December 21

The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple. - Malachi 3:1.

MANY had come before him, many illustrious characters, many prophets, priests, and kings, but they had all come in subordination to him, and in reference and subserviency to him. He had entered our world himself often before this, and especially in anticipation of his incarnation. But now he was to come incarnate, clothed in a body like our own.

Now the word was to be made flesh, and to dwell among us, that we might behold his glory, and though there were no earthly grandeur which attached to his coming into our world, and though he was born in a stable and died upon a cross, yet his advent here was unspeakably the most important transaction ever recorded in the annals of history: and the angels, who are proverbial for their knowledge, testified of it, for they exclaimed in the song, “Glory to God in the highest; on earth peace, goodwill towards men.”

Two things are here mentioned with regard to his advent. The fact regards the manner in which he was to come. He shall suddenly come. Does this mean speedily? In Haggai we read, “Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land, and the Desire of all nations shall come.” But how could it be said that it was “yet a little while only,” when four hundred years were to elapse before he appeared?

The purpose and the execution, the promise and the fulfillment, are the same with God. And so also they are in a sense with faith. Faith knows no distance; relying on the truth and faithfulness of God, it can view future things as present and as past. Why, though four hundred years were to intervene, was soon compared with the long waiting of those who lived in patriarchal and antediluvian ages. He was to come soon, but this is said in special reference to the ministration of his forerunner, John, who should prepare the way before him, and then he was immediately to follow. But it means that he would come unawares.

Though he was foretold, and a general expectation was excited, yet many did not look for him, and as to many others, when he appeared he was unknown. They never dreamed of his appearing under such a character, and when John addressed them he said, “There is one standing here whom ye know not.” “And his kingdom came not,” as we are told, “by observation.” And we are still warned of the approach of his coming. “Be ye also ready,” says the Saviour, “for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

But, secondly, We are reminded of the place to which he was to come. “He shall suddenly come to his temple.” Accordingly we find him there when he was eight days old, presented by Mary and Joseph; at twelve years of age he was in the temple disputing among the doctors. There he wrought miracles, and there he taught the people. There are two remarks to be derived from these important statements; the first may be addressed with reference to the Jews. He must have come, according to this, while the second temple was standing, for as he was to come to it, he could not come to it when it was demolished, and when it was no more; and therefore the time of his advent, according to their own Scriptures, and their explanation of it, must long ago have gone by.

The other regards the enemies of his Deity, those who love to consult to cast him down from his dignity. “He shall suddenly come to his temple.” Why is it called HIS? Because it was dedicated to his service and to his glory. As a palace always reminds us of a king, so a temple always reminds us of a God. A temple always belongs to a God, and therefore when the prophet here announces that he should “suddenly come to his temple,” it was as to say that he was the owner of it, and that he was to be adored there.