Attributed commentary excerpt
Barnes' Notes on Malachi 3:2
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Notes on the Whole Bible
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
And who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? - The implied answer is, “No one;” as in the Psalm Psalms 130:3, “If Thou, Lord, wilt mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” Joel had asked the same , “The day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?” “How can the weakness of man endure such might; his blindness, such light; his frailty, such power; his uncleanness, such holiness; the chaff, such a fire? For He is like a refine’s fire. Who would not fail through stupefaction, fear, horror, shrinking reverence, from such majesty?” Malachi seems to blend, as Joel, the first and second coming of our Lord. The first coming too was a time of sifting and severance, according as those, to whom He came, did or did not receive Him. The severance was not final, because there was yet space for repentance; but it was real, an earnest of the final judgment. John 9:39, “for judgment,” our Lord says, “I am come into this world, that they which see not may see, and they which see might be made blind;” and again John 12:31, “Now is the judgment of this world;” and John 3:18, “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the Only-Begotten Son of God; John 3:36. He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” As, on the other hand, He saith John 6:54. “whoso eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood hath eternal life;” and John 6:47, “he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life;” “hath,” He saith; not, “shall have;” “hath it,” in present reality and earnest, though he may forfeit it: so the other class is “condemned already,” although the one may repent and be saved, the other may Ezekiel 33:18. “turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity;” and if he persevere in it, “shall die therein.” It is then one ever-present judgment. Every soul of man is in a state of grace or out of it; in God’s favor or under His wrath; and the judgment of the Great Day, in which the secrets of men’s hearts shall be revealed, will be but an outward manifestation of that now hidden judgment. But the words, in their fullest sense, imply a passing of that judgment, in which men do or do not stand, as in those of our Lord Luke 21:35-36. “As a snare shall that day come on all those that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things which shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man;” and Paul Ephesians 6:13. “Take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand;” and in the Revelation Revelation 6:16-17. “They said to the mountains and rocks; Fall on us, and hide us from the wrath of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?” Asaph says of a temporal, yet for this life, final destruction; Psalms 76:6-7, “At Thy rebuke, O God of, Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep. Thou art to be feared, and who may stand in Thy sight, when Thou art angry?” For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soup - Two sorts of materials for cleansing are mentioned, the one severe, where the baser materials are inworked with the rich ore; the other mild, where the defilement is easily separable. “He shall come like a refining fire; Psalms 50:3-4, ‘a fire shall burn before H…
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