Where Is The God of Justice?
Malachi 3:1-6
November 27, 2022
The second chapter of Malachi ended with this question:
Malachi 2:17 “You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”
“Where is the God of justice?”
This was the question they asked.
That question is perhaps the issue of the entire book.
It is certainly an issue dealt with throughout the pages of Scripture.
Often times we encounter that question as the cry from the righteous who long for God to show Himself holy in the midst of a wicked generation.
• Consider all the times we read the Psalmist crying out, “How long?” to God.
• Perhaps the most famous comes from the lips of Habakkuk who doesn’t understand why God has allowed such wickedness to endure in Israel.
Habakkuk 1:1-4 “The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw. How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises. Therefore the law is ignored And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out perverted.”
Throughout history the righteous have asked this very thing.
But the question in Malachi is not from the lips of the righteous.
The question in Malachi is FROM THE WICKED.
It is not from those who long for God to show Himself righteous,
But rather it is from those who don’t think He will.
We see them throughout history as well.
Psalms 10:4-6 “The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, “There is no God.” His ways prosper at all times; Your judgments are on high, out of his sight; As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them. He says to himself, “I will not be moved; Throughout all generations I will not be in adversity.”
Isaiah 56:12 “Come,” they say, “let us get wine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink; And tomorrow will be like today, only more so.”
It is men who don’t think there will ever be
Any divine consequences for their sin.
Zephaniah 1:12 “It will come about at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And I will punish the men Who are stagnant in spirit, Who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good or evil!’”
Indeed we recognize both sentiments in our world today.
• We see the righteous who cry and long for the return of the Lord
• And we see the wicked who don’t think God will really ever judge sinners.
The burden of God in the book of Malachi is with the latter.
They asked in their indifference “Where is the God of justice?”
And God is about to answer.
In fact, God will give a concise answer down in verse 6.
(6) “For I, the LORD, do not change…”
That is God’s direct answer to the question.
I am still the God of justice.
I always have been and I always will be.
• He is the same God today that He was in the day He flooded the earth.
• He is the same God today that He was in the day He rained fire on Sodom.
• He is the same God today that He was in the day He ordered the annihilation
of all the Canaanites.
He is still the God of justice.
Again, I would remind you of the AUDIENCE of this sermon.
While the pagan world around us certainly needs to know
That God will one day judge the world in righteousness,
That is NOT who this message is immediately directed at.
This sermon of Malachi WASN’T for the Persians or the Greeks or the pagans.
This sermon WAS for the children of Israel.
God was addressing His people here,
Who through their indifference had seemed to forget
That God was still a God of justice.
Perhaps THE CHURCH should remember this as well.
1 Peter 4:17 “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
This is a message for the religious.
This is a message for those who know better.
Ultimately this is a message for the indifferent.
And God reveals exactly how His justice will be made known.
There are 5 points in our text this morning.
#1 THE PRESENCE YOU SEEK
Malachi 3:1
It is true that the Israelites in Malachi’s day asked
Where is the God of justice?”
In part that is a SARCASTIC question
As it was meant to indicate that God won’t do anything about sin.
But there was at least a hint of SINCERITY as well
For they did eagerly await their Messiah.
AND THAT IS INDICATED HERE.
• You get phrases like, “And the Lord, whom you seek…”
• Or “the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight…”
There is at least a base desire for the Lord or messiah to come.
They’ve read the promises about a kingdom which never ends
And about the glory of Israel spreading throughout the earth.
Within the last 100 years you’ve had the prophet Zechariah:
Zechariah 8:3-5 “Thus says the LORD, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’ “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. ‘And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.’”
With promises like that recently given, it’s no wonder that
The children of Israel are eager for the Lord to come.
They want a reign of peace and safety and prosperity and blessing.
So there may very well be at least a hint of sincerity in that question
“Where is the God of justice?”
What you see first from Malachi is that God REITERATES that promise.
IT HAS NOT CHANGED.
God also reminds that before the Messiah comes,
There will be a messenger arrive first.
“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me.”
Perhaps forgotten by this indifferent congregation
Was that God also promised to send a forerunner first.
Isaiah 40:3-5 “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
God had said that before the Messiah would come
Someone would have to come and prepare the people for His coming.
And God reminds the people of that here.
That promise will also be the theme
With which Malachi closes his sermon.
Malachi 4:5-6 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”
You’ll understand in a moment
Why they needed someone to prepare them for His coming.
BUT ASIDE FROM THAT REMINDER,
God tells these people who have asked that He is on the way.
“And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts.”
That’s a good reminder.
• God said that He would come and He will come.
• He will keep that promise.
Now, when you read commentaries on this passage
They argue as to whether or not
Malachi is here referring to the first coming or the second coming.
But in reality you see pictures of both.
• When Jesus was 8 days old he did suddenly come to the temple.
• He would come as verse 4 indicates and make sinners pleasing to God.
• But He will also come again in judgment as verse 5 makes clear.
The reality is that often times these Old Testament prophets had difficulty seeing the coming of the Lord in two separate events. It was hard from a distance for them to see the valley that has rested for 2,000 years between the two mountain peaks.
So, in one sense we have already received what they are longing for
And yet at the same time we also still long for what they longed for.
We have certainly seen Jesus come to save,
But still wait for Him to come and reign upon the earth.
So there is a very real way in which we can identify with these people.
1. We also seek the presence of the Lord,
2. And we also are promised that He is coming.
The Presence You Seek
#2 THE PROBLEM YOU OVERLOOK
Malachi 3:2a
Verse 2 comes with a sobering dose of reality.
“But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears?”
This is the issue that the people of Malachi’s day
(and perhaps many from our day) have failed to consider.
• We understand the, “I’m a good person” epidemic that has saturated our world.
• We understand that even in our sin we suffer from no shortage of self-esteem.
Why wouldn’t God be pleased with me?
That was certainly the mindset of Malachi’s day.
• Forget the fact that they offered broken sacrifices…
• Forget the fact that they ignored God’s word…
• Forget the fact that they acted treacherously and tolerated sin…
They were still convinced that they were ready for the Lord to arrive.
But Malachi taps the breaks here with this question.
• Do you really think yourself prepared to stand before the Lord?
• Do you really think yourself prepared to stand before the Holy One?
Certainly the question reminds us of that terrifying scene that precedes the second coming of the Lord.
Revelation 6:15-17 “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
We are reminded of that day when God begins to reveal His justice on a sinful earth
That man is indeed NOT able to stand before Him.
Certainly we listen to what Jesus said about the end.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”
Luke 13:22-30 “And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. “Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ “Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, ALL YOU EVILDOERS.’ “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. “And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. “And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.”
There will be many people absolutely shocked at the judgment
When they see that they were not prepared to stand before Him.
THERE WILL BE MANY,
Even religious people, who preached and worked miracles,
Attended church, and volunteered for VBS who will not be accepted.
And they will be absolutely SHOCKED at the thought.
And this is what Malachi is hitting these Jews with here.
They currently live in such a way that
• God has already said He wished someone would shut the gates so that they
would no longer uselessly kindle fire on His altar.
• He has already said He was going to smear refuse on the faces of the priests
and carry them away with all the other garbage.
• He has already declared that He was weary of people who do the things that
He hates and don’t seem to care.
And yet these people still assume that they are ready for Him to come?
And even if we are talking about the first coming here,
You and I know that when He came they were not ready for Him.
John 1:10-11 “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”
He showed up and preached repentance and they hated Him for it.
John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.”
Or go read some of the arguments between Jesus and the Pharisees.
• Listen as they say, “We are children of Abraham” or “We are disciples of Moses” – They are so self-assured.
• And Jesus would say, “No, you are of your father the devil”
• Listen as Jesus confronts every aspect of their useless religion in Matthew 23 saying “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”
• Addressing their useless giving, they’re outward religion, they’re defiling character.
The world was shocked at His first coming
To find that they were not ready for Him.
They will be even more shocked at His second coming
To find that nothing has changed.
And I can’t help but make the obvious application to the present day religious community.
• Can we really walk in sin and tolerance of sin…
• Can we really have a half-hearted commitment to Him and His church…
• Can we really neglect Scripture reading and prayer…
• Can we really disregard the call to proclaim the gospel…
• Can we really love this present world and all its sin…
And still walk around assuming that we are ready for Him to return?
That is to be just as oblivious as the people of Malachi’s day.
They were eager for Him to come,
What they didn’t realize is that they were not prepared for it.
AND THAT IS A GOOD QUESTION FOR US TO PONDER.
AM I PREPARED?
Matthew 24:37-44 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”
Be alert – be ready – be sure
I know when life gets hard we want Jesus to return.
• When we don’t like the government…
• Or when we suffer in our flesh…
• We think, “Oh, I wish Jesus would just come back and put an end to all my pain
and suffering.”
Many people are ready for His return but they are not prepared for it.
Jesus said there will be “Many” who will be shocked
To find out just how unprepared they were.
It is the PROBLEM that the people of Malachi’s day OVERLOOKED
And it is the problem many overlook today.
The Presence You Seek, The Problem You Overlook
#3 THE PURIFYING YOU WILL RECEIVE
Malachi 3:2b-4
It is precisely because men are not ready to stand before Him
That we have received this first coming of Jesus.
Malachi says that “He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver”
You do understand the reason Jesus came the first time right?
He stated it over and over.
John 3:17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
Luke 9:56 “for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
Before Jesus comes to this earth as a reigning King,
He first came as the Savior of men.
He came to refine and He came to purify.
What was the first message He ever preached?
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
He went around confronting the sin of Israel
And calling men to repentance.
WHY?
(look at our text)
(3b-4) “so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old as in former years.”
He came to address the sin of man
And to call them back to obedience and righteousness.
He came to expose the weakness of their traditional religion
And to call them to worship God from the heart.
Just go read the Sermon on the Mount and listen
As Jesus exposes their wickedness and the sin of their heart.
He raises the standard of righteousness
And calls men to repent for having fallen short of it.
THAT IS WHAT HE CAME TO DO.
Now of course we know that He also fulfilled that Law on our behalf and then imputed His righteousness to us, and we never lose sight of that.
However, I think there is something that should be understood here.
JUSTIFICATION DOES NOT NULLIFY
THE NECESSITY OF SANCTIFICATION.
We understand that Jesus justifies us before God.
• We are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus and thus declared just before God.
But this does not nullify the necessity
That we are also required to live holy lives before God.
True justification always reveals itself in sanctification.
You do understand that even those whom Jesus justified,
He still demanded holy lives from them.
John 13:8 “Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”
We read from other writers in the New Testament.
Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”
Certainly we love and appreciate the imputed righteousness of Christ,
But can you see that God also demands that we walk in righteousness?
Romans 6:1-4 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
If you are under some illusion
• That you trusted in Jesus
• And have now been justified
• So practical righteousness is not that important,
Then let me emphatically say that you have never been saved,
And your justification is a sham.
TRUE JUSTIFICATION ALWAYS PRODUCES TRUE SANCTIFICATION.
Jesus did come to JUSTIFY but He also came to PURIFY.
Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
This is exactly what He came to do that first time He came.
And this is the reminder of Malachi to these people.
If you think He is just going to show up and pat you on the back for what a great job you’ve done, you’ve got another thing coming.
When He comes the first thing He’ll do is confront your sin
And go to work scrubbing the filth off of you.
He does that to everyone He receives.
The Presence You Seek, The Problem You Overlook, The Purifying You’ll Receive
#4 THE PUNISHMENT YOU’LL ENDURE
Malachi 3:5
And here is another powerful word.
“Then…”
First He comes to purify, but “Then I will draw near to you for judgment”
This is why He came to save and purify first.
JUDGMENT IS COMING.
And look at how He’ll separate out the sinners for judgment.
“and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the LORD of hosts.”
Do you remember what John the Baptist announced about Jesus?
Matthew 3:11-12 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
• He will either purify you (“baptize you with the Holy Spirit”)
• Or He will destroy you (“baptize you with…fire”)
That’s what you see here as well.
• Those who do not receive His message of repentance…
• Those who do not receive His imputed righteousness…
• Those who do not submit to His washing and cleansing…
In the end, they get yanked from among His people and they get judged.
Did Jesus not preach this very thing?
Matthew 13:40-43 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
Matthew 13:47-50 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 25:31-33 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”
That is exactly what Malachi is talking about.
All these people in the congregation who are:
“sorcerers” – people who bow and seek the wisdom of demons.
• It would have been rampant in those pagan marriages the people had entered.
• Today it is fortune tellers and palm readers and psychics and stuff like this.
“adulterers” – people who divorce their wife to marry those pagan women.
• Certainly we know about sex out of wedlock, but also some divorce and remarriage, or even sins of lust.
“swear falsely” – people who claim to be believers, but they lie.
“oppress the wage earner” – they cheat people to get ahead monetarily.
“oppress…the widow and the orphan” – they simply neglect and fail to care for them. The Pharisees even devoured their houses.
“turn aside the alien” – it is lack of compassion and benevolence. It is a failure to care for the poor.
“do not fear Me” – it really sums up all the previous sins. They just don’t care what God thinks.
AND HERE IS THE POINT.
It doesn’t matter if every one of these people
Were associated with the congregation.
If they were in those sins
And they refuse to repent and be cleansed by the Lord,
Then when He returned they would be judged.
Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
IT CAN’T BE CLEARER.
If that is you, you will not go to heaven.
Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”
So you get the idea of what Malachi is talking about here.
We have people who think they are eager for the Lord to come,
And it is because they think He is not a God of justice.
BUT MALACHI REMINDS THEM OTHERWISE.
• He is definitely coming.
• But what you don’t realize is that you are in no way ready for Him.
• So first He will come to purify you and if you accept that purification then fine.
• But later He will come again and judge all who do not repent and it won’t be fine for them.
This church is why we talk about the necessity of REVIVAL.
While it is true that we stand in a righteousness not our own,
It is also true that we are expected to stand in that righteousness.
We have been called to receive the righteousness Christ imputes
And then to live in that righteousness.
• If we refuse, if we are indifferent
• If we disdain worship
• If we ignore God’s word
• If we tolerate sin
• If we commit sins of sorcery and adultery and deception and oppression and
greed and a failure to fear God…
If we do that, how can we say that we are ready for His coming?
1 John 2:28-29 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
Indifference is not ok.
His church must be holy!
1 Peter 1:14-19 “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
God expects His people to walk in holiness!
• It is a holiness that was given to us at a very high cost.
• And this means God expects it all the more.
The Presence You Seek, The Problem You Overlook, The Purifying You’ll Receive,
The Punishment You’ll Endure
#5 THE PERFECTION YOU’LL APPRECIATE
Malachi 3:6
Here God answers that question.
“Where is the God of justice?”
(6) “For I, the LORD, do not change…”
• I am still the God of justice.
• I still require justice.
• And on the day I come, you will once again be convinced of the fact.
The world may have temporarily forgotten
That God is absolutely just in judgement,
But the day is coming when we will all get a sobering reminder.
And yet, there is one more statement God makes here.
“therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”
That seems a little strange.
Sort of like God just turned a different direction.
After that statement about judgement, we would expect something like, “For I, the LORD, do not change;
Therefore you, O sons of Jacob, had better repent.”
But that’s not what He said.
He said, “therefore you…are not consumed.”
God is not only reminding them that He is just,
But that His justice is a good thing.
For it is His justice that causes Him to honor His promises
And to save a remnant from Israel.
Romans 11:25-29 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
The only reason any of Israel will survive at all
Is because God made promises to Abraham, and He is just in His word.
SO WHAT WE LEARN HERE IS THAT
• Israel was treating God’s justice like a bad thing.
• Malachi reminds that it is only His justice that keeps Him from totally destroying them all.
So “Where is the God of justice?”
He is on the way.
He is coming to purify and to save.
He is coming to destroy those who do not repent.
And church have already witnessed that first coming.
The only thing we wait for is for Him to come
And separate the wicked from the righteous
And to burn up the wicked in the lake of fire.
1. Give your life to Christ,
2. Let Him impute His righteousness to you,
3. And then you walk in that righteousness.
For God has not changed.
He is still a God of justice
And one day that will become obvious to the world.
