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Malachi Describes God’s Just Judgment
INTRODUCTIONThe Book of Malachi records the ministry of the last of the three prophets that spoke for God after the people of Judah had returned from the forced exile in Babylon. There followed what is called the four hundred silent years in the history of Israel after this exchange; where God revealed His disappointment with His people and the people made clear their disappointment with God. There was no prophetic word after the ministry of Malachi. The temple had been rebuilt about seventy years earlier under the prophetic ministry of Haggai and Zechariah. Now about seventy years after this monumental event, the prophet Malachi faced a people who were in deep spiritual trouble. They were no longer worshiping idols, but everything else about their conduct reflected a serious spiritual malaise. The people had obviously forgotten the central message of God to his people, namely, that He was the great lover of His elect, the covenant people of Israel. Everything He had done was designed to give them that message, but when the people looked at their situation they acted as if this amazing and enduring Love of God did not exist. This mindset was very evident in their attitudes to each other and at home and in their worship; their hypocritical stance and disloyal behaviour was all too obvious. It was not that the people could not look at their situation and realize that God had protected them and despite their constant disobedience and sins He had preserved the nation. Many nations around them had disappeared from the pages of history, but against all odds they had survived. The Persians had released them from the Babylonian captivity and they now lived in a period of relative peace. There was no serious new military threat and the Persians left them alone to redevelop their country and worship their God. But somehow they were very disappointed about their relationship with God and it was clear that there was a problem with their expectations. Despite all that God had done for them, they did not feel that God loved them. They seemed to be without hope and lived as if the covenant blessings did not exist. They were behaving as if they had nothing to look forward to, no future, no glory, so they began to live lives of tired routine and hypocrisy. The book begins with what is described as a “burden of the word of God” that came to the prophet Malachi. This was something that weighed heavily on the prophet. The burden is outlined as God introduces the book, saying to the covenant people of Israel: “I have loved you, Yet you say, ‘In what way have you loved us?”. It should be pointed out that the statement God makes to the people is one that He has been repeating over and over again in every generation. The people of God always seem to be asking God; “How have you loved us? Where is the evidence that you love us? It doesn't seem obvious to us that you love us.” It appears that the people of God always forget what God has done for them and try to force God to constantly prove his love in ways that they prefer. They seem to always keep saying to God “Well if you say you love me, I don't feel like it”! It is to a certain extent understandable why people slip into this kind of mood. When pressures come on us and we have difficulty handling those pressures, when we are unhappy, or when we don't get what we want, suffer, or feel confused, lonely or sick, we remember the teaching of Scripture that God is omnipotent. He can do whatever He wants. He says He loves us and so we have difficulty matching our expectations with what is happening around us. At this point a certain line of reasoning kicks in and the blunt and powerful questioning we do jumps right to the top. “God, how have you loved me? Where is the evidence that you love me? Why don't you do something about this terrible feeling inside me? Why can't you solve this problem now?” Let us be quite frank in saying that there is no easy answer as to why God doesn't make all this tension in us, the self-destructive tendencies, the evil that we face and the suffering that we experience, go away. The position of God which is told to the people of Israel and told to us is quite clear however. One writer puts it this way: “His love transcends our immediate circumstances and that ultimately the most sorrowful events, even an event as powerful as the death of Christ on the cross, even those have a good purpose; that God will take whatever pain we are undergoing and bring life from it so that the very sorrow itself becomes a source of thanksgiving to us, and therefore good comes from it.” It is very difficult for us to sometimes understand the love of God, but if we don't understand the extent of God's love for us, that we are remarkable people, that we are accepted in the Beloved, that despite all our stupid moves, our sins and our foolishness, He will not give us up, then we will drift into a sad routine dominated by hypocrisy, characterized by an absence of real commitment to God. Even the great Moses was depressed sometimes and experienced a sense of failure. David has written Psalms which take us down to the depths of emotional darkness. Sometimes he seemed to have trouble believing God loved him. The great John the Baptist stuck in Herod's prison, cried out to Jesus “ Are you really the Messiah?” So these remarkable people all knew what it was to doubt and fear. We will experience what they experienced. The prophet Malachi handled all the questions of the people and proceeded to show them that they could be confident of God's love. He insisted that their eyes would see the Lord magnified beyond the borders of Israel (1:5) and they would recognize God's love and stop uttering the foolish complaint, “In what way have you loved us? One writer summarizes God's answer as follows: “The question of the people of Malachi's time was, “How have you loved us?” And the Lord's answer was, “My love is found primarily in my unfailing commitment. I will not let you go”. God's love is not found in the happy circumstances of the moment, because the circumstances of this people were not happy at that moment. Your circumstances may not be very happy at this moment either. If you expect God's love to be found primarily in giving you what you want and in taking away your suffering in the short run, then you misunderstand what his love is about. God's love is a tougher love than that. His love is found primarily in the fact that we have a living hope, a certainty that we will be like Jesus Christ one day; that we have stored up for us an inheritance that cannot fade away and that God will even use the suffering of this moment, what ever it consists of, to bring beauty and holiness to us. God's promises will not fail. Even between human beings the greatest test of love is commitment…We ask the question of God, “How have you loved us?” And the answer finally will be in that we cannot fail to be like our Lord, that we have his word as the seal on us that what he has begun he will finish. What a magnificent promise!” The people of Israel had over the years after the exile been casual about God. They had become indifferent to Him and had disregarded His Holiness and His person. The prophet necessarily discussed what happens when people begin to regard God in this way. Note however that it was not that the people hated God, they were simply indifferent to Him. So what did Malachi accuse the people of doing? He declared that the people dishonoured God. They did not show Him any respect and did not give Him the honour due to the Lord of Hosts. Note Malachi’s frequent use of this awe, inspiring title for God. They did not worship Him properly. They showed that they did not care for God at all, for their worship was done in routine fashion and what they did was only to suit their convenience. They offered God the worst that they had, the poorest quality grain and sick and lame animals. Verses thirteen to fourteen tell us that they regarded the practices in their worship of God as tiresome, a great weariness, something to sneer at and so they gave God the things that were useless to them, the things that they did not care about. They regarded God as having the right to receive those useless things in their life, but nothing else. As we study the text we should examine our selves on these matters, to see whether or not our actions display any serious commitment to God, whether God takes first place in our lives, if we offer God the best we have, the things that delight us, things which cost us the most and that matter most to us. If the professing believer reaches the stage where God and his plans bore them and they are not willing to give God the things of value in their lives, it is better not to come to church at all, says Malachi. Sadly it was not only the people who were indifferent to God. The priests who were supposed to be doing the will of God, were accused of not honouring the word of God, nor did they teach the people the ways of God. This clearly lead to a drift away from God, as various sins started manifesting themselves in the lives of not only the people, but in the lives of the so-called priests of God. The neglect of the priests was evident in the offerings that the people brought to God. If the priests had instructed the people how to offer to God proper gifts and insisted that they behave according to the terms of the covenant, then the relationships that they developed with God might have been stronger. In chapter two verse one, God specifically addresses the priests for as always leaders must and should be held accountable for their actions. When you are a leader in God’s organization, that is even more so the case, since you are leading them spiritually. However, all judgment will be made by God in the end. The priests were responsible for teaching the people about God; who God is and what God desires, that they may worship and obey God in the appropriate fashion. We can think of God’s kingdom as a government. At the lower levels of government, the priests are like governors and are subject to specially laid out restrictions due to the positions they hold. Most notably, they are held accountable for the actions of the people they represent, since they lead them. This is important. It gives modern day Christians an insight into the relationship that we should have with God now, seeing as how we are called priests of God, that is, every person who is called a Christian is a priest of God. God’s message to the priesthood also speaks to us today. We can liken the covenant to the covenant of grace made with all believers that has made us all priests. Thus, this is a covenant of life and peace because it assures all believers of all happiness in this world and the world to come. Furthermore, as priests, we carry the duty to pass along the knowledge of God, Jesus and the gift of salvation. We are to be caretakers of the word of God and we should teach the will of God to those in ‘darkness’ and provide them with the opportunity for redemption. God regarded the conduct of the priests as a sham and he promised to personally defile them, cut off their blessings and reject them as individuals. Indifference, dishonouring God, not loving God, not passing on to the next generation of leaders how they should be concerned for the things of God is a very serious matter. We must urge professing believers, who have been exposed to the Holy Spirit, to love and respect God, for as God says in 1:14 “But cursed be the deceiver, Who has in his flock a male And takes a vow, But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished- For I am a great King Says the Lord of hosts And My name is to be feared among the nations”.
THE TEXTVerse 2:17. God stressed that the people were in a covenant and had made a solemn agreement. They had an identity based on God's gracious relationship to Abraham. God was their Lord and had authority in their lives. He had created them and therefore owned and possessed rights over them. It was wrong for them to intimately associate themselves in any fashion with those who did not belong to him. This was departing from the word of God. God called it treachery. God condemned their disloyalty especially in their marriages to pagan woman. Even the priests had offended God by marrying foreign wives. They had set a bad example for the people. In addition, those that were married to the people in the covenant had so ill-treated their wives, that God regarded their behaviour as shameful. The altar of God was covered with the tears of the mistreated spouses and so when these offending men came to the Temple to offer sacrifices on the altar it offended God. Malachi declared that God regarded their attitude in divorcing the wives of their youth as covering their garment with violence. It appeared that part of the marriage ceremony then involved the husband covering his wife with his garment to show his protection of her and that they were ‘one’. But now instead of offering protection, when a man was forsaking or mistreating his wife, this was tantamount to covering his own garment with violence. The prophet insisted that because husband and wife were one, when a man mistreated his wife he was bringing destruction and misery to himself. He was doing violence to himself. The warning came out clearly that they were to take heed to their spirit, to make sure that their hearts were as it should be in their covenant relationships. If they would take heed to their spirits they would be able to change their feelings, so that they would be loving and caring. The prophet could now ask the people who were doing these things why they were attacking God and feeling let down when evildoers appeared to be getting away with evil. They were demanding that God act in justice, asking why He did not do something about those people who were doing evil and why He did not bring judgment to those who did not follow Him but who appeared to be prospering while His people were suffering. The people of Israel were acting depressed and discouraged because the wicked appeared to be doing better than they the godly. They were grumbling that it was unjust for God to bless others and not them. This situation gave them the right to doubt God and not to believe in Him. They had a right to attack Him as not being a God of justice. Malachi responded that they were offending God when they accused Him of injustice. They were saying that they were more righteous than God, even when they were revelling in all kinds of sins and dishonouring their covenant relationships. It was they that were offering God the worst that they had, ill-treating their wives, marrying foreign woman who did not believe in God and who were following priests who neither taught the word of God nor encouraged the people to follow the terms of the covenant. They were guilty of all these misdeeds and yet were accusing God of not being a God of justice, when He was giving them less judgment than they deserve. Malachi was certainly implying that in view of their intolerable behaviour, they were presently getting more mercy than was merited. Keeping these ideas in mind, when it says that ‘we have wearied the Lord with our words’ (vs. 17), means they had clearly done something contrary and had persisted in the behaviour. God’s mercy and patience with them had been stretched in the matter. When confronted, the people (religious leaders and the people) just raised trivial objections to the God’s accusations. Their intention was not to hear what God had to say. Their indifference in the matter pitted God against them even more. Just like the children of Israel, many Christians today find themselves in similar situations where God convicts individuals, but they continue to deny involvement. They refuse to look at their sins. When this type of behaviour continues it has a tendency to cut off the flow of mercy to people, because God becomes weary of their protestations and can’t see how He can do good for us in these situations, when our hearts cannot see anything but wickedness and disobedience. We only weary God when we insist on our own justification in our corrupt, wicked practices like the children of Israel did in this case. The people accused God of being unholy, which is untrue, as holiness is part of God’s nature. The people had denied God of being holy due to his seeming inaction. “Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord”. The seeming prosperity of the wicked does not mean that God is looking on them with favour. Psalm 5:4 tells us that God has no pleasure in wickedness. So why does God not act quicker? Perhaps it is the fact that he is longsuffering! This point the children of Israel could not understand, even though many times it was due to God’s longsuffering nature that they were spared and given the chance to repent. God’s love for us is not dependent on how many gifts he gives us, for He allows his blessings to fall on the just and the unjust. By thinking that God favours those who do wickedness, we lower God to our level of thinking and being, which then put our minds in a place to challenge the sovereignty and holiness of God. This brings us to the second challenge placed against God, that being they questioned His judgment. They denied that God was governing the world righteously and justly, since the wicked were prospering instead of them, God’s people. They were already aware of the fact that God holds each person accountable for their actions but because He was not dealing with individuals immediately, then that was the source and proof of their argument. They were challenging the ‘Judge of the Earth’ as to whether He was capable of seeing all the sins that people were doing. They were challenging the ‘Judge of the Earth’ as to whether he was acting righteously and in control. When the leaders and the people do wickedness and ignore reproof, these are the arguments they put forth. It is the same today in the modern church. When we do not do the will of God and we see the wicked prospering, do we ask ourselves is there sin within us and that is why we do not prosper, why God does not hear us? Or do we challenge God’s sovereignty, righteousness, justice and holiness?
Chapter ThreeVerse 1. Malachi answers the people’s objections by insisting that God is certainly going to do something about the evil in the world. The God of justice will come and will come suddenly and will catch everyone by surprise. His sudden coming will give them the answer to what he intends to do. This verse is very important as it speaks of the coming of the Messiah and his forerunner. It also gives us an insight into the joy that He will bring when he comes and the doom that it spells for the wicked. The first words of this verse are a direct answer to the question asked in Mal. 2:17. First it mentions that there will be a forerunner of Messiah or the Christ, whom we now know was John the Baptist. This person was also spoken of by the prophet Isaiah (40:3). The forerunner is God’s messenger, herald and ambassador. He was also to give notice that the Messiah’s arrival was ‘now at hand’. The news should have helped men to adjust their hearts and minds so that the Messiah could begin to lead them where they must go. It had been foretold many times that the Messiah would follow with the coming of the ‘messenger’. God said that men should look for this particular sign to aid and give them focus. The Scriptures clearly indicated that the arrival of the forerunner would closely precede the arrival of the Messiah. Because the Messiah, the Lord did not come on their (children of Israel) time or on our time, some think that he has forsaken the earth and his people. Very interestingly, the prophecies mention that the Messiah is Lord and that the people do seek him (the elect seek him). He is going to come to His Temple, to highlight that despite what the leaders (priests) are doing, that it is still his house and that he is in total control. The temple of God is the place where the people of God gathered to worship. It is to this place that the Messiah would go when he comes. The people were expecting the Messiah to come and anxiously awaited His arrival, for they claimed to delight in Messiah. He is also called the messenger of the covenant to highlight what agreements were made with God in the past and the fulfillment of all the promises to Abraham that would be fulfilled with his coming. He was sent from heaven to negotiate a peace and settle a correspondence between God and men. Upon a commission from God, his duty is to bring men to God by a covenant of grace. The verse mentions that they looked for him. It is widely accepted that at this point Israel was fractured. Upon the arrival of the Messiah, He would not only lead Israel back to God, but would usher in the ‘consolation of Israel’. The leaders wished to see the Messiah for the ‘consolation of Israel’, without much attention being held to the redemption of Israel. Today, we must ask ourselves as Christians, do our hearts delight at hearing that Jesus is coming for the right reasons, or is there some ulterior motive? Verse 2. ‘Who may abide the day of his coming?’ God intends to purify his people of their persistent rebellion. They asked where was the God of justice, but now Malachi asks who can endure the day of Messiah when it comes! Clearly God Messiah intends to deal with two sets of problems. He will bring justice. He will deal with those who do not believe in him, who have been prospering but who do not accept God, but He would also deal with the people who were asking the question, where was the God of justice! The people of Israel certainly wanted Messiah to come to get rid of wickedness and their assumption was that they would be watching Messiah dispense justice on others. They did not think that they would be the object of Messiah's judgment. God's answer, his response to their questions, would involve much more than they had anticipated. Holy awe and reverence is something to be thought of with great seriousness. We can see that this is not another person or angel who is coming, it is the Lord Himself ! Even so, we know that he is coming to help us restore a right relationship with God. ‘Who shall stand when he appeareth’? the two previous statements imply that God is someone to be held in awe and reverence; this is an important attitude that is often missed. We did not truly obey Him when he was the pre-incarnate God and when he ‘became flesh’ the same attitude persisted. Clearly, when Jesus came into the world as foretold here in the Scripture the people of that time had the responsibility to ensure that they were serving the Lord and if not to allow themselves to be convicted by the prophets and by the Messiah's forerunner, in order to repent and receive redemption. Today, Christians have the Holy Spirit who is there to convict us and bring us to the place where our souls can be redeemed. It is our responsibility to obey and accept His guidance. Malachi pictures Christ as a refiner who will test and purge our souls so that we will become pure. The refiner knows what it will take to refine the substance and he also knows when or how long it will take to get the substance into its pure state. The people of God will be purified. Malachi introduces two figures of speech to describe this purification process. The fuller’s soap was a substance capable of removing filth. This is the purpose of the Messiah, to purify and redeem sinners, so that we might be able to stand before God as ‘sons and daughters’. Note that the word used for the launderer’s soap is not something to make our hands soft like our modern detergents. This is caustic lye, which was used in an extremely rigorous process to clean garments. This would be the mode of Messiah, He will come like a “fullers soap”, a tough purifier.
Verse 3. Here we are told how the Lord deals with us and what plans he has for us in terms of duty and redemption. Another idea expressed is that the gospel will work good on those that are disposed to be good, those who understand and delight in life and who want life everlasting. In order to purge the substance (believer) of all impurities (sin), Christ provides his gospel, so that purification will take place. Those whom he has touched will be regenerated and cleansed for service to God. Note that a person who smelts metal heats the metal until it turns to liquid, so that the imbedded impurities will come to the surface. So when Malachi uses this figure of speech he is telling Israel and us that when God brings His refining action, it will dig deep to bring hidden iniquities to the surface, those things that oppose him and which we hide from people around us. Christ has an intimate relationship with his followers and will slowly take out of the world, all that are pure and that serve him truly. In the process of doing so he will turn us inside out and take out of us whatever is in opposition to Him. One can look at this as securing the elect from a group who calls themselves believers of God. For only those who are truly of God will surrender themselves to God in order to be purified. Even then, those who are elect undergo the process of sanctification to become the peculiar people that God desires. In the passage, it mentions that the refiner will be sitting. Many have commented that this particular phrase highlights God as patience and thorough in carrying out the task of purifying us. He will be meticulous in his action and intent. His desire is to be gracious to us and to do us good. He himself will be the one doing this particular task. Even though he may give angels the charge to protect us, the purification process is strictly left to him and the Holy Spirit. Once again our focus is on the task that God himself will undertake. One great problem with Israel stemmed from its leaders and so God decides to address the situation. God gives them an example of the right way to behave and thus goes straight to that of Levi. After drawing up the image of the refiner, God says that he will purify the sons of Levi in that manner, purging them like gold and silver for the purpose of getting them back to performing the duties that God would have them do and doing so righteously. When God chastens his people it is to return them to the path of glory, righteousness and holiness. He will start this process first with the religious leadership, the backbone of His theocracy. The sons of Levi were always in the service of God and they operated under strict rules. We should note today we are called upon to be a holy priesthood (1Pt 2:5). Specifics are not given to us in terms of how God will purify us, or the sons of Levi, but the process will remove the ‘dross’ and what remains will be the pure substance. This pure substance will once again be fit for service in the sanctuary. One commentary however holds the position that God will purge Levi by afflictions and manifold temptations, so that the trial of their faith will demonstrate praise and honour. All of this is once again done so that we may both properly give and give proper offering to God. We have the great example of what God requires in the story of Cain and Abel. Both knew what they were supposed to do. Abel’s sacrifice was accepted because in his heart he delighted to serve the Lord and did so. This was manifested in the offering that was given to God. Cain’s pleasure did not include serving God and so it manifested itself in the offering and hence God’s rejection of it; not because of the offering necessarily, but because of the heart of the person giving the offering. So until we are refined and purified by the grace of God, we cannot do anything that will please the Lord God. Once we are purged, then we can see that we can offer sacrifices to him in righteousness.
Verse 4. After the process of refining is complete it yields a purified substance. Now that God has performed this task on his religious leaders, we can see that this effect will come down to the people and so the entire nation will be purified. This tells us how important our leaders and especially the religious leaders are to God. When they sin, they teach the nation to do the same, when they do righteously, the nation move with them in the same direction. Now the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord again, because the hearts and minds of the people are directed towards serving Him righteously. Worship will return to what it was in the past. This means that people knew and did the will of the Lord in the early days. They knew what it was to serve a righteous and wonderful God. Even with the technological advances today, the formula for serving God is simple. Heed his word, obey and He will find our sacrifice acceptable. By giving ourselves to God to lead us, his grace will work within us and make our actions and sacrifices acceptable. Once we are righteous, then so too will the sacrifices we give to God be righteous.
Verse 5. Those who reject God know that they have done so at their own peril. In this case, it is even more serious as these people were specially chosen to be a people reserved for the service of God. God promises that those who reject him after all that He has done for them, shall know where the Lord is and they shall know it to their own terror and confusion. God identifies these people for their benefit and the benefit of his children. First, he calls out the sorcerers. They are those who lived and died in spiritual wickedness and that forsook the oracles of the God of truth to consult the father of lies. Next are the adulterers. They wallow in the lusts of the flesh. False swearers are those who profane God’s name and affront his justice by calling him to witness to a lie. The oppressors are they who barbarously injure and trample upon those who are at their mercy, and deal harshly with those who are not able to help themselves. They defraud people, lie, cheat, steal and perhaps even murder, if it suits their purpose. They will enact such actions and machinations against the widows and the fatherless. They act against those who do not have anyone to fight for them, those who do not know how to protect themselves because they are strangers in the land, or who are poor; a favourite target of the oppressors. Then last, but certainly not the least, the prophet condemns those that do not fear God. Where there is no fear of God, no good is to be expected. These people have completely given themselves over to the devil and are blinded. God has himself given them the chance to repent and they have with bold faces rejected Him. So now the Lord will move to judge them. God will move against them swiftly as a hostile witness, so that they will not be able to refute God's accusations or defend themselves against his charges in any manner. All those who fall under this condemnation justify themselves and try to conceal their sins, hoping to escape punishment for want of proof. But they are dealing with a God who sees and knows all, a God to whom darkness and light are the same. Since God is the one who brings the witness against them, then they and us should learn and understand that the Lord is not slack concerning his threatenings any more than he is concerning His promises. His judgment against sinners shall not be put off for lack of evidence, because all their actions shall be openly revealed for a witness against them. His judgment shall be swift and just and they shall not be able to escape. So not only will those that belong to God be purified but those who do not fear God will be judged. So what are your sins? Do you concern yourself with what is happening to the poor and needy but ignore adultery, immoral sexual practices, lying and other sins that are so prevalent? Do you attack sorcerers and cultists but when you own a property overcharge rents to those who cannot afford it? Do you see sin outside your group, but ignore or tolerate sins inside your group? We all have a list of terrible things that we are sure God will judge when he comes. God is against all sins, His list is very comprehensive and He will not overlook our sins. When Messiah returns he will come with a rod. He will not be meek and lowly of heart this time around. He will not come to sacrifice himself this time. In His first advent even with his power veiled, many of those around him were upset at his purity and his insistence on righteousness. He terrified demons, stood up against the power structure, was humble and did not seek the highest seat.u So you ask “Where is the God of justice?”He's coming. He's coming slowly. He's patient. He longs for us to repent so he delays his coming. So prepare for the coming of the refiner. Trust God completely. Give Him the best that you have. Show that God is Lord of your life. He owns everything that you have. So do not be afraid to give it to Him. Don't ask God insolent questions. You are not capable and cannot know how He should do His business. If you want the God of justice to come, be ready for Him. He will purify you and His refining process and His washing process will by definition not be pleasant. He wants to make his people pure. So return to Him. Never say it is vain to serve God, and that there is no profit to keep His word. Some silly people say that the smart money is on doing the things of the world the way the world advises. They tell you to look after number one. They are arrogant. They speak against God and think that they are better than they really are. They practice wickedness and speak lies. They love the good life and do everything to have that. They do not treasure the word of God. They reject the promise that God will come and will bless those who trust in him. So please reject them.
Chapter 4Verse 1. This verse applies to all sinners and summarizes all that will befall them if they do not repent. God reminds his people and even sinners that the day is coming when the apparent prosperity of the wicked will come to a swift end. The day of the Lord’s coming is fixed, and gives us hope as believers, but ushers doom to unbelievers. Eternity will be a time of reward for the children of God. The verse talks about the wicked being consumed, being burnt up. This is clearly different than what will happen to the faithful believer. In the believer’s case they are purified, all dross or sin is removed. In the unbeliever’s case, the wrath of the Lord shall spell destruction and terror. These are the proud, the ones who will not submit to the government of Jesus Christ, those who will not yield to God’s commandments. All those who have resisted God and continue to contradict the law of God will be judged by their very actions. God will be the witness against them and he will turn their knowledge to naught. God will point to their very character and He will use their own mind and heart against them, for God knows them better than they know themselves. With all that as evidence sinners before them, they will be reduced to stubble. This is pictured as combustible material which is consumed, not purified like the believer. There will be nothing left, not a trace. The roots and branches will be devoured by the heat of the oven, that is, the judgment of He whom they have rejected. If we picture the ‘second coming’ of Jesus when He is revealed to be our judge, those that are proud and all that have done wickedness shall burn as an oven, the whole world. All the ‘children of this world’, those that reject God and embrace the world system shall meet their ruin with its destruction and the fires that they are exposed to shall never be quenched. That shall be their reward and punishment.
CONCLUSIONIn chapter three we read about the people whose heart were turned to repentance. Verse sixteen describes them as people who feared the Lord, who spoke one to another. God gave attention, listened to them, heard what they said to each other and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared the Lord and meditated on His name. The Lord of hosts, who command all the armies of heaven, the One who cannot be resisted, the One who could not be overcome, the One whose word was law said: “They shall be Mine, On the day that I make them my jewels, And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves Him.” Can there ever be more beautiful words? God notes our conversation, and those conversations that we engage in and that honour him are recorded. So remember the encouraging words, the righteous actions, the praise we offer God, the way we defend God, the times we hold up His name, all these actions continues to exist long after we die. God keeps track of all our words and actions. No one can erase them, they live forever in the records of heaven. Let us think carefully and make the right choices. We must become God’s special possession, His unique personal property. God will save us when the fire of judgment comes on earth. We might not be able to tell who is wicked and who is righteous but God knows. He knows us. The day is coming when the wicked will be totally uprooted. They will not survive. There will be no coming back for them. The wicked will be ashes under the soles of your feet, says Malachi 4:3. Let us obey the statutes and commandments of the Lord. There will be a terrible and ‘great day of the Lord’. It is in the future. It would be a terrible day for most. But the sun will arise for us who repent and the coming dawn will bring healing. |