Good morning everyone! We are… This is bittersweet for me. We are ending our series on Malachi. We are in the last chapter of Malachi, the last six verses of this Minor Prophet. Minor, not because it’s minor in content, minor in myth, but we have seen major truth discussed in this wonderful book. We’ll be reading the last six verses of this wonderful book. In reverence and honor of the word of God, may I ask everyone to please stand as we read all together Malachi 4:1-6. Malachi 4 starting with verse 1.

1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and tall 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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules 2 that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. 5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 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.”

The word of the Lord. You may now take your seats. Good morning. Good morning everyone. We have come to the last section of this wonderful book, the last book of the English Old testament. As we’ve been studying this book, we have seen the heavy burden of the prophet, the heavy burden of the prophet because of the spiritual condition of the people of Israel. Did you feel the weight as we hear one indictment after another? We have seen how each indictment by the Lord becomes weightier and weightier. Not to mention the arrogance of the Israelites as they become more lofty and lofty as if they were rising above the Word of God. But friends, as we end, as we end this wonderful book, to understand the seriousness of the burden, to understand the message of Malachi, kindly turn your Bibles to Nehemiah. We don’t have it in our PowerPoint, but I want you to see this for yourselves.

Nehemiah, as you turn your Bibles there let me just clarify our English Bibles, they are not arranged chronologically. For example, the prophet Isaiah is not immediately followed by the events of the prophet Jeremiah. So even though we have Nehemiah in the middle of the Bible, of our Bibles, Nehemiah is actually a contemporary of Malachi. Nehemiah 10 just happened before Malachi comes into the scene. What we have in Nehemiah, especially the last few verses of chapter 10 and chapter 13, is roughly 10 years before Malachi. You need to understand that. How heavy is the burden of the book of Malachi?

Let’s look at Nehemiah Chapter 10. Now the Jews Many of them have returned to Jerusalem to Zion from exile so what should we expect great and exciting days of revival. We should see this and we can see this in chapter 10. The tenth chapter of Nehemiah. They have understood that because of their disobedience, the disobedience of their forefathers, that led them to be exiled. And by God’s grace, they are now allowed to go back.

Listen to the resolve of these people. Ten years before Malachi, in Nehemiah 10:28 it reads, “The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, join with their brothers, their nobles,” meaning everyone, everyone, “and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God's Law that was given by Moses the servant of God.”. After being allowed to go back, of course they would make promises to God. Yes, we understood O God that we were disobedient our forefathers were disobedient. Now we would make an oath to you. What is their oath? “to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.” Wow! What a wonderful promise to make. “We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.”

They were saying we will not commit the same mistakes again O God. We have learned our lessons. We will observe and obey your Law, your statutes, your commandments. We will not intermarry with pagan women. We will not give our daughters and we will not take their daughters. We will observe the Sabbath. There is no room for the marketplace to be in God’s holy day. We would give to God what is rightfully His. They were sincere. This was their resolve. A few years later Chapter 13, Nehemiah 13, starting from verse six we read this Nehemiah speaking here:

6 “While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king and came to Jerusalem…". And what did Nehemiah see after the resolve to not do what their forefathers did? “And after some time I asked, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. They have allowed a gentile to be in the temple, in fact they have allotted a room for him. And Nehemiah said And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.” Nehemiah was so so mad. He drove out Tobiah. He threw out all his furniture.

Verse 10, “I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field…”. They have forgotten taking care of the Levites. They have not been providing for them thru their tithes. Verse 11, “So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?. And I gathered them together”, listen to the anger of Nehemiah. “I gathered them together and set them in their stations. Then all Judah brought the tithe & the grain…” only they did after Nehemiah was so mad. “And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites” so he set orders in the temple. Verse 14, “Remember me, O my God”, he was praying concerning this, “and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.” Verse 15 of Nehemiah 13, “In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads,” Translation, they were trading during the Sabbath. Didn’t they just promise we would not do that? “and I warned them on the day when they sold food. Verse 17, “I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” “

Wait there’s more. Verse 23, “In those days also I saw the Jews”, he saw the Jews, “ who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. And listen on how he describes their offsprings, “And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah” They were speaking their language, translation, they were worshipping their gods as well. “And I confronted them”,  Verse 25, “and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.” This is sad friends. This is very sad.

A few years after, them were making this promise. We see them going back to the folly of their forefathers. Towards the end of Nehemiah, we read how Nehemiah trying to set order back into the sacrificial system. He tried to straighten out their worship. And again, Nehemiah and Malachi, 10 years in between, what did we see in Malachi’s time? This burden is heavy. This burden is heavy. In fact, it has gone worse. We have seen a pattern in this book where the prophet speaks for God as His mouth piece and say “This is God’s complaint against you” And rather than be humble, the people had harsh words against God. Very quickly now, let us rehearse what these harsh words were. God started out the best way He could start “I love you. I love you” And again this is not just the casual love. This is talking about the special kind of love. The electing love, the complacent love of God. Loving Jacob in spite of Jacob.  I would have melted and say thank you Lord for loving me. Did you remember how they respond? “How have you loved us?”

God said and again this is grace that we see all over “You have defiled my altar. You have despised my name” and they say with heads held up high “How have did we despised your name? Can’t you see that we are offering out animals on your altar. Forget that they are blemished. we are doing it.”

God said, “You have wearied me with your words.” And they said, “How have we wearied you?” God said with such grace and patience “Return to me and I will return to you” What did they say? “Are you blind, how will we return to you? We never left. We are actively involved in the sacrificial system.” God said, “Will man rob God?” Again, that’s an odd question to ask. That is not the right question “Can man rob God?” is the proper question. “Will man rob God? Yet, you’re robbing me.” And they say, “How have we robbed you?”. God said, “in tithes and offering.”. Harsh words, harsh words.

The last thing we are looking at this book, we saw the last few complaints by God. Kindly turn your bibles to Malachi 2:17 God said, “You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying this, by saying this in your hearts, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”” In their ignorance friends, in their arrogance dear ones, they charged God of indifference. They charged God of absence. Where is He? They see injustice all around. Where is He now? What did we learn when we were looking at that. That was a commentary on how they feel about themselves. The righteous, the wicked are prospering. They say and claim that we are righteous. Why are we not prospering? Chapter 3: 1-5 we hear God saying I am coming I am coming for you. And He said “But who can endure the day of My coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.” Another section that we have before us Chapter 4 is a reiteration of Chapter three, Chapter 3:1-5 says, “I am coming” Chapter 4:1-6 says “I am coming” The message of God and the people of Malachi’s time is still the message to the people in the church. And he ends this book with the resounding truth, that the God of justice, the One that you’re looking for, the one that you are mocking, the One that you claim to love and worship, He is coming. He is coming. That is how Malachi presented this truth the last six verses of this wonderful book. As we ponder upon this truth, upon this God of Justice, in our study today, we will just have two headings.

In verse 1 to 3, the prophet says and reiterates He indeed is coming. Verse 1-3, He indeed is coming. In verse 4-6 we then should consider and ask ourselves if He indeed is coming, are we ready for his return. Are we ready for his return? The God of Justice, here is your God of justice friends, He indeed is coming.

Let’s look at verse 1, “For behold, the day is coming” The verse starts with the phrase “For behold” and the word for take us where? The previous verses. And what was the previous section about? Remember, that last time we are looking at this book, we ask what kind of service do you render unto God? What kind of service? What kind of worship do you give unto God? Is it fake devotion or is a faithful devotion? The last time we were looking at that section we looked at that and we saw the priority of true worship. That we should fight against false worship and fight for true worship. Why should we do that? Why should we fight against false worship and why should we fight for good and truthful worship? “For behold”, that is why. The day is coming. You see. Did you notice the structure by which this is presented to us? Kindly look at your Bibles Chapter 3: 1-5, He is coming. Chapter 4:1-6, He is coming. Sandwiched friends sandwiched in between those two sections that says, “I am coming” is what? The call to fear the Lord, the call to have godly conversations, the call to respond correctly to God’s corrections. What grace! What grace! He is coming. He is coming. But before it’s too late, fear the Lord, obey his word, listen to his rebuke. This is grace. This is grace.

Verse one, “For behold, the day is coming”. Kindly notice the certainty of this day? It reads “it is coming”. It does not read “It might be coming”. It is coming. Behold the day is coming. And with regards to this coming, what is this day? It will be a burning day it’s a burning day. Notice. “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when tall the arrogant and tall evildoers will be stubble.” It is the day of God’s wrath. It is the day of his righteous indignation. It is his fiery judgment. It was foretold as Messiah. That’s his day. It was the Messiah’s day. In Psalm 21:9 we read “Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.” Behold the day is coming burning like an oven…an oven. That was this day. The day of the Lord is going to be like for some… Let me share with you what Albert Barnes says about this oven and I quote he says “that ovens in Malachi’s day was a large hole that was dug in the ground in the earth and sides of that hole in the ground will be plastered then a very fierce fire and furnace will be made at the bottom of that hole in the ground and grass thorns twigs we could call it stubble would be placed there and lit after the embers had flamed they would be taken in that oven would just be left how hot is it flat cakes of bread would be stacked against the plastered side and they would be quickly cooked.” That oven is the picture that Malachi has. That picture is what Malachi is giving us today, fierce heat, swift destruction. But God would bring upon the earth on that day, that day of the Lord. And the specific figure is that the materials are used at the bottom the stubbles, the sticks, the dried leaves as quickly as they would be consumed, so will be the unrighteous on that glorious day. Friends, In the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, fire is usually represented as judgment, judgment. Isaiah 4:4 “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” Hebrews 12:29 speaks of God as a consuming fire. Friends, it will be impossible. Let me just share this again. It would be impossible for the wicked to escape that day, that day of the Lord, that day of his fiery indignation.

Let me just share my heart to you. Now, nowadays, what we hear in pulpits are feel good messages. People, nowadays, don’t like hell fire and brimstone preaching, but they are not afraid that their lives are bound for that hell, fire and brimstone. Hell, fire and brimstone preaching is not that popular today but this fire that is spoken off concerning the judgment of God’s wrath is a greater fire. Remember, in the time of Nero, when there was a great fire in Rome, greater than that fire. Remember, the fire that rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah, greater than that fire. Remember, the atomic flame that consume Hiroshima and Nagasaki, better and greater than that flame. This is a fire that is second to none. The Bible says, “Jehovah will roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem with this fire”. O friends, it would be an awful day. It will be a very scary day. Revelations says, “that kings of the earth, the great men, the chief captains will cry for the rocks and the mountains to hide them from this wrath” It is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, the year of recompense for the controversy of Jerusalem. The stars of heaven will be destroyed. The Bible says, “will be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled up” Isaiah says in chapter 34, “like a scroll”. What a vision! What a scary vision! What a day! No wonder Malachi tells us. No wonder Malachi exhorts us. “Behold, A day is coming!”. Can you imagine how it looks like? Can you imagine how it feels like? There is something very forcibly in these abrupt exclamations of Malachi as if the prophet saw it for himself in a vision. As if he was placed on a mountain top. And he saw it. Can you see it? Can you feel the heat? Behold, the day is coming. Can you hear the cries of the wicked shouting for help? O, this is a day of reckoning. Malachi says, “Behold, a day is coming”.

There are some questions that we must ask about this day. First, against whom is that judgement directed to? Whom is God venting His fiery indignation against? Well, it is those who spoke hard words against the Lord, in the authority, in then in the people of Malachi’s time, the Israelites who were arrogant. It’s talking about them, those who have been rebellious to the Lord in Malachi’s time and throughout the history of Israel. But friends, it is not just for them. All sinners of the earth will meet and face this scary day. Where would there puny hand is waving at God, we don’t need you. We love what we do. Who are you to say that love is not real? “I love this even though he is of the same sex.”. Where will this people be on that day? God will come on that day, in Christ to judge the ungodly. Malachi says in verse 1 that He will burn them up like an oven and they will be like stubble, stubble. Stubble, that dried hay or grass that burns easily. Other sparks will consume them completely. Malachi is saying, “those who are right to all throughout their lives who have been rebelling and disgusting God with their self-made and self-fabricated worship will face His judgment. What a sobering thought! What a sobering thought!

As the stubble is easily consumed so would the wicked be on that glorious day on that day there will be an utter consuming of the wicked. None will be left. Some would say, “That’s pretty harsh, Pastor. I don’t feel comfortable about a God like that. Why are you preaching about a God whose so angry?”. Friends, all this time we had a caricature of God. Yes! God is loving. Yes! God is gracious. Yes! God is merciful and forgiving. Yet God is Holy, Holy, Holy and God is just. And think about it, friends. It’s their fault. It’s their fault. They have been given ample time, the time when they were asking where is the God of Justice. Is God’s patience and forbearance, on that day it would consume them. The day, that is coming, shall set them ablaze says the Lord of Host. It will leave them neither root nor branch. That language neither root nor branch meaning no one will escape.

Let me now just be carefully say this. There are some who claim that this talks about annihilation. Right? What is annihilation? Some say (And this is very important, right?) some say “That when that judgment comes, I will be destroyed utterly, and I would not exist anymore. Therefore, I would not know it anymore. I’m fine. I would just live my life hear on earth and I would be destroyed then I would be destroyed.” No! This is talking about physical judgment. Friends, physical judgment. The Bible is very clear after everything is done you will be raised up from the dead to face an eternal punishment. You would wish you would die but won’t. You have that glorified body fit for destruction. You would feel the pain, but you would not die. Friends, are you listening? Friends, are we even trembling? He is indeed coming. And all the arrogant and all the evil doers will be consumed. The day of the Lord is a time when God directly intervenes in human history. Now it’s man’s day. Man can do whatever he wants, then God would just pour out His righteous indignation this day of the Lord will take place. And the church, we the church of the Lord Jesus Christ will not be there. We’ll be raptured. We will be raptured. We will be taken to our home in heaven with the Lord, to the judgment seat, to the marriage of the Lamb. Then on that day, God would pour out on earth seven years of awful tragedy. Tragedy. He indeed is coming. Friends, He is coming. This God of justice, He would judge, He would come. Seven years of God’s wrath and indignation, indignation, are you ready for that? Are you ready for that? I honestly ask all of you. Malachi says He is coming. Indeed, He is coming. Are we ready for that or do we pray silently in our heart of hearts don’t come yet? I have other plans. I still have other pursuits. He is coming, and when He does, not only is this day is gonna be a day of burning, it would be a day of healing as well.

Look at verse 2 “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.” It is a day of healing. Indeed, a day of healing: for those who fear his name, for those who have godly conversations, for those who understood the rebuke and humble themselves and said, “Yes, Lord we do not fear you enough. We will listen to you”, those whom the Lord heard and those whom the Lord has written their names in that book of remembrance. Thank God, there would be remnant. It’s talking about the Jews, a remnant of Jews. The Jews, right now do not believe that there are some, a remnant of Jews, will believe. Praise God that there are those who feared Him. There are those who obeyed Him. The sun of righteousness is coming as a burning fire to some is also the One who would come with healing in His wings. The psalmist says “The Lord is a sun and a shield.” And the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back as a sun to the righteous remnant. The Lord Jesus Christ, to his people, whether it would be Israel or the church would be like the sun in the solar system in our galaxy. He would be central. Right now, He is not center of our universe. We are the center of the universe, but then, it would be like that. John 1 tells us on verse 4. “That in Him was life and that life was the light of men”. Praise God! That this is the day of reckoning for those who are wicked. Praise God that it would be a day of healing for the remnant of Israel. And praise God that the church will be raptured and we would not face this destruction. Praise the Lord indeed. But friends, again the author intent, this was written to the Jews. It is written for us as well. So what does it mean for us the church? What does it mean for us? Well as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is not our sun of righteousness; He is our bright and morning star. And I… This is wonderful bright and morning star. According to Revelations 2 and Revelations 22…  Why, because for us, for them, He will be the son of righteousness. For us, the church, He will be a bright and morning star. Listen to the analogy that was used here. Star, sun for us He will appear when the hour is darkness. Like a star in the night, He will come to take His people whom in the depths of darkness. The morning star is heralded or paved a way by the star. After the star comes, the sun. So therefore, the church would not go through the tribulation period. He is our morning star. For them, the Jews, He is their sun of righteousness. We will be raptured already, and then He will come. And He will come with healing in His wings. What kind of healing? Not physical healing, friends, but healing of our sins, of their sins, to get rid of sin, unrighteousness.

It will be so exciting that we read in verse 3, “And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on that day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. “So great will this be that it would be like them going out like calves going out after being the stable, being open in the morning to go to their pleasure, to go to their pasture. What a beautiful sight! We ought to listen to the modern message of Malachi, friends. The message is this - the wicked will be destroyed. The wicked will be punished. The righteous will have healing. The church will not be there. He is coming. He is coming indeed. Are you ready? Are we ready?

Malachi finishes off this wonderful message and points out in verse four. What we ought to do to be ready? Look at verse 4 to verse 6, “”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.” What did God say? That He pointed them back to His law. He commands Israel to go back to the law and obey it. He is exhorting them to be prepared to what God is going to do in this future day, and He pointed to Elijah, the ministry of Elijah,  which was fulfilled spiritually and partially when John the Baptist paved the way for Jesus Christ and will again be fulfilled in the future when Elijah or an Elijah figure comes out as one of the two witnesses found in Revelations 11. But what he is telling here friends, is this, be prepared. That is the message. The message is unchanged today. Be prepared. Malachi was speaking to the Jews. He is speaking to us right now as well. Listen friends. Malachi was speaking to the Jews and he said be ready. We the church has already believed in Christ, and some of the people in the Church say it is not for us. But friends, let me just invite you. That this should be more glorious. This should be more exciting for the believers. Why? If he said He is coming, He indeed is coming. And don’t you aspire? And don’t you anticipate? Aren’t you excited to be with Him? Right now, we the church, we are Christ owned. We have believed his message. We hold the gospel surely of all people “Di ba?”(Right?)  We should be all the more excited for this that He is coming. The Lord is coming. Are we ready? Are we ready?

At his first coming Jesus said that because of Him, He will divide the family, father against son, mother against daughter. But on that glorious day when this Elijah comes, He will cause the Jews to believe on Mashiach on Yeshua Mashiach. As many did on Elijah’s day, they will unite over belief in Him. What did Romans say, “and then all Israel will be saved…” Friends, this is glorious.

As we come to the end of Old Testament, it comes with a curse. We saw indeed that He is coming. He will be coming for the righteous to give them healing and for the wicked to give them punishment. How can we be saved? For the Jews, they need to go back to the law. They need to understand that Jesus Christ is their awaited One. For us, O, we already have believed in Jesus Christ. How does that applied to me? We should be praying more for Israel. And more than that, friends, we should be praying more for those who are not saved. Don’t you have friends? Don’t you have loved ones? Don’t you have workers co-workers who are not saved yet? Friends, I believe it is utter selfishness to just be complacent and comfortable with you being saved when you know that there are people around you, people that God gave in your stewardship, in your proximity that are not saved. Yet, yes we rejoice that we would not face that day of reckoning. We will be raptured. We will be with God. Pray for Israel. Pray for those who are not saved. Pray for them. Pray for them. We must remember them. This practically to us the church to be more intentional in sharing the gospel, to be more intentional in living out the gospel. Why? There is utter blindness, friends, utter blindness. The Jews until now, they are so blind. Let me show you that. So Malachi ended with destruction, curse. You know what the Jews do? As they look at their exegesis, upon looking at, O, Man ends with curse. That does not suit well with my theological bent. So what they usually do is after reading verse 6, they would read verse 5 again. What is verse 5? - O Elijah would come. Di ba? (Right?) It is much more encouraging. It ends on a positive note, right? Let me share with you with some more books in Isaiah 66:24. It ends with a curse Isaiah 66:24 it reads this way, “And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of men that have transgressed against me. For their worm shall not die, neither their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” To a Jewish person, that does not go well with my conviction. To compensate that, they would read verse 23 again. What does verse 23 reads?  It says, “From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord”. Much better isn’t it? Lamentations chapter 5 ends this way verse 22, “unless you have utterly rejected us,

and you remain exceedingly angry with us. “ Uh-oh. It ended with God still being angry at us, so what did they do? They read verse 21 again, “Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old” better ending. Ecclesiastes Chapter 12 verse 14 we read For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Uh-oh. I will be exposed so they would read verse 13 again, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Do you see the blindness there, friends, in the unbelieving Jews? Sadly, such blindness is also seen in the church. There are those in the church who would approach God and His word not with a teachable heart, not (not) with a humble heart but with such arrogance as if their words and their preferences and their desires bear much weight with God’s word: his status, his standards, his mandate, his will. Do we worship God according to our own desires? Do we come before the Lord? Yes! We may not be changing any Bible verse. We may be not be rereading or reading another verse to make an ending of the book better sounding for us. but friends, how do we approach God and his word?  A day of reckoning is fast approaching. He is coming. He indeed is coming. Are we ready for His return. This Old Testament book ended with a curse but praise God, praise God, we are not in darkness but we are children of God, children of Light. Praise God. that as we look at the New Testament, Revelations 22:3 says “there shall be no more curse”. What makes the difference? What made the difference? Genesis showed us how curse entered the human race, where Adam and Eve at the end of the Old Testament. We see and read curse still threatens. For 400 years has passed during the intertestamental period and we begin the gospel of Matthew. And we begin with what: the genealogy of the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Jesus Christ who went to the cross was made accursed for us. Those who would believe in Him, that we will get His blessings of eternal life. This is the message that Israel needs to hear today. Be praying for them. We are getting ready for the Passover Seder in next next Wednesday. And I have been studying. And man! I can’t believe why can’t they see that Jesus is the Passover Lamb. It is so sad the Old Testament began with creation. Now it’s ending with destruction.

And it’s so wonderful that after 400 years of silence as we open the New Testament, the very first inspired word coming out of John the Baptist, this Elijah mentioned in Chapter 3, we read and hear him say, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. The Lord thru the prophet Malachi was calling out His people to repent of their indifference toward Him of their false worship of Him we open the New Testament with (with) the same call, “to repent.” The old testament offers the same decision to be made, “Repent”. Can’t you see how these things connect? Sandwiched between chapter 3 and 4 talking about his coming is the call to what? “Repent”. Sandwiched between the Old Testament and the New Testament is what? Silence. And what did we hear when we open the New Testament, “Repent.”

Dear ones, as we close this book, I pray that those who have ears listened and listened well and indeed by God’s grace, would obey and embrace His word. I pray that we saw His grace as we were confronted, as we were rebuked, as we were hurt, as we were utterly destroyed by His word. I pray that as we close this book, we would ask ourselves these questions: Do we doubt God’s love? Do we despise His name? Are we traitors? Are we belittling His holiness? What kind of service do we render unto God? Are we ready for His return? Would we on continue with our false worship and face destruction? or would we repent of our sins and turn to God? The message of Malachi was the same then as we hear it now. I pray indeed by God’s grace we would be so changed beautifully by this minor prophet who gave us some major, major truth. Shall we pray…

Lord we praise You. What a way to end a book. And it is not, Lord, the kind of ending that most of us desires. It is not kind of ending that says, “and they live happily ever after”. That’s not now. It would be then when You come back. But right now, right here, we thank You for such ending. Right now, right here, we thank You that we have the Old Testament and the New Testament. We thank You Lord for sobering rebukes. We thank You, Lord, me personally as I have seen myself in the folly of these people. I pray O God that You would forgive us for how we have treated You so, so lightly. We pray that You give us that fear, that wonderful fear of the Lord and we pray that You give us the resolve to have high regards and reverence for Your word. We thank You O, God. We thank You. This is what we pray in Christ’s most precious name. Amen and Amen.