Behold! The Day is Coming!
Notes
Transcript
Review: Re-read Malachi - Again
Review: Re-read Malachi - Again
New Century Version, for something different.
The Day of the Lord
The Day of the Lord
A time of judgment and restoration. Not ONE event, but series of events.
Pre-exilic Prophets - God’s coming judgment on enemies (other nations)
Exilic + Post-exilic - sometimes enemies, but also Israel.
Always a sense of imminence
In Malachi, the message is for those in Israel. The Day of the Lord will be a time of purifying and purging, restoring and removing.
Evildoers & Arrogant (4:1, 3)
Evildoers & Arrogant (4:1, 3)
Defined in Malachi as those IN Israel - this is an internal purging of those who do all the stuff of religion out of duty, not relationship.
Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary (Hill) C. The Day of YHWH—Judgment and Vindication (4:1–3 [MT 3:19–21])
The Day of YHWH will bring about clarification of values: not prosperity versus privation with respect to material things, but guilty versus not guilty (or righteous) in relation to spiritual things
Those bringing unacceptable sacrifices (1:6-9)
Those who worship out of duty (1:12-14)
Those who ignore covenant relationships (2:1-16)
Fire - consuming, destroying, defeated (4:1, 3) “root and branch” - complete - no regrowth - nothing but ashes on a barren wasteland.
God-Fearing People (4:2)
God-Fearing People (4:2)
Directly addressed (But for you…) - ONE defining factor, “The Fear of the Lord”
The Sun of Righteousness rises… the light comes (implication, even the faithful have times of darkness)
…with healing in its wings (implication, even the faithful need healing)
…You shall go out... like calves from the stall. (implication, even the faithful need deliverance from bondage)
…you shall go out leaping… (implication, even the faithful need their joy renewed)
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXV The Rising Sun (No. 1,463)
Are you in the dark at this moment, dear brother, and are you, wondering at it because everybody else seems so lively in their religion? Dear sister, does it seem to you as if, though you have been a believer for years, you were never in a worse state than now, while others are rejoicing? Then ask yourself—Do you fear the Lord still? Is your soul humbled in the presence of his majesty, and have you a desire for his glory? Never despair; the Sun shall rise upon you soon.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The Day of the Lord in any era, and ultimately on the Great and Awesome Day - the Final Day, brings two realities: ultimate justice and ultimate restoration. Eternal blessing and eternal judgement.
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXV The Rising Sun (No. 1,463)
The result of Christ’s coming, by his Spirit as well as by his personal advent, is always much the same. Should the Spirit of God visit this church with revival it will not have an equally beneficial effect upon all. To some the rising of this sun will bring healing and blessing, but to others it will bring scorching and withering.
In expectation of this, where do we stand? Two options are open to us: we can stand opposed to the grace and mercy of God, or in awe of His love and mercy and grace. We can continue to worship on our own terms, when we feel like it, with whatever we feel is appropriate and convenient; or we can “take up our cross daily and follow Jesus”; we can offer that which costs us little or nothing, or we can “offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.”
God has answered the key questions we find in Malachi:
1. How have you loved us?
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
2. Where is the God of Justice?
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
God’s love and justice have been fully and finaly revealed in and through Jesus Christ, his life, his ministry, his sacrifice, his cross, his triumph over sin and death. He brings healing to our lives; wholeness to our souls; light to our darkness; release from our bondage; and joy inexpressible. We are invited now to enter into the rest He has secured for us.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Benediction
Benediction
This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.