MALACHI 4:1-6
A FINAL WORD ABOUT THE FINAL DAY.
In
the name + of Jesus.
Throughout the Old Testament,
the Lord raised up prophets for his people.
They proclaimed messages of repentance, messages of encouragement, and
even revelation of future events. The
final prophet of the Old Testament was Malachi.
After Malachi, God was silent until John the Baptist came to
preach.
Malachi gives a final word; he
looks forward to the final day, and it sounds terrifying. Malachi proclaimed, “Look! The day is
coming, burning like a blast furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer
will be stubble. The day that is coming
will set them on fire, says the Lord of Armies, a day that will not leave
behind a root or branch for them” (Malachi 4:1-2). The judgment will
be harsh, and it will be thorough. Maybe
that doesn’t seem so bad to you based on who will be cast into the fire. Malachi said it will be “all the arrogant
and every evildoer” (Malachi 4:1).
Perhaps a few people come to mind for you—people who are unbearably
smug, unapologetically self-important, or unceasingly cruel. You might even delight in the idea that some
people will be damned because they deserve it.
We all have an idea about the way God
should judge the world because we all make judgments. Now, not all judgments are bad. They can’t be. You are right to call sins wicked. You cannot call anything wicked just because
you disagree with it; wickedness is determined by what God says about it. When our Lord Jesus Christ returns to judge
the living and the dead, he will not come to negotiate about what is right and
wrong. Jesus will simply issue a
sentence upon every person—whether they are good or evil. All the wicked will be condemned; and it will
be a righteous judgment.
A lot of people don’t fear God’s
judgment. They are quite comfortable
with the way they live and see no problem with their behavior. That’s why they behave the way they do. The man who spews out profanities has no
problem with his vulgar speech. The
woman who slanders other people to make herself look better is quite
comfortable doing so. People who sleep
around have no shame and boast about their body count (which is the number of
partners they have had). Even criminals
are comfortable with their behavior.
They will defend it as necessary to provide for themselves or their
family. The sinful mind is very
comfortable with sins. That’s why a call
to repentance often produces rage rather than remorse.
Malachi has a final word about the final
day. He tells us how the Lord will judge
the living and the dead. Malachi declares,
“Remember the law of my servant Moses, which I commanded to him at Horeb to
serve as statutes and judgments over all Israel” (Malachi 4:4). God’s Law is the standard by which he
will judge all people. Now, there are a
lot of specifics in God’s Law about what is good and evil, but the overarching
principle is this: “You shall be holy, because I, the Lord your
God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). Some
might hope that Jesus would have softened God’s demands. He did not.
He reinforced them. Jesus
declared, “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). That is why God’s Law must be proclaimed. God warns that all who are comfortable with their
sins will not stand at the final judgment—and are, in fact, under God’s wrath
now.
Malachi gives a final word about the final
judgment. He foretold, “Look! I am going to send Elijah the prophet to you
before the great and fearful day of the LORD comes” (Malachi 4:5)! Just as Elijah had called
comfortable sinners to repent, so God’s Law arouses our consciences so that we
do not trust in any goodness we think we have.
God’s Law uncovers and exposes us for what we are. All our excuses, defenses, and reasons will
not make us holy as the Lord, our God, is holy.
But
for you, Malachi says, “for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness
will rise, and there will be healing in its wings” (Malachi 4:2). To fear the Lord, at the very least, is to take
his word seriously. It is to recognize
the Lord’s holy standard and his righteous judgment. We all have a proper fear of many things in
this world. If you are someone who
handles firearms, you work with the motto, “Every gun is a loaded gun,” because
you know the disaster that can come from being careless. If you are doing electrical work, you handle circuits
and wires with a proper respect, knowing that being careless can mean
electrocution. These may send you to an
early grave, but the Lord can send people to a fiery eternity.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom. If you take God’s word seriously
and recognize that you do not possess the holiness you need to stand in the Lord’s
judgment, you will seek that holiness from outside of you. That is the beginning of wisdom. To be wise for salvation is to trust in Jesus
and put all your hope in him. This is
what the Lord says: “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for
us…” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus is the
one who knew no sin. He is the perfectly
obedient Son of his Father. He did
achieve the holy life God demands. But
he did not get the credit for it.
Rather, he who knew no sin became sin for us. He took our guilt away from us and suffered
the consequences—a death in which he endured the torments of hell, burning like
a blast furnace.
The verse goes on. “God made him, who did not know sin, to
become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2
Corinthians 5:21). Jesus got the
credit for our sin, but he gave us the credit for his righteousness. Through baptism, he washed you clean of all iniquity. Through baptism, you were clothed with Christ. Therefore, God sees you as one who is pure
and innocent. This holiness comes from
outside of you. Jesus Christ has supplied
the very holiness you need before God. “How
blessed is the person whose rebellion is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the person whose guilt
the Lord does not charge against him” (Psalm 32:1-2). Jesus Christ has covered you in his innocence. Jesus has taken away all the charges against
you. Your verdict of righteousness has
been earned by Jesus. It is delivered to
you now. And it will be declared to all
on the Last Day.
Malachi gives a final word about the final
day: “For you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise, and
there will be healing in its wings. You
will go out and jump around like calves from the stall” (Malachi 4:2). In Malachi’s day, the average home in Israel
was a one room house. The roof could
serve as a guest room or a work place. Off
the main room, there was a lower level where the family’s animals would be
brought in for the night. Each family typically
had a few sheep and a cow or a bull. They
came into the house for two reasons.
One, so that they would not be stolen.
The other reason is that the additional bodies in the house produced
more heat for the family. In the morning,
the first thing you would do is open the gate to lead the animals out to get
water. The animals, after being cooped
up all night, would burst forth from the stall.
They were finally free! They would
run and leap in excitement. Malachi says
that you will react similarly on the Last Day.
Why?
Because you will finally be free from all the problems and struggles
that sin produces in your life. The Lord
assures you that you are children of God.
St. John wrote in his first epistle, “Dear friends, we are children
of God now, but what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he is revealed we will be
like him, and we will see him as he really is.
Everyone who has this hope purifies himself just as Jesus is pure”
(1 John 3:2-3). So, you are children
of God right now. This is something that
you take on faith because you don’t see it yet.
We still see and feel and know our sins.
This is why we continue to flee to our Lord for mercy and forgiveness.
But the day is coming when you will be
completely free from this sinful condition.
It is not just that you will be raised with a body that is free from disease,
disability, distress, and death. You
will also be free from the continuous battle of putting off your sins. You will not struggle to do the right thing
or to say the right words. You will think,
act, and behave like the children of God, and you will find great joy in
it. Your personality will be cleansed of
everything that offends God and others.
Your mind will be freed from thinking evil of others. You will have no need to think evil of others
because all who will be gathered into God’s eternal kingdom will be pure in
body, mind, and spirit. Mankind always
hopes to create this kind of utopia.
With sinners, it is an impossible dream.
With our Lord, it is a definite future.
Malachi delivers a final word about the
final day. Those who remain comfortable in
their sins and prefer their own way over God’s way will earn the judgment they
get. If they want no part of Jesus now, Jesus
will grant them what they want. But they
will learn, sadly too late, what this means.
Malachi says, “You will trample the wicked. They will surely be ashes
under the soles of your feet on the day when I take action, says
the Lord of Armies” (Malachi 4:3). Does this means we will participate in the Lord’s
judgment upon the wicked? I don’t
know. If it does, it will not be in a
spirit of revenge; for the spirit of revenge comes from a sinful heart. Perhaps it is best understood as part of
calves leaping from the stall: We will be overjoyed that the Lord has vindicated
his people and that he has upheld his glory.
If it bothers you that you might trample on those who will perish—and I
can’t blame you—then turn your focus to imploring your family and friends to
seek refuge in Jesus Christ. Urge them
to come to church with you so they will not be consumed in God’s fiery
judgment. Once the Last Day comes, those
opportunities are lost. The day of salvation
is now.
Malachi gives a final word about the
final day. But THE final word
comes from Jesus Christ. He will say to
you, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). This is the kingdom Jesus prepares for
you. He will come again in glory to
deliver you to it. Having heard the
final word of the Old Testament, we also cling to the final word of the New Testament:
“The one who testifies about these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come,
Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ be with all the saints” (Revelation 22:20-21).
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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