People can be very forgetful about important things.
The great British preacher Charles Spurgeon once wrote: A man goes into an inn, and as soon as he sits down he begins to order…his dinner, his bed…He stays at the inn for some time. By and by, the bill comes due, and it takes him by surprise. "I never thought of that—[paying for all this!]" "Why," says the landlord, "here is a man who is either a born fool or else [a thief]! Never thought of reckoning--never thought of settling with me!"
Spurgeon goes on to say that this is how many people live---enjoying life, living day to day---with hardly ever a thought about the coming day of reckoning with the Lord described in
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment…
And yet it is so easy to get so busy thinking about, worrying about, working on so many other things that we don’t spend much time thinking about God’s day of reckoning that comes closer with every moment we live. This is why chapters such as Malachi 4 are so important. The people of Malachi’s day were in danger of forgetting God’s judgment. “Where is the God of justice?” they ask in Mal. 2:17, and “What good does it do us to serve the Lord?” in Mal. 3:14-15. God doesn’t really keep score; obeying His Word is a waste of time; live and let live. These Jews were a lot like many of us today who have forgotten the reality of God’s judgment.
And so Malachi ends his prophecy with a reminder, both for the people of his day and for us today—specifically 3 things to remember about God’s judgment---3 truths that can help you keep your hope up, can reinforce the importance of your obedience, and can show us how to truly be prepared to face God’s judgment. 3 Things to Remember about God’s judgment:
1. GOD WILL PUNISH THE WICKED AND REWARD THE RIGHTEOUS. (v. 1-3)
In his classic book, Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe writes that when Robinson Crusoe’s good man Friday asked him, "Why doesn’t God destroy the devil?" Robinson Crusoe gave him the right answer, the only answer, the great answer. He said, "God will destroy him."
Have you ever been tempted to doubt that? We see people in politics, in business, at work, or on the news who seem to do quiet well even though they do wicked, evil things. Somebody might say I can’t believe they got away with that. But do they? Malachi tells us in no uncertain terms ultimately, nobody gets away with anything.
He begins in vs. 1 with the fate of the wicked. For there is a day coming… A specific day, a day as real and certain as today, when God will punish the wicked and reward the righteous.
…burning like an oven…Malachi uses fire to describe the judgment of the wicked. He pictures the wicked as stubble= straw, chaff, grass. Like grass, the wicked will be burned up in the fiery furnace of God’s wrath and judgment ...leaving neither root nor branch…= no life left in them. The image here is of utter destruction, with no hope of survival or restoration. God’s judgment will deal finally and decisively with all of His enemies.
But you must be careful: Malachi is not painting a picture of hell here. Some try to use these verses to teach that hell is not forever, that condemned souls are destroyed, or annihilated (thus the doctrine of annihilationism). But Jesus describes hell more vividly in the NT story of the rich man and Lazarus, in which He makes it clear souls in hell suffer forever.
On the other hand, vs. 2-3 give us a snapshot of the fortune of those who …fear My Name…= the righteous. Their destiny is not to have the heat turned up, but for the beautiful
Dawn of a New Day…the Sun of Righteousness that rises with healing in His wings. It’s not hard to see this SUN as the SON, and the beautiful place described as heaven. But the point Malachi is making is not necessarily about what heaven will be like, so much as it is that the righteous will find peace, joy given by God. He describes them as frolicking like newborn calves, running and leaping for joy, trampling the ashes of the wicked whom God has judged. God will shine the Light of His goodness and blessing on those who fear Him. They will experience His perfect peace, His fullness of joy, because they belong to Him.
Does it pay to serve God? Does God really punish the wicked and reward the righteous? Malachi says He does. Do you believe that? If you do, it will affect how you see the world, and how you live your life.
If you believe the wicked will eventually be punished, you won’t envy them. You won’t want to change places with people who get ahead by doing wrong. You may even come to pity them, because the truth is, they’re as close to heaven as they will ever get here on earth.
If you believe the righteous will eventually be rewarded, then you will be more patient when you don’t receive your reward in this life. You will be willing to keep doing right, even when you suffer here, because you know that one day, serving and loving God will pay off.
Psalm 73:2-3, 16-17 2But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. 3For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 16When I thought how to understand this, It was too painful for me— 17Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end.
Remember how God says the story ends: the good guys win, the bad guys get burned. God will deal with the devil, along with the rest of His enemies. He will reward His people. But how do you distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys? What are the rules of the game? Malachi explains this in the next thing we should always remember about God’s judgment:
2. GOD’S LAW IS THE STANDARD FOR HIS JUDGMENT. (v. 4)
It almost seems as if Malachi goes chasing a rabbit in this verse, unless you realize how God’s judgment and His Law are connected: God’s Law is the standard of His judgment.
The Law of Moses had a very simple way to distinguish between the wicked and the righteous: you obey God’s law, you were righteous; disobey, and you were wicked. But this obedience was more than just keeping a set of rules—it involved a heart of love for the Lord that motivated you to obey Him. In other words, doing the right thing was not just a matter of keeping the rules but of keeping the rules from a heart of love. That is the standard of God’s judgment—obedience to His Law from a heart of love. He calls them to (read v. 4).
Malachi points back to the specific event in history when God gave Israel His Law through Moses at Mt. Horeb (aka Mt Sinai). God’s Law was not just a matter of personal taste, or popular opinion, or majority vote. God’s Law was His revelation about His own holiness, and the holiness He expected from His people. Notice how Malachi speaks not only of God’s Law, but of his …statutes and judgments…=ceremonial and civil laws=laws about sacrifice and diet. Remember God’s Law, Malachi warns, because His Law is the standard of behavior expected of a person who truly loves the Lord.
Some might read this verse and say, “OK Malachi, that was all well and good for you to remember the Law of Moses. But we live in the age of grace. Even the apostle Paul wrote in
Galatians 2:16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
Nobody is saved by keeping the Law of Moses, so why not forget about it altogether? Because Jesus didn’t. In what is probably our Lord’s most famous sermon, He said in:
Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
Jesus fulfilled the Law of God by obeying it perfectly. But He also used the Law of God for what it was intended for: to be a standard by which to measure our guilt before God and our love for God.
The Law is meant to teach us how sinful we really are—how far short we come of God’s glory. Jesus used it this way when He spoke to the rich young ruler who asked how to be saved. What did Jesus do? He quoted the 10 Commandments, not to say he could earn salvation, but to point out how far short he really came. This is one function of God’s moral law---to show us we are sinners who need a Savior.
The Law is also meant to show those who love God how to live to please Him. When a person is converted to Christ, they want to know how to live to please the Lord.
Does that mean God wants us to obey the Law of Moses, with all its dietary rules and ceremonial regulations? No. The civil and ceremonial law was given specifically to Israel, but the moral Law behind all of these---summed up by the twin command to love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself, as well as the 10 Commandments—God still calls us to obey from a heart of love for Him.
This is God’s standard of judgment. Those who are not saved by grace through faith will be judged by God’s Law and condemned for their disobedience. Those who are saved by grace through faith have their sins judged by God on the Cross, when Jesus died to pay the price for their guilt. Their faith is proved by their obedience to God’s Word.
Congressman Jack Kemp summed it up well when he said: People obey the law for one of two reasons: they either love God or fear punishment.
Now can you see why you and I should remember the Law of God? It is God’s standard of judgment for the unbeliever, meant to show his guilt. It is God’s standard of life for the believer, meant to be the expression of our faith and love in our Savior.
Remember God will punish the wicked and reward the righteous; God’s Law is the standard for His judgment. Malachi offer us one more very important thing to remember about God’s judgment:
3. GOD’S JUDGMENT CALLS FOR OUR REPENTANCE. (v. 5-6)
From Moses Malachi turns to Elijah, the fiery, camel-clothed prophet of the desert, whose story is found in 1 Kings 16-2 Kings 2. You may remember Elijah as one of the only people in the Bible who never physically died (the other is Enoch.) Elijah was a man who suddenly appears during the reigns of the evil Israelite kings of Ahab and Ahaziah. His mission was to call Israel to turn from idols back to God—in other words he called them to repentance.
Through Malachi, the Lord promises before the day of His judgment He will again send Elijah to the people on a mission---the same mission---to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. In other words, God will send Elijah to call them to repentance. What is the alternative? Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
The term[curse]is one of the harshest in Scripture. The Hebrew word suggests complete annihilation. This is the term translated doomed in the account of the destruction of Jericho (see Josh. 6:17).
Elijah’s ultimatum about God’s judgment is simple: repent or perish! It’s not so hard to understand what Malachi says here; it is a little more difficult to understand what he means. Who is this Elijah? And what does this have to do with God’s judgment?
Jesus and His disciples offer us some help interpreting this Scripture in Matthew 17:10-13 (read). Obviously Jesus says John the Baptist was the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy. That makes sense since his message was a call to repentance.
But I recently discovered something here I hadn’t noticed before—Jesus seems to refer to another Elijah whom He says …is coming first and will restore all things…Many Bible scholars believe Jesus speaks of some still future event when Elijah will reappear and call for repentance before the return of Christ.
But let me pose a bigger question:---why does God send Elijah at all?
These people know the score. They have God’s Word. He’s made it clear how to live right, how to love God and love their neighbor. They’ve seen a preview of how God punishes the wicked when the Babylonians invaded Judah and wiped them out because they rebelled against God. Now He brings them back home, helps them rebuild Jerusalem and their Temple, and they’re ready to go back to their idols. God doesn’t owe them a second chance, and yet here, He promises them that before He sends judgment, out of sheer mercy and grace, He will send Elijah to call them one more time to repent and avoid destruction. That’s why He sends Elijah—because He still loves these people.
The apostle Paul once wrote something beautiful about God’s mercy. He addresses those who think that just because God hasn’t judged their sin that He will never judge their sin.
Romans 2:4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? (NLT)
God offers us time to repent before He sends His judgment. Even when you know better, even when you are stubborn and defiant, God’s deepest desire is not for your destruction, but for your repentance. Turn your heart to Me He calls and I will forgive you.
If that sounds soft on sin, let me remind you that nobody has forever to turn to the Lord. He gives us time, but He doesn’t give us forever. He is merciful, but He will not be mocked. If you refuse there comes a day when it’s too late, and you must face the music.
Is He calling you to repent? Elijah’s didn’t come to church tonight, but the Spirit of God that empowered Elijah is here. Maybe He is calling you, gently reminding you of the divine ultimatum: repent, or perish. God’s call to repentance is the call of a Father Who loves you to come home. Why don’t you heed His call and avoid His judgment?
Sir Thomas More said, "The world does not need so much to be informed as to be reminded." "Forget not!" and "Remember! Remember!"
Malachi has challenged us tonight to remember 3 things about God’s judgment:
1. GOD WILL PUNISH THE WICKED AND REWARD THE RIGHTEOUS.
2. GOD’S LAW IS THE STANDARD FOR HIS JUDGMENT.
3. GOD’S JUDGMENT CALLS FOR OUR REPENTANCE.
May we all take time to remember, consider, and respond to God’s Word.
