Please bless him tonight as he preaches your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Okay tonight we conclude the book of Malachi chapter 4. I'm hesitant to say
that it's gonna be a short sermon because there's only six verses. There's
only six verses and I want to say that it's gonna be a short sermon but every
time I say it's gonna be a short one it ends up being way longer than than usual
and so I won't say it but it is gonna be a short one though. All right we're in
the book of Malachi chapter 4. Of course this is the last chapter here and the
theme that we've seen so far obviously is the fact that God through the prophet
Malachi is dealing with the apathy in Israel or particularly Judah. He's
dealing with the apathy there. They've come back from you know their
captivity. They're serving God but they're kind of doing it haphazardly.
They're not really putting their heart into it. They're doing these
sacrifices that are just contaminated. They're not really doing it whole
heartedly and therefore it is sin unto them because anything that it's not done
wholeheartedly unto the Lord especially if you know you're supposed to do it
it's obviously sinful and they understand you know the priests
understand what their responsibilities are. They know that they're supposed to
not only be offering sacrifices but sacrifices that are without blemish
without spot without wrinkled you know but yet they're still offering these
lame sickly sacrifices and God is not pleased with them. He rebukes the priests
for this. He rebukes the people for their practice of divorcing their spouses okay
and we dealt with that in chapter number two and then in chapter three he
basically goes into more of the sins that are taking place there and the
judgment that's gonna come upon them and you know he goes into the tithing aspect
of it and really we can tie in chapter three to chapter number one due to the
fact that when he says you've robbed me right of tithes and offerings and he
says where have we robbed thee and he talks about the tithes and offerings
there and of course we can tie that into chapter one over the fact that
they're basically robbing God of a good animal sacrifice. They're not really
properly offering these animals and therefore they're robbing God of the
sacrifice that he has desired for them to give and then at the latter
end of chapter three we see that the children of Israel they're becoming
envious of the wicked. They're becoming envious of the world of people who are
not saved. They call the proud happy. They're like look at them. They don't
suffer anything. They're having a great time. They are you know without
temptation. They're without sorrow and so they're not fearing the Lord. They're not
really taking into account what God has done for them and so that's where we
leave off. Now again when you read the Old Testament the major and minor
prophets they're basically almost all the same messages because of the fact
that Israel is always doing the same stupid thing. They're always getting
involved in the same stuff, the same nonsense, the same idolatry, the same
covetousness and so the prophets come and they preach practically the same
message and you know what we're preaching today the same exact message
that the prophets of the Old Testament preached because sin is sin and people
have the same sin nature. They're always struggling with the same thing and God's
solution is always the same. It's always the same. Turn from your wicked ways. Get
right with God. You know put away from yourselves this wicked thing, this wicked
act, the covetousness, the idolatry. You know love the Lord your God with all
your heart, soul, mind and strength. Return unto the Lord and then he also couples
that message with or I'll destroy you. You know and here's the thing it's like
you know it's God's grace that says you can come back. It's God's grace that
says you can get right with God. You can fix your ways. You can you know get
right with the Lord. You can get your heart right but if you choose not to
then what I'll just do is I'll just come and destroy your nation. Simple as that
and then I'll raise up another nation who's willing to follow me, who loves the
Lord and seeks after the Lord and often the the override one of the overriding
themes of the Old Testament specifically in the prophets the sections of the
major minor prophets is the day of the Lord. Okay the day of the Lord is a
constant thing that you see in the Old Testament and it's often in reference to
God's judgment upon a nation. It marks a specific day that God says this is when
my vengeance will come upon you if you do not get right. Okay and a lot of these
nations or a lot of these generations should I say of Israel experience the
day of the Lord. You know there's a couple of them that did it because they
got right with God but others experienced it. They experienced the full
wrath of God the captivity of the Lord through a foreign nation where God
punished them and then he would often conclude the message by talking about
how he's one day gonna restore them. He's one day gonna bring them back into the
land. One day they're gonna love the Lord again and follow the law and they
shall have a righteous ruler. So all of these have dual meanings dual
fulfillments because the day of the Lord in these days it was an actual day that
took place where God came and smote the land. He brought a pestilence. He brought
a foreign nation to come and destroy them and that actually took place and
that was known as the day of the Lord. But you know he's also talking about a
future event which is the ultimate day of the Lord that's actually found in
Revelation chapter 6 because if you notice in the Bible there's a lot of
foreshadowing right there's a ton of foreshadowing there's all types of
foreshadowing of Jesus there's all types of foreshadowing of salvation there's
all types of foreshadowing of the deliverance of the Lord and it all seems
to culminate to the ultimate deliverance the ultimate salvation at the Rapture
you understand and there's there's multiple times where God expresses his
wrath and how he's gonna destroy the land he's gonna judge this people and
he's talking about Israel that little section of the world in this world known
as Israel at that time he's talking about that but it's a foreshadowing of
what he's gonna do on a global scale one day where he's gonna punish the entire
world okay so there is a immediate fulfillment or future fulfillment for
them in the immediate future and then there is a further future fulfillment of
this in the book of Revelation okay he said why would God do that why does he
why does he use the same terminology won't that confuse people would that
cause people to think won't that make people believe in preterism or something
like that no it won't because repetition is often the key to learning something
so he constantly repeats something in order to ingrain it and embed it into
the mind of an individual to help prime the pump the spiritual pump so that when
we read the book of Revelation is like oh man I know exactly what he's talking
about the day of the Lord's referring to wrath so that we don't confuse that with
anything else we can cross-reference the day of the Lord of all the other times
that it's mentioned in the Old Testament and know that it's associated with wrath
God's judgment etc and then it gives us a greater appreciation for the depth of
the Bible the fact that God can literally carry out the day of the Lord
in their day and it foreshadows a greater global day of the Lord at the
end of the world understand so this this is something that we constantly see and
you see that after the day of the Lord God then talks about restoration he
talks about you know he almost seems to insinuate that one day he's gonna rule
over his people which is exactly what's gonna happen now obviously when he talks
about you know a ruler or righteous governor there probably was a righteous
governor that arose or righteous King that arose thereafter not a perfect one
but a righteous person who followed the Lord a pastor after God's own heart okay
a shepherd after God's own heart as the Bible talks about in the book of
Jeremiah but ultimately we know that it's referring to Jesus because Jesus is
the ultimate governor that when the governor when the government should be
upon his shoulders you know he's the ultimate King of Kings and Lord of Lords
that's who it's foreshadowing you understand so anytime you read this in
the Bible you know you got to be careful because you know sometimes people will
read the Old Testament and apply everything to end times Bible prophecy
and you can't do that you can't apply every single detail that you see in the
Old Testament major and minor prophets you can't apply all of it to end times
Bible prophecy because you know you got to give the Old Testament some stuff too
that was their day too like they needed some of this there's some stuff that
actually had to take place in their day so it can't be all revelation and
biblical prophecy fulfillment they're shadows of it but a lot of it only
pertain to that generation as well okay we see that in the book of Daniel you
know with Antiochus Epiphanes obviously the way he died even though he was an
Antichrist you know he died and you know that's not the way the Antichrist is
gonna die it was an Antichrist or the the Antichrist there in the book of
Daniel like drowned well that's not necessarily I mean the Antichrist is
gonna drown in the lake of fire if you want to use that as a as a parallel
there or something I can definitely see that but ultimately you got to recognize
that a lot of this when you read it you see okay this must been like a
pretending to them exclusively at this point but then there's other terms and
phrases and events that take place you say okay that has to be a future
fulfillment okay and it's meant to just kind of embed those ideas and thoughts
into your mind so that when you read one of the most important books of the Bible
known as the book of Revelation you know because these are things that have not
yet come to pass then you're like okay I know exactly what this is talking
about okay so I say that to say that you know chapter 4 is basically a
conclusion of the whole matter he's providing a solution to all these
problems the problems of the priests the problems of the people the divorce the
apathy you know this this this apathetic service towards God he's bringing a
solution to it and the solution yeah it might be immediate but the ultimate
solution is this is that one day God's just gonna rule this whole world okay
and everything will be fixed after that now look at verse number one he says for
behold the day cometh now what day is he talking about he's not just he's not
just picking the day on the calendar look at chapter 3 verse 17 and they
shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I
will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him now I believe
particularly verse 17 is actually referring to the judgment seat of Christ
because he references the jewels there and he's talking about something that's
gonna take place in the future I believe this is actually just referring to the
distribution of rewards okay so this is taking place during that time and we
obviously know that that the judgment seat of Christ is an event that takes
place after the rapture slash day of the Lord so I believe this is what it's
referring to when it says in verse 1 for behold the day cometh look what it
says that shall burn as an oven and all the proud he ate all that do wickedly
shall be stubble and the day excuse me and the day that cometh shall burn them
up saith the Lord of hosts that it shall leave them neither root nor branch so he
starts off the chapter by explaining the fact that this day will come with wrath
and look folks we cannot escape the theme of wrath in the Bible I know it's
a negative theme I know it's a negative topic it's a negative subject I know
it's not very pleasant talk about burning people here you talk about not
leaving them with neither root nor branch they're gonna be like stubble
he's gonna burn them burn as an oven it's pretty negative but you know what
that's just the things that God likes to talk about so you know if you don't like
this type of preaching or you don't like this type of content don't read the
Bible because the Bible is filled with it God is constantly talking about his
wrath and the reason he's doing that is because he wants to instill the fear of
God in his people and you don't instill the fear of God by constantly being
gracious you instill fear by talking about how he's gonna burn you he's like
I'm gonna burn you like an oven everyone who's a wicked person they're gonna be
like stubble I'm gonna burn you up you know you're not even gonna have a root
or a branch after I'm done with you now go with me with Isaiah chapter 2 hold
your place there I know for a fact that this is talking about the day of the
Lord aside from the what we saw in Malachi chapter 3 because of the fact
that the day of the Lord is often synonymous with lo and behold fire if
you want to study God's wrath okay it's real easy to associate God's wrath with
fire and let me give you a really simple example hell hell's God's greatest
expression of his wrath I mean it's an eternal fire right where you know the
the Bible tells us that the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched means
he burns perpetually forever and ever and ever the smoke of their referring to
the people who are in hell the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and
ever there's rest no day or night it's it's an eternal punishment it's
basically they experience the wrath of God forever okay you know it's not like
you eternally drown so you're gonna be eternally in water forever you're just
gonna drown no he's like you're gonna burn forever okay so anytime you study
God's judgment and God's wrath in particular it's often associated with
fire so when God judges this world on a global scale it shouldn't come as a
surprise if the first thing he does is burn this place up okay look at Isaiah
chapter 2 I'm gonna read to you from all right we'll read in Isaiah first Isaiah
chapter 2 verse 12 it says the lofty looks of man shall be humbled and the
haughtiness of men shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in
that day for the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is
proud and lofty and upon everyone that is lifted up and he shall be brought low
go to chapter 13 if you would so we see that the day of the Lord seems to be
targeting first and foremost the proud and haughty these are individuals that
we can say for sure are like atheists or something people who just hated God they
think they're better than God the Bill Gates of this world who think they have
all the money in the world why do they need God they can buy eternal life
supposedly you know now obviously they can't but they think in their mind they
can purchase eternal life they can purchase anything that they want they're
proud they're they're lofty they're haughty and God says I'm going after you
you're lofty you're proud you're gonna be brought down low so low that you're
gonna go to hell look at Isaiah 13 verse 6 how ye for the day of the Lord is at
hand it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty what does it mean to how
see it's funny to hear that but there's people who are not gonna who are gonna
do that and not even know that they can produce that sound that's how painful
the judgment is gonna be I mean have you ever stubbed your toe so hard you make
some sort of sound that you never thought you could make you're like no
I've just said words that I never thought I would say verse 7 says
therefore shall all hands be faint and every man's heart shall melt reference
Luke 21 and they shall be afraid pains and sorrow shall take hold of them they
shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth they shall be amazed one at
another their faces shall be as flames so the day of the Lord is so wrathful
it's so destructive there's so much sorrow everyone's gonna be like why are
there as flames because their faces are on fire verse 9 behold the day of the
Lord cometh cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate
and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it that doesn't sound very nice
he's saying there he's coming as a cruel person cruel both with wrath and
fierce anger put that on a you know Hobby Lobby sign right how about put it
how about how about making a Hobby Lobby sign for Christmas behold the day of the
Lord cometh cruel both with wrath and fierce anger not in nice cursive writing
with hearts on the eyes and stuff like that you know and he says and he shall
destroy the sinners out thereof out of it for the stars of heaven and the
constellations thereof shall not give their light the Sun shall be darkened
and is going forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine of course
reference Matthew 24 mark 13 Luke 21 Revelation 6 and I will punish the world
for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity and I will cause the arrogance
of the proud to cease and will lay low the hot iness of the terrible I will
make a man more precious than fine gold now he's not saying like precious you
are so precious precious means scarce is that you're barely gonna be able to find
a guy who's living cuz I don't make a more more precious than fine gold you're
more likely to find fine gold than a man during this time even a man than the
golden wedge of Ophir so what do we see here in Isaiah chapter 13 we see that
the day of the Lord is talking about destruction it's talking about wrath
sorrow pains travailing you know cruelty talk about cruelty talks about fierce
anger it doesn't sound like a good thing okay go to Joel chapter 1 if you would
Joel chapter 1 Joel chapter number 1 I'm reaching from
Revelation 8 7 it says the first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire
mingled with blood I mean folks we knew that the that God was a creator what
does that mean it means he's creative he's like I'm sending hail and fire
mingles with blood and they were cast upon the earth and the third part of the
trees was burnt up and all the green grass was burnt up this is one of the
first things that takes place during the wrath of God he begins to burn this
world to smithereens look what it says in Joel 1 and verse 15 alas for the day
for the day of the Lord is at hand and as a destruction from the Almighty shall
it come is not the meat cut off before our eyes a joy and gladness from the
house of our God the seed is rotten under their clothes the garners are laid
desolate the barns are broken down for the corn is withered how did the beast
groan the herds of cattle are perplexed because they have no pasture yet the
flocks of sheep are made desolate Oh Lord to thee will I cry for the fire
hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness and the flame hath burned all
the trees of the field the beasts of the field cry also unto them for the rivers
of water are dried up and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness
go to 2nd Peter chapter number 3 so we now now we not only see that God's the
day of the Lord is not only associated with God's wrath I mean there's fire
involved here okay he's burning things up the pasture the fields the beasts are
being burned up look at 2nd Peter chapter 3 I'm gonna read you from
Revelation 16 verse 8 and the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the Sun
and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire and men were scorched
with great heat and blaspheme the name of God which hath which hath power over
these plagues and they repented not to give him glory I don't even know exactly
how this is gonna take place there's obviously some supernatural thing that
he's doing here where the Sun is affected to a point where maybe just I
don't know some layer and the ozone is just completely removed and everyone's
just being scorched but people are being burned look at second Peter
chapter 3 verse 9 verse 10 excuse me but the day the Lord will come as a thief in
the night into which the heavens shall pass away with the great noise and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also in the works that are
therein shall be burned up over and over again we see that the world's gonna burn
everything's gonna burn he said well what application does this have for me
though because I'm not gonna experience that we're saved the day of the Lord is
synonymous with the rapture the resurrection we're gonna be gone so so
what good does this I mean what can I learn from this how can I apply this to
myself well all your stuff's gonna be burned up so there you go that's your
application you're you're you know you're participating your possessions
are participating in this worldwide bonfire right and in fact look what it
says at verse 11 seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved you know
seeing that your car is gonna burn up seeing that you know your possessions
your boats your houses what else what RV RV what else
what all your meat shall be burned up no one's gonna come back and check on
the meat Jose to make sure it's right it's gonna be burnt real crisp this
building is gonna burn everything they're all gonna be dissolved and it's
not like it's burned and then you just have like the the skeleton he says it's
gonna be dissolved it's like two ashes it's just gonna go away so you know we
think to ourselves well I'm not even gonna be here for that I'm not gonna be
so this doesn't affect me okay then I guess you don't mind getting your stuff
burned up then right so I guess that means you should lightly hold be
attached to the things of this world the things that you value in this world
possessions your money your bank accounts your your vehicles your houses
your clothes all the things that you value in this world all the possessions
they're all gonna burn up they're all gonna dissolve and he says they're seen
then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought
you to be in all holy conversation and godliness now this isn't saying like hey
you got to be you know holy you got to be godly in order to get out of this for
the day of the Lord it's the same knowing that everything's gonna be
dissolved you should be a godly person because godly people don't care about
possessions right cuz godliness with contentment is great game we brought
nothing into this world and is certainly we can carry nothing out so a person who
is godly who's living for the Lord already has the mentality well this is
all gonna burn anyway so why should I be attached to it if it burns it burns if I
lose it now I mean if someone robs you or steals from you they take your
vehicle they take your money to take your wallet the you know obviously it
bothers us but I'm one of one of our thoughts should be this well it's gonna
burn up anyways I was gonna lose it one day anyways it's gonna be gone anyways
it's gonna be dissolved and he's saying knowing that everything's gonna burn
everything's gonna be dissolved what manner of person should you be now so if
you take inventory of all your possessions you think about all the
things you have does it bother you the one day you're gonna lose them if it
bothers you it's simply an indication that you need to check your manner of
conversation right verse 12 says looking for and
hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire
shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat nevertheless
we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness see a person who's living for the Lord they're there they're
seeking to live a godly life they look forward to heaven they look forward to
the new earth they look forward to the millennial reign they look forward to
their their their their eternal rewards like forget everything here I got things
that will never never burn they will never dissolve they're never gonna go
away you know moth and rust will not corrupt neither will thieves break
through nor steal it's gonna be eternal he says look forward to those things
wherefore beloved see verse 14 seen that you look for such things be
diligent that he may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless so if
he's saying that you may be found without spot and blameless it's basically
saying a person who's without spot and blames is a person who's not attached to
the things of this world you know they're not spotted by the world by the
garments of this world they're not worldly we think of worldly is just
someone who lives a worldly life but worldly just means a person who lives
for this world right loves this world lives for the things of this world you
know they're not necessarily blameless and so the day of the Lord is a great we
think of it like yeah burn all those queers and get all those atheists and
all these fag Gnostics and whatnot get them all it's alright yeah he's gonna
get them but he's also getting your stuff too what do you mean all your
stuff is going to all your favorite possessions are gone you know if you're
a hoarder it's gonna be the worst day of your life if you're a hoarder if you
just like to collect things every little candy wrapper that someone gave you 20
years ago every little card every little whatever every little string it's
all gonna go it's all gonna go it helps us to loosely hold the things of this
world amen go back to Malachi so he's just reminding Israel he's saying look
hey a day's coming where all this is gonna burn that temple is gonna burn you
know everything you have here is gonna burn it's not gonna exist I'm gonna
purge this place I'm gonna sanctify I'm a purify it with fire okay verse 2 says
but unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing
in his wings for thou we can turn that off I think I think it's like a freezer
in here now right is it is it likened unto a freezer now yeah all the ladies
are like but unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise
with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the
stall now this is not a typo this is like you know the King James translators
they didn't accidentally put a you instead of an O there for son of
righteousness okay and in case you didn't notice son of God is spelled S O
in and this is actually referring to the Sun okay so what is he talking about
obviously he's referring to Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is often throughout
the Bible compared to the actual Sun oh but you know these people that you guys
worship raw and all that stuff shut up I don't worship progress of Jesus I
worship the God who created the Sun I worship the God who created everything
okay and the Sunday he created because he is the word who created that Sun has
chosen to use that creation to exemplify who he is to basically illustrate who he
is and this is this is beautiful poetry here folks you know and in fact we're
gonna be seeing this in a couple a couple months hail the son of
righteousness this is where it comes from okay talks about the son of
righteousness you know the Bible tells us for a day and night courts are better
than a thousand I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than
to dwell in the tents of wickedness and he says for the Lord God is a son and a
shield he will give grace and glory no good thing will he withhold from and
then walk up rightly and he says Sun S U N why because the Sun radiates warmth
that gives vitamin D it makes our lives better brings light to this world the
Sun provides light all right the physical Sun actually provides light for
us and there's so many illustrations you can pull from that and there's a reason
why God compares himself Jesus compares himself to the actual Sun and if I go to
go to Isaiah chapter 9 if you would Isaiah chapter 9 you know the Sun
radiates heat it gives warmth it provides vitamin D you know it it it
shines upon you it gives you lights and obscurity I mean it's great to have the
Sun it does so much right and in fact in Genesis 1 verse 16 it says God made two
great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule
the night he made also the star he made the stars also for Isaiah 9 verse 2 says
the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light so the Bible
often refers to the Sun as being that great light in Genesis and then he talks
about in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 2 those who sit in darkness or walk in
darkness have seen that great light not talking about the literal Sun it's
talking about the Son of God they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death
upon them hath the light shined revelation 1 verse 16 says and he had in
his right hand seven stars out of his mouth when a sharp two-edged sword and
his countenance was as the Sun shineth in his strength you know the glory of
the actual Sun I mean you can't even stare at the Sun you could actually go
blind it almost represents like the glory of God you know the holiness of
God I mean doesn't the Bible refer to Jesus Christ as being the light of the
world right and physically speaking the Sun is the light of this world we don't
live in this sci-fi world or whatever there's some sort of you know made up
light or whatever you know there's there's an actual Sun that's burning
out there you know by the way the Bible says that God is a consuming fire and
that's exactly what the Sun is it's a consuming fire but it also proves a
heliocentric model of the of our galaxy because everything revolves around the
Sun right and then oh no our galaxy is also spinning on okay look not every
illustration that the Bible gives is perfect because the only one who's
perfect is God himself okay but here's the thing you haven't been to any other
galaxies so why are you even worrying about that you've never been to H 5 6 2
B 4 or whatever we live in this galaxy and in this galaxy all the planets
revolve around the Sun why because he is the preeminent one and you know what in
our spiritual world everything is all about Jesus everything revolves around
Jesus and you know what the biggest Christian in this world pales a
comparison to Jesus Christ just like the biggest planet in our galaxy Jupiter
pales in comparison to our Sun I mean Jupiter's pretty massive huge I think how
many Earth's can fit in Jupiter's a thousand who said a thousand okay maybe
I believe it cuz brother Eddie said it is it a thousand all right he's pretty
confident about that you better be right this is going on a YouTube a thousand
Earth's can go I'm not even gonna say that I'm gonna fact-check I'm just
kidding a lot of Earth's okay can fit into Jupiter and yet Jupiter pales in
comparison to the Sun why cuz everything revolves around Jesus the
Bible tells us that he is the preeminent one he's the most important one okay go
to Daniel chapter 7 Daniel chapter number 7 verse number 9 it says here in
the thrones were cast down in the ancient of days that sit whose garment
was white as snow and the hair of his head like the pure wool his throne was
like the fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire see a lot of the
description that we see here in Daniel chapter 7 is likened unto what we see in
Revelation chapter 1 when describing the Son of God Son of God and his glorified
state he says in verse 10 and a fiery stream issued and came forth from before
him thousand thousands ministered unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand
stood before him the judgment was set and the books were open so we see that
this is actually referred to the lake of fire coming from the presence of God so
it's my personal belief that when the white throne judgment takes place you
know the lake of fire is literally proceeding forth from the presence of
God and that's where they're being cast into that lake as it carries them off
into outer darkness and you know what the Sun is the same thing it's a
consuming fire it's a lake a fire okay
go to Isaiah chapter 13 again if you wouldn't this is the last thing I want
to show you on this I'm gonna reach you from Isaiah 9 19 says through the wrath
of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened and the people shall be as fuel
of the fire no man shall spare his brother Isaiah 13 verse 9 says behold
the day of the Lord cometh cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the
land desolate and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it we read this
look at verse 10 for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall
not give their light look what it says the Sun shall be darkened in his going
forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine now when you read this
automatically because we're a post for pre-rath rapture Church we ever seen
know what this is talking about you know we know this is a prerequisite to the
second coming of Christ these are the signs that take place prior the Sun and
Moon being darkened okay now he says there that the Sun shall be darkened in
his going forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine from a
spiritual perspective we know that the moon pictures believers because we
reflect the light of the Sun right now when the day of the Lord takes place
which is the rapture that's the day the believers are taken out that's the day
that the light goes out that's the day that the moon is darkened and you know
what the Sun is also darkened because you know for thousands of years that Sun
has been shining over and over upon this land causing people to be warm providing
light providing comfort providing everything that this world needs and
there's gonna come a day folks when that Sun is darkened and that light is no
longer available so I believe that the reason that the Sun and Moon are being
darkened is not just for theatrics although it's a it's I'm sure it's a
terrifying sight it's spiritually signifying the fact that God is removing
the moons of this world so to speak the light because we are the light that
we are the ones that reflect the light of Jesus Christ and we're gone our work
is done we're no longer sowing right we're taken out of this world and then
the Sun is also darkened which means what paid back time he spent it
thousands of years being gracious to this world I mean wouldn't you I mean
the truth has been in this world for thousands of years the gospel has been
preached forth for thousands of years the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ who is the image of God has shined unto this world for thousands of
years every day the Sun goes up Sun comes down the Sun goes up people hear
the gospel people reject the gospel people he you know they see the light
they reject the light see the light to put on sunglasses see the light that go
inside their house but the but the Sun is constantly shining throughout the day
the physical Sun right shining throughout the day just constantly there
and everyone just takes it for granted right I mean it's like the biggest thing
in this world and it's like everyone just takes it for granted now I'm not an
environmentalist here guys I don't really care about the physical Sun you
know I'm like whatever you know it's not my job to take care of the Sun okay you
know I'm just giving you the spiritual application here and you know what Jesus
has been preached in this world every single day there are churches and soul
winners that are constantly shining forth the light over and over getting
people say people rejecting them this world is not without a witness but then
one day the Sun shall be darkened and it's at that point where basically God
says no more mr. nice guy and instead of shining forth that warm just
comforting light it's gonna be a scorching light now for us we're gone
you know we get to we're gonna be with the lamb where the survey go with you
know the day of the Lord for us is a great day it's when we are resurrected
but for a world who has hated God and rejected God okay that Sun shall be
darkened for you now even then God still shows some grace does he not he sends
144,000 he sends the two witnesses but it's a marker to show like you just God
tried for so long I mean doesn't the Bible says that prophets rose up every
morning doesn't it say that he they rose up every morning what does the Sun do
rises up every morning rises up every morning and yeah sure you know there's
parts of this world where you know it might be a little cloudy it might be a
little gloomy but that doesn't mean the Sun's not there because past all that
gloom and clouds the Sun exists folks God is always there yeah sure there's
just parts of this world that may not have a gospel preaching church or soul
winners like we do it here in America but the Son of God is still there
there's someone there pretty cool go back to Malachi if you would he says in
verse 2 but unto you that fear my name shall the Son of righteousness arise
with healing in his wings and he shall go forth and grow up as calves of the
stall I like that little thing he says there he's like you guys are just gonna
be like animals that are just taking care of think of a stall it's like you
put an animal in a stall they get all fat you know and you know fatness in the
Bible is a good thing Bible talks about the fatness it's often referring to
plenty in abundance blessing saying I'm gonna take care of you you're gonna be
housed I'm gonna I'm gonna care for you I'm there for you you're gonna be like a
cab in a stall you haven't you don't have to worry about predators you have
to worry about the devil I'm taking care of you that's what he's saying
verse 3 says and he shall tread oh I love this part that the other stuff was
beautiful and everything that poetry was great but this is this is very poetic
too and you shall tread down the wicked I'm just kidding for they shall be ashes
under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this say the Lord of
hosts what I believe he's referring to there is the ruling because he says in
Revelation chapter 2 ye shall rule them with a rod of iron he says in
Revelation 2 let me read it he says and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as
the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I received of
my father and I will give him the morning star and no that's not a weapon
it's not about Jesus he's saying you know you're gonna tread down your
enemies look folks this is this is lingo this is language that God's people love
and like to hear okay you know people are like why do you like those verses
so much cuz it's God's Word you know what if God wanted me wanted me to be
some wimpy sissy who just you know didn't want to hear about all these
things he wants me to hear about the fact that I'm gonna be able to you know
that he's gonna avenge me that I'm gonna be able to tread down my enemies cuz he
may I'm made in the image of God he's saying look it's coming one day okay
verse 4 remember ye the law of Moses my servant which I commanded unto him and
horrid for all Israel with the statutes and judgments I believe the reason he's
saying this is because book of Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament so
God's in a sense gonna be silenced as far as new revelation is concerned until
the New Testament so he's telling him hey remember the law of Moses and you
know what a lot of them forgot it okay verse 5 says behold I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord
and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of
the children to their fathers lest that come and smite the earth with a curse
and I've already kind of explained those verses already in chapters 1 & 2 and so
obviously the main crux of this chapter is referring to that the day of the Lord
and it's really at the end of the day what it's helping us to realize is you
know God will often provide an immediate solution to our problems
sometimes he'll provide immediate judgment but sometimes we're we just
gotta have faith that even if we don't see it in our lifetime it's gonna happen
one day so even if we don't see justice being served next week as we would all
love to see we would all love to see that sometimes we just have to have
faith that it may not be next week it may not even be in our lifetime but it
will be one day because everything is beautiful in his time God's not working
on our timetable we're working on his so what the book of Malachi
along with many other of the of the major minor prophets teach us is simply
the fact that you know we have to just have faith in God that he's gonna restore
all things even if it's not in our lifetime it will happen one day and we
will all see it one day even if you pass away today amen
Spire has another word of prayer. Father we thank you so much for the Son of
righteousness and everything that he means to us it's all about him he's the
preeminent one we must decrease that he may increase and Lord I pray that you
give us a greater appreciation for the light that we have today and I pray that
the people we speak to throughout the week that they would not take the light
for granted the light shines for hours on end and in a spiritual sense that
that some may be saved and I pray God that you'd help us Lord to shine
brightly because we know one day that the sun and moon shall be darkened in
Jesus name we pray amen