The people accuse God of failing to keep His part of their covenant/treaty. The priests swindle people. The temple is filled with sexual immorality and pagan worship. Men are divorcing their wives to take younger women. The land is filled with injustice. So they ask, “Where is the God of justice?” (Malachi 2:17).
But in Malachi, the LORD turned the tables on them, making it clear that the reason there is injustice is because they have chosen it. The LORD addresses their complaint that the people do not see the “God of justice” by promising to send “the Messenger of the covenant in whom you delight.” This is the Messiah for whom the people longed. It is He who would deliver them from oppression.
Then the LORD throws them a curve; He says “But who can endure the day of His coming?” The expected answer to this rhetorical question is “No one.”
When the Messiah comes, He is going to bring righteousness to the earth by first cleansing His people. He is going to be like “a refiner’s fire” and a “launderer’s soap” to them. He will be like the Cosmic Launderer.
The people have rationalized away all responsibility for the ills of their country. They think they are fine. The problems are external. Like Adam, they put all the blame on God.
The actual problem is that they need cleansing. Their perspectives need an overhaul. Their impurities need to be stripped away like raw ore being refined into fine silver. They are like soiled garments in need of cleansing and the Messiah will be like the launderer’s detergent to cleanse them.
The needed solution is not divine intervention of circumstances. It is internal cleansing.
And that Messiah will be Jesus, who died for the sins of the world. The question is not whether we will be refined – we will. The question is when and how we will be refined. We can choose to be refined by returning to Him, repenting of false perspectives and choosing true ones.
We can choose the difficult, narrow path, the path of loving and serving others, because we believe that path leads to life. If we do, then we are promised great rewards. We will endure the fiery trials of discipleship that will burn away the impurities of the flesh while in this life.
Our (vastly inferior) alternative is to wait until the next life and have our impurities burned away at the judgment seat of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:13-15). Either way, we will not endure the day of His coming without being changed. We will all be conformed to His image.
We can have it either way, but Jesus promises that if we choose to follow Him in this life, we will come out way ahead. Then when we meet the Cosmic Launderer, we will already be clothed in white garments, which will please Him greatly.
“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 launderers’ soap.”
Malachi 3:2