“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant
and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them
on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left
to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will
rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves
released from the stall.
- Malachi 4:1-2, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House) 1984.
Dear Friends in Christ,
We have reached that point in the church year known as "End Times." Beginning last week with Reformation Sunday (also designated as the "First Sunday of End Times") and continuing for the following three weeks, our Scripture readings will turn our thoughts to what the Bible has to say about the last things...
Today is specified as "Last Judgment" Sunday, and that is what we’ll be talking about. But before we do, one preliminary remark may be in order...
Those of us who have grown up in the church will remember hearing from young on (usually at this time of the year) that the end is coming soon; that Jesus could return at any future day, hour or moment. And although we know this to be true (for this is what Jesus tells us in the Bible), with each passing year there is the possibility that the return of Christ becomes, unintentionally, a remote doctrine for us. In other words, it is something that we know and affirm to be true, but in reality has little bearing on our everyday life...
This is nothing new. Already in the first century the Apostle Peter warned us against falling into this mindset. In his second letter he talks about scoffers who needle believers by saying, "Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." Peter goes on to remind us that the Lord’s timetable and ours are vastly different, and encourages believers to understand the Second Coming as a living reality.
The Old Testament prophet Malachi underscores the same thing for us in our text for today. Let’s turn to it now with the understanding that, in his inspired words,
"SURELY THE DAY IS COMING..."
As we talk about
1. The reality of judgment
2. The fear of judgment removed
3. Our lives in view of these facts
"Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evil-doer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the Lord Almighty. "Not a root or branch will be left to them." Let me tell you a little about the prophet Malachi, as well as the "day" that he records the Lord speaking about...
Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets (a "prophet" is a man who spoke for and on behalf of the Lord) that God chose to use as an inspired writer. Roughly speaking, Malachi lived and worked about 400 years before the birth of Christ.
The situation he lived and worked in was, spiritually speaking, far from ideal. After centuries of upheaval, unrest, conquest and captivity, God’s people were finally back in the area that today we know as Israel. Under the guiding hand of God and faithful leaders, they had re-built the walls and the temple at Jerusalem and were busy re-establishing themselves in the "Promised Land."
But all was not well. Things were not happening as fast as some would have liked, and the people began to wonder if God had forgotten them because He didn’t seem to be visiting them with the same power of His presence as in former times. As a result, some very contemporary sin had taken root in this ancient society, especially in their worship life. They had lapsed into a "going through the motions" kind of spirituality. Though outwardly religious, they were failing to give God His due in their lives and offerings. Their lives had become self-centered rather than God-centered. And sad to say, leading this downward charge were the spiritual leaders. So God raised up Malachi to warn the people and address these issues.
Malachi assures the people that God had not forgotten them. He promises them that God would indeed visit them – and all people – and present Himself in an unmistakable way. Malachi warns the people to be prepared for this visit. It is this context the Lord talks about the "day" that is surely coming. It will be a day of judgment. And for those not spiritually ready, it will be a terrible occasion...
However, those who are ready (the faithful) have nothing to fear. "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings." Interesting term. Who or what is meant by the sun of righteousness? Perhaps the familiar words of the Christmas hymn, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" will provide us with the answer. Verse 3 goes:
Hail, the heavn’ly Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings, Ris’n with healing in his wings...
The sun of righteousness is a reference to the coming of Christ. At Malachi’s time, that was still some four centuries away, but that day of Christ’s first visit to our planet as the Savior born as a baby in Bethlehem was indeed coming. And that first coming would set the stage for the Second Coming. Since one leads to the other, Malachi (like other of the Old Testament prophets) compresses both comings of Christ into a single event when he says, "Surely the day is coming..."
There are two basic truths that we can glean from this text. First, that Judgment Day is indeed a reality. Secondly, the faithful have nothing to fear on that day. Let’s expand on these twin truths...
As mentioned earlier, those of us who’ve grown up in the Christian faith have heard from young on about the inevitable return of Christ. When this will take place, we don’t know. That it will take place we do know.
In fact, we refer to the Second Coming as an "article of faith." Each Sunday we confess in one of our creeds our belief that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead. We call that day Judgment Day. And on that Day, the bodies of all people who have died will be raised to join their souls in either heaven or hell, there to reside for eternity. Since personal judgment has already taken place at the moment of death, it will be a day of public Judgment for those who have already died...
But for those who are alive when Christ returns, it will be a day of both personal and public judgment. And for those who have rejected Christ or do not know Him, it will not at all be a pleasant occasion. Our text is very graphic in portraying the wrath of God’s judgment against those who have spurned Him.
On the other hand, for those who know Jesus Christ – those who have, in the words of Revelation, "washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb;" those, in the words of Isaiah, whose sins were like scarlet but now stand white as snow in the eyes of God thanks to the redeeming work of Jesus Christ – for them, there is nothing to fear. In the Gospels when Jesus talks to His disciples about His Second Coming and the signs that will accompany it, He tells them – and us – not to be scared. Rather, he says, "lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." In other words, we have nothing to be frightened of on that last, great day... and everything to look forward to.
At this point let’s pause for a moment and consider some issues related to this teaching that are at times raised by the skeptic, and to some degree may even be troubling for us. There are those who find the idea of Judgment Day and the prospect of eternal condemnation in hell for the unbeliever as being both excessive and inappropriate on the part of God. After all, (so it is reasoned) God is love, and such punishment seems inconsistent with His nature. Perhaps you have been personally confronted at one time or another by someone who makes God out to be a terrible, vengeful deity by asking: "How can a loving God send anyone to hell, especially if they’ve never had the chance to hear about Him?"
How do we respond to that? The answer is not found in trying to logically defend the character or the actions of the Almighty. We must rather understand that God is God, nothing less, and man is man, nothing more. Instead of subjecting God (the Creator) to our (the creature) ideas of right and wrong, fairness and justice, we simply bow before Him and believe what He tells us in His Word. Yes it is true that in He speaks to us about His righteous wrath and condemnation over against unbelief; but He also speaks to us about His limitless love and forgiveness and patience with mankind.
And most importantly, He speaks to us about the solution to judgment. That, of course, is His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the One God sent to bear our sins, take away our transgressions, wash away our iniquities, and restore us into a right relationship with Him. His pain, our gain. His death, our life. How fair is that? Not very, but this is what God did for us. And as a result, for those who are in Christ through faith, Judgment Day presents not a terrible earthly end, but a wonderful heavenly beginning.
Which leads us to our final consideration. In view of the reality of Judgment Day, how shall we now live? One again Malachi the prophet provides us with some answers. We’ve all heard of the three R’s of education; Malachi suggests three "R’s" for living in the end times...
First is repentance. Do you remember the sins and shortcomings of the people of his day? We referred to them as curiously contemporary sins for an ancient society. The people were outwardly religious, but they weren’t putting their faith into practice. They had become self-centered, self-absorbed and failed to give God his due in their lives and offerings. In essence, they were violating the First and foundational commandment: They had made themselves, rather than their God, the focal point of their lives. So Malachi called them to repentance.
Anything familiar there? To the degree that we break the First Commandment in any or all of these same ways, we too, must repent. A life of daily repentance and forgiveness is how to live in the end times...
Second is rededication. Malachi called his people to rededicate their lives to their Lord. This called for self-analysis in them – and us. A question: How would you live if you knew the end or your end would come exactly one week from today? Would we have to scramble to get our spiritual house in order? Would we have to mend some fences? Would we have some people we’d need to grant forgiveness to or seek forgiveness from? Would there be some acts of Christian kindness or consideration that we’d finally get around to if we knew we only had a week left?
Maybe you’ve heard the saying, "life is what happens while we’re making other plans." Surely the day is coming. Life is happening now. Some of our other plans may never take place. Our text calls us to rededicating ourselves to living our lives now for the Lord in these last days.
The third "R" stands for renewal. In view of the fact that we are in the end times and in view of the fact that we have the only truth that can change Judgment Day from being a negative to a positive experience for those who don’t know that truth, we must renew ourselves personally and as a church to mission work. What can we do? Pray. Support. Contribute. Witness. Look for opportunities. Pray for opportunities. The fact of the matter is, we don’t know how much time is left. We have Jesus. Others don’t. And so we must proceed in our work with a sense of energy and urgency...
The season of the church year and the subject matter of our text dovetail nicely. The message of both is clear: we are in the end times. This is not a scare tactic to produce good behavior or a guilt statement to change the way we do things. It is a simple Bible fact. An article of faith. And a truth which calls for a response in each of us...
Consequently, may God grant us clear thinking and a life of daily repentance, rededication and renewal in these end times. Because "Surely the Day is coming..." Amen.