November 12, 2006                             Malachi 4:1-2

 

            1 "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.

 

            Peter the Great ruled from a palace filled with some of the most exquisite works of art produced in the world up to that time.  Yet, when he pondered a sunrise, he wondered how men could be so foolish not to rise every morning to behold one of the most glorious sights in the universe.  “They delight,” he said, “in gazing on a picture, the trifling work of a mortal, and at the same time neglect the one painted by the hand of the Deity Himself.”

            There will be a Day that The Sun of Righteousness Will Arise.    In other words, there will be a Day when Christ comes again to judge the world.   Unlike a regular sunrise, the date and time of His coming is known by no one except God Himself.  Some will look forward to this Day, like seeing a beautiful sun rise.  Many ignore it and live every day as if there were no Day to come - too busy gazing on the beauties of this life.  Which is it for you?  Hopefully, after today’s sermon, it will be a day that you look forward to.

 

The Sun of Righteousness Will Rise

 

I.  To burn the arrogant

 

            After hearing today’s text, one might wonder how anyone could look forward to Judgment Day?  What did Malachi say?  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. Malachi compares Judgment Day to a day that God will BURN like a furnace and will SET THEM ON FIRE.  There are many other passages that also refer to a punishment of fire -

Mark 9:43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.

Revelation 20:15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Isaiah 66:24 "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind."

These are just a few examples - not to mention the example of Lazarus annd the Rich Man.  Jesus said that the fire was so hot in hell, that he begged Lazarus just to touch his tongue with a drop of water.  In today’s text, God compares Judgment Day to a day that will burn like an oven or a  furnace - where every evildoer will be set on fire - consumed as easily as dry stubble in the middle of a field.  The end of the world as we know it will not come about from an asteroid or from nuclear bombs.  It will come from fire in heaven on Judgment Day.  This fire will then extend from Judgment Day into eternity.

            The fire is for the arrogant and the evildoer.  During Malachi’s time the Israelites were both.  God doesn’t bring this fire because He is a hothead or He likes to get angry.  The holy God has good reason to get angry - pointing the finger at the arrogant and evildoer.  Arrogance comes in many shapes and sizes - in the model, the athlete, the high powered executive.  Usually we tend to think of people who strut around with their heads held high and say, “look at me.”  But Scriptures broaden our horizons by giving us specific examples of who the arrogant evildoers are.  First of all, think of the example of the Pharisee and the Tax collector -

Luke 18: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you that I am not like other men  robbers, evildoers, adulterers  or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

Jesus condemned the Pharisee for being arrogant.  How was the Pharisee arrogant?  He felt that He was living a God pleasing life and he even thanked God for it.  The arrogance was in the very fact that he wanted God to look at his lifestyle - that He thought God had done such great things through him. 

            Think about how arrogant it is for a sinful human to arrogantly stand before the perfect and almighty God and say, “look at how I give money to the poor.  Look at how I go to church.”   This would be like inviting Michael Jordan over to our house and say, “hey, look at how I do a layup!  You taught me everything I know!”   He would look at you and say, “don’t give me credit for that!”  God says that even though you may think your acts are righteous, they are in their nakedness just like “filthy rags” in his sight.  But many people don’t think that way.  They think that God sees how they get good grades, come to church, or take care of their children and want God to be impressed.  What arrogance!  To think that God will somehow have to let you into heaven because you think you’ve been a good God!  Don’t you realize this is a holy God!  This isn’t your good old grandpa you are going to be standing before. 

            There is another type of person that God calls arrogant.  Deuteronomy 18:20 A prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death." The word for “presumes” comes from the same Hebrew word that means “arrogant.”  God calls people arrogant who claim to speak from God, but who really have no clue what God is saying.  Think of how many people today claim to have an immediate revelation from God - as if He were whispering to them through nature or through their emotions - telling them to do whatever they in reality want to do.  What arrogance - not only to do evil - but then to act as if it were at God’s direction - while at the same time they have no clue what God’s Word really says on the subject!  Think of what arrogance it was of Joseph Smith to claim that the Scriptures are not enough - they don’t do a good enough job of directing us for Christian living - as if God only left us with a half empty refrigerator of spiritual food! 

            There is one other kind of arrogance.  1 Timothy 6:17 17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  The third kind of arrogance comes from those who hope in their own wealth.  They may not try to earn their way to heaven.  They may not think they are very good.  They may not spread one false doctrine.  But nonetheless, they are still arrogant because they don’t even think they NEED God - that they have everything they need - that they can fend for themselves.   They go to work, pay the bills, feed their children, go on their vacation - never thinking for a moment that it could all be taken from them in the blink of an eye - never once appreciating the fact that God gave them all that they have. 

            Ultimately, Malachi leaves no one out from this final judgment when he says that the every evildoer will be stubble.   When God mentions “evildoers” - he means everyone.  Romans 3 says, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."

            If you are evil or arrogant in God’s sight on Judgment Day - you will be left with no “root or branch” when you hear the trumpet blow.  Malachi was saying that there will be no hope for the arrogant or evildoer on Judgment Day.  They who were not looking for the Branch would find no Branch - no Root - no hope - no Savior.  God will burn them in the fiery furnace like chaff when the Sun of Righteousness Arises.

            The thought that a holy God will send a world full of arrogant people into an eternal furnace is a pretty scary thought.  Some people say, “that’s absolutely preposterous!  How could you believe in such a God who calls everyone evil and then says He will send them all to hell?  How can you preach such a God who would dare to burn people eternally?”  Let me ask you this - “Who are you, oh man, to talk back to God?  Did I inspire this text?  Did I make up these descriptions of God and eternal fire?  What kind of a preacher would I be, if I ignored what God’s Word said - just because you didn’t like it?  More importantly, what kind of a person are you - if this text angers you?  What kind of a person are you, if you are going to rewrite God - reinvent God - to be the kind of God that you want - that you like - that you can swallow?  How arrogant can you be?”  God will send fire on this earth on a Judgment Day in the future whether you like it or not.  If you face this Day with anger at God for doing so, you cannot think that your anger will somehow intimidate Him from doing what He came to do.

 

II.  To heal the reverent

 

            Now, if this text scares you - if it makes you feel like hell is coming - and you want a way out - the good  news is - THERE IS ONE - but only one way out.   “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”  For you who REVERE MY NAME.  What does that mean, “to revere my name”?  The Hebrew word for “revere” is yareh - it means to fear - but it also means to respect.  These people that Malachi was talking to - were not giving God any respect.  When you read through the book, every time God accused them of something, they tried to defend themselves and act as if God were either senile or blind.  They were not showing any respect to God. To respect God means that you recognize who God is - that He has every right to do whatever He wants with you and with the world - because HE is GOD. You don’t question Him or second guess His judgments - you fall on your knees before Him and plead for His mercy. 

            When you look at the Scriptures - you see that God doesn’t have a reputation of just putting people to death - although He does that plenty of times.  You also see a God who mercifully promised Adam and Eve a Savior - right after they divorced Him and told Him He was cheap and unloving.  You see a God who gave Abraham and Sarah a child in old age - even after Sarah laughed at His promise and Abraham committed adultery with Hagar.  We see the LORD keep His promise to give the Israelites the Promised Land.  We see Him forgive David for adultery and murder.  We see Him constantly reach out to the Israelites - who never seemed to want to listen to Him.  In Exodus 34 God described Himself as the LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.  It was this same God who promised that even though the Israelites had been unfaithful and He had chopped down the tree of Jesse, from His stump a shoot would still grow forth. 

            When you see the patience and love of God - to stick to His Word - you can’t help but revere such faithfulness.  God compares it to the rising of the sun.  When you think about the sun, it really has a lot of similarities to the work of Christ.  First of all, we have no control over the sun, yet we are completely dependant on it to keep us warm, to give us energy, and to make our food grow.  We don’t make it come up in the morning.  We don’t make it shine.  It just happens.  And that’s how God said the coming of Christ would be.  We didn’t ask Him to come.  Yet God in His mercy brought Him forth from the virgin’s womb.  We didn’t ordain Him to die, yet Jesus decided to do that very thing. 

            The first time Jesus came, He brought “healing in His wings.”  God says in Isaiah 53:5 he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.   When Jesus stretched out His arms and allowed them to be nailed to a piece of wood - He was being crushed for our iniquities.  As we look up under those outstretched arms of Jesus, we find shelter from God’s wrath.  Jesus was buried with our sins under his arms, and He took all of our punishment down to the grave.  They are completely gone.  Then He rose as our victorious King. Just as the sun rises to give us warmth and make our land grow, so Jesus rose from the dead to do the same.   We now live in the fulfillment of the promise.  We see how Jesus allowed Himself to go under the curse of God’s wrath - to be blamed for the sins of the world.  We see how Jesus stuck to the mission of dying for the sins of the world.  We then see the Holy Spirit offer us this gift of salvation free of charge.   Today’s Gospel declares, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”  When we see this God in action, we can’t help but revere His name.

            God describes the reverent this way - Luke 18:  But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'   The tax collector showed reverence by recognizing who HE was and also recognizing who GOD was - a God of MERCY.   A reverent person doesn’t necessarily have to sit in the back of church and beat his breast - yet he is someone who knows from God’s Word that they deserve nothing in God’s sight.   It’s trusting that God is a God of His Word - who promises us that HE PAID THE PRICE for our sins.  Instead of questioning God at every corner, the reverent believe in God and love Him for being who HE IS - not who they want Him to be.  The hymn writer Augustus Toplady reflected this reverence so beautifully -

Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to thy cross I cling;

Naked, come to thee for dress, Helpless, look to thee for grace.  

Foul, I to the fountain fly - Wash me, Savior, or I die!

That’s reverence.

            God said through Malachi, “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”  The good news is that not everyone will burn on this day.  Not everyone will be sent to hell.  Just like the sun can burn us or just keep us warm, so the Sun of Righteousness will Arise to complete a two fold task.  Not only will He come to Burn the Arrogant.  He will also come to Heal the Reverent.  By faith in Christ we are now awaiting the second arising of the Son - for the Day to dawn a second time.  Revelation explains it this way:

Revelation 7:15-17 Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.  Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (NIV)

Jesus will arise to bring healing to us as our bodies are raised in perfection.  He will spread His tent over us, so we will never hunger, never thirst.  He will wipe every tear from our eyes. 

 

            The sun of righteousness will rise.  Malachi doesn’t say it might rise, it could rise, or it may rise, but that it will rise.  Imagine if a man came out of his house this morning at yelled at the sun, “do not rise!  I need to sleep some more!”  We would call him insane or incredibly arrogant.  You cannot stop the sun from rising.  You cannot control when it rises and when it sets.  You are at it’s mercy.  No matter how tired you are, when the sun comes shining in your window - it wakes you up.

            The sun of righteousness will rise again.  Just as Pilate’s guards couldn’t keep Him from rising from the dead - so no one will be able to keep Him from coming on Judgment Day.  The same Son who came in a crib will come in the clouds.  There is nothing you can do about it.  You can’t postpone it.  You can’t time it.  He’s coming to burn the arrogant and heal the reverent.  Like the virgins along the pathway, either keep oil in your lamp and eagerly await this coming, or fall asleep and be burned.  Amen.