Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. It is prophecy—sometimes harsh prophecy but it also looks forward to reconciliation. For the child of God who has embraced Jesus as Lord, the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord is not to be dreaded.
These links take you to the scriptures and messages that we shared as we studied the prophet's words.
Read Malachi 4
Creation is
moving to some point in the future that we will call the Great and Terrible Day
of the Lord. It’s coming. We can’t mark it on our calendars or register
it in our phones, but it’s coming.
For the
wicked, it will be worse than they can imagine.
For the
righteous, it will be greater than the human mind can conceive.
For the
wise, we are to always be ready and live as if that day is upon us. We don’t wait for the two-minute warning to
start living as God has directed. We are
to be known by our love this day and every day.
We are to
live our lives in response to the love of God that we know in Christ Jesus and
do our best to follow the example of our Lord.
We know God
through his holy word—the Bible—and through his Holy Word in the Flesh—Christ
Jesus. The people of Malachi’s time knew
God through his holy word—mostly read to them by the scribes and priests—and by
their interaction with their priests.
As they
looked forward in time, they knew judgment was coming at some point, but they
did not fully comprehend a Messiah or a Savior or an Anointed One. They had an
inkling of these things but nowhere the knowledge of them that we enjoy today.
The Great
and Terrible Day of the Lord was mostly going to be terrible, especially for
those who rebelled against the Lord. We
can’t fault them for their thinking.
Malachi promised that before this day, Elijah would come.
The people
knew of Elijah. How could they not? Think to the encounter of Elijah and the
prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel some 400 years earlier.
The kingdom
had gone astray. Elijah was a wanted man
but he confronted the king and caused all of the prophets of Baal to meet him
on Mount Carmel to settle the matter of who truly is God.
This was not
of Elijah’s own doing. God set this in
motion with the promise that he would send rain upon the drought-stricken land,
but first the wicked needed to be purged from the land.
You know the
story. Both Elijah and the many prophets
of Baal prepared a bull for a burnt offering.
There were 450 prophets of Baal plus 400 prophets of Asherah—those who
ate the Jezebel’s table.
So there are 850 prophets who had led the people astray to worship false gods, and there is
Elijah. Elijah said, let’s settle this
once and for all.
Elijah went
before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the
Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
Here is how
we will sort this out. We each make an
altar on which to burn the sacrifice. We
each prepare our animal and place it on the altar. Make sure there is plenty of wood. So they did just that. The prophets of Baal
were up first.
No person
would like the fire. Each would call
upon their god to light the fire of the sacrifice. The prophets of Baal called out for hours
without response.
Elijah had
not yet called upon his God. He hadn’t
even repaired the altar that was in disrepair, but he was not silent. He mocked the false prophets. He taunted them.
You had
better shout louder. He can’t hear you.
Maybe your
god is busy. Did he put you on hold?
Maybe he
is in the bathroom and he isn’t getting enough fiber in his diet.
Elijah had
to be having the time of his life. False
prophets wanted real fire from a false god.
They started slashing their own bodies to draw blood. This was sometimes practiced and surely
needed now as their god seemed to be taking a long nap. Maybe he was hibernating.
When evening
came, Elijah stepped up and said, it’s my turn now. The people had
become bored with the false prophets' futile and frantic efforts to elicit fire
from their god.
Elijah addressed
the altar that had been neglected. He first surrounded it with 12 stones
representing the 12 tribes and took the stones to build an Altar to the one
true God. Then he loaded it with wood
That wasn’t
enough. It was time to taunt the false
prophets again. He dug a trench around
this altar. That wasn’t all. He had people fill 4 large jars with water
and douse the offering and altar. Once
was not enough. He would have the jars
of water poured on the altar twice more until it was soaked and the trench
around it was full.
The false
prophets were probably thinking that this was going to be a draw. It would take hours for the wood to dry
enough that it might catch fire. The
status quo could continue. Elijah could
say what he wanted and the 950 false prophets could continue spewing their
nonsense without fear of ever being held accountable.
But Elijah
would not wait for the wood to dry.
At the time
of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and
that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people
will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back
again.”
There would
be no waiting to see if God would answer.
Then the fire
of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the
soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
It burned
the offering and the wood and even the rocks. It even burned the dirt. Have you ever been camping and said, let’s
round up some rocks and dirt and start a fire with them. Every drop of water was consumed.
When all the
people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The
Lord—he is God!”
The people
were convinced. This was crossing the Jordan
and the Red Sea on dry land convinced.
This was sweeping through the Promised Land with their enemies fleeing
convinced. This could only be the hand of
the one true God.
Elijah
seized the moment.
Then Elijah
commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They
seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and
slaughtered there.
OBTW—the
rain came shortly thereafter.
Why do I
tell the story of Elijah and the false prophets? This Mount Carmel encounter was the image
seared on the minds of God’s Chosen People.
The wicked were exposed. They
were taunted. They were discredited and
they were killed.
When God
told his people that he would send Elijah before the Great and Terrible Day of
the Lord, they were looking for a man who took care of business the way they
would take care of business. Think about
it—850 false prophets dead in one afternoon.
The
denomination sends me an email every couple of months noting the pulpit
vacancies in our denomination. On rare
occasions, all the pulpits in our presbytery are filled. That’s a momentary celebration. Across the denomination, there are always two
dozen churches searching for a pastor.
Imagine,
having 850 vacancies to fill. Elijah
gutted the mechanism for worshiping false gods.
And yes, by
way of confession, I do look to see if there is a CP church in need of a pastor
in Honolulu.
The people
of Malachi’s day were looking for someone to come and set things right and if
wicked people had to die in the process, then so be it. Elijah would be perfect.
But God had
other plans for Elijah.
He will turn
the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to
their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Destruction will come for the wicked but not before there is
a chance for people to repent and truly know God.
Elijah would begin the reconciliation that would be completed
in Christ Jesus. For those who rejected
the invitation to life, there would be destruction, but God desires that none perish.
Before the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord, there will be
a chance to repent and be reconciled to God.
We live in that time now.
Elijah has come. We
preach that all must repent and receive Jesus Christ as Lord.
There is a Great and Terrible Day of the Lord on the
horizon. Our job is to bring as many as
we can to the great side of this day before it arrives.
Elijah has come.
Jesus has come.
Jesus will come again.
We are to be ready and bring as many to him as we can before he arrives!
Amen.
Read
Malachi 3
The Hebrew
people were a mess. The priests were a
mess and were largely responsible for the people continuing down the wrong
path. They
were complicit in the matter.
What does
God do when his people are a mess? He
sends a messenger, and not just a messenger but one that will prepare the way
for his coming.
There will
be a messenger. For us he has come. It was John the Baptist or if you keep
reading, Elijah. Later, Jesus would note that John and Elijah were the same man.
God would
not leave his people in the mess of their own making. He would come and bring a New
Covenant. He would offer life to
those enslaved by death and sin.
But who
could endure his coming? He will be like
a refiner’s fire. He will sift
out impurities. Those who continue
in rebellion will perish. This is
judgment.
But it is
also restoration. God can do more than one thing at once. We
are told that God will purify the Levites.
Those who he chastised severely will be cleansed and refined like silver
or gold. Then offerings pleasing and
acceptable to God may resume.
For some
there is hope. There is
restoration. The offerings of the people
will once again be acceptable to God.
God said not
to fear his coming. He does have good plans for his people.
Were we to
continue reading, we would see that God has more admonition for his
people. He gives them hope and he chews
them out at the same time. The
tithe is the focus of the next reprimand.
We will save that for another time.
For now, let
us have hope and take courage that even in our worst mess, God
still loves us. He does
not want to see us perish. He does
have good
plans for us.
If you go to
the end of the chapter, you will see that there were some people who still
feared the Lord. They made a scroll of remembrance. God heard them.
There will
be a time when it will be too late to worship and serve the Lord, but that time
has not yet come. So long as it is still
called today, we hope and encourage and share
God’s love.
But encourage
one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be
hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
God through
Malachi is giving his priests and his people a harsh chewing out, but he is
also speaking of a time when he will come in the flesh and forgive sins and make a way where there was no way. He will be everything we need.
We have
received the fulfillment
of this prophecy. Jesus
has come. He made the atoning
sacrifice for our sins. We have been restored
and made right with God not by anything we did but by God alone. We have received his mercy. We live in his favor and grace.
We have
received what was promised by the prophet Malachi. We have received what the people of Malachi’s
day saw as a future promise.
That promise
lives in us. We must never let ourselves
become like God’s people of Malachi’s time—complacent, apathetic, and without
hope.
We have no
excuse for God himself lives within us.
Your pastor,
the body of Christ, and the Holy Spirit are here to challenge and encourage
you.
So let us
never make God second best in our lives.
Let us never
give him leftovers
when we have first fruits.
Let us
always seek
him first, and not be enslaved to the things that the godless seek after.
Let us long
to be known as his disciples by
our love.
Let us take
the admonishments and lessons of Malachi and apply them to our lives so as to
be his faithful servant.
Amen.
Jesus and
his disciples headed west to the region of Caesarea Philippi. This is west of the Sea of Galilee and south
of Mount Carmel. It was here that Jesus
asked his disciples an interesting question.
Who do
people say that I am?
There was a
variety of answers. John
the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or other prophets were being mentioned by the
people when they talked about Jesus.
Jesus
reframed the question. Who do you say I
am?
Peter
spoke. If there is one thing that we can
say about Peter,
he will get out of the boat. Peter
answers his Master.
“You are the
Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus noted
that Peter—Simon son of Jonah—didn’t figure this out on his own. He marked this moment in these words.
“And I tell
you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of Hades will not overcome it.”
Peter—you
are indeed what your name means—and on this rock I will build my church. On this God-given profession, Jesus
pronounced that he will have a church and it will not be overcome by the forces
of evil.
Jesus
confirmed Peter’s revelation and further revealed that he would have many more
disciples than these 12. In his church,
heaven and earth come together.
Thy will
be done on earth as it is in heaven would be manifest in the church. The church would still stumble and require
continual confession,
but abundant
life and eternal
life would begin with the church.
After these
revelations, Jesus instructed his disciples not to tell anyone. That’s got to be a tough pill to swallow for
these disciples that have followed Jesus all over the Promised Land. Now that what they had suspected was
confirmed by Jesus himself, they were instructed to keep that tidbit to
themselves.
Put this in
the his time had not yet come file.
Jesus
promised the keys to the kingdom. That’s
a metaphor for all eternity. The kingdom
of heaven was opened to Peter and to us.
God with us had made a way for us to be with God for
eternity.
Do you
remember how Jesus used the disciples in the miracles of feeding
the 5000 and the
4000? He used Peter and uses us to open
the
kingdom of heaven to all creation.
Our
commission is not just to save people from eternal darkness but to bring
them into eternal light. I’m stealing
from John
and preaching Matthew. The kingdom of heaven was opened to
us. We might fully live. We might live in accord with God’s purpose
for us.
Not only
could we seek his kingdom and his righteousness, we could live there. We can live there. We have begun living there.
And the gates of hell will not overcome it!
When it
looks like the
love of many has grown cold, remember the gates of hell will not overcome
the church.
When people call
evil good and good evil, remember the gates of hell will not overcome his
church.
When the
followers of Christ Jesus spend more time picking at other believers than they
do sharing
the love of God, remember, the gates of hell will not overcome this church.
So continue
the work of the church. We have unfinished
business. Don’t look at the darkness
all around you. Don’t covet what others
have. Don’t spend your best efforts criticizing
how other believers live.
Keep your eyes
fixed on Jesus and trust in his promise that the gates of hell will not
overcome his church.
And the
gates of hell will not overcome it!
Amen.
