Mounce Commentary.- On Mt. Sinai God had promised that if the emerging Jewish nation would obey His voice and keep His commandments, He would make them “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The early church understood itself to be in the true succession of Israel and thus the inheritors of all the blessings promised to their spiritual predecessors. Corporately they are a “kingdom” [stressing their royal standing in connection with the exaltation of: JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS], and individually they are “priests” [emphasizing their role in serving God as a result of Christ’s sacrificial death]. (Review)
MALACHI 3:2-4 “’Behold, he comes, ‘says Jehovah of hosts, ‘But who can endure the day of his coming [into his everlasting dominion]? And who (will be) standing at his appearing [when he has gained conquest]? For he (is) like a refiners fire and like fullers soap [to wash white the stain that is there]. And he shall sit [in the posture of] a refiner and purifier of silver [to consume the impurities within]; and he shall purity the sons of Levi [the great company of priest], and purge them like gold and like silver, that they may be to Jehovah presenters of offering [of atonements] in [accordance to] righteousness.’”
MALACHI 3:2-4 “’Behold, he comes, ‘says Jehovah of hosts, ‘But who can endure the day of his coming [into his everlasting dominion]? And who (will be) standing at his appearing [when he has gained conquest]? For he (is) like a refiners fire and like fullers soap [to wash white the stain that is there]. And he shall sit [in the posture of] a refiner and purifier of silver [to consume the impurities within]; and he shall purity the sons of Levi [the great company of priest], and purge them like gold and like silver, that they may be to Jehovah presenters of offering [of atonements] in [accordance to] righteousness.’”
Spurgeon Commentary.- The elevation of the church is her beauty. The more she is above the world the fairer she is. “The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion.” Jerusalem was the world’s star; whatever light lingered on earth was borrowed from the oracles preserved by Israel. An ardent Israelite would esteem the holy city as the eye of the nations, the most precious pearl of all lands. Certainly the church of God, though despised of men, is the city, the place of His regal dwelling, and it is the joy of the church that God is in her midst. The great God is the great King of the church. The people among whom the Lord deigns (stoops) to dwell are privileged above all other; the lines have fallen unto them in pleasant places, and they have a goodly heritage.
We worship no unknown god. We know Him as our refuge in distress; we delight in Him as such, and run to Him in every time of need.
We worship no unknown god. We know Him as our refuge in distress; we delight in Him as such, and run to Him in every time of need.
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