Malachi 4

00:01 As we turn our attention now to the Word of God, I would invite you to turn to the book of Malachi, the fourth chapter. And, uh, we want to read our text this morning and, uh, concentrate on what God would be saying to not only the Malachi and the people of ancient Israel, 00:21 but what He might say to us this morning. For our Scripture reading here and for our text, I'm going to back up to verse 16 of chapter 3 and read from there to the end of chapter 4, so we get the context again on what is the context of what's being said here. 00:40 "Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. 'They shall be mine,' says the Lord of hosts, 01:00 'on the day that I make up my jewels, make them my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and the one who does not serve Him. For behold, 01:19 the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly, will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,' says the Lord of hosts, 'that will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear my name, the Son of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings, 01:41 and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the souls of your feet on the day that I do this,' says the Lord of hosts. Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, 02:01 with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. 02:21 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers." Now, I read that because that's the way the Jewish people would read it historically. 02:34 Rather than leave the last prophet and the, uh, the last prophet pronouncing a curse, they went back up to the earlier part of that verse and ended with a positive note about the fathers' hearts and the children's hearts being turned to one another. Well, what do we make of this Scripture this morning? 02:52 Well, we come to the end of the book, which started with the love of God for His people. He, he wondered he, he let them know that He loved them, and they said, "How do we know that you love us?" Then He talked about being their father, and yet they did not honor Him. And so we have the God of love, the Father God, and the Father heart of God, 03:11 and the love of God for His people contrasted through the book of those who continued to break His covenant with, with God. 03:21 And so what we have here is, is the question tonight whether or not they would continue being the covenant-keeping God in relationship with Him and covenant with Him, or whether they would pay the consequences of a broken relationship with God, 03:40 either return to the covenant-keeping God or suffer the eternal consequences. This comes again from the Lord of hosts in verse 1. He says, "The Lord of hosts." This is a message from the God of heaven and earth. In verse 3, it again says, 04:00 "The Lord of hosts, the Lord of the heavenly hosts, the angels, the hosts of Israel, the hosts of all the armies of the world, 04:07 and the hosts of His people," the God Almighty is giving us a choice today of whether or not to follow Him and be in covenant relationship with Him through the Lord Jesus Christ or pay the consequences, the eternal consequences of separation from Him. Now, 04:27 as we look at this passage this morning, we come to a, a, a realization that there's a lot of pictures in here. There's a lot of word pictures. The Hebrew language is full of word pictures. In fact, it's a very picturesque language. It's, it's built around pictures. 04:45 One of the ones that might be most familiar to us is the word "meditate," which you've often heard of, like a cow chews its cud. And so when you read the word "meditate," it has the idea, the picture of a cow chewing its cud and, and regurgitating, uh, its, its food and us regurgitating the Word of God in our meditation. 05:06 That's the a picture of the language, the picturesque language of the Hebrew language. And so here, uh, and then you contrast that with the Greek language, which is much more specific language. It's much more propositional, and it's perfect for communicating precise doctrinal concepts. So I believe those are two different, 05:26 uh, aspects of the Old Testament: the pictures that come through, the stories, the accounts, the, the analogies compared with the Greek of the New Testament, which is very precise in helping the church define who it is and what it believes and what it is about. And so some of the word pictures that we have here in this passage this morning, 05:46 let's look at them. The first one that comes to, to, to us in verse 1 is that this day, this coming day of the Lord, is burning like an oven, like an oven, or like a furnace, some translations say. Furnace may be a little bit more descriptive of the, of the heat, or a furnace of oven, 06:07 a furnace of, of fire, the intensity of heat that will be accompany the day of the Lord. 06:13 Now, this intensity of heat is not to necessarily purify as it would, uh, in chapter 3, verse 3, "He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver and purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." But this oven, 06:34 this furnace, is for the purpose of destruction, the destruction of the wicked, the destruction of the ungodly, the destruction of them like stubble. You see that in the middle of verse 1, "And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly, 06:53 not one will escape, not one will escape who does wickedly. They will be like stubble." Now, many of you can't quite maybe relate to this like I can in the sense that there's an illustration I like to use. Years ago, when I was growing up on the farm and working on the farm out in Oregon where we grew grass seed, 07:13 uh, back in those days, we could still burn off the straw off the fields. If you can imagine, uh, tens of thousands of acres of acres of, of straw that needed to have something done with it. And so the farmers would wait for the right, uh, conditions, and, uh, and then they would burn. 07:33 We'd even shut the combines down because you could only burn on certain days. And we'd burn a backburn, uh, against the wind, and, uh, we'd sit on the back of a truck with a, with a lighter, uh, uh, fuel oil going down past the burning wick and light that straw on fire. And then when it was right, 07:52 when it was just right, we'd ring that entire field, whether it be 100 acres or 200 or 300 acres of, of, of grass straw, dry grass straw, that had gone through the combines, and that thing would burn like a, like a furnace. I mean, just a huge fire. 08:12 It looked like an atomic bomb. It would have a mushroom cloud that, as those fire and flames and smoke drew together, uh, it would, it would create a vacuum, and it would just ascend up into high and then mushroom out into a cloud. And oftentimes I had to think about the end of the world when I was burning those fields, of how one day this world will be set on fire. 08:33 It'll be set on fire, just like those fields, except it'll be total devastation so that nothing evil or wicked could grow again. Then every once in a while, we didn't do it often, but you'd have, you'd have to burn off straw off a wheat field. And if you thought that the, that the grass seed straw was, 08:54 was, uh, was, was, uh, dry and flammable and produced a huge fire and smoke, these wheat fields would just go like wildfire. And, uh, and we just didn't do that very often because they didn't produce the same amount of straw as the grass seed. But be that as it may, that's a picture, a picture. 09:15 "And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up, shall burn them up." And what a picture that is. It'll burn so much that they will leave them neither root nor branch. 09:33 Have you ever thought that the wicked seem to come away unpunished? You look around us today, there's so much injustice, there's so much wickedness, there's so much, there's so much dishonesty and oppression, and, and, and there's so much, um, uh, political nonsense that goes on just on, uh, on a number of scores. 09:54 And, and it seems like those that are wicked, the wicked that have control of this world system, it just seems like they go away unpunished. 10:03 And yet the Scripture says that they will not be unpunished, that there is payday someday, that payday will be so complete that there'll be neither root nor branch. 10:20 There'll be nothing evil of evil growing out of the kingdom of God that emerges out of this smoke-filled, uh, atmosphere. 10:32 And out of the smoke-filled atmosphere will emerge, and out of the devastation of the judgment shall come forth the eternal beauty of the Son of God. Verse 2, "But to you who fear my name," we'll be able to see this, 10:51 we'll be able to watch this, "The Son of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings." Wow, what a beautiful word picture, what a beautiful picture of the Son coming forth to spread its light and its, 11:11 its truth and its healing to the nations. The Bible says in the new heavens and the new earth, there'll be the tree of life, which is good for the healing of the nations. "And the nations shall come together and eat and partake of that fruit." Some people say there's, 11:31 there's a couple different ways of referring to this Son of Righteousness. In the King James and New King James, it's "The Son of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings." This is the only place in Scripture that that term is used, the Son of Righteousness. And so some people have said, 11:50 well, this isn't necessarily the person of Christ, but it is the atmosphere of righteousness that envelops the world after sin has been judged. Whatever, whether it's an atmosphere of righteousness or whether it's Christ Himself, all of the light comes from God, 12:10 and all of the light comes from Jesus, and, uh, providing, providing healing from, from the, the devastation of the world that has been judged. There'll be perfect understanding and perfect health and perfect relationships and perfect emotional health, and most of all, 12:30 perfect spiritual health, healing, the healing of the nations, the healing of God's people, the healing of the world system, the new heaven, the new earth. It will have healing in His wings. Wow, wow, what a, what a, what a wonderful thing it is to be healed, what a wonderful thing it is to feel good. 12:51 I tell people when they get it, get well from being sick, it sure feels good to feel good. And, uh, it'll feel good, it'll feel good to finally be done with trouble and sorrow. And that is a blessing. That's the blessing that's coming for every child of God. Now, backing up here just a minute in this, 13:10 in this, this devastation of this judgment, one should not, uh, evaluate or assume where it says that will leave them neither root nor branch. One should not assume that that means that the wicked will be annihilated and burned up and cease to exist. 13:31 There is this teaching that's making its way across the Anabaptist Church and across the, the, uh, uh, evangelical churches, even our own churches, that the wicked, that hell is not for eternity, that the wicked in hell will just after a period of suffering be burned up and eternal punishment will be to cease to exist. 13:51 One should not assume that from this passage. What this passage is actually saying is that wickedness will cease to exist as a functioning dynamic. The wicked and wickedness and unrighteousness and the ungodly shall never again take root in the earth. 14:13 But they themselves personally will have an eternity separated from God. Looking at for more of these word pictures, oh, I love it here, this next one, these calves, "The Son of Righteousness giving His healing, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves." Wow, 14:33 what a word picture, what a picture, stall-fed calves. Some translations translate that, that we will go out playfully jump like calves from the stall, playfully jump like calves from the stall. Have you ever seen calves on the, in the, being loosened from the stall and out in the pasture and frolicking? 14:55 In fact, one translation says it like this, the NIV says they will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. What a picture, what a picture of the beautiful health that pro that, that, that, that comes forth out of this judgment of the wicked and the righteous, frolicking, leaping with joy like calves let, 15:17 let out to pasture. I kind of get the picture, uh, of, of, of children, uh, that, that, that just can't keep their energy inside, uh, that they're let out to pasture and they just jump and run and play and exert all that energy and they're frolicking in, uh, in, uh, in innocence, 15:36 expressing joy, dancing up and down, laughing, playing. Uh, that's the picture, the picture of, of the church, of the true child of God who, who, who has remained in covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. Folks, it's really true, the best is yet to come. There are certain aspects of this spiritually where we have freedom in Christ and, 15:58 and joy and rejoicing, but, but this is talking about the end of time. And, uh, that time when just everything, everything, everything, brothers and sisters, is made right, is made right. So those are some of the pictures. Let's talk a little bit about the separation. Let's talk a little bit about the separation. 16:21 And I don't think I'm going to get all the way through this message this morning, so we're just going to talk here about the separation. Then we're going to leave the whole subject about Elijah and the prophets. We'll, we'll leave that for another message because that deserves being, having some time of its own. 16:37 But the separation, you look at this passage of Scripture and it's clear that there will be a separation of the righteous and the unrighteous. There is clear a separation of light and darkness, of good and evil, of truth and lies, of right and wrong, 16:56 of godliness and ungodliness. And one of the themes throughout Scripture, especially throughout the Old Testament, is that separation, that there is a clear distinction. 17:06 And if you tie this in with verse 18, God wants you to know how to discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. 17:20 Proverbs 10:6 says, "Blessings are upon the head of the just, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked." The Bible says in Proverbs 10:25, "As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more." That whirlwind, when we used to burn those fields, 17:39 we were concerned about the, the circular winds that would take embers and fire up in the sky and even maybe move it from one field to another. We would be concerned about those whirlwinds of, of air currents. And, and, and if you can see that in relation to this passage of this judgment, "As the whirlwind passeth, 18:00 so the wicked, so is the wicked no more, like a tornado. But the righteous is an everlasting foundation." The righteous is an everlasting foundation. 18:13 Proverbs 12:7, "The wicked are overthrown and are not, but the house of the righteous shall stand." How is it to stand? 18:24 Jesus told us in Matthew 7, "And whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them shall be likened unto a man who built his house on a rock. And the winds came and the rains fell and the winds blew and the floods rose, and that house stood firm, 18:44 as contrasted with the wicked, whose house, the house of their life, will be destroyed." Proverbs 14:32, "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous have hope in his death." Oh yes, we have hope in the death of the righteous. Or Psalms 1:4-6, 19:05 very familiar passage, "The ungodly are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Neb will not be able to stand when that judgment sentence is passed. For the Lord knows the way of," excuse me, 19:27 "for the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish." Jude 1:15-16, it says, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands," ten thousands, not ten thousand, but ten thousands, 19:47 tens of thousands times tens of thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. 20:08 Those things will be judged. Now, one thing that I'd like to close with this morning, if you would turn over to 2 Peter 2:3, you say, "Well, maybe Brother Todd, this is just another one of those word pictures, just another one of those word pictures to describe the, the maybe it's a metaphor, maybe it's, 20:28 uh, just an allegory to teach us some greater truth without the details." Well, my friend, let us look in the New Testament just briefly and see the confirmation through the prophet Peter, through the Apostle Peter, of this message. 20:45 And in chapter 2:4-6, "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, 21:04 a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly." So you have three illustrations here. 21:25 You have the angels being judged, you have the world being judged in the flood, and you have Sodom and Gomorrah being judged as an example to those who afterward would live ungodly. 21:38 You jump down to verse 9, "Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the just under punishment for the day of judgment, for the day of judgment." Verse 12, "But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, 21:57 speak evil of things they do not understand and will utterly perish in their own corruption." And verse 13, "These are spots and blemishes carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you." The point is simply this, 22:17 that what Peter is telling us is this is not just a story. This is not just a word picture. It is not a metaphor and it is not an allegory. It is reality one day. 22:31 And we come over to chapter 3:7, "But the heavens and the earth which now exist," we're talking about this earth and these heavens, "are kept in store by the same word, 22:46 reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition or destruction of ungodly men." And verse 10, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." Remember he talking in chapter 4, Malachi, about that day of the Lord, 23:05 the great and dreadful day of the Lord, Malachi 4:5, "Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. 23:24 Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Looking for, therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?" There's the answer right there, holy conduct and godliness, faith in the finished work and person of Christ and the godly life that follows. 23:45 "Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved." This heat will not be the heat of a hayfield or a grass seed field. It will not be the heat of a wheat field. It will be the heat of a nuclear bomb. Not saying it's a nuclear bomb, but that type of heat. 24:06 To dissolve. The heavens will be dissolved. They will melt being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat. 24:17 "Nevertheless," and here's the promise to the child of God, "we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." Thank the Lord. Thank the Lord for that new heavens, 24:38 those new, that new earth, the blessing that is coming for every child of God who has kept the faith ready to be received up into everlasting life with our Lord Jesus Christ. My friend, this morning we have a choice. We have, we have a choice. 24:55 We either return and walk with the covenant-keeping God who loves us as a heavenly Father, or we pay the consequences. It's that simple. And when we return, there are blessings that we experience now, 25:13 and not only now, but the best, my friends, brothers and sisters, is yet to come. It's yet to come for every child of God who loves our Lord and is awaiting His return. Let's pray. 25:30 Our Father in heaven, we thank You, Lord, even though this is a different setting than we've done before. We thank You that we could be gathered in this way and that You gave me the privilege of once again preaching the Gospel, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, 25:50 but have everlasting life. 25:53 And Lord, we just pray that if there be anyone under the sound of my voice, both via Facebook Live now or as they watch this sometimes in the future, or that's sitting in Living Water Church or watching by phone or computer, that whoever needs 26:12 to get right with God would take this opportunity to repent, to trust in Christ, and to receive His great forgiveness. And for those, Lord, who are right with God, that we would stay the course and we would keep the faith. For henceforth, 26:32 there is laid up for us a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give unto us who love His appearing on that day. And so, Lord, would You place Your blessing upon Your people. Help us to know how to reach out to others. Help us to know how to put the needs of others ahead of our own. 26:53 Help us to walk circumspectly and uprightly. We pray for our healthcare workers. We pray for our unity as a brotherhood, as a church. We pray for other churches who are experiencing serious disunity. We pray for our government leaders. We pray for our community leaders, Lord. 27:12 We pray that the Gospel message would go forth around the world till Jesus comes. It's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen. God bless you good.