Book of Malachi - Ch. 4, Vs. 3-6 (07/09/2023)

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For those of you listening online, you might put something in the chat, let us know whether or not the audio is working, and Dad can check that in a second.

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All righty everybody, well, we have four verses left of our Malachi study. We'll see whether or not we can finish it today, or whether we'll be in it for another month.

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It remains to be seen. Anyway, we are going to, we left off this time last week in chapter 4, verse 2, and the final thought that we closed with was the final phrase in verse 2.

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It's talking about the faithful remnant of God. It's talking about His elect people specifically, and it says, and ye shall go forth, well let me read the whole verse, but to you that fear my name, that's the remnant that we learned about at the end of chapter 3, but it's all -encompassing, it's at this point in human history, which is even in our future.

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This is talking about all of God's people. But unto you that fear my name, shall the

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Son of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings. We talked about the literal translation of that Hebrew word for healing is a medicine.

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So you could say there's medicine in the rays of the Son of Righteousness that is now shining forth on God's people, and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall.

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We talked about that beautiful mental picture last week of the freedom in that moment for God's people will be comparable to young calves that have been pinned up in a stall their entire life up to that point, and then being released and experiencing open green pastures for the first time in their lives.

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Now consider the transition from that, the way that the verses flow from that phrase into verse 3, which is where we will pick it up this morning.

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It says in Malachi 4 verse 3, and ye, talking about the same people that I was just referring to as being calves of the stall, this innocent little picture, and ye shall tread down the wicked.

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For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, sayeth the Lord of hosts.

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So again, we have two very different mental pictures of what this group of people will be experiencing at this particular time on seemingly opposite ends of the spectrum, and yet it's the same group of people, same event.

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They're going to be like innocent calves that had been previously pinned up in the stall, freed for the first time, experiencing open pasture, but at the same time they will be treading down the wicked.

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They will be crushing the enemies themselves. Now oftentimes we think about the second coming of the

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Lord and we think about His ultimate victory over the wicked, but in the Old Testament we have more than one example of His people,

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Him working with His people in crushing the enemy as well. Morning Miss Pat. Great to see you again.

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So glad you're with us. And in our Obadiah study, it talked about the governors of Judah coming in and taking part in the crushing of the wicked.

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In Zechariah, it references the same thing. And here in Malachi, even still in verse three, and ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the

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Lord of hosts. So what's going to happen here is God is quite literally going to reverse.

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And think about this for a second. Think about the historical dynamic between God's people and the wicked, the majority of the human race, the heathen, as they live their lives from generation to generation.

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Obviously, with us here in the States, we have had this wonderful period of human history of relative peace in regard to being able to share our faith and enjoy the freedom of our worship of the

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Lord. But for the large majority of human history, I say large majority. I mean, the history of the

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United States is such a blip on the radar in regard to the totality of human history that it couldn't be overstated.

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The vast, large majority of human history have Christians or the followers of God, whether it be the

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Israelites in the Old Testament or anyone within the last two thousand years of Christian history, the church age, have been persecuted in many cases beyond our comprehension.

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And so when you consider that that has been the vast experience between God's people and the wicked, the wicked being the ones persecuting and in many times physically crushing the lives of God's people,

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God reverses course. He totally reverses the dynamic at this point in human history that verse three is discussing.

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And he reverses that dynamic between the righteous and the wicked. And it will be the righteous this particular time that will trample down the wicked.

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And not only so, but in the most complete way imaginable. Now, verse three here, it not only indicates the completeness from which the righteousness that is now coming to earth that verse two is referencing, it not only indicates the completeness from which that righteousness prevails.

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In other words, the Lord working with his people will conquer completely at that time.

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But in a way, if you think about it, this verse also answers the question that the unfaithful

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Israelites asked in the previous chapter. If you go back to chapter three for a second, in verse 14 of Malachi, it says, and this is

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God talking directly to the majority of the

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Israelites at this time, the people to whom the majority of this book is talking to and charging and accusing.

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It says in 314, ye have said, talking about those unfaithful Israelites, ye have said it is vain to serve

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God. And what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances and that we have walked mournfully before the

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Lord of hosts? So think about that question for a second. What profit is it to even serve

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God is what these unfaithful Israelites were asking. It's vain to serve God is a statement they made in the same verse.

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And yet in verse three, it's indirectly answered because the profit of being a servant of God.

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The profit of being a servant of God and keeping his ordinances, as it says, is those people will get to tread down the wicked themselves.

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Now, obviously, we know there is much more to it than just that. There are a vast number of physical and spiritual blessings to be a follower of God, but the satisfaction of the persecution culminating, the persecution of the

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Christian church, of God's people throughout the Old Testament, saints throughout all of the ages, culminating in essentially avenging the egregious sins done unto those people and into their ancestors, into the patriarchs and matriarchs of the past.

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It happens right here. They, not just Jesus, but they will get to tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the

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Lord of hosts. So what profit is it to be a servant of God?

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You will get to take part in that wonderful victory. We know the spiritual victory has already been won and to some degree the physical as well, because we know that Jesus is currently reigning on his throne and all authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth.

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But again, the culmination of that victory in the physical realm is taking place right here, is what this prophecy is referring to.

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We'll move down to verse four now of Malachi chapter four, remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, he's still talking about the remnant here, which

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I commanded unto him and Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and the judgments. Now, if you guys haven't noticed already, as we've gone throughout the study over the last seven months, which

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I realized this morning is kind of crazy, Malachi has made quite the point throughout this book to direct the people back toward the law of Moses and on several occasions specifically point them back to the faithfulness of God within the covenant that kind of encompasses the law.

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So he's pointed them to the law for sure. But he has also reminded them time and time again throughout this short book that God has remained faithful throughout their entire history up to this point.

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And what what do they owe him? At the very least, they owe him their faithfulness. Yes, they will fail.

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Even the remnant that it talks about at the end of chapter three, they will fail. But even still, the least that they owe him is faithfulness, reciprocating that faithfulness that he has given them throughout their history.

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And so he points them to the law, but he also points them to God's faithfulness as well. And the fact that there was such kind of specificity at the end of this verse here, verse four, when it says, my servant, referencing

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Moses, it specifically mentions Moses, my servant. What's happening here?

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Well, this is perhaps Malachi reminding his people yet again of Moses's faithfulness in Moses being a model for what faithfulness can look like.

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Now, what's cool about it is not only was that true for the Israelites 400 years before Jesus was even born when

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Malachi was written, but that is also true to us now in the church age. We can look to Moses as a model for our faithfulness.

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In Hebrews chapter three, verse five, it says in Moses, Verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken of after.

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And so not only is Moses a wonderful model of faithfulness to the Israelites of old prior to the

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New Testament, but that is the same thing is true for us today. And we need to remember that obviously

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Malachi thought it was pretty important to continually remind his people and point that to the law as well as God and his faithfulness therein.

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And also at this point, the faithfulness of Moses himself, because we are given a human physical model to follow in regard to our own faithfulness.

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Moses wasn't perfect and we all know that. And so that should be something that kind of lifts our spirits a little bit because we don't have to be perfect people to remain faithful and to continue to put our trust in the

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Lord. And that's what Malachi was trying to remind his people as he in the final verses of this of this book.

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This was Malachi's final call to them to repent and to be faithful to God. We have read for four chapters now the continual reminding of these things and Malachi's charge.

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Of course, it's really God through Malachi that is charging his people to return to him, to repent, to to be faithful again.

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And this that verse of verse four of chapter four is Malachi's final call before he closes this book and what is also the close of the entirety of the

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Old Testament for 400 years. Verse five says, Behold, we ought to listen really closely to these final two verses.

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Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the

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Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children in the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

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Now, let me ask you guys a quick question. Who do you think these two verses are referencing? It seems clear, but think about it for just a second.

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Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet. Who do you guys think that's talking about? Do you think it's it's actually

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Elijah or perhaps somebody else? You think it might be

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Jesus? Well, we know the Holy Spirit. We know that earlier in this book, in the beginning of the third chapter.

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It talks about prophesies, two individuals coming, and it references them both as messengers, respectively, in their within their ministries.

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The first was John the Baptist in chapter three, verse one. The second was Jesus himself.

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Now, it's interesting because there are a couple of other prophecies regarding John the Baptist in the

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Old Testament. The Malachi chapter three, verse one is a prominent one, as well as one in Isaiah chapter 40,

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I believe. I think it's 40, verse three. And when you get to the opening chapter of Luke, you have the angel prophesying to the father of John the

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Baptist, saying he will come in the power of Elijah.

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And so a lot of commentators will read this verse here, it says, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming.

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I'm going to end it right there for a second. And many commentators will link this prophecy with the prophecy of chapter three, verse one, which is referring to John the

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Baptist. Let's start by noticing one thing, though. Let's start by noticing that this is the only passage in all of the prophets of the

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Old Testament that speak of a future ministry of Elijah, where his name is specifically used in reference to a future ministry.

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Obviously, he had been dead for some time at the time this prophecy was taking place, as well as many of the other prophecies in the

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Old Testament. So that's one thing to note. Only place in the Old Testament, only place in the prophets that speaks of a future ministry of Elijah.

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Now, again, I said a second ago, a lot of commentators will link this prophecy to Malachi three one. We know that it speaks of a messenger who prepares the way of the

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Lord's first coming. OK, remember that for a second. John the

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Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus prior to his first coming.

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However. In regard to linking those prophecies at the end of Malachi four and at the beginning of Malachi three, there are a few issues with that interpretation.

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And the first thing that pops out for me in regard to trying to to harmonize those two prophecies and make them one is the specific phrasing of the end of verse five.

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Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming. And if you leave it right there, perhaps you could say maybe there's some consistency there between the first and second prophecy.

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But look at the way the verse ends of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Does that sound like Jesus's first coming?

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Or perhaps the second coming. That is a pretty explicit phrase to use, and it doesn't it doesn't really leave any ambiguity in regard to which coming of Jesus this is referring to.

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It seems crystal clear referring to Jesus's second coming, not his first. So right off the bat.

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It doesn't seem that this could be a joint prophecy with Malachi three one in regard to John the

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Baptist. Now, we know that John the Baptist did prepare the way for the

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Lord, as was again prophesied in Malachi three one. And that was also reaffirmed by Jesus himself in Matthew chapter 11, verses seven through 10.

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He reaffirms that John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for him. But does that mean that John the

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Baptist fulfilled this prophecy at the end of Malachi as well? Malachi chapter four, verses five and six.

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Well, turn to John for a second, the book of John chapter one, because here we're going to find that John himself,

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John the Baptist himself, spoke to address the link between himself and the physical

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Elijah. OK, because Malachi four five here seems like it is talking about the physical person of Elijah the prophet.

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And by the time John the Baptist is back is on the scene, even the

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Pharisees in the in the messengers that the Pharisees sent were specifically asking if this were true.

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So go to John one, let's start in verse 19, it says, and this is the record of John when the

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Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are that? And he confessed and denied not but confessed,

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I am not the Christ. This is really interesting because the first thing he denies without even an explicit question of whether or not he is the

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Messiah, he says, I am not the Messiah, I am not the Christ. That was his first confession right off the bat.

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And so then they were like, well, you know, OK, but and they continue in verse 21 and they asked him, what then art thou a loss or Elijah?

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And he said, I am not. And they pressed him a second time and they said, are thou that prophet?

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And he answered, no, he made it as clear as he possibly could. He certainly was not the physical

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Elijah. And then they went into him in verse 22, who art thou that we may give an answer to them?

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That's the Pharisees that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? And he said, I am the voice.

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So now he directly references one of the explicit prophecies of him. I am the one.

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I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet

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Isaiah's. So Isaiah did talk about John the Baptist. Malachi did talk about John the

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Baptist, but was Malachi talking about that John the Baptist here in chapter four, verse five?

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How do we harmonize these things? How do we harmonize these prophecies that are in the exact same book separated by, you know, a chapter, both of which reference a messenger coming?

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One specifically references Elijah, but seem to be clearly talking about two separate events.

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Again, a lot of commentators believe it's all talking about one thing, John the Baptist prior to the first coming.

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However, there's some problems with that, like I said. Well, Matthew 17 seems to clear this up for us a little bit because it's there that Elijah, along with Moses, reappears for the first time since his translation into paradise in the

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Old Testament. Because remember, Elijah didn't die. Elijah is one of two individuals that were translated without ever experiencing physical death.

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The chariot of fire was caught up in a whirlwind. So Elijah never physically died.

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OK, so this is the first time he has reappeared since that translation took place and they appear at the

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Mount of Transfiguration. So turn to Matthew chapter 17 for a second, because we're going to read that.

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And it's at that event that the disciples ask, listen to this for a second, about Elijah's future ministry.

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So what we're trying to do here is we have this prophecy in Malachi and we're trying to push the timeline as far forward as we can to figure out whether or not this prophecy has been fulfilled yet.

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At the time of Malachi, obviously it was a future event. Well, so was John the Baptist. But then you get to John the

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Baptist himself and he says, I am not Elijah. Then you fast forward even more post death of John the

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Baptist, then you are now here in Matthew chapter 17 and you have Jesus talking about a future ministry of Elijah.

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Of course, Jesus responds by referencing both of the prophecies in Malachi. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 17 for a second.

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This is really interesting stuff because Jesus is going to harmonize these two prophecies for us.

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He's going to do it succinctly. It's not like he's going he's not necessarily going to flesh it out in a chapter's worth of detail.

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I believe it is fleshed out a little bit more in the New Testament. We'll get to that in a second. But Jesus is going up some things for us.

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So chapter 17, just starting in verse one, we'll read just the first 13 chapters here. And it says, And after six days,

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Jesus taketh Peter, James and John. This is the beginning of the transfiguration story. His brother and bringeth them up into the high mountain apart and was transfigured before them in his face did shine as the sun in his raiment was white as the light.

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And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him.

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Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it was good for us to be here. If that will let us make your three tabernacles, one for the one for Moses, one for Elijah.

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And before he could even finish the thought, it says, while he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said,

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This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were so afraid,

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I can only imagine. Verse seven says, And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, be not afraid.

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And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. And as they came down from and as they came down from the mountain,

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Jesus charged them saying, Tell the vision to no man until the son of man be risen again from the dead.

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And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come?

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Think about this for a second. John the Baptist had already come as the forerunner to Jesus's first coming.

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He had already passed away at this time. He had already been beheaded three chapters earlier. And now the disciples are like,

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But wait a second, didn't the scribes say that Elijah would first come before? The Lord before the day of that, the great and dreadful day of the

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Lord. So again, we're pushing the timeline forward. The disciples now know or the disciples are now telling us that they understand this prophecy in Malachi was not referencing

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John the Baptist. But let's keep going. The disciples understood that he spake.

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OK, sorry. Verse 10. Why say the describes that Elias must first come now here?

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Jesus is going to give him an answer, but he is going to reference both prophecies in Malachi, the one referencing

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John the Baptist and one and the one we are now in chapter chapter four.

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Verse 11 says, And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall come and restore all things.

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He is in verse 11. Jesus is talking about a future event that has not yet happened.

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And will happen again at a future date, but then he continues in verse 12 and he says,

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But I say unto you that Elias is already come and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.

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Likewise shall also the son of man suffer them not. And in verse 12, it ends in saying the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the

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Baptist in verse 12. Remember the prophecy of the angel in Luke chapter one, verse 17. He said one will come or he's talking to the father on the basis that he will come in the power of Elias.

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The Jesus has two comings. And he's going to have to he had one forerunner and he's going to have a second forerunner.

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When when Jesus spoke that Elijah shall surely come and restore all things, this was after the death of John the

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Baptist, which, again, was three chapters earlier in the first couple of verses of Matthew 14.

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And then you get to this passage in Matthew 17, and it indicates in verse 11 that our prophecy in Malachi was not yet fulfilled with John the

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Baptist. And he goes on to continue to tell them that Israel didn't accept the first forerunner, which came in the power of Elijah in the likeness of Elijah to some degree.

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He had the power of that prophet. And keep in mind, John the Baptist was also the first prophet in 400 years of Israel's history.

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So he was coming on the back end of essentially 400 years of darkness, which we've talked about several times in this study.

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And Jesus is telling them they didn't accept John the Baptist. And we go back to Malachi for a second, and we look at chapter 4 verses 5, starting in verse 5, and it seems to be talking here about another

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Elijah -like forerunner or, as I believe, perhaps

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Elijah himself, and that he will come in our future, meaning future for us at this moment, before the day of the

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Lord, which is what the context of this Malachi is talking about. Remember, the context of Malachi chapter 4 is not talking about the first coming in any shape or form.

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It's referring specifically to events that will take place when Jesus is coming back in the clouds.

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That's the context when it then enters Elijah in things that will precede

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Jesus himself coming back. So now we ask the question, of course, could there be any other references to this future event when

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Elijah, it says, shall surely come and restore all things before that great and dreadful day of the

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Lord? Are there any other references to that in the

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Testament? And the most likely reference to this event is one we've talked about quite a bit here, especially through Brother Bill's studies in Revelation.

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And it fleshes out a little more detail of what exactly transpires leading up to Jesus's coming,

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Jesus's second coming. And in Revelation chapter 11, if you don't want to turn there, we learn about a specific ministry that will precede

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Jesus's second coming. Just to kind of wrap it all up,

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John the Baptist came as a forerunner to Jesus's first coming. John the

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Baptist came as the forerunner for Jesus's first coming. But what about the call to repentance and the call to the entire world to turn to the

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Lord prior to his second coming? Revelation chapter 11 says, And there was given me a reed like unto a rod, and the angel stood saying,

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Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and them that worship therein. But the court, which is without the temple, leave out and measure it not.

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For it is given unto the Gentiles in the holy city, shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

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And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth.

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These are the two olive trees. These are the two candlesticks standing before the

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God of the earth. John the Apostle John now clarifies for us exactly what a prophecy foretold in the book of Zechariah was referencing.

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He was talking about these two witnesses. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceeded out of their mouth and devour their enemies.

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And if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy and have power over waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will.

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And then I'm sorry. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them.

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And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called

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Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in the graves, which was a total disrespect toward these two individuals.

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And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

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In what way were they tormenting everybody? They were tormenting them by calling them to repentance and by telling them what they were doing was an abomination to the order that their creator had put into place, the ordained order of their creator, and that they needed to turn away from all of their gross sins and that they need to turn again to repent, to reverse course and to put their focus on him.

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This is how they were tormenting them. Now, physically, there was some torment as well, because apparently they had some enemies that tried to kill them before it was their day to be killed before the bound that God had set.

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There were enemies trying to usurp that and kill these prophets in those people that were directly trying to kill them.

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They were tormented physically again, fire coming out of the mouths of these prophets. And so they had power as well.

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But the torment that the world was experiencing that's referenced here in verse 10 was simply that they were being called out and that they that there was light being shown on the darkness that they were living in.

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And when these prophets were dead, they were all celebrating and giving gifts to one another and being merry in celebration that these two prophets of the

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Lord were finally dead so that they could regress right back into the darkness that they were living in.

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Verse 11 says, And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them, which saw them.

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Again, can you imagine? And they heard a great voice from heaven saying to them, Come up hither. And they ascended up into heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them.

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In the same hour was there a great earthquake in the tenth part of the city fell and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand.

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And the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to God of heaven. So even post death and and resurrection of these two witnesses by the power of God, they were saved by their witness.

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But think about the ones that were killed who were just previously celebrating their initial death.

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Obviously, they didn't heed the warning, which, of course, is in some to some degree a parallel of what we're studying

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Malachi in the first place over and over again. It's Malachi, the prophet, charging the people to just turn back and to be faithful to God because he had been faithful to them and they weren't doing it.

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They didn't heed the warning. And and this is this is what was happening at this time that John is prophesying of in Revelation here.

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So perhaps this is where the apostle John was expanding the

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Elijah prophecy that's talked about at the end of Malachi here. And he's expanding that prophecy into the ministry of the two witnesses.

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Now, it's pretty commonly held among a lot of commentators that one of the two witnesses will be

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Elijah. A lot of them believe that the other one will be Moses and say, well, it's because Elijah and Moses were together in the transfiguration and Elijah represents the prophets and Moses represents the law.

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I don't know about that necessarily. I don't know. Does anyone remember Brother Bill's theory of who the second witness was?

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Enoch. And the reason he believes it will be Enoch is because he was the only other person in human history that was translated without physically dying.

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Now, Brother Bill's reasoning for that was that it disappointed once for every man to die. And so since neither of them died, you know, this is fulfillment of that.

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I don't think you need that necessarily to argue that it's Elijah and whoever the second witness is to be that witness.

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I think this is simply a fulfillment of our prophecy in Malachi. Elijah does have a future ministry, and it says in Malachi where I need to turn something here.

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What is it? Verse five. Remember the specificity in the event it's talking about Elijah, the prophet.

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He will be sent before the coming, not of the Lord. It doesn't say the coming of the

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Lord. It specifically mentions the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

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And this is a this is an epic point in human history, and it's going to get all the more so even after this amazing story we just read of the two witnesses.

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You know, being there is giving a call to repentance to the world, but also, you know, rushing off their enemies literally with supernatural power given to them by God.

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And then a resurrection after three and a half days of their bodies sitting in the street. Even after that, it's going to get all the more epic.

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Now, again, as a result of this, Marie, that these two witnesses have, a lot of people won't be the majority.

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It'll be a remnant, as it always is. But it will be a lot of people that will turn to God because of their ministry, because of them acting as a forerunner before the second coming of the

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Lord. And those people that do turn to God obviously will avoid

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God's ultimate judgment in that day. Now, the final words of this book, as we close out this study of Malachi here, the final words of this prophecy, which also closes the window on the totality of the

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Old Testament, the final words that we have of all of the history, of all the writings, all of the prophets.

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They end with a pretty ominous tone, they succinctly demonstrate the judgment and the climactic end to history as we all know it, and the force of the gravity behind the common warnings throughout all of the

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Old Testament prophets, they all culminate into this final phrase of the entire Old Testament, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

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If they do not heed these warnings, if they don't turn, if there isn't repentance, this is the ultimate conclusion to their actions.

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A curse will be had. We have had a number of curses referenced in the book as we've gone throughout

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Malachi. The people, the Israelites at this point in history, were under a couple of curses already.

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They were curses that were a result of the covenant between God and his people, as given to them in the book of Deuteronomy that Moses himself talked about.

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They were not obeying and therefore they were under a curse and they were shunning

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God and saying, why are we experiencing these things in Malachi? And Malachi reminded them, well, it's because you have gone away from his ordinances.

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You are not properly worshiping. You're profaning his name. You are offering defiled sacrifices upon his altar, and these are the reasons why you're under a curse.

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Well, the book ends with the ultimate curse, which is the treading down of the wicked, which it talks about in just verse three of the same chapter.

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The beauty of that, as heavy as it is, is that we, being

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God's people, will get to take part in that treading down of the wicked. And we are given some pretty great mental pictures in a number of these

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Old Testament prophets. I think I mentioned this earlier this morning, Obadiah, Zechariah, now here in Malachi, that specifically talks about God working with his people in the destruction of those that have been persecuting his people for all of human history.

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God does not just come back in what he could and he will in the final judgment after the thousand year reign, but God will bring fire from heaven at that point.

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But in his second coming, while he will slay numerous thousands of people in the valley of ghetto with his voice, he will work with his people to tread down the wicked in totality as well, a complete and utter destruction that he will reserve a portion of for his people.

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And they were promised that in this book as well as others. So in conclusion of this study, we have learned a lot about the spiritual state of God's people, of God's nation in the book of Malachi leading up to four centuries of darkness.

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No prophets were delivering revelation, new revelation from the Lord. He was quiet.

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He was silent for 400 years because the people in this last book of the

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Old Testament did not again, they didn't heed the warnings. They didn't heed the charges coming from God through Malachi, which is a devastating thing.

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And it's devastating to read the book of Malachi, knowing that he is giving them these charges, he's explaining to them why they're under this curse, why they're experiencing the things they're experiencing and how to fix it.

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And knowing that that's how the Old Testament ends and that they did not do that, that the birth of the

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Pharisees was to take place after this book of all the religious leaders that were immersed in a legalism like perhaps the world has never seen.

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All of that came from this group of people that Malachi has charged over and over and over again and called them to repentance as well.

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Now, we have that faithful remnant at the end of chapter three, which is a beautiful thing. It was my favorite part of the study was learning about that remnant.

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And it's through that remnant that we have people like Simeon and like Anna and like John the

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Baptist parents who were there and that were faithful and that were anxiously awaiting to get to see

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Emmanuel themselves by the time he came. But as far as the religious and the spiritual state of Israel as a whole, by the time

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Jesus came, it was even worse, perhaps, than it was at the time of Malachi. And so, again, it's somewhat devastating to know the result of these charges.

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Their spiritual state was pretty bad going into that 400 years of darkness.

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Repeated questioning of God's word, vile attempts to conduct worship, a complete disregard of God's direct commands and rampant disobedience are all themes throughout the book of Malachi.

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It's barely four chapters. And the amount of sin that it covers happening not only by the nation of Israel, but specifically the priests, the very messengers of God, the ones that were supposed to be setting the example.

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These are common themes that they were that they were manifesting themselves throughout this book.

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Now, it's because of their spiritual state that God gives a prophecy of us, the

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Gentiles, worshiping and offering pure incense to him. Remember in chapter one, verse 11, and how does it work?

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I was about to say the Gentiles, but it uses a slightly different phrase. For the rising of the sun, even going down the same, my name shall be great.

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It does use the Gentiles. My name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place, incense shall be offered into my name and a pure offering.

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He prophesies us at this time in Malachi, letting the priests know, look, you are utterly destroying the ordinances that I have given you.

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And because of that, the Gentiles themselves are going to come in and worship me and offer me a pure offering since you aren't going to.

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We have a prophecy of us, of course, a we are given kind of a parallel warning in Romans chapter, which we read at that time when we were covering that verse to not take that blessing for granted.

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It is certainly a blessing that we were prophesied of in Malachi 111, but we can't take it for granted because Romans 11 tells us if he broke off the natural branches, who are we to say he wouldn't break off the wild branches that he grafted in?

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So we have to remember that we're given prophecies of the arrival of John the Baptist and the coming of the

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Lord, not only of his first appearance on earth, but also his second, in which the purification of his people will begin.

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We learned about that in the beginning of chapter three. We also learn of the faithful remnant and how

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God looks upon those who remain faithful, even when their culture around them are engulfed in sin, irreverence, vanity and even legalism.

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It's quite the mix, isn't it? Because in chapter three, verse 14, we learned that some legalism was happening in the middle of all of the other egregious sins that were taking place.

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It is possible for us to remain faithful even when we are immersed in a culture like that, because it was possible for this faithful remnant that Malachi chapter three talks about.

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And then we're ultimately reminded of what the culmination of all these sins and wicked acts will look like when the

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Lord returns to judge and to burn them up, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch, as it tells us at the beginning of chapter four.

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And these warnings are given and should be heeded as it ends, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

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So that concludes our study of Malachi. Now, I want to give you guys one thing that you'll have to promise me you'll go do because it's pretty awesome.

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You go to our church website and maybe this is something you do on the drive home or something like that.

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If you go to our church website and go to Brother Otis's archive page, click on his archive page and you'll see a folder for the book of Malachi.

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And if you click on it, I got to see what the date was on this. The date.

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I'm sorry. It's the book of Malachi, but you click on it and it's simply a reading of the book of Malachi.

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Let me see if I can find it here. He didn't do a verse by verse study of it. There was one Sunday. And the reason

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I know this is because in the corresponding Sunday school lesson from this day, it was on January 28th, 2001.

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And in Sunday school that morning in the recording, dad was apparently dad apparently fell ill and had been sick for a couple of weeks.

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His brother Otis was like, you'll have to pray for David. It's not like him to be sick for more than a few days.

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He had been sick for two Sundays. And so Brother Otis stepped into the pulpit. He did

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Sunday school, but he also needed to preach that day as well. Well, in lieu of a sermon, he opened up the

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Bible and he read verse by verse through the book of Malachi with zero commentary.

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All he did was he read the book. He opened it with, you know, telling them where to go and he ended it with a prayer. And in between, he just read the book verse by verse.

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It's the closest I ever get to Brother Otis being our narrator in Bible in a year. And it's really epic.

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It's like it's about 20 minutes long, you know, because he had that that nice, slow, steady pace.

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And hearing the book read in its entirety in Brother Otis's voice is pretty special.

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So that would be a pretty fun way to officially end the study, if you guys feel so inclined to do that, perhaps on the way home or something like that.

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But it's on the church website. So I would recommend it. And again, that's it.

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So what time is it? Well, we're right at closing time. But perhaps if you'll have any thoughts or anything, you can share that real quick.

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Before we close it out. Yes, sir. That was a very interesting book.

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When I picked that one to do, there were things that came out that I wasn't anticipating, which

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I guess is natural. And I'm glad it works that way. But it took us seven months to get through just a little four chapter book.

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But the reason we did is you guys have to keep in mind, one reason I love doing these

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Sunday school lessons is because in being put in a position where you have to prepare and deliver something to such an astute crowd of Bible scholars, you have to put in the time and you learn a lot yourself.

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And so this was far more for me than it was for anybody else, because I don't know if I'd ever given the book of Malachi its due.

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And there are a couple of other books in similar fashion that we will cover in the future because.

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Yeah, it's it's edifying for me. Hopefully it is for you guys as well. But that's why we spent so much time on it, because I was unwrapping all that and learning it for myself.

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And so it's been great. Appreciate y 'all's patience as we went through it verse by verse.

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So anyone have any other thoughts before we close and really leave you guys much time this time around?

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I really wanted to finish it, though. I was worried we wouldn't. So. All right, well, I will go ahead and close and we will move on with our other services.

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Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this wonderful day you've blessed us with. Thank you for bringing us all together once again and allowing us the opportunity to fellowship, to lift each other up, to give each other the just the refreshing beginning to the week that is sharing this space with with one another.

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And ultimately, Lord, we're thankful for the worship that gets to happen as well as we are all here together and learning about your word, learning about you through your word and getting to bring our praises, our prayer requests and our hymns to you.

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We are so thankful that Brother Myron, Miss Tony, Miss Pat are with us again today. Couldn't be more thankful for our friendship, for what they are to this little church body and obviously for our entire church link.

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And we just couldn't be thankful, more thankful for it, Lord. We ask that we never take any of it or any individual part of this church body for granted that this is a incredibly unique time for all of us to get to experience this type of fellowship and worship on a weekly basis.

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And we ask you to continue to be with us throughout the rest of our services today. And we ask all these things in your name.