Malachi 4:1-6
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Malachi 4:1-6
Malachi 4:1-6
“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 armies, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branches. But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and frolic like calves from the stall. And you will crush the wicked underfoot, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am preparing,” says the Lord of armies.
“Remember the Law of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.
“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with complete destruction.”
Throughout the Book of Malachi there is a distinction made between two types of people: those that fear the Lord (the righteous) and the arrogant (the wicked). We see this at the very outset of the book, “Yet I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.” This is the fundamental distinction that has divided humanity and it runs through all people regardless of race, class, gender, or social standing. Throughout history there have always been those who are the Lord’s special possession, those whom He has loved, and those who are in rebellion against the Lord, those whom He does not love. This has been the case since the first generation of humanity: Abel, by faith, was faithful to God and brought the right sacrifice to Him, yet Cain did not. Abel’s sacrifice was accepted and Cain’s was rejected, which caused him to be angry with both his brother and with God. Cain’s rebellion continued throughout his bloodline, culminating in Lamech, the seventh generation from Cain, who invented polygamy and boasted about murdering someone who offended him. After Abel’s death, his younger brother Seth took on the mantle of obedience to God’s law and called on the name of the Lord, culminating in Enoch, the seventh generation from Seth, who walked with God. These two distinct groups of people, those who love God and call on His name, and those who reject God and continue to live in rebellion towards Him, are still alive today.
In our text today, we will see how God responds to both the righteous and the wicked and in His response we find our hope.
Malachi 4:1 ““For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every worker of wickedness will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them aflame,” says Yahweh of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.””
First off, the day that is talked about here is pointing to the first coming of Christ. How do we know that? Verse 5: “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.” The prophet here is telling of the coming of the Lord and how it would be a terrible day. First, it was a terrible day for the wicked Jews. John Calvin writes: “the wrath of God was then at length more kindled against the Jews, when they had alienated themselves from Christ; for their last hope and their last remedy in their evils, was the aid of the Redeemer, and it was for the rejection of His favor that the Jews had to feel the dreadful punishment of their ingratitude.” It is the same for all those who hate Jesus. It is a terrible day for the wicked.
Malachi then gives us a description of these wicked people. He calls them arrogant and workers of wickedness and he describes them as chaff. These people have always been described in the Bible as chaff or stubble. Chaff is the husks of corn that were left on the ground after the corn was harvested. Stubble is the stalks of grain plants left in the ground after the harvest.
I grew up in Iowa. Sometimes the farmers who went to our church would tithe their produce. So during harvest time we would get bags of corn still in the husks and my sister and I would have to talk off the husks in order to get to the corn. After we were done, we would gather up the husks off the front porch and throw them in the trash.
This is the picture that God wants us to have when He talks about the wicked. They are what’s left after the harvest is complete; to be throw away. Here in Malachi 4:1 He doesn’t just say they were thrown away but they were “set aflame,” they were burned up by God. God is often depicted as a fire. We see this in the Exodus. God was a pillar of cloud that led His people out of Egypt by day and a pillar of fire that led them by night. In Exodus 24 He is depicted as a consuming fire on top of Mount Sinai. In Deuteronomy 4 Moses urges the people to walk in obedience to God’s Law and to not forget the covenant of the Lord your God, because He is a consuming fire.
This was a warning to the wicked then and is so still today. If you continue to disobey God’s law, if you continue to reject or forget the new covenant found in Christ, you will be consumed by the fire of His wrath and you will be burned.
The prophet now turns his attention to the righteous.
But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and frolic like calves from the stall.
Notice the flame towards the righteous is something entirely different. The fire of the sun brings healing to that which it shines upon. Scientifically, the sun has many healing virtues. it stimulates the body to produce vitamin D (hence the juice Sunny D, which is, ironically, not very healthy for you). But we know that vitamin D is vital for bone and muscle health, immune function, and regulating blood pressure. It also regulates circadian rhythms. The sun is a natural clock that tells you its time to sleep and helps you create a pattern of sleep that will help you. It boosts serotonin levels which helps improve mood and reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. The sun is very helpful.
The prophet here is depicting God as a sun that shines righteousness upon His people bringing healing to them. When we take the time to bask in the light of who God is and what God has said, we will find the very same things happening to us. God strengthens us, helps us become immune to sin, and gives us peace. God also is the One who gives us rest.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
And it is only through Him that we can truly overcome anxiety and depression.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Jesus calls Himself the Light of the world. God’s Word is a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path. He is the flame, the sun, the light given to the righteous. Yet this not the only flame that the Lord is to the righteous. He is also a refining fire to those who believe. The prophet Malachi tells us this in:
“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 launderer’s soap. And 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.
In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
God is a consuming fire for the righteous as well, healing us and refining us.
In conclusion, I want us to see how in God’s response to the wicked and the righteous we have hope. You might say, ‘Pastor Jason that’s easy. Our hope is that the light of Christ and His Word has illuminated our very souls and has healed us and is continuing to refine us. That is our hope.’ Yes it is. But there is more hope for us. ‘Pastor, how can there be more hope than eternal life with Christ?’ The more hope I am speaking of is hope that we can have here in this life, not just in the one to come.
And you will crush the wicked underfoot, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am preparing,” says the Lord of armies.
Not only did the great and terrible day of our Lord’s first coming bring judgment upon the wicked and grace to the righteous, it also brought the beginning of the kingdom of God being established here on earth.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus, the Son of God made flesh, was given all authority in heaven and earth and in that authority He has called the righteous to go and exert that authority in the earth through discipleship and baptism. Psalm 149 speaks of this very thing.
Praise the Lord!
Sing a new song to the Lord,
And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones.
Israel shall be joyful in his Maker;
The sons of Zion shall rejoice in their King.
They shall praise His name with dancing;
They shall sing praises to Him with tambourine and lyre.
For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;
He will glorify the lowly with salvation.
The godly ones shall be jubilant in glory;
They shall sing for joy on their beds.
The high praises of God shall be in their mouths,
And a two-edged sword in their hands,
To execute vengeance on the nations,
And punishment on the peoples,
To bind their kings with chains,
And their dignitaries with shackles of iron,
To execute against them the judgment written.
This is an honor for all His godly ones.
Praise the Lord!
Did you notice the last half of that psalm? We are to execute vengeance and punishment on nations and peoples, we are to bind the kings and dignitaries of those nations with chains and shackles of iron, we are to execute against them the judgment written, and that this is an honor given to the righteous. These are powerful words and some people find them frightening ones. how are we to do this? Look at verse 6: “The high praises of God shall be in their mouths and a two-edged sword in their hands.” Who is it speaking of? It is not the Church? The weapons that are to be used against the nations, the things that will crush the wicked like ashes under our feet, is the worship of God by the people of God. The church has been armed with His Word (sung and preached) and sacrament to go change the world. We have been called to crush the wicked until they are ashes under our feet. The nations have been given to us to conquer and these are weapons we are to use. We are to disciple the nations on how to worship God, we are to baptize the nations so that they can worship God, and we are to constantly teach and encourage them on how to do it. This is the purpose of the Church.
Jesus spoke of the purpose of the Church in Matthew 16:17-19. Jesus tells His disciples that upon the Word of revelation, that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God, He will build His Church and that the very gates of hell will fall before it. Then He says that He gives us the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and that whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This sounds like the second half of Psalm 149. This is our hope!
John Calvin writes:
Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets Lecture One Hundred and Eighty-Second
Malachi says, that the ungodly would be trodden under foot by the faithful like the dust; and he says this lest the elect, while lying prostrate under the feet of their enemies and proudly trampled upon by them, should succumb under their troubles; but they were to look for what the Prophet declares here, for they were not only to be raised up by the hand of God, but were also to be superior to their enemies, and be enabled in their turn to suppress their pride: in short, he means that they were to be raised above all the height of the world.
So, how can we begin to live this out?
Now we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother or sister who leads a disorderly life and not one in accordance with the tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined way among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a role model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now we command and exhort such persons in the Lord Jesus Christ to work peacefully and eat their own bread. But as for you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary of doing good.
If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person so as not to associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. And yet do not regard that person as an enemy, but admonish that one as a brother or sister.
Many have used this passage to encourage one another to find a job and work hard. And I agree it can be used in that way (I have used it in that way before). But I think it has greater meaning in our context today. We have been given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, we have been called through the authority given to Christ to work in the kingdom. My brothers and sisters, get to work in the kingdom. Do not be idle, do not live a disorderly and undisciplined life, and do not grow weary of doing good. Get to work discipling nations. Start in your family. Our motto at Alta Vista Bible Church was “Discipling nations one family at a time.” Once you have started in your family, then move out to those around you in which you have influence: your neighbors, your co-workers, your fellow students, your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Once you have begun that, look into your community. How can I bring the light of God to my local school board, city council and officials, county board of supervisors, state officials. I will leave with you one last quote by John Calvin:
Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets Lecture One Hundred and Eighty-Second
The object of the Prophet was to make the Jews attentive to that doctrine which had been delivered to them from above by Moses and the Prophets, so as not to depart from it even in the least degree; as though he had said, “God will not now send to you different teachers in succession; there is enough for your instruction in the law: there is no reason on this account that you should change anything in the discipline of the Church. Though God by ceasing to speak to you, may seem to let loose the reins, so as to allow every one to stray and wander in uncertainty after his own imaginations, it is yet not so; for the law is sufficient to guide us, provided we shake not off its yoke, nor through our ingratitude bury the light by which it directs us.”
