WEBVTT 00:00:00.460 --> 00:00:05.060 We're going to begin reading from Revelation chapter 21. 00:00:05.339 --> 00:00:11.980 We're going to be thinking for a few minutes together about the day of the Lord in Malachi chapter 4. 00:00:13.099 --> 00:00:23.519 So here's another way for the people of God to think about what the day of the Lord looks like. 00:00:24.900 --> 00:00:28.199 My favorite passages in all of the Bible. 00:00:28.199 --> 00:00:31.339 Revelation 21, we'll read the first five verses. 00:00:31.980 --> 00:00:35.179 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. 00:00:35.619 --> 00:00:41.740 For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 00:00:42.500 --> 00:00:52.039 I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. 00:00:52.039 --> 00:00:55.460 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 00:00:55.460 --> 00:01:00.679 Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. 00:01:01.380 --> 00:01:05.939 They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:09.159 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. 00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:14.960 There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:18.240 For the old order of things has passed away. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:24.099 He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. 00:01:24.679 --> 00:01:31.439 Then he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:47.500 So the book of Malachi, we've got to that final chapter, chapter 4, where the prophet's message closes with a focus on the day of the Lord. 00:01:47.500 --> 00:01:50.920 So let's hear God's word together. 00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:53.000 Surely the day is coming. 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:55.379 It will burn like a furnace. 00:01:56.219 --> 00:01:59.239 All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:03.939 And that day that is coming will set them on fire, says the Lord Almighty. 00:02:04.819 --> 00:02:07.319 Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 00:02:07.319 --> 00:02:12.900 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:16.699 And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. 00:02:16.979 --> 00:02:18.840 Then you will trample down the wicked. 00:02:19.359 --> 00:02:24.659 They will be like ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things, says the Lord Almighty. 00:02:25.379 --> 00:02:31.500 Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. 00:02:31.500 --> 00:02:38.360 See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:44.560 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. 00:02:44.939 --> 00:02:50.219 Or else I will come and strike the land with a curse. 00:02:50.620 --> 00:02:55.819 So the day of the Lord, which is a key theme of the later prophets. 00:02:55.819 --> 00:03:04.139 You can find Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Zechariah, all talking in different ways about the day of the Lord. 00:03:04.239 --> 00:03:11.819 Which, in a nutshell, I guess, is a promise of the day that the Lord will come both as judge and as saviour. 00:03:12.539 --> 00:03:18.759 And in the context of what Malachi is saying to the people, he's really saying to them, live in light of that day. 00:03:18.900 --> 00:03:20.859 Remember the day of the Lord is coming. 00:03:20.860 --> 00:03:28.160 And because that day is coming, you need to change your hearts and you need to change your lives to be ready for that. 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:33.560 There was in Israel sometimes a presumption that God would come and all would be well with them. 00:03:33.620 --> 00:03:36.940 And Malachi is giving to them a different message. 00:03:37.460 --> 00:03:44.880 This is one of those Bible passages that's got that sort of classic Bible presentation of the two ways to live. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:48.879 There is the way of blessing or there is the way of curse. 00:03:49.019 --> 00:03:53.340 There is the way of accepting God or there is the way of rejecting God. 00:03:53.539 --> 00:03:57.599 And this is brought to the people in Malachi's day. 00:03:57.659 --> 00:03:59.060 And it's something that we need as well. 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:09.560 It's something that we need as a motivation for our evangelism, I think, to reflect on eternity and to reflect on judgment and salvation. 00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:18.780 We need it too to comfort us in our discipleship, to help us to persevere as we remember the hope of salvation for the people of God. 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:24.199 But Malachi's message on the day of the Lord begins with judgment. 00:04:24.459 --> 00:04:27.560 We saw that very clearly in verse 1. 00:04:28.279 --> 00:04:29.600 The day is coming. 00:04:30.139 --> 00:04:32.459 It will burn like a furnace. 00:04:32.660 --> 00:04:35.800 We've seen in the news, haven't we, the destructive power of fire. 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:40.720 We've seen the Glasgow School of Art being ripped apart by a blaze again. 00:04:40.819 --> 00:04:43.500 We've seen the devastation caused by volcanoes. 00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:47.319 We've been remembering as a nation the Grenfell Towers. 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:50.020 Here is a terrifying picture. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:05:02.639 A terrifying picture reflecting the fact that God is holy and that God will act in the end to judge those who don't turn from sin to trust in him. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:08.060 The whole point of Malachi's prophecy, it is really a warning to say to the people, 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:10.699 your thoughts about God are wrong. 00:05:10.819 --> 00:05:15.759 Your actions towards God and your actions towards others are wrong. 00:05:15.919 --> 00:05:20.939 And so Malachi speaks to the arrogant who say, I don't need God. 00:05:21.219 --> 00:05:21.939 I don't need Jesus. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:25.180 To the evildoers who say, I won't listen to God. 00:05:25.180 --> 00:05:37.900 I'm going to pursue my own way of life at warning of this day of judgment that will bring the certainty of eternal day. 00:05:38.379 --> 00:05:40.840 Now, it's a hard message. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:42.879 Some people would say, well, that's very primitive. 00:05:43.780 --> 00:05:46.780 That was Old Testament, New Testament. 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:47.600 Everything changes. 00:05:47.740 --> 00:05:48.379 God is love. 00:05:49.160 --> 00:05:52.500 But I just want to remind us that this is not sub-Christian. 00:05:52.500 --> 00:06:03.839 This is not for then and there's a different message now because I'm sure we remember that Jesus teaches on hell and eternal judgment a lot more than any other Bible teacher. 00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:06.720 So, for example, in Luke chapter 7, 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:21.840 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven, I will tell them plainly, Jesus says, I never knew you. 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:25.020 Away from me, you evildoers. 00:06:25.019 --> 00:06:37.359 Or we can think about the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew chapter 25 when there is that final division based on how people have lived, demonstrating how they have responded to God's word. 00:06:37.620 --> 00:06:42.219 And Jesus says they will go away to eternal punishment. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:47.399 Those who didn't live for God, but the righteous to eternal life. 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:54.479 It's exactly the same message that Malachi brings, that Jesus brings because God, of course, is unchanging. 00:06:54.679 --> 00:06:57.279 He remains perfectly holy. 00:06:57.459 --> 00:07:06.279 He continues to hate sin and he must act as judge of those who don't come to Jesus for mercy and forgiveness. 00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:12.000 He must deal with sin else he stops being holy and righteous and good. 00:07:12.739 --> 00:07:15.259 And that's something we need to remember. 00:07:15.259 --> 00:07:17.620 But it's difficult, isn't it? 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:23.819 So there is judgment on the day of the Lord, but there is also salvation. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:26.099 Judgment is one side of the coin. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:29.860 The day of the Lord as blessing and salvation is the other. 00:07:30.379 --> 00:07:34.279 In verse 2, there's a picture of heat again, but it's very different. 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:39.579 This time it's more like the summer sun, the dawning of a new day that brings healing. 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:41.379 It's a lovely picture in verse 2. 00:07:41.379 --> 00:07:48.620 For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. 00:07:48.659 --> 00:07:51.040 How do we experience the day in this way? 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:56.159 Well, the word is to revere, to honour, to fear. 00:07:56.579 --> 00:08:00.360 To respond appropriately to who God is. 00:08:00.699 --> 00:08:04.939 To respond appropriately to Jesus, his Saviour. 00:08:04.939 --> 00:08:12.459 And for those who turn in repentance and faith, there's this promise that the day will be one of joy. 00:08:13.100 --> 00:08:18.579 We get a picture of these calves released from the stall and they're all excited and they're jumping about. 00:08:18.660 --> 00:08:22.560 And that's a picture of joy for the people of God. 00:08:23.659 --> 00:08:31.379 There's also, and maybe this is hard for us to enter into in verse 3, the promise of vindication. 00:08:31.379 --> 00:08:34.439 So it says, you'll trample down the wicked. 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:38.179 There'll be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things. 00:08:38.220 --> 00:08:40.759 And again, that sounds really hard to us. 00:08:41.559 --> 00:08:48.700 But when we think about what we see of God's people globally, we used to have a map, it's up the back, map of the persecuted church. 00:08:48.700 --> 00:08:59.040 They know this and they have hope that one day that God's people will no longer be crushed and attacked and persecuted and hated and humiliated. 00:08:59.540 --> 00:09:05.580 That for them, there is the great hope of enjoying the final victory of the Lord Jesus. 00:09:05.740 --> 00:09:10.500 And again, this isn't Old Testament and the New Testament speaks a different word. 00:09:10.500 --> 00:09:12.840 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:19.500 This is how Paul or God through Paul comforts a church under pressure. 00:09:19.940 --> 00:09:21.279 He says, God is just. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:31.539 He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:33.000 And when will this happen? 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:42.600 This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 00:09:42.860 --> 00:09:47.480 Judgment for some, vindication and salvation for others. 00:09:47.580 --> 00:09:51.860 And that will bring them joy and it will bring God glory. 00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:54.419 It's a day of grace. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:57.240 It's a day of healing. 00:09:57.240 --> 00:10:04.120 How is it that any of us can experience the day of the Lord as salvation and not judgment? 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:09.399 Well, it's because Jesus knew the judgment of God. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:17.340 Took hell in concentrated form on the cross for his people. 00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:19.399 So that we can live with hope. 00:10:19.399 --> 00:10:23.399 We can know this final victory of salvation accomplished. 00:10:23.399 --> 00:10:28.819 Because Jesus saves and Jesus keeps his own. 00:10:29.659 --> 00:10:32.840 He is the true son of righteousness. 00:10:33.059 --> 00:10:35.120 We trust in his righteous life. 00:10:35.220 --> 00:10:37.840 We don't trust in our righteousness and goodness. 00:10:38.019 --> 00:10:42.519 We trust in his righteous sacrifice. 00:10:43.500 --> 00:10:45.899 So the day of the Lord is a day of judgment. 00:10:46.379 --> 00:10:52.279 But it's also a day that brings full and final salvation for the people of God. 00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:56.259 That's where that wonderful picture from Revelation 21 kicks in. 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:59.779 That's the hope for us in Jesus. 00:11:01.199 --> 00:11:06.379 And then Malachi goes back to warning. 00:11:06.539 --> 00:11:09.699 His prophecy ends on an urgent warning. 00:11:09.819 --> 00:11:15.699 Because as we've seen over the weeks, these are people who the priests are corrupting worship. 00:11:16.439 --> 00:11:18.659 The people are living immorally. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:21.259 They're refusing to bring God what he's due. 00:11:21.259 --> 00:11:22.319 They're not honoring him. 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:23.779 So they need to hear this. 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:28.460 And so Malachi calls the people to look both backwards and forwards. 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:29.559 Backwards first. 00:11:30.259 --> 00:11:30.879 Verse 4. 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:33.700 To the law of Moses. 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:39.919 Whenever the Bible says remember, it's not simply a mental thing. 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:43.360 It's a mental thing that leads to action. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:51.220 So keep those laws in mind and put them into practice is what Malachi calls the people to. 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:55.120 Remember how you became the people of God. 00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:58.120 That you were saved by grace in order to obey. 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:00.259 In order to be his holy people. 00:12:00.419 --> 00:12:02.840 In order to be a light to the nation. 00:12:02.940 --> 00:12:08.379 So here they are being called to faith that shows itself in obedience. 00:12:08.379 --> 00:12:14.039 And what we've seen in Malachi is not evidence of them remembering. 00:12:14.539 --> 00:12:17.200 But evidence of them forgetting. 00:12:18.580 --> 00:12:21.799 And there was a complacency about the people. 00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:23.439 And they need to realize. 00:12:23.659 --> 00:12:26.600 They needed to realize that it's their theology. 00:12:26.860 --> 00:12:29.639 It's their thoughts of God and that response. 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:30.620 And their ethics. 00:12:30.820 --> 00:12:32.539 Not their genealogy. 00:12:32.539 --> 00:12:37.879 Or not their race that will determine how they experience the day of the Lord. 00:12:37.980 --> 00:12:40.000 And so Malachi needs to say to them, remember. 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:43.319 Remember how you ought to live. 00:12:43.379 --> 00:12:45.439 How you ought to live before God. 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:50.360 For us too, we are called to remember. 00:12:51.439 --> 00:12:53.679 Remember God's call to salvation. 00:12:54.519 --> 00:13:00.279 Remember the cross of Jesus with thankfulness. 00:13:00.279 --> 00:13:02.939 Remember to work out our salvation. 00:13:03.100 --> 00:13:04.839 We too are to work out our salvation. 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:09.759 In fear and trembling as God works in us. 00:13:09.839 --> 00:13:14.059 That we too are to remember that we are called to be a holy people. 00:13:14.199 --> 00:13:17.860 Living in faith and obedience. 00:13:19.740 --> 00:13:23.600 So we need to remember and look back. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:27.819 And here they're also called on to look forward. 00:13:27.820 --> 00:13:34.140 They are reminded of this promise of God of a second Elijah. 00:13:35.060 --> 00:13:39.680 Gospel of Mark tells us this is fulfilled in John the Baptist. 00:13:40.420 --> 00:13:41.260 Verse 5. 00:13:41.379 --> 00:13:46.820 See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:52.420 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. 00:13:52.900 --> 00:13:56.060 Or else I will come and strike the land with a curse. 00:13:56.059 --> 00:14:01.419 Here is the promise of one who will come, a great prophet who will call the people back to repentance. 00:14:02.119 --> 00:14:04.159 Call them back to a restored relationship. 00:14:04.239 --> 00:14:09.879 And that, of course, is what we see John the Baptist doing in preparation for the ministry of Jesus. 00:14:11.099 --> 00:14:14.119 Like Elijah on Mount Carmel. 00:14:14.199 --> 00:14:19.339 Remember that story of Elijah on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal. 00:14:19.419 --> 00:14:21.439 1 Kings chapter 18. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:24.540 So he challenges those false prophets. 00:14:24.660 --> 00:14:27.540 Well, let's see whose God is the true God. 00:14:27.620 --> 00:14:29.040 And he speaks to Israel. 00:14:29.540 --> 00:14:30.300 And he says to them, 00:14:30.620 --> 00:14:33.920 How long will you waver between two opinions? 00:14:34.500 --> 00:14:37.080 If the Lord is God, follow him. 00:14:37.580 --> 00:14:40.940 But if Baal is God, follow him. 00:14:41.260 --> 00:14:45.520 And what we've got at the end of Malachi is really the same kind of picture. 00:14:45.640 --> 00:14:48.640 There's the same stark alternative being presented. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:54.720 You can listen and you can be part of God's community and you can know salvation and blessing. 00:14:54.899 --> 00:14:56.799 Or you can turn away. 00:14:56.899 --> 00:14:57.639 You can refuse. 00:14:57.779 --> 00:15:03.620 You can keep going the way you're going and you will end up living under God's curse. 00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:10.779 And that's the fundamental choice that all of us, all of humanity has to make. 00:15:10.779 --> 00:15:18.799 We too are called to decide where our loyalties lie and then live on that basis. 00:15:20.579 --> 00:15:24.779 And again, we're called to hope in Jesus. 00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:30.039 We got that great gospel verse in Galatians chapter 3 where we read, 00:15:30.039 --> 00:15:41.759 We avoid the curse. 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:46.659 We avoid judgment by looking to Jesus, by trusting in Jesus. 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:49.059 And so we need this warning. 00:15:49.199 --> 00:15:50.299 We need this reminder. 00:15:50.299 --> 00:15:54.719 So we're constantly trusting in the righteousness of Jesus and not ourselves. 00:15:55.379 --> 00:16:00.859 So that we're taking seriously this call to live in faith and obedience, putting sin to death. 00:16:01.620 --> 00:16:04.039 So that we're ready for Jesus' return. 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:09.219 And we remember that the decisions that we make now have eternal consequences. 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.359 And we need this warning so we don't forget the importance of our mission. 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:17.779 Because people need to hear the good news of Jesus. 00:16:17.980 --> 00:16:21.019 It is something that is urgent.