Prophecy To Our Age
God’s Final Words
Introduction: Malachi 4
The prophecy of Malachi, hence; ends with a curse. After this prophetic message from God, there is no direct message to the people for over four hundred years. With the close of the Old Testament what is found within the text of this message, which warrants our attention or that which holds the power to keep His people for generations to come? God’s message to the people is given in the form of a curse. It’s not a negative form of impending doom but a loving message given to arouse their interest in order that the threatened curse may never fall on them. Let’s look at this message and consider the implications of the truth.
A. The Final Word.
1. Throughout the history of mankind one thing stands clear; man has failed in his relationship with God. God has faithfully stood by his people, loving them with absolute love and shown his untiring compassion.
2. So, from God’s divine nature He ends the Old Testament with a curse. His curse is given in a futuristic statement stating His intentions. This is His last appeal out of love, aimed at diverting calamity, by announcing it as a natural sequence of sin.
3. This final message is not of anger but of infinite love.
B. The final Word then, being a warning not a sentence, is a gospel of His love.
1. The turning of their hearts toward God marks the condition with which the curse may be averted (Malachi 4:5-6).
2. When the people come back to God’s principles and are what he intended them to be; then the curse will be removed and God will shower them with His blessings. That is the Gospel of His love.
3. How is all this to be brought about?
a. The fulfillment of this promise was the coming of John The Baptist.
b. Elijah already had come to the people but there will be one coming that will have the power of Elijah.
c. The reason for his coming was to “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.”
d. He was to prepare the people for the coming of the Lord.
C. The great announcement, “Surely the day is coming.”
1. Over four hundred years will transpire between Malachi and the one who is to come with the power and spirit of Elijah. What is the force of this prophetic message that will retain man’s obedience and stay the course until it’s fulfillment?
2. Notice that within this proclamation is a two-fold statement, which when observed is in actuality one message: “Surely the day is coming: it will burn like a furnace.. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.”
a. God is giving an announcement of future events.
b. He is leaving the people without a prophetic message for over four hundred years, but His final word is that, ‘He will act!’
c. How will God act? He will usher in a new age where he will overcome the evil of the age by a sudden transformation.
d. Today you have set up the wicked and called them happy (Vs. 3:15); however, there is a day when God breaks the proud and reduces the wicked to stubble (Vs 4:1). The wickedness of man shall be the stubble in the Day of God when the Son of Righteousness heals the heart of man.
3. Thus, the Old Testament ends and the voice of Malachi became silent.
a. Malachi has described their condition and relayed the message of God’s infinite love.
b. He has delivered a curse; but that God will not abandon them and there will come a day of healing for mankind.
c. John the Baptist came before the coming of Jesus two thousand years ago, and the hearts of the children were turned to their Fathers by thousands through his message, and I believe that today the signs of the times point to the nearness of the upcoming return of the Son of righteousness.
d. That all our hearts would be turned to the ways of Jesus and that not one of us would be ashamed at the day of his coming, let us all walk in his love and hunger for his truth.
D. Then, how does the message given by Malachi apply to our present dispensation?
1. The dawn of the 21st Century finds our world facing a multitude of crisis. All the medias of news indicate our generation is facing disaster at every turn: Sexually Transmitted Diseases Crisis; Teenage Pregnancy Crisis; Marriages in Crisis; Assault on the Nuclear Family Crisis; etc.
2. Wherever we turn we see lives broken and ravished with pain and guilt. The human heart is consumed by anxieties, abuse, and addictions. Mankind is crying out for the solution that will bring a cessation to their emptiness and relational alienation.
3. Our cultures problems can’t be fixed by political correctness, or another social program, or economic security. The remedy for mankind can only be found in people getting closer to God. It can only be found in people developing a personal and daily relationship with Jesus Christ.
4. I believe that when people whole-heartedly experience the forgiving love of Jesus Christ they will be amazed of the transformation that God’s love will bring to their empty and hurting world. They will be astonished by how that sacrificial giving love will heal their souls and their relationships with each other.
5. Jesus hurts when we hurt. Jesus loves us when we’re unlovable. He came from heaven to be one of us because of the deep affectionate compassion he has for us. He related to our hurt and pain by taking it to the cross with him and He cries the same tormenting agony as we do, “forgive them Father, for they do not know what they are doing.”
6. Jesus, long ago, gave us the greatest of the commandments, “’you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole law and the Prophets.’”
7. When our love is in proper proportion of that with which Jesus wants for us; then is when we find that true joy and peace which marks us as a people of principle. Showing Jesus love is at the heart of whom we are and what we do as Christians.
8. The lost world will stand up and take notice when the people of God demonstrate true love for each other. Our world – the world in crisis – needs to see god’s love demonstrated through us. When they see this living model of God’s love in action, then is when we will start to make an impact in the lives of those around us.
9. Let’s go forth with God’s mercy and compassion for the hurting around us and impact the world with these principles of love.
