The last few days of a semester are more important than my students realize. The final weeks present an opportunity to tie up loose ends, clarify concepts, and summarize the big picture. And as we come to the end of our grand tour of the Old Testament, the Bible returns to a major theme: God intends to undo the damage done in the garden.

Malachi reminds Israel that the promised Messiah will arrive on the scene (v. 1). But He will not telegraph His visit. He will appear suddenly, with surprise. His appearance will signal God’s commitment to the covenant He made with Israel. Long ago God bound Himself to His people by making a promise never to abandon them, but to redeem them. That redemption will require purifying them to make them fit to be with Him.

So, the coming of this messenger will be accompanied by a great refinement (v. 2). Using the image of a furnace for refining metal or a launderer with strong soap, God declares that no one will escape the purifying process. He will start with the Levites, who facilitated Israel’s sacrificial worship system (v. 3). If the worship team is sinful, the offerings they bring will be unworthy. But thankfully, God would refine them.

This refining process would involve a confrontation, a reckoning. Using judicial language, Malachi announces that evildoers would be put on trial (v. 5). It would be easy to dismiss this passage as yet another description of judgment on Israel, but there is more here. Coming as it does at the end of the Old Testament, it leaves us with the hopeful expectation that our sin problem will be finally dealt with! Even at the end, God is not done with Israel.

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