Lambs and Lions.

Passage

1 "Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,"
Says the LORD of hosts.
2 "But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner's fire
And like launderer's soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the LORD
An offering in righteousness.
4 "Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Will be pleasant to the LORD,
As in the days of old,
As in former years. "
Malachi 3:1-4 (NKJV)

Pondering

Last night, in the Tuesday Night Prayer Meeting of our Church, one sister came forward and spoke Malachi 3:1-5 as a prophecy for our Church. As she spoke it the Lord gave me a vision that, at first, I thought did not have much to do with this passage of Scripture.

In the vision I saw many lambs all going humbly into God's Temple. In the temple they all merged into one sacrificial lamb who was sacrificed on the altar. Then a kingly lion arose from the altar and roared with a mighty roar from the Temple and the sound echoed from the mountain into the valley and to the sea, shaking all things. Then the lion became many lions going forth from the Temple into the nations with great authority and miracles took place wherever they went.

Now I see that this vision fits perfectly into Malachi 3:1-4. Malachi is actually prophesying about the coming of John the Baptist before the first coming of the Lamb of God, Jesus. Jesus came to cleanse the natural temple in anticipation of cleansing the spiritual temple, the Church. We as the Church are awaiting His second coming as the mighty lion of Judah, who comes as a refiners fire.

The vision is actually a picture of what God wants to do in His church before His final return. We are to come together as one offering, each of us a living sacrifice through the one perfect sacrifice of Christ Himself. Only offerings in Christ are acceptable. We must all come humbly as lambs to offer ourselves before God through the blood of the Lamb until we become one living sacrifice.

As we come together, Jesus , the Lamb of God will come and make us one body in Him. He will come to cleanse us and raise us up as the mighty army of the Lion of Judah. Then we will be prepared as His army to go forth into the nations declaring His might name with signs and wonders following.

Poem

Lord may I come to you as a lamb,
Humbly to sacrifice all I am.
Then You will cleanse us and raise us high,
And, as lions our united roar will shake the sky!

Prayer

"Father, prepare us, Your church, for You second coming. Come into Your Temple and cleanse us. Let us come together as one living sacrifice to glorify Your name and then rise up as Your end-time army to storm the gates of hell and save the lost. Amen!"