The Final Warning of Malachi
Malachi 4:1-6
December 18, 2022
This morning we come to the conclusion
Of our study of the book of Malachi.
Here we have a people
• Who have been back in the land after the exile for over 100 years.
• Zerubbabel’s temple has been completed for over 90 years.
• And the people are simply waiting for the LORD to return to His temple
• And for their Messiah King to arrive.
But there was a problem with their expectation.
THEY WERE NOT FIT FOR THE ARRIVAL OF THE KING.
Malachi 3:1-3 “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. 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. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For 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, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness.”
These were a people who longed for the coming of the King,
But they failed to recognize how displeasing they were to God.
The sin of the day has been categorized as INDIFFERENCE
(They just didn’t care what God thought)
• They dishonored God by bringing the lame and cripple for sacrifice.
• They ignored God’s word and neglected to enforce it.
• They were treacherous covenant breakers, divorcing the wives of their youth.
• They sinned against their brothers by bringing their pagan wives to worship.
• They ignored the tithe and robbed God of what He was due.
And as we saw LAST WEEK they accused God of being unjust
And One who wouldn’t do anything about it.
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?”
Malachi 3:14-15 “You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts? ‘So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.’”
They just didn’t care what God thought
And they were not worried about Him ever punishing them for it.
It was total and absolute indifference.
We’ve made several applications to our day and to the 21st Century church in America.
However, LAST WEEK we saw a RAY OF HOPE shine through.
We discovered that while the majority lived in indifference toward the things of God there was still a righteous remnant.
Malachi 3:16 “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.”
• There were a handful who didn’t share the apathy of the majority.
• There were a few who still feared God.
• There were a few who still esteemed God’s name.
• Men like Ezra and Nehemiah and Malachi.
And the LORD wrote their names down in a book
And promised to spare them from the coming judgment.
Well in our text THIS MORNING
God gets more specific about this day of judgment that is coming.
And it is a reminder to all, but especially those in the church
That one day the LORD will return
And when He comes every mask will come off.
• We may play the game today…
• We may fool one another today…
• We may soothe our sinful souls with a little religious involvement…
But the LORD knows who are His.
Jesus spent His entire ministry exposing religious hypocrites.
And there is coming a day when the LORD will return
And all those who are indifferent or stagnant in spirit will not survive.
We must take heed to such a warning
And make sure that if nothing else, we are real!
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”
2 Peter 1:10 “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;”
With that in mind, let’s examine this final warning of Malachi.
4 points this morning.
#1 THE COMING DOOM
Malachi 4:1
In the final verses of chapter 3 the LORD promised
To spare those who feared Him and who esteemed His name.
One might be tempted to ask: SPARE THEM FROM WHAT?
Well here is the answer.
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”
The simple answer is that God will spare those who fear Him
From the coming day of His judgment.
Despite the musings of the world…
Despite the confident assertions of the wicked…
THERE IS A DAY OF RECKONING COMING.
“the day is coming”
And it is a day described as “burning like a furnace”
Very early on in the course of human history
God promised that He would never again destroy the world with water.
He will keep that promise.
The next time He will destroy it with fire.
Isaiah 66:15-17 “For behold, the LORD will come in fire And His chariots like the whirlwind, To render His anger with fury, And His rebuke with flames of fire. For the LORD will execute judgment by fire And by His sword on all flesh, And those slain by the LORD will be many. “Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens, Following one in the center, Who eat swine’s flesh, detestable things and mice, Will come to an end altogether,” declares the LORD.”
Zephaniah 1:14-18 “Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of trumpet and battle cry Against the fortified cities And the high corner towers. I will bring distress on men So that they will walk like the blind, Because they have sinned against the LORD; And their blood will be poured out like dust And their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the LORD’S wrath; And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end, Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth.”
God has always been merciful…
God has always been patient with sinful man…
But do not let His patience or mercy or kindness
Lull you into the belief that He has chosen to forsake justice.
HE HAS NOT.
Romans 2:4-6 “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:”
Yes God is merciful and patient and kind.
But you should understand that all of those things
Are for the purpose of giving you time to repent.
The Day of the LORD is coming.
It will be a day “burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff.”
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.”
There will be no arrogant who escape.
No evildoer will slip through the judgment.
God will destroy them totally.
In fact Malachi reveals that this day of judgment “will leave them neither root nor branch.”
That is to say, they will never return.
IT IS TOTAL ERADICATION.
You may pull goat heads out of your yard, but if you leave that root,
Or you leave one of those tentacles they are coming back.
God’s judgment will be far more thorough.
He will destroy every part of every single one of the wicked.
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!’
THAT DAY IS COMING.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 “Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.”
2 Thessalonians 1:7b-10 “when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power”
Matthew 13:40 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.”
Matthew 13:49-50 “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 25:41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;”
IT IS COMING.
• The Lord knows those who are His.
• He knows those who fear Him.
• He knows those who are indifferent.
• He will separate them out and He will burn the wicked with fire.
There is a coming doom.
#2 THE COMING DAWN
Malachi 4:2-3
The doom is real.
“But…”
“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the LORD of hosts.”
The coming doom is NOT universal.
There will be those who are spared.
Just as we saw LAST WEEK, God will spare “you who fear My name”
• Those who are NOT INDIFFERENT…
• Those who walk in the FEAR of the LORD…
• Those who think too highly of God to bring a broken sacrifice…
• Those who think too highly of God to neglect His word…
• Those who fear God too much to deal treacherously with their wife or brother…
• Those who fear God too much to steal the tithe from Him…
• Those who fear God too much to accuse Him of being a corrupt Judge…
For them judgment will not come.
INSTEAD THEY WILL RECEIVE:
RIGHTEOUSNESS
“the sun of righteousness will rise”
Jesus said:
Matthew 13:41-43 “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.”
• They will receive a righteous world without corruption.
• They will receive a holy society that fears the LORD.
• They will enjoy a sanctified culture where truth is the standard of the land.
HEALING
“with healing in its wings”
Every miracle Jesus worked was not only a testimony to His deity,
But was ALSO A FORESHADOW of what is to come.
The curse will be reversed and when sin leaves
So will its terrible consequences.
Sorrow and sighing and sickness will be no more.
JOY
“you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall”
I believe the word is “giddy”
Psalms 96:11-13 “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy Before the LORD, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.”
When sin is gone and sickness goes with it.
And we inherit a righteous earth that has been purified by fire.
We will rejoice in this wonderful new creation.
VICTORY
“You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the LORD of hosts.”
WHAT A REVERSAL!
• No more will the wicked reign.
• No more will we suffer under the choices of sinful men.
We won’t need foster homes anymore because evil parents will be gone.
And we will finally have the world that we lost in Eden.
That day of doom is coming,
But the next day will be a new dawn for the righteous.
1 Thessalonians 5:4-11 “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”
The coming day of the LORD is terrible for the wicked
But it will be a glorious day for the righteous.
AND THE LORD KNOWS WHO IS WHO.
The LORD knows who the indifferent are
And He knows who are those who fear Him and esteem His name.
And just as sure as He will put the goats on His left and consign them to the fires of hell,
He will also put the sheep on His right and welcome them into the glory of His Father.
All of this is the Day of the LORD.
The Coming Doom, The Coming Dawn
#3 THE COMING DECISION
Malachi 4:4
When Peter spoke of the coming day of the Lord he said it like this.
2 Peter 3:10-12 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”
IT IS A FITTING QUESTION.
• Since God is going to burn up this world in judgment and destroy the wicked.
• And since God is going to reward the righteous.
• “What sort of people ought you to be..?”
Don’t be phony people.
Don’t be fake people.
Don’t be indifferent people.
Malachi tells you the same.
BE OBEDIENT PEOPLE.
“Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.”
What a great passage to speak of the authority of the Bible.
• We often call it the law of Moses
• But God reminds here that Moses was “My servant”
• The Bible isn’t the word of Moses, it is the word of God.
• God used Moses to give it to you.
And it WASN’T OPTIONAL, it was “commanded”
And it ISN’T FOR A SELECT FEW, it was “for all Israel”
The obvious point here is this.
Since God is going to destroy the wicked with fire – DON’T BE WICKED
You obey God.
Do you remember when Jesus speaks about those people who are shocked that they are being judged?
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.’”
They practiced “lawlessness”
It didn’t matter about their supposed preaching and miracles and exorcisms.
They were not obedient and they ended up being judged.
God is not looking for involved people.
• He is looking for obedient people.
• He is looking for those who fear and esteem Him.
• He is looking for those who seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”
DON’T BE THOSE PEOPLE.
And that is the warning here.
SNAP OUT OF IT!
You cannot just sit on the fence about this.
You either have to be all in or you are all out.
You cannot treat Jesus like a weekend gig if nothing better is going on.
He is either your life or His is not.
You are either devoted to Him or you are not.
And when HE RETURNS He will make a very DISTINCT SEPARATION
Between those who obey Him and those who do not.
Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
He can divide between soul and spirit; joints and marrow…
There may be a many things in this life that you can be nonchalant about,
But obedience to God cannot be one of them.
You must choose to serve and obey Him with all your heart.
Our culture seems to think that casual Christianity is a thing.
IT IS NOT!
• Jesus is not an amendment…
• Jesus is not a postscript…
• Jesus is not an optional upgrade…
HE IS EVERYTHING
And if He is not your everything you must repent and run to Him.
That is the decision that every man must make.
And you must make it before the day arrives.
The Coming Doom, The Coming Dawn, The Coming Decision
#4 THE COMING DIPLOMAT
Malachi 4:5-6
Alright, here is the tricky part of the text.
• Because God knows that His people are indifferent…
• Because God knows that even though they think they’re ready they are not…
• Because God knows they are saturated with apathy…
GOD HAS A PLAN.
“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.”
Before that day of judgment comes, I’m going to send you a prophet.
What is obviously meant is that I am sending one “like” Elijah or with the spirit of Elijah.
Before I come and destroy the wicked
I will first send prophet who will confront you and expose you
And get you ready for that day.
(6) “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers…”
That’s a sort of cryptic statement.
But the implication seems to be that
He will RESTORE A RIGHTEOUS PRIORITY in the culture.
• He will restore fathers who care about being the right kind of fathers who train up their children in righteousness and the fear of the LORD.
• And he will restore obedient children who listen to the instruction of their fathers and walk in truth.
He will come and restore a holy and righteous culture in the land.
I think we understand that in a culture like ours
Where we see so little of Godly fathers or Godly children.
This Elijah will come to confront the culture
And reenforce a righteous standard.
“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.”
He is coming first, and he will LEAD YOU TO REVIVAL
So that when I come, you won’t fall under the day of wrath.
• He will come to lead a “Heart Restoration” effort.
• He will bring about revival.
• He will turn you from your sin.
• And as a result He will save you from the coming judgment.
And so the implication obviously is that
• You need to walk in obedience so that you are not judged
• And when Elijah shows up you had better do everything that he says so that
you don’t end up being destroyed.
THAT MAKES SENSE TO US DOESN’T IT?
It’s the SAME THING we saw back in chapter 3.
Malachi 3:1 “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. 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.”
It is what we read about in ISAIAH:
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.”
There is one coming whom you had better listen to
Because he will save you from the coming judgment.
THAT MAKES SENSE.
BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM HERE THAT WE MUST ADDRESS.
Malachi clearly says that Elijah is coming.
• And “He WILL restore…”
• And as a result of His ministry “I WILL NOT…smite the land with a curse”
There are many who will obviously say that
This Elijah that Malachi refers to is John the Baptist.
If that is so we have a problem.
What is the problem?
He didn’t do what Malachi said he would do.
• He didn’t restore the hearts of men.
• He didn’t save the land from the curse.
Matthew 10:34-36 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. “For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.”
That is actually the opposite of what Malachi promised.
Matthew 17:12 “but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”
Instead of listening to John the Baptist, they killed him.
Instead their hearts restored, their hearts became even more evil.
And so what many commentators have decided
Is that Malachi 4:5-6 CANNOT be talking about John the Baptist.
(Maybe Malachi 3 is talking about him, but Malachi 4:5-6 can’t be)
And they say it is a reference to a YET FUTURE PROPHET
Who will come in the spirit of Elijah before the second coming of the Lord.
AFTER ALL,
John said he wasn’t Elijah.
John 1:19-23 “This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
And Jesus said that Elijah was still coming.
Matthew 17:11 “And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things;”
And so it SEEMS as though we have our answer.
• That Malachi 4:5-6 is NOT TALKING ABOUT John the Baptist,
• It IS TALKING ABOUT a yet future Elijah who will come to preach repentance to the people and prepare them for the second coming of the Lord.
Many like to settle on one of those 2 witnesses you read about in Revelation 11.
Those witnesses who can produce plagues and call down fire on men who resist them.
AND IT SEEMS LIKE WE HAVE OUR ANSWER.
HOWEVER…
JESUS SAYS THAT JOHN IS THE ELIJAH.
Matthew 17:12-13 “but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.”
Matthew 11:14 “And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.”
And even when John’s birth was announced
Look at the passage that was quoted specifically about him.
Luke 1:13-18 “But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. “And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. “It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
So we are right back to our problem.
• We have Jesus and Zacharias clearly stating that John is in fact the one Malachi promised,
• But it is clear that John did not fulfill all that was promised by Malachi.
SO WHAT GIVES?
Was John the Baptist the promised Elijah? Yes, Jesus said he was.
Did he restore as promised? No, they ignored and killed him.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
It means that Malachi’s warning fell on DEAF EARS.
When Jesus asked the crowds about John
• He pointed out that John was no soft spoken prophet.
• Jesus revealed that John was the promised Elijah.
Matthew 11:14-19 “And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear. “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
Did you catch what Jesus said after He revealed John as the Elijah?
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
THEY DIDN’T.
Instead they rejected John just as the rejected the Messiah.
If you go on reading in that same passage:
Matthew 11:20-24 “Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. “Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”
They didn’t listen to the Elijah like Malachi told them to
And the result will be judgment.
BUT HERE IS WHERE THE STORY TAKES THE UNEXPECTED TURN.
From Malachi’s perspective, when these people rejected John,
They should have immediately received the full fury of God’s judgment.
THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN CRUSHED ON THE SPOT.
BUT INSTEAD
• Of receiving on that day the full judgment of the Day of the LORD,
• In a shocking twist, God instead poured out His wrath on His Son.
Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”
We see this Day of the LORD wrath poured squarely upon Christ.
Matthew 27:45-50 “Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, “This man is calling for Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. But the rest of them said, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.”
That “darkness” was the Day of the LORD judgment.
AND CHRIST BORE IT ALL.
IT IS THE VERY GOSPEL WHICH WE LOVE.
• That God treats Christ like He lived the sinners life
• So that He can treat the sinner like he lived Christ’s life.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
It is the reprieve of the ages!
Now, to be certain ISRAEL HAS SUFFERED for her rejection.
• Go read Romans 9-11 and see how she has been hardened and broken off
• And how Gentiles have been grafted in for salvation.
But also read how God will not break His promises to Israel
And one day He will call them home.
See, ELIJAH DID COME just as Malachi said. It was John the Baptist.
But Jesus also said Elijah was still coming.
Matthew 17:11 “And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things;”
The Day of the LORD is still coming.
God will still judge sinners.
But the glory of our great God is that before His day of wrath came,
He first sent a day of salvation.
Now through Christ we can escape this great day of coming judgment.
(Even those who have failed to fully obey the Law of Moses find righteousness in Him)
But those who come to Him must truly come to Him.
• You cannot come in indifference.
• You cannot follow half-hearted.
• You must be His and His alone.
For He came once to save, but He will come a second time for judgment.
• He will gather up the wheat and burn the chaff just as He said.
• He will gather the sheep and destroy the goats just as He said.
• He will gather the good fish and throw out the bad fish just as He said.
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.”
YOU BE READY.
• Quit serving Christ half-heartedly.
• Give Him your whole heart and serve Him totally!
For the day is coming when all those who are not truly His will perish.
