particularly apocalyptic. Luke alone quotes the further context from Isaiah.
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all mankind will see God's salvation.
God’s instruction to the one calling in the desert (Isaiah 40:2) is to speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Yet, in preparing the way some very chaotic things happen. We have a list of apocalyptic inversions, employed to show how God will bring order from chaos, and turn the world upside down to bring salvation: valleys filled in and mountains leveled, crooked roads straight and rough ways smoothed. And all mankind will see [a good thing] God’s Salvation.
Paul too points out the good thing in God’s salvation.
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
Just as in the Revelation reading a couple weeks back, Paul’s concern is that they endure to the end to see the beauty of Jesus face to face. He prays that their love may increase and that they could discern what is pure and blameless. The need only look to their Lord—the fullers soap, the smelting furnace.
