Sermon -- 23rd Sunday after Pentecost (November 16, 2025)

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.