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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Chapter - Chapter 4 The
Day Of The Lord (ch. 4:1 - 6) Before
we go onto chapter 4 we should note that these words in this chapter are
the last words we hear from God in Old Testament times until He speaks
through John the Baptist. God
shuts down His communication for about 400 years.
This is the second last chance Israel
has until their Messiah actually comes.
Once He comes, He becomes their final chance, and of course, they
rejected Him. Chapter
4 verse 1 begins with the words, “surely a day is coming. It will burn
like a furnace”. Malachi
says that “all the arrogant, and all the evildoers” will burn.
Arrogance is one of our fundamental sins.
Satan in the Garden of Eden enticed Eve based on his arrogance.
He said, “has God really said…”
By saying this, satan was arrogantly suggesting that he was on
the same level of existence as God.
And by accepting satan’s suggestion, Eve was doing the same.
The
fire here is clearly speaking of the Lake
of Fire
as seen in the book of Revelation. The
fire will constantly burn those who are evil.
One thing to note here that is the reason why those evil doers
are in the When
speaking of the Verse
1 also says, “not a root or a branch will be left to burn”.
Some people this to mean that the Lake
of Beyond
this, you will note the following, what the verse really says.
It says that the evildoer will be reduced “to stubble”.
There’s not much left of the evil doer, just stubble.
This clearly implies that the evildoer will still be in the Lake
of Also,
it says that “not a root or branch will be left to them”.
Note the words “to them”.
It doesn’t say that not a root or branch will be left “of
them” or “from them”. I
picture it this way. Paul
speaks of the Christian’s works as being burned in the fire.
Only those works done in pure faith will stand the test of
God’s fire. The evildoers
works will be burned as well. Not
a branch or a root of their works will be left, but they themselves in a
diminished for will remain form eternal punishment. Verse
2 is a contrast to verse 1. Verse
1 spoke of the evildoer. Verse
2 speaks of those “who revere God’s name”.
Revering God’s name means to fear God, reverence Him, and as we
go out in His name, represent Him properly.
For those people who will do this, “the Sun of righteousness
will appear with healing on His wings”.
This clearly is in reference to the coming of Jesus.
If you read the last two chapters of the book of revelation, you
will note that the coming of Jesus and the coming of the New Jerusalem
will be a source of healing for the nations.
We will not spend eternity in Heaven.
We’ll spend eternity on the new earth. Jesus will transform
what the Great Tribulation has destroyed.
There will be a new earth for us to live on, and at that point
the book of Revelation tells us that healing will come to the nations.
I believe these words in Malachi refers specifically to those
days. Verse 1 spoke of
eternal fire for the wicked, and verse 2 speaks of eternal
healing for the just. The
last part pictures these righteous people who have revered the name of
God and have received healing from the Sun of Righteousness.
Malachi pictures them as calves being finally let out of their
stall. They are so happy
that they go skipping and jumping all over the place for joy.
So it will be with the righteous when their new lives begin on
this new earth. You will
note in the last two chapters of Revelation that the nations will go in
and out of the New Jerusalem and find healing from the tree of life in
the city. The same wording is used in both Revelation and Malachi. They
“will go out”, and once healed, we the righteous will jump for joy,
much like the lame man in Acts 3. Verse
3 says that “then you will trample down the wicked.
They will be as ashes under the soles of your feet”.
Israel
will rule with Jesus and in this ruling their enemies will be under
their feet. In
verse 4 God is telling God
spoke of Moses in the last verse and now He speaks of Elijah in verse 5.
These two men seem to have special significance in God’s plans,
besides what they did when they were alive on the earth.
You will remember that Jesus talked with them when He and them
were transfigured before Peter, James and John.
Beyond this, many scholars believe that the two witnesses found
in the book of Revelation are these two men.
Concerning
this Elijah, we need to understand that John the Baptist was not Elijah
reincarnated. John himself
said that he was not Elijah in John 1:21 and 22. Yet
in Matt. 11:15 Jesus says that if we can hear it, “John was that
Elijah that was to come”.
Luke 1:17 gives you the answer to this so-called problem.
This verse says that “John came in the spirit and power of
Elijah”. John was not
Elijah, but he was similar to Elijah, both in spirit and power.
Elijah foreshadowed
John the Baptist. The
question needs to be asked, “who is the Elijah in verse 5 speaking
about”? “Is it John the
Baptist again”? Many
Evangelicals and most Futurists think that it’s not John the Baptist.
There is a time context concerning this Elijah.
God says that He will send this Elijah to the Jews, and this
Elijah will come “before that great and dreadful day of the Lord”.
The Day of the Lord spoken of here is the end of the age that
results in Jesus’ return in judgment and restoration.
It’s a great day. It’s
also a dreadful day for those who reject the Lord.
So it appears that this Elijah is not John the Baptist because he
has nothing to do with the end of this age. Jews
all over the world throughout the ages believe that before their Messiah
comes Elijah will come first. We
see the Jews speaking about this in the New Testament.
This is one reason why they did not believe Jesus was their
Messiah. Elijah, in their eyes had not yet come.
Still to this day, for those Jews who celebrate Passover, they
leave and empty chair and eat the meal with the door open, just in case
Elijah returns during Passover. There’s
differences in thinking just who this Elijah might be.
Some feel it’s the real Elijah who comes back to earth.
Other’s feel it is a man, not unlike John the Baptist who comes
in the spirit and power of Elijah. Some
might suggest that it’s the glorified church but I question that.
I think it is one man, because Elijah is one man.
Some people believe that one of the two witnesses seen in
Revelation is historical Elijah and when he comes with the other
witness, this is what is being talked about in verse 5.
I’m not sure that anyone really knows for sure at this point. That
all being said, some, but more of a minority, suggest
that this Elijah spoken of here in chapter 4 is John the Baptist, and
that this verse refers to him preparing Jesus way as seen in the
gospels. I personally
don’t believe that. Verse
six tells us that this Elijah “will turn the hearts of the children to
their fathers”. I quoted
from Luke 1:17 already. We’ve
tied John the Baptist to Elijah because of what Luke 1:17 says.
He came in the spirit and power of Elijah according to Luke 1:17.
But the same verse in Luke says that Elijah will turn the hearts
of the children to the father, and it is in reference to John.
So there is some controversy who the Elijah really is.
Many
prophecies have a double fulfillment.
I believe that John the Baptist in one sense of the word was
prophetic in himself. He
fulfilled prophecy while at the same time his life was prophetic of
another Elijah that would prepare the way for the second
coming of Jesus. That
only makes sense. Malachi
speaks of this Elijah turning the hearts of children back to their
fathers. Some suggest that
this speaks of a revival among Jews and one aspect of the revival is the
restoration of damaged family relationships.
Yet I think there’s another way in which you might want to look
at this verse. Elijah will
turn the hearts of Israel
back to their forefathers, Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac who followed God.
Thus the last generation of Jews will believe like their
forefathers. The
last phrase in the book of Malachi says, “or else I will come and
strike the land with a curse”.
This is how the Old Testament ends.
It ends with a warning, and a severe warning at that.
We know from Romans chapter nine through eleven that in the end a
remnant of From
this point on, God does not speak to His people Israel, as far as we know, at least not on a national level.
He is silent until the first Elijah comes, and that is John the
Baptist.
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