Malachi 3:2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.
Today we look at two different similes – the refiner’s fire and the launderer’s soap. We get a double dose of His wonderful names today!
The refiner’s fire is used to make metals pure. It is a process of melting metal, usually gold or silver, for purification purposes. It melts it but does not burn or destroy it. When melted, the impure portions, known as dross, are skimmed from the surface leaving a pure metal that can be remade into something of beauty. This process not only makes it more beautiful, but it leaves something of high value when finished.
This is a great simile for the work being done in each of us. We may go through the fire and it may burn and not be a pleasant experience, but we come through it pure and beautiful, valued and loved by our Father, holy and blameless in His sight. Life gives us many refiner’s fire moments, and those times may feel unbearable. But He is working in us. Trust the process. His finished product, our changed lives, is worth so much more once the dross, the junk and sin in us, is removed.
A launderer’s soap is used to clean something, to remove the stains and filth, and to leave behind something fresh and clean. The type of soap referred to in this verse is translated in other versions as “lye” which is a very caustic, abrasive substance used to scrub away nastiness. Lye is combined with other substances (typically an oil) to which it bonds leaving behind something that can be used to clean with.
Our lives are washed clean, made new, fresh and bright. We start as filthy, sin filled creatures and emerge from the water spotless and clean. The scrubbing process can be painful at times, especially when scrubbing away something that has stained us. But we come out of the process fresh and new.
Both similes have the same result – the bad is removed, the good remains for all to see. Let YOUR life be purified, washed, and renewed. Know that the process may be difficult at times, but the results are worth it!
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