Sermon Tone Analysis

“Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble.

The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.

You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”1

"Utter destruction!”

I think you would agree that this is an unusual way in which to begin an Advent Message.

However, these final words of the Old Testament provide the foundation for our celebration of the coming of the Son of God.

Moreover, this stunning prophecy will eventuate in hope and joy.

Some translations end with the warning of a curse on the land.

The text I use, the ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, translates this Hebrew term with our English words, “utter destruction.”

I should think that utter destruction would qualify as a curse.

This was God‟s final Word to Israel for over four hundred years.

“Utter destruction.”

Indeed, this is a frightful way in which to conclude a prophetic message.

In fact, this phrase (translating a single word in the Hebrew text) is the final word of the canon of the Old Testament.

We don‟t like our literature to end in this manner.

We think novels should end with the notation, “they lived happily ever after.”

Likewise, we would expect that God‟s great plan of creation and redemption should end on a victorious note.

Doctor James Boice writes, “The Masoretes, who have given us most of the copies of the Hebrew Old Testament we have and who added the vowel points to the Hebrew text, were so bothered by this [unhappy ending] that they repeated the next-to-the-last verse of Malachi after the last verse.

Similarly, the Septuagint reverses the last two verses so the Old Testament ends, not with a curse, but with a blessing.”2

It is appropriate that the Old Covenant should end as it does, however; God had His reasons for what is said.

Hidden behind these dreadful words is something which is less apparent—divine love.

God did not wish to destroy His beloved people, and therefore He sought to grab their attention by concluding on a dark theme which would arrest them in their mad rush toward certain destruction.

Destruction need not come, if the appalling words are taken to heart to effect a needed course correction.

Some people suggest that last words are important, if for no other reason then that they point to what is most important in the speaker‟s life.

If that is so, then surely the final words of the True and Living God must bear grave significance.

Consider God‟s last Word until the days of Christ as recorded in the New Testament.

THE DAY OF THE LORD — The message that Malachi delivered was an eschatological message.

He drew aside the veil which separates the present from the future, revealing what God would yet do in the land.

Few people today think of prophecy in conjunction with the Christmas Season, but the First Advent of God‟s Son did fulfil a great number of prophecies.

Furthermore, His coming presaged yet greater prophecies which are yet unfulfilled.

It is this Day of the Lord to which Malachi looks as he closes his message.

“The Day of the Lord” will be preceded by the presence of Elijah.

Jesus affirmed that Elijah must come [MATTHEW 11:13, 14].

Some concepts must be made clear if we will understand this prophecy.

First, the “Day of the Lord” is a term which speaks of a specific period of time.

It is a concept which in the Old Testament speaks of that future period of judgement when Messiah shall purify His people, Israel.

The Day of the Lord is in particular related to Israel and not to us who are Christians.

This is not to say that Christians should not be informed concerning what is coming, but it does imply that Christians need not be overly concerned that they will experience the pains which will accompany that awesome Day of Judgement.

The Day of the Lord is rooted in Old Testament prophecy.

Accordingly, the Day of the Lord signifies the same as “the last tribulation,” which breaks in as “great trouble” [DANIEL 12:1] for Israel [“time of distress for Jacob,” JEREMIAH 30:7] and for the nations.3

Joel speaks of the Day of the Lord as a time of judgement [JOEL 3:14, 15], and also as a time of blessing [JOEL 3:18].

Therefore, the Day of the Lord speaks of something more than mere judgement.

The Word of God clarifies what is meant.

“The Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” [1 THESSALONIANS 5:2].

This points forward to a time when Jesus Christ will have His way, unlike the days of His flesh when He was here in humility, only to be rejected by His own people and unlike this present day when wickedness seems triumphant and truth is pilloried.

The Day of the Lord will be an alarming day [2 THESSALONIANS 2:2 ff.], which will bring with it darkness, judgement and calamities, for God will arise to shake not only the earth but also the heavens [HAGGAI 2:6].

The Master will usher in His everlasting Kingdom on the Day of the Lord.

That day will be a cruel day, a day marked by wrath and fierce anger [ISAIAH 13:9], a day in which neither the stars of the heavens nor the constellations will give their light [ISAIAH 13:10].

The Day of the Lord will be introduced with initial judgements, followed by disturbances in the heavenly constellations, followed in turn by unveiling of the Day of the Lord, said to be “the great and magnificent day” [ACTS 2:20].

This is that day when Christ personally comes to earth with His saints to suppress His foes, deliver His earthly people, and set up His kingdom.

It is this latter aspect which is the subject of First and Second Thessalonians, that time when Christ “shines forth,” accompanied by His people.

These preliminary acts of judgement before His appearance are chiefly, though not exclusively, spoken of in the Old Testament.

They are also spoken of in Revelation.4

Whenever we read of the Day of the Lord, we note that the sun will be darkened, the moon will refuse to shine, and the stars of heaven will fall [cf.

MATTHEW 24:29].

These celestial events immediately follow the tribulation of those days, which is also true of events immediately preceding the great and magnificent day of the Lord [ACTS 2:20].

In light of these various verses, the order of events must be first, the Great Tribulation, followed by the darkening of the sun and the moon, and at last the great and magnificent day of the Lord.

Christ will then clear the earth of all that offends and all those who commit iniquity and His righteous rule shall commence with that Day.

To iterate, the Day of the Lord is a comprehensive term for the entire period beginning with the Great Tribulation, continuing with the judgements of God upon this unbelieving world, the heavenly disturbances, the return of Christ to this earth, and the establishment of His Millennial Kingdom.

Ultimately, the Day of the Lord will witness the final judgement of all the wicked who stand before the Great White Throne of Christ at the conclusion of the Millennial Kingdom.

The Day of the Lord begins as Christ brings judgement to the earth at the conclusion of this Age of Grace.

It continues until the final dissolution of all things.

At last, following the Day of the Lord, eternity begins.

“The Day of the Lord” must be contrasted to “the Day of Jesus Christ” [PHILIPPIANS 1:6] or “the Day of Our Lord Jesus Christ” [2 CORINTHIANS 1:14].

These terms present an entirely different concept, one which speaks of a date which is also yet future.

This term, the “Day of Jesus Christ,” is always in relation to Christ and His bride, the redeemed saints.

In that day, the saints will be removed from this wicked world, gathered together with Christ, and we who are Christ‟s chosen ones will receive our promised rewards.

There is but one time when this will happen, according to biblical prophecy.

Soon, Christ shall return to call out from this fallen world all who have put their faith in Him as Master and Saviour.

This event is commonly referred to as the Rapture of the saints.

The term Rapture is derived from the Latin translation of a portion of Paul‟s prophetic instruction to the Thessalonian saints.

In the first Thessalonian letter, Paul seeks to comfort grieving saints.

Listen to the passage from which we derive the term.

“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep [i.e.

dead], that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep [or died].

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” [1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-17].

We who are alive will be caught up together with the saints who have preceded us.

The purpose of our being caught up is so that we may meet the Lord in the air.

That Greek term which is translated into English as caught up, is the Greek verb harpagesómetha, from the root verb harpázo.

Translated into Latin, that Greek verb become rapio, which in turn is transliterated into English as rapture.5

There is a distinction which now exists between God‟s elect people and the inhabitants of this fallen world.

Though making such a statement carries the risk that some will imagine that I am stating that Christians are better than those who are outside the Faith, I am making no such claim.

We who are Christians have nothing of which to boast.

We are forgiven, but our forgiveness is because we are recipients of divine grace and mercy.

It is not our merits that make a distinction between the world and us.

A distinction exists now; and it shall be made manifest in the Day of the Lord.

Before that Day, Christians shall be gathered together with the Risen, Reigning Son of God.

There is pending for God‟s chosen time a glorious day—a day that is imminent, when Christ shall call His people out of this wicked world.

The dead in Christ shall rise, and we who remain shall be changed into the likeness of the Lord Christ.

Listen to Paul‟s revelation concerning this glorious event that shall shortly take place.

“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.