Advent is about hope. True. It is about holding on in the darkness. True.

There is the focus on Jesus coming again, and that has a lot of sentimentality for us in the West. We feel relieved because of all our perceived slights over the years. (The government is coming to get us, silence us, make us quit saying “Merry Christmas”… whatever.)

My question is this: Are we SURE we want Jesus coming again?

I mean… absolutely sure?

Take a look at Old Testament text for the Second Sunday of Advent:

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

² But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can standwhen he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. ³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,⁴ and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

⁵ “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty. (Malachi 3:1-5, NIV)

I’ve read that first line of the second verse in a few different translations and they all say the same basic thing:

Who can endure the day of his coming?

John the Baptist was the messenger before Jesus. His coming wasn’t pleasant. But the messenger was simply saying, “I am preparing the way. One greater than me is on the way.”

Back to that haunting question: who can endure the day of HIS coming?

If John is tough… what is Jesus like when he comes again? When the Lord comes to his temple… are you REALLY wanting this?

We are prepared for the fighting Jesus. We are prepared for General Jesus to come and crush our wicked enemies that have kept us from saying “MERRY CHRISTMAS” all these years!

He shows up… with soap. And fire.

We’re looking for the big fat rewards and find out Jesus has just stepped into the garden with a chainsaw.

Who can endure the day of his coming?

Jesus isn’t going to judge the wicked first. When Malachi mentions sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, along with cheating bosses and those stomping on the poor, he is referring to the house of God.

The launderer’s soap was used to get the nasty stains out. The refiner’s fire was used to draw out the impurities.

For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)

We need to be ready because when JESUS comes, he puts the religious on trial first.

I need to be honest with myself and with you: there is an ugliness that has been vomited out over the last 10 years in the white American evangelical church that has been overwhelming. Yes, there have those who have simply bailed completely on anything appearing to be Christian.

(BUT I WILL NOTE: for those I personally know who have bailed on the American version of the church they’ve experienced, they are still doing Jesus types of things. They haven’t gone full on “rebellion.” They have tremendous hearts trying to figure out how to still do good in this world.)

But I have to be honest about the rest of this mess: this is a cleansing that is needed. The ugliness of the Church is being exposed and I think the Holy Spirit is doing it.

Back to the question: Who can endure the day of his coming?

Why ask that question if the answer is “no one“? I don’t believe that IS the answer. I think it’s a “John the Baptist” warning shot. It is preparing the way. It is a call of compassion:

You think you’re ready. You’re not. BUT YOU CAN BE.

I think we can choose the refiner’s fire. I think we ask the Holy Spirit to take that soap to our filthy spirits and start rubbing hard now.

While I watch the ugliness of the white American evangelical vomit out its nastiest stuff, I can’t stand there and wag my finger and say, “You nasty bunch! I’m glad I’m Anglican now!”

What is needed of each of us is repentance. I am to fall to my knees and ask the Holy Spirit to get that soap out now and start rubbing deep.

The ugliness of the white American conservative church needs to be exposed, but I am begging each of us to not jettison Jesus!

Find Jesus. Find his people. Cling to both.

Holy Spirit, I need your cleansing work. I need the refiner’s fire, even though pain is produced in the short term. Prepare me, Holy Spirit. When Jesus comes back, I want this work done so I am GLAD to see my Savior.

Prepare the way of the Lord.