Is He Coming or Not?

Where is He?

Ladies, do you remember that one date you had. You know the one I am talking about. It is the one often depicted in some movies where the girl is promised a great and fabulous date by her boyfriend or the one she dreams of having. She gets dressed in her best outfit for winning the guy, slathers on her war paint, or as you call it make up, just kidding, then she arrives 20 minutes early at the restaurant because she wants to make sure it is just right. She orders her drink and then waits, and waits, and waits, and waits some more. Initially she is thinking, “Is He Coming or Not,” until finally she decides he ain’t worth the effort and goes about her life as she pleases.

Maybe yours wasn’t quite like that. Nonetheless, you get the idea of a promise that appears to never happen.

I have my own personal experiences of such. I can recall several weekends that my dad would promise to come get me for my weekend at his house, only to show up hours later or call the next morning. Each time I would ask my mother, “Is he coming or not?” I never doubted my father’s love for me. It was just frustrating having to wait for the coming. That is where we begin our study of the last Old Testament prophet, Malachi. The book is about 2/3 of the way in your Bible. If you get to Matthew in the New Testament then take a few steps back because Malachi comes right before.

Malachi 2:17 NKJV

You have wearied the LORD with your words; “Yet you say, “In what way 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?”

The Setting

The Jewish people of Malachi’s day had returned from the 70 year exile in Babylon, and many of them were possibly the next generation after the return. During his time here an older generation lead by example for the ones under them what it meant to be God’s people, or so they thought. Nehemiah had returned to lead the people to rebuild the wall then returned for awhile to Persia where he had been cupbearer to the King. Malachi preached his message to the people during that time frame. This prophecy also comes almost a century after the messages of Haggai and Zechariah .

Someone described the state of affairs during this time as disenchantment, disillusionment, disappointment and decay. (Fred Wood) Doesn’t sound to good. Not a lot of hope in those feelings is there? Malachi has an answer to all of them. Today we will set the scene for those answers.

Disenchantment:

The temple had long been rebuilt and was heavily in use again, yet the promise by Ezekiel of God’s returning glory, no one had seen yet.

No more days of miracles and wonderful workings of God to give testimony about.

God’s people were content in their drab existence thinking “Is He coming or Not?”

Disillusionment and Disappointment:

Over two millennium prior to this, came God’s promised to Abraham a Savior for His people and the world. Now, preacher after preacher and parent after parent had passed that promise down. Yet, for these people, that Glorious day had not arrived yet.

God’s people were “doing” all God said they should “do.” They were coming to Temple, going through worship, and doing it again the next sabbath. God didn’t seem to be living up to His promise.

The “good ole days” or “the golden era” of the city and the Temple, their church if you will, were long gone. Now this 2nd temple and Jerusalem were just small insignificant places of despair.

Decay:

God’s people appeared to “Worship” and and give sacrifices every Sabbath.

The decay however was a result of their dishonor of God in many ways.

Dishonor came greatest during their worship since it was only pretension and performance void of any integrity and spirit. (John 4)

See, less than 100 years after the people’s return and after a few years of being regular in the Temple, these people were deeper in sin than the prior generations that God sent into exile. This sin crept into their lives because of spiritual apathy, spiritual carelessness and spiritual neglect.

The Message

In these 4 chapters you will not find anytime where Malachi proclaimed a need for political change or renewal. This came from his knowledge life conditions happened not because of politics rather of spiritual problems. He preached the need for spiritual renewal or return which is seen in Malachi 3:7. His message came during an uneventful and frustrating period of waiting. Many seemed to live as if God didn’t care, so they didn’t care asking how can we return to you?

In the beginning of the Chapter 3, Malachi answers their question of “Is He Coming or Not?”

Malachi 3:1 NKJV

“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts.

This promise of the heavenly Father could be trusted, unlike those guys who stand you up or my human father, because He had fulfilled every other promise, including the exile and the return. In Chapter 3 we also find the reason to trust Him:

Malachi 3:6

Malachi 3:6 NASB95

“For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

There is Hope

Don’t despair when reading this book. God’s love pervades this book, so don’t miss that The Messiah was sent and is coming again because of God’s love. But, He says before He comes we have to talk. Before God comes to comfort us, He convicts us. Before Malachi could talk to them about God’s arrival, he had to talk to them about His accusations.

We find those in the beginning of the book.

I. His Accusations (Chapters 1-2)

A. Spiritual Sins of God’s People (1:1-2:9)

Denying God’s Love (1:1-5) - Even though God had for centuries displayed His love the people were denying that He love them. Malachi’s message focused on the relationship between God and His people, which appeared okay, but God’s accusation is the lopsidedness.

Despising God’s Name (1:6) - God called the priests to be a Holy example to the people of God and to the nations around them. They disgraced god in their actions of betrayal and deception.

Defiling God’s Altar (1:7-14) - The people offered and the priest accepted defiled food and offerings. They gave what they did not want or could not use for themselves in the forms of blind, crippled and sick animals.

Disregarding God’s commandments (2:1-9) - Moral degradation was at an all time high. God wanted outward obedience coming from an inward love for and acceptance of His Holy Word. Traditionalism became more important than God’s word and following its intentions.

B. Special Sins of God’s People (2:10-17)

Detestable Worship by God’s People (2:10-13) - Malachi confronts their complacency in many areas that always begins with wrong worship. Their zeal for the Lord had been replaced by a desire for comfort. Their humility had been replaced with arrogance.

Deserted Wives (2:14-16) - These were not ordinary divorces which God would even rather not see. These men and priest left their Jewish wives, after years and years of marriage. They were divorcing them to marry younger women from other nations, literally worldly women being unequally yolked.

Distorted Words (2:17) - As other prophets had accused the other generations, the same is true here for Malachi against these people. As Paul warned centuries later of even our current times the same is true here against these people. The world and often even God’s people call evil good and good evil. Preacher tell us what we want to hear not what we need to hear.

Now that the Accusations had been discussed in a style like no other, Malachi could discuss something of Hope in the Arrival of God in the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

II. His Arrival (Chapters 3-4)

In 3:1 and 4:1-6 he first speaks of a forerunner in the likes of Elijah, one of God’s first prophets to the nation of Israel during the reign of kings. We see in NT that is John the Baptist. So Malachi says that Jesus will come, but notice the word Behold, or in other translations Suddenly, this word speaks more to the second coming than to the first.

Matthew 24:44 ESV

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Matthew 25:13 ESV

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

This prophecy is mingled with a telling of the first coming.

Much like the other prophets, Malachi viewed the 1st and 2nd comings like looking at mountain peaks in a straight line. If you are not careful you can think two mountain peaks on a single ridge are only one, but if you move slightly to the left or right the peaks can be seen separated. That is the advantage we have now with the New Testament, we can see both peaks as they are intended.

verse 1 the suddenly also alludes to His coming to the temple as a baby being brought by his earthly father, and later coming to the temple just before his crucifixion, being brought by the Heavenly Father. verse 2-6 alludes to the 2nd coming as both Judge and Deliverer. The Judge brings:

A. The coming Wrath upon sinners. (3:1-15) Why?

Ungodly Actions (3:1-5) - Launderer’s soap or fuller’s soap - which cleaned, shrank, and thickened (made full) new woolen cloth. This is a symbol of Jesus’ cleansing power over sin. The point of Malachi here is that many who thought they were good with God were not, and this coming of the Lord would reveal that.

Ungodly Attitudes (3:6-12) - God’s people were rebellious and backsliden even though they appeared to be worshipping. They were backsliden in their attitudes of their heart.

Ungodly Arguments (3:13-15) - Malachi confronts their false sense of security thinking they are right with God. He confronts the traditionalism and legalism that would later lead to the divisions among God’s people in the Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians and Zealots. God’s people here wanted to serve and worship God their way. Service to the Lord had to be comfy and easy, but easy doesn’t change the world.

God loved them yet He demanded holiness and obedience, and if they refused to repent He would have to judge them. For those who fear the Lord and repent though, The Deliverer brings:

B. The coming Reward and Remembrance to Saints. (3:16-4:6) The righteous will receive:

An end to suffering. (4:1)

Un-containable Joy (4:2) - a stall fed calf is a fat calf and fat calves are joyful calves.

Victory over the enemies (4:3) - For God’s people repentant and faithful to Him, who were suffering under the governments during Malachi’s time, those faithful to God under the Roman rule during Jesus’ ministry and during the early church years, and even His people now there is hope. The enemies of God will one day answer for all their evil against his people at the 2nd coming of Christ.

What About Us?

The writings here in Malachi have a strong and eerie parallel to Revelation 2-3 where Christ brings charges against various churches in Asia about their spiritual conditions. For those here who are dispensationalists, then you believe that the last church, Laodicea, represents the church age of today. For those who are not you look at each church in Revelation and believe that any local church can parallel any of those local churches of Asia. Either way the warning at the end by Jesus is “behold I stand at the door and knock.”

They also have a strong parallel for all Christians today. We have waited for over 2,000 years now for what we were promised by almost every NT writer, and by Jesus, His return. Many who claim to be Christians may even have the same attitude as the Jew’s during Malachi’s time saying, “Is He Coming or Not?” leading them to take on deep seated attitudes of complacency.

Jesus calls and convicts his people as individuals and as churches to recognize their own spiritual conditions, whether good or bad. Some are like in Revelation, either: Fearful of Suffering, Compromising with the world, Corrupt in their doctrine and practices, Alive in looks yet dead on the inside, Faithful Over-comers with open doors, or Lukewarm because of miserable blindness to their need for His discipline.

Malachi at end of OT and Jesus at end of NT confronted complacency with God which shows up in marriages, in money and in ministry for the Lord. Peter, in the NT, tells Christians that we are called to be a Royal Priesthood. Paul tells us in Ephesians that we all have work to do in the ministry for the Lord.

Malachi spoke in a day when vast changes has to be made by God’s people because of their spiritual condition in order to please God. Baby steps for them were not good. Major course corrections needed. They wanted an easy return to the Lord.

Imagine going to what you consider a normal visit to the doctors office. Suddenly it goes totally different than you had expected because the doctor makes you aware of some symptoms you had ignored for sometime. Doc tells you that you are in stage 4 cancer, but there is a new miracle drug that is doing wonders and curing people of cancer. The only problem is while you take the treatments, it will take you to the very bottom of the abyss before it brings you back out. While taking treatments you will wish you were dead, and you will try to kill or seriously harm everyone around you. If you take it however, you will survive and be revived. After it you will be like you were years ago, at the height of your health.

Invitation to Respond

“Who can stand that day?” Those who have repented of ungodly attitudes and seek to follow Him in an attitude of humility and submission. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit and who are meek.” 2nd coming brings reward for the Christian. The reward of healing, of unspeakable joy & peace.

Right now, if you are not a Christian, not too late to ask God’s forgiveness and have your sins cleaned away, but at the second coming it will be. 2nd coming brings wrath to the non-Christian. The wrath of weeping and gnashing of teeth. The wrath of eternal darkness because of no gospel light in hell. Will you repent and confess Jesus as Lord?

Christians and churches are often like that patient when they go on their routine visit to the spiritual doctors office called church. When the Holy Spirit comes in and convicts it is often harsh. 2 major convictions that Christians and churches often receive:

No appreciation of God’s love he has lavished upon them over and over

No awareness of their current spiritual condition in their worship services and their daily living

The Holy Spirit confronts things that often need vast and fast changes. No Baby steps will do. Major Course corrections needed, repentance and submission if you will. For the one He convicts they have a decision to make. 1) Take His treatment, hard as it may be, and live. 2) Ignore His warning, deny His reality, refuse His treatment and die. Now we know that in Jesus we face no eternal death or wrath, but God still brings temporal discipline of a Christian or a Church. And boy it often looks horrible. Dealing with God on these matters is not easy, but we must always remember, easy doesn’t make life better for others or us.

If God compared you to the people of Malachi’s time, regarding complacency, how well would you do? Would your levels be life threatening? If the Holy Spirit has convicted you this morning of it, will you accept his treatment?

If God is not convicting you this morning, let Him comfort you with promise that Jesus is coming again. Remember God cannot change. Our response is simply remain faithful to His Word and watchful in prayer, and busy in making disciples.