01/21/2026
When Malachi spoke of the coming Messiah, he used images that may have sounded more meaningful to his original audiences than to us modern readers.
He asked, “Who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?"
These questions are not raised
because the Messiah will be cruel,
but because His work will be thorough
and seriously uncomfortable.
Malachi described Him
to come “like a fuller’s soap".
This is meant to emphasize
the careful and intentional cleansing
which the Messiah will do rather
than just reckless destruction.
The image of fuller’s soap is quieter
than the image of the refining fire
especially to us modern readers
but is even more disturbing
to the ears of the original audiences.
In the ancient world,
a fuller did not clean garments gently.
There were no pleasant fragrances
or mild solutions like what we have now.
Fuller’s soap was harsh and alkaline.
The cloth was worked aggressively.
It was rubbed, pressed, and beaten.
But this process was not meant
to destroy the garment in any way.
It was meant to cleanse it completely.
Malachi perhaps chose this image,
because God’s cleansing is not superficial.
The Messiah will not come to improve appearances.
He came to address what is deeply embedded,
what has accumulated over time,
and what cannot be removed with a simple rinse.
This is not judgment for the sake of punishment.
It is purification for the sake of God’s presence.
Malachi says the result is a people
who can once again bring offerings
to the Lord in righteousness.
(For context, the people Malachi was speaking to
were people who have normalized bringing
unacceptable and blemished offerings
before the altar at the newly built temple.)
The goal is not outward perfection,
but lives made fit to stand before a holy God.
When the New Testament opens,
this promise begins to take visible form.
Jesus did not only forgive sin.
He confronted it, named it, and exposed it.
He told the Samaritan woman caught in adultery,
“Neither do I condemn you, go,
and from now on sin no more”.
His forgiveness is real,
but it is never detached from transformation.
He touched what is unclean (Mark 1:40–42),
ate with sinners (Luke 5:30–32),
and called people to repentance (Mark 1:15).
Those He encounters are not left unchanged.
His mercy is gentle, but His cleansing goes deep.
Like fuller’s soap, His work can feel abrasive.
It challenges pride, unsettles self-made righteousness,
and disrupts sins we have learned to tolerate.
But it is important to remember that
He cleans because He intends
to dwell with His people (John 14:23).
Malachi’s message was never meant
to produce or instill fear alone.
It was meant to offer hope.
God was promising a people so purified
that they could live in His nearness again.
Even now, when Christ patiently
exposes, refines, and washes
what remains in us, it is not because
He intends to discard the garment.
It is because He intends to claim it as His own,
it just had to go through proper cleansing
through the fuller's soap.
The question for us now,
are we willing to daily be cleansed
by and with the fuller's soap?
