The Day of The Lord

In 1923 the Germans stalled on their reparations payments and the French seized the industrial Ruhr to compel payment. The German mark had been declining since World War II. It began plunging: 7,000 to the dollar in January, 160,000 in July, 1 million in August. A kind of madness … More

Tribulation

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 (Duet. 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 (English Standard Version)


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