“But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:” (Malachi 3:2)
Malachi is prophesying about what is called the Day of the Lord. Many Old Testament prophets and psalmists wrote about the Day of the Lord. We call it the Second coming of Christ. This is not the Rapture or taking away of the saints or believers. In the Rapture, Jesus doesn’t set foot on earth. We are taken away and meet Him in the air. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1Thessalonians 4:16-17) On the Day of the Lord, He sets foot again on earth. “And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” (Zechariah 14:4)
Malachi asks who will be able to bear that day. It will not be a time of rejoicing, but of terror. Amos the prophet said these words from the Lord. “Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?” (Amos 5:18-20) When John the Baptist saw the Pharisees come to the baptism, he calls them out and declares he is not the Christ, but when Christ does come, He will bring punishment. He was not talking about Christ the Suffering Servant Who was to come to take our sin, but the risen Christ Who was coming with wrath on the earth. “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Matthew 3:7)
It will be a terrible day on earth. Jesus spoke about this day. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” (Matthew 24:21) Jeremiah prophesied about it. “For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Him of His adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.” (Jeremiah 46:10) Zephaniah said that in that day even brave men will cry. “The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.” (Zephaniah 1:14) And the prophet Joel tells us the exact day. “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.” (Joel 2:31)
But the Lord has already taken the believers, the children of God, away in the Rapture from the judgment on earth. The Lord has always delivered His people from judgement. There’s Noah whom God delivered before the great flood. (Genesis 5-9) He took Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Genesis 19:1-29) He delivered the Israelites from the judgement on Egypt through the plagues. (Exodus 7-9) And believers will no longer be on earth when Jesus comes to judge the earth.
We will return with Jesus. Paul writes, “To the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” (1Thessalonians 3:13) And when Paul is writing about the rapture, he slips in about when Jesus returns. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” (1Thessalonians 4:14) And Jude wrote about what Enoch said, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,” (Jude 1:14). We will be with Christ when He returns with judgement for the earth.
Child of God, we will be part of the glory of the Lord. Jesus will return with power, might and glory. The angels and His saints will be with Him. All His power, glory and might will be displayed. We can’t even imagine how it will be. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) I imagine our tears will be for the condemned. Those who rejected Jesus. When I think of how terrible the judgement will be, I can’t rejoice that they’ll have their just reward. But I think of how horrible they will suffer.
Right now, we live in a dispensation of grace and mercy because of Jesus. But that time is coming to a close. Jesus said there would be signs in the heavens. “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” (Luke 21:25-27) Every time something happens and there is something spectacular in the sky (a rocket flare, a comet, etc...) people panic and right away start asking if it means the end. They want to wait until the very end to come to the Lord. They will be like the five foolish virgins, who went to get their lamps ready, but it was too late. The groom came and shut the door on them. (Matthew 25:1-10) They were not ready.
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