Scripture: Malachi 4:1-6
INTRODUCTION
Would you be shocked if I told you this passage is about Jesus who is the Sun of Righteousness or Son of Righteousness if you prefer: doesn’t matter to me because He is both and all. Obviously, this passage is about JUDGMENT. Most of us do not see judgment as a good thing but where there is judgment, there is salvation and there is no salvation without judgment.
In light of this truth, I wish to share three points:
I. A JUDGMENT TO AWAIT
Malachi is dealing with a group of Jews who are disrespecting God and accusing Him of being unjust. These Jews said horrible things about God ….
- It is vain to serve God
- There is no profit in keeping God’s commandments
- Does no good to mourn, prayer or fast
- God blesses the arrogant and the wicked
- They tempt God and get by with it
Malachi’s message is clear: Yes, they may tempt God but they will not get by with it. The fact that they have not been judged does not mean that they will not be judged. Their judgment is coming, it is still in the future. Judgement is both a process and a event. We believers are suffering some judgment now in the present but there is coming a future judgment day when all unbelievers will be judged.
Malachi’s point is that the wicked have gotten by with nothing; a judgment is awaiting them. “The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed—roots, branches, and all.
Here Malachi tells us four things about this coming Judgment
- It is a coming DAY [v.1] It is a DAY on the calendar. I cannot tell you when it is but God knows, the DAY has been determined. You know that if God gave us enough sense to sit down and plan out our lives by using a calendar that He can do the same. We just do not have access to HIS calendar.
- It is a Judgment DAY [v.1,3] Malachi uses two metaphors to describe those who will be judged. They will be like straw and dust. Malachi said JUDGMENT will be like a furnace or oven [probably referring to the little clay ovens that the Jews used]. He said the wicked would be like straw. The Jews used straw for fuel in their little clay ovens. Straw makes a quick fire with an intense heat: it burns quickly and leaves no residue. You don’t have to worry about ashes when straw is the fuel because STRAW has no substance. Likewise, those who have lived for this world have no substance: they will be consumed quickly and nothing will be left. In other words, they will lose everything. People who lived for money and power will lose all. Money is straw in the spiritual realm, it has no substance. Yet we have folks building a kingdom of straw. You would be better served to do an act of kindness for your neighbors each day. At least that will not burn up on Judgment day. Prayer, praise and proclaiming the word has eternal significance but money has none. What a sad commentary. Jesus said, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul.” In spite of His advice, people keep pushing shoving, grabbing and getting, hoarding and hiding and it is all for nothing. Everything in their life will go up in flames and be gone in a moment. The second metaphor Malachi used was dust. Dust and straw have something in common: neither have substance and neither will stand in the day of judgment. If you have the idea that Judgment is going to be a big fight, think again. Straw and dust have to little substance to resist.
- It is a Great DAY [v.5] It will be a great DAY just by sheer numbers. Billions will be there. Entire Nations will be there. Every kindred, every tribe. It will be unlike anything we have ever seen or imagined. I was impressed with the crowd at the Atlanta baseball game the other night and that crowd will be a drop in the bucket.
- It is a dreadful DAY [v.5]
II. A SALVATION TO ACCEPT
[v.2] “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.
For those who do not fear the LORD, judgment will be a horrible thing but for those that fear God, there is an escape. Just as Noah and family were spared by taking refuge in the ARK, those who repent of their sins and take refuge in Christ will be saved from the coming Judgment. The sun is the main source of life on planet earth. We cannot live without the sun. We are absolutely dependent on the sun. But the same sun that gives life can take it. Too much sun can cause death. The sun can both harm and heal. Jesus can Judge us or Save us. Actually, God the Father is going to vindicate Jesus His Son.
There is a ceremony of purification found in Leviticus 14, it has to do with being healed of a skin disease. The priest takes two birds, one is killed and bleed into a bowl, then he takes the live bird and dips its wings into the blood of the first bird, he then releases the bird to fly heavenward, rising with healing in his wings. Many think this is a picture of the ascension of Christ. “The Sun of righteousness rising with healing in His wings.” [v.2]
If you repent and accept Christ as your savior, it will be the best decision you will ever make; if you reject Him, it will be the worse.
- Accept Christ and your sins are paid for–reject Him and you will pay
- Accept Christ and be blessed–reject Him and you will be cursed
- Accept Christ and be saved–reject Him and you will be condemned
- Accept Christ and you have a home in heaven–reject Him and you spend eternity in hell.
III. A CURSE TO AVOID
6 His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
When we think of a “curse,” we think of an expletive, an offensive word or phrase used to express anger or annoyance. We think of a swear word, an oath, or profanity but that is a secondary meaning of the word Curse. The CURSE Malachi is speaking of is a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something.
David’s Curse on His Enemies in Psalm 69
28 Erase their names from the Book of Life; don’t let them be counted among the righteous.
Jeremiah 17:8….
Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
No one in their right mind should want to be under God’s CURSE but Malachi told the Jews…If you do not heed Moses instructions and listen to the preaching of God’s prophets and have a change of heart, you will be under a curse.
The Rabbi’s have rearranged the last verse of Malachi so that the O.T. does not end with the word CURSE. For the past 2,000 years the Jews have lived under a Curse and it is because they rejected Christ. This is going to change someday before that great and dreadful day of Judgment. I believe there is going to be a massive revival among the Jews. Where millions are saved. The Jews are in the Saul stage now: they fight the church tool and nail but when they get saved, they will be like Paul, aggressive evangelist.
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