The Day of The Lord
February 9, 2020
Commentary
Throughout the book of Malachi, these disbelieving people have been asking that judgment be brought to the wicked who seem to be prospering. In this passage Malachi gives a prediction of that day which is also known as the time of Jacob’s trouble, the great Tribulation, and the birth pangs for the millennial kingdom (v. 1). God says that when He is through judging the wicked, they will be like stubble and ashes with nothing left. That day will be a day of destruction for the proud and all that do wickedly, but it will be a day of deliverance for the righteous remnant (vv. 2-3).
The people in Malachi’s time needed a renewed fear of God; they needed to repent and be faithful to God’s covenant and were told to remember the law of Moses given to govern their lives (v. 4) (Ex. 20:1-26). They had a choice of either obeying the Lord and receiving His blessing or a curse if they did not obey (Deut. 11:26-28). If we don’t learn to obey those God has placed over us, we will never learn to obey God.
The Old Testament closes with the promise of the Lord’s return and is a foretaste of the book of the Revelation which gives greater details of the Lord’s return (vv. 5-6). Judgement Day will be a day of joy because it will usher in eternity in God’s presence. However, for those who have ignored God it will be “stubble” to be burned up.
Application
“To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22). From today’s passage we see the results of obedience and disobedience. I am thankful for the rapture which will spare me from this time.
Malachi 4:1– 6 (NET)
1 (3:19) “For indeed the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “It will not leave them even a root or branch. 2 But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication will rise with healing wings, and you will skip about like calves released from the stall. 3 You will trample on the wicked, for they will be like ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am preparing,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. 5 Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. 6 He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.”