This is How it Goes...

Malachi 4:1-2a

Psalm 98

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Luke 21:5-19

Today’s Gospel is set in holy week. In chapter 19, Jesus prophetically enters the city on a donkey. He weeps because the people have failed to recognize Him, and He speaks of the coming doom. When Jesus cleanses the Temple—it is prophetic symbolism overturning the sacrificial system. He has multiple conflicts, culminating with the charge that the religious professionals are bilking the widows and pray for the sake of appearance. When Jesus sees a widow giving into the temple treasury, He announces that she has given more than the rich. I believe, He is also condemning the corruption of the religious institution.

When the people speak of the beauty of the Temple, Jesus counters that the Temple will be destroyed. In Christ, God has offered the way of salvation. In rejecting the Lord Jesus, they have embraced death. Jesus is God's Messiah sent to save Israel, and He will be crucified a few days later. Like the Temple, He will also be destroyed. He warns His disciples that they will suffer as well.

In April of 70 AD, as Jesus warned, the Roman army laid a siege around Jerusalem. (Ironically, within the city, warring factions of Jews actually fought and killed one another.) After four months, the walls were breached, and for eight days the Roman fought inside the city, slaughtering man, woman and child. The Temple was set on fire.  On September 8, the city was in ruins. The NT writes of the fall of Jerusalem in both prophetic and apocalyptic terms. Apocalyptic is a symbolic template unveiling human sin and God's justice. It is true in every age—not so much a prediction, but more a description of how the creation operates.  

This timeless message is found in the writings of the prophet Malachi. Today we hear God's response to those who complain that it is futile to serve God, and ask, “What’s the point?” Unexpectedly, it is an offer of Good News, “I will be a tender Father toward those who revere Me,” says the Lord. However, for those who reject His offer of salvation, “that day will be like an oven.” The image is important. The Hebrew word, tannur, is translated as fire pot, oven or furnace. This will be the last time it appears in the Old Testament. The first appearance provides insight. In Genesis 15, God plan for the salvation of the world begins with cutting a covenant with Abraham. The Scriptures speak of deep darkness and terror. Surprisingly, however, it is YHWH who passing through the divided parts of the sacrificed animal. In verse 17 tannur appears: “When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts.” (Later, God will be revealed in a flaming bush.) Psalm 21 celebrates God's faithfulness to King David. In verse 9, we hear what this means for David’s enemies: “You burn them up like a fiery furnace when you appear, the Lord angrily devours them; the fire consumes them.” As Hebrews 12:29 says “our God is a consuming fire."  Malachi goes on to say that the unrighteousness shall be consumed as straw in a fire, but for the righteous it is a sun of victory which brings healing.

The sun is both a source of life and death—not enough or too much are equally deadly. This metaphor for the holy fire of God reminds us that when God comes it is both good news for His people and bad news for those who choose other gods. Each of us has been warned, and all of us have been offered the way of life. Choose well.