Book of Malachi - Ch.3, Vs. 2-6 (05/14/2023)

Well dad, I hope you enjoy my Mother's Day tribute We don't have any moms in the room just yet, that's all right.

Where do you go? You just went outside? Yeah, it's good

Good morning guys Good morning

There's Viviana with one of my kiddos She's really been glued to you lately hadn't she?

Yes, it's really cute on I think it was Wednesday that Bible study she's just leaped for Viviana Good morning

Well, good morning again and happy Mother's Day I've got a great

Mother's Day topic today is second coming of the Lord and his judgment. It's perfect.

I Have it prepared special for today now we I was gonna pick it up right where I left off last week, but In kind of looking at the notes

I think I'm gonna have to backtrack just a little bit or it's not gonna make a whole lot of sense. So We're Malachi chapter 3

I'm gonna start in verse 2 and just read straight through verse 4, which is where we stopped last week

And then we'll pick it up from there Okay, so Malachi chapter 3 starting verse 2 it says but who may abide the day of his coming and Who shall stand when he appeareth?

For he is like a refiner's fire and like a fuller's soap Hey dad, if you want to turn mic number four down just a little bit

In verse 3 says and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and He shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver

That they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness Then shall the offering of Judah in Jerusalem be pleasant unto the

Lord as in the days of old as in former years, and that was the verse we left off last week and Of course, that's a really cool verse in and of itself as in the days of old as in former years

So the result of God's purification During this time that it's referring to And we talked about this just a little bit at the end of last week it would result in basically a pure class of Levites the very tribe of God that was ordained to serve him and lead his people and yet have

Gone so far astray at this point at the time of Malachi that It was a totally defiled class.

It was a totally defiled office at this point the priests It was they were priests in name only essentially because the actual acts of temple worship that they were engaging in Were far from what they were commanded to do and so Malachi now is prophecy prophesying of a time in which those

Offerings will be pure again, which they will be pleasant to the Lord and Righteous as it says in the days of old

Now at the time in the future that Malachi is talking about because in these verses that we're in right now

Malachi steps away from Putting a spotlight on the sins of the people at this time.

And again, he's prophesying way out into the future of these spectacular events that are have yet to take place and It says let's see here

Yeah, again, he's speaking of his righteous and pleasant offerings or I should say the

Levites righteous and pleasant offerings and if you guys recall it

In verse 11 of chapter 1 it actually prophesied about the Gentiles offering a pure and righteous sacrifice

As well, and so it's interesting that Malachi is now bringing the Levites back in the forefront in regard to Offerings sacrifices being pure again because we now realize that the the well without getting ahead of myself too far, it's essentially a it's essentially a prophecy that the

Priestly class is going to be expanded to some degree There's gonna be some differences, but it's gonna be expanded.

You're gonna have the Levites which again were the ordained tribe of God to conduct the priest's office all along but we as Gentiles are gonna have an

Opportunity to act as priests ourselves and to offer ourselves It'll be a little bit different.

There will be a distinction but Malachi prophesies of both Which is really cool again

Malachi 1 11 is his prophecy of the Gentiles doing so and now here he is prophesying once again about the

Levites being purified in Offering that pure offering when the Lord comes back and this is really interesting stuff

Offerings will be sacrificed once again in his millennial kingdom and Jesus's millennial kingdom

However, the offerings during this time will not be for the same purpose as they were in the Old Testament This is where we ended last week.

I'm just rehashing this this thought Rather than being a picture of the crucifixion to come which of course is what the sacrifices of the

Old Testament represented The sacrifices and offerings in the millennial kingdom will commemorate

The ultimate sacrifice that was made at Calvary as we know that made possible The peaceful kingdom of the

Millennium after his return. That's where we left off last week now It's important to remember here that the church has

We have had our own Ways of commemorating the death of Jesus Since of course, he he died rose again and ascended

And we were given these by Jesus himself and we've been doing them for thousands of years now That that's the church that the body of Christ to the bride of Christ which of course includes us as well up to this very day and Those things to name just a couple of them, of course are the

Lord's Supper We do that it's as a way of remembering his sacrifice We also remember it

Through baptism being a picture of his death burial and resurrection that is one of the ways that we proclaim our faith when we come to know him and In addition to it being a proclamation of our faith that again, it's a picture of his death burial and resurrection

So we've had these things ourselves For thousands of years at this point to commemorate

What Jesus did for us these pictures that we can use to commemorate that But if you think about it

Israel, and of course, I'm not talking about individual Jews who of course can at any point come to know the

Lord as dad's mentor brother Rocky Freeman did I'm talking about Israel as a nation They have not had any

Memorials of his work at least that they are aware of that. They are deliberately doing they have not had any memorials of his work on earth during his first advent in all these centuries since he died and again, of course was risen and ascended

There's been a couple thousand years at this point of Israel's unbelief In Jesus as their

Messiah the the Jesus that we all know that again came to earth and in fulfilled So many of the prophecies that we were given in any that weren't or because they will be fulfilled

Upon a second coming. So they've had multiple centuries now the the nation of Israel of not commemorating what

Jesus did His first coming his work on earth. And so the sacrifices that Malachi is now telling us they will bring to the table in the

Millennial Kingdom those sacrifices Will perform the function of that memorial of Jesus's work for his nation, of course

We know it was for the world in the sense that the Gentiles were included as well but it was very much a part of his promises to Israel as a nation his covenants with them and The Jews have failed to commemorate such such a work in these couple thousand years since his death on the cross and in resurrection

But after he purifies the Levites, which he just told us that he will do in verses 2 & 3,

I'm sorry 3 & 4 No, it is 2 & 3 After he purifies them they will begin to do these sacrifices as a proper commemoration of his work for them

And of course at that point they will be fully redeemed It's not going to be the nation as it currently stands or the nation as it was in the

Old Testament It will be a completely redeemed a nation and those sacrifices will come back a lot of people

You know look at this with some Form of confusion in in terms of why would there be sacrifices in the

Millennial Kingdom? Why would sacrifices ever return? You know they weren't

They weren't efficacious in regard to their salvation in the Old Testament. Wow, and at this point, they're already redeemed.

We're there Jesus is back. Why would the sacrifices be back? Well You know the sacrifices weren't necessarily efficacious for their salvation

I believe the Old Testament Saints were saved just like we are in regard to faith in in God And of course ultimately his as election of those

Saints But the sacrifices were there to commemorate or I'm sorry to to foreshadow what was to come

Well if that is true Why can't it be true in the Millennial Kingdom that those sacrifices will return again to look back on the cross rather than forward?

and so again, there's a lot of people a lot of commentators that Point that out the the confusion around why sacrifices would ever need to return in the first place

It makes perfect sense if you tie it in with why the sacrifices were there in the Old Testament Yes, some of them were there to atone for their sins year after year until Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice, but they pictured the cross

The sacrifice in the Millennial Kingdom will picture the cross, but it'll be looking back rather than looking forward So that'll be cool

And again, it says that it'll be the sacrifices will be pleasant and righteous as in the days of old

So it's gonna be a very similar Format very similar in terms of how it's delivered verse 5 in chapter 3

We did not get this far last week. It says and I will come near to you to judgment and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against false swears and Against those that oppress the hireling in his wages the widow and the fatherless and That turn aside the stranger from his right in fear not me

Say it the Lord of hosts Now I'm gonna get back to the way that I believe

Malachi has Kind of sequenced the events of the last several verses verses 2 through 5 specifically here in just a second

But in just reading this first really quickly we can see here that we can see clearly that God will harshly judge

Those living in direct opposition to him in his word I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers adulterers false swears and so on and so forth

So he's going to be a harsh judge against those people direct opposition to his word to his name to to himself

So we get we can gather that easily but the question is when is this specific judgment that it's talking about where he is swift a swift witness against these people and Will be coming near to his people as a judge

When will this particular judgment take place? When will he?

Be this swift witness against those opposing his word now

Again, I have some thoughts on verses 2 through 5 and the way that the events kind of unfold The way they're they're sequenced the order that they they fall in But I want to ask a couple of questions really quick Number one who's being spoken to in this context in Malachi Obviously we can read this ourselves and we can pull perhaps secondary application in some regards or As in chapter 1 when it's talking about us the

Gentiles we could take primary application from it But right now who is Malachi talking to in throughout really the whole book?

Who is he primarily talking to? What do you guys think? Perhaps Perhaps the group of it the the nation of Israel at the time

Now we do know that there is a good portion of what we've covered so far where he's talking directly to the priests

But at this point, it's all encompassing by the time you get to the midway point of chapter 2

It's all encompassing all of Israel in the book starts that way as well By the way, because he reminds them of his love for them and we covered that in detail

I Jacob have I loved he saw have I hated so he opens the book addressing the nation he

Kind of microscopes into the the priests specifically for a while, but at this point

He's talking to the whole nation again. So You know that kind of also answers the second question who would receive the primary application of these words at the time they're given

It would be the Israelites, right? What Matt? Did you have a question? Well right at this point he's talking to everybody to my everybody

I mean the nation of Israel now At some point I believe he does later in chapter later in this chapter

I believe he does Go back to the priests for a couple of verses, but from this point forward

Most of what malachi is addressing is directed to the nation of israel as a whole. So that is i'm, sorry.

Go ahead dad What we order there And dad's point there is when he gives this broad list of of uh

People types that oppose his word You know sorcerers adulterers false witness.

One of the things he throws in there in this list is They that turn aside the stranger from his right in fear me not

Dad's point is that throughout the old testament that term stranger and maybe even in the new testament perhaps in a few places, but certainly in the old testament that term stranger is a direct reference to gentiles the

The jews or the hebrews view of the gentiles them being the stranger so malachi is talking to Israelites that are doing these terrible things false witness adultery sorcery turning aside the stranger um

Ignoring the widows and the fatherless. He's talking to jews doing these things and in Dad's point is this is one of the takeaways as to who is who's being taught being

Spoken to here who's who's getting the primary? Who's going to be taking the primary application for malachi's words at this point?

It is the israelites So let's start start back at verse two for just a second ask

The phrase it says who may abide the day of his coming. This is a question that malachi asked who may abide the day of his coming

Well in a sense and we talked about this a couple weeks ago, I think No one can no one can abide that day

And you could put a period there and uh you know case closed but We do know that No one can abide that day unless They are seen by jesus in his return as righteous through the regenerative work of the holy spirit

It's the only way that a person could ever abide that particular day because everyone else will be

Begging for the rocks for the boulders to crush crush them So that they do not have to see the vengeance and wrath that is coming in the clouds

And remember think about the context for a second. What is malachi doing? He's trying to turn his people back to the lord, but he's doing so he's trying to get them to fear

Him once again to revere him in a in a fear in a healthy fearful way as they should

In conducting their worship, especially the priests but all of them at this point And so what would be a good way?

to Infuse some of that fear. Well number one in verse one of chapter three

We covered this extensively a couple weeks ago He prophesied the messenger coming john the baptist the forerunner to prepare a way and in that same verse he says and he

The messenger of the covenant will suddenly appear in his temple so he starts malachi starts by infusing some of the fear in Prophesying that but now he's talking about again the second coming who can abide the day um

That's how verse two starts now next in verses two and three. We learned that Jesus upon his return is going to be refining and purifying

Now for the unregenerate what do you think that means as he returns in the clouds

He it'll be a purifying a purifying event for sure, but unfortunately

For the unregenerate what that means is ultimate judgment the separation of the sheep and the goats

Which is talked about I believe dad in matthew 25 as we talked about the other day um, jesus is going to put the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left hand

And that is what it's going to look like for the unregenerate at the time Of his purifying and his refining

Um having to pay the just price for their actions If jesus didn't pay for them, they have to and that is

Uh, what's going to to take place there now? So that's one side of the purification one side of the refining that will take place, but We have a really interesting passage in first peter if y 'all want to go look at i'm just going to read one verse but in in first peter 4 17

We find out peter lets us know that there are times when the refining is for the elect as well, not just the um

Not just the uh Unregenerate not just the the goats that will be put on his left hand. There are times when the elect by necessity

Are refined it says in chapter 4 of first peter verse 17 for the time has come

That judgment must begin at the house of god And if it let's see here and if it first began at us

What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of god? Can you imagine? If we have to be refined and purified can you even imagine what it's going to be like for those who are not of the house?

of god And as it says that obey not the gospel And if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly in the center in the center appear?

It's a very bleak foreshadowing of what's to come Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of god commit the keeping of their souls to him in well -doing

As into a faithful creator and just a little bit of context prior to chapter 4 ending in this way

You go up a little bit and peter is talking about is is telling um

Christians, uh to not find it strange when we go through the the fiery tribulations that that Come from the lord paraphrasing big time, but we will face persecution for his name's sake and then it goes on to tell us that judgment will come first for the house of god and there are times where we

Uh, where the elect have to be refined and purified as well Think about the necessity of the great tribulation for a second now a lot of people, um who

Who ascribe to the the pre -trib? rapture Theory would find no purpose in it, but they're not looking deeply enough because there's actually a great purpose in The church and the bride of christ specifically going through the great tribulation and it is to purify

It is to refine it is to make her ready for her bridegroom That will be coming in the clouds.

Um to get her and to save her and to marry her uh, but she has to be clean first and so While we can look at verse 5 we can look at um, we can look at I'm, sorry verses 2 through 5 and we can certainly conclude that this purifying in this refining will be pointed at the heathen at the unregenerate

Will purify and refine them by removing them From god's kingdom altogether again putting the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left

There's a part that's directly applicable to the elect as we will see here, um

Let's take a look at romans 11 for a second go to go to romans chapter 11 Again, he's going to refine and purify for the unregenerate.

That means ultimate judgment having to pay the just price for their actions but the refining at times

Is also for the elect And so we have to ask ourselves the question as he returns in the clouds

How is that refining how is that purifying going to look Well, the first thing we have to do is we have to determine what is the state of israel at that time because remember

Who is malachi talking to? He's talking to the israelites the direct application of these words as they are given at that point in history

Are to the israelites so we have to ask When the day of the lord happens and he appears who may abide

What is the state of israel at that time? Well, the apostle paul tells us in the new testament romans chapter 11

I'm going to start in verse 25. But if you guys recall, I don't I think I took the notes out

Uh way back when we were talking about chapter 1 verse 11 in malachi where it prophesied the gentiles offering a pure offering

Uh of incense to the lord we went into romans chapter 11 there and we went we

Went all the way up to verse 25 talking about the branches being broken off the natural branches being broken off from Um The vine and the wild branches being grafted in that is a that is a picker of the jews

Because of everything that's happening at the time of malachi all the way up to jesus um in their unbelief being broken off in the gentiles the wild branches being grafted in it says but don't get high -minded talking to the gentiles because If it was if he was gonna if he will break off the natural branches

What makes you think he wouldn't break off the wild branches that aren't natural? He certainly will and then he even says that one day the natural branches will be grafted back in as well

So that is the context leading up to what we're about to read It says in verse 25 of romans 11 for I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery

In the mysteries talking about is the wild branches being grafted in And then in at a later point the natural branches

Being grafted back in as well I would not that you be ignorant of this mystery lest you should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part

Is happened to israel until the fullness of the gentiles be come in What is the fullness of the gentiles?

At what point does that take place? the fullness the completion of the gentiles of the age in which they are

Adopted into the the into the family of god via the abrahamic covenant

Oh Well, yes for sure the fullness the fullness of the gentiles of a component of that will be when every single uh elect of god gentile elect of god

Will be saved. Um That the fullness won't be complete until that had happened for sure and Within the church age and when do we think that'll happen?

Well, um um Shortly before if not at the moment of jesus's return in the clouds

I would say I would say before because this is the end of the church age And when jesus comes back what is synonymous with that?

It's the rapture of the church Well at that point the fullness of the gentiles has taken place so that they can be raptured

As he comes back. Okay, so um that blindness in part has happened to israel until the fullness of the details become in so If they were blind in part so that that could happen, what do you think happens when it's over?

When the fullness of the gentiles has taken place it tells us right here in verse 26 and so All israel shall be saved

Probably one of the most beautiful verses in the whole bible considering the promises and the covenants and and that that god made uh for that nation that chosen nation and Every promise and every covenant will be

Is kept will be kept and will be fulfilled at this point all israel Shall be saved as it is written there shall come out of zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from jacob

For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins as concerning the gospel

They are enemies for your sakes. He's talking to gentiles right now. They are enemies for your sakes, but as touching the election

They are beloved for the father's sakes for the father's sakes for the gifts and calling of god are without repentance now

Let's see here. All right a little bit of time prior to what paul speaks of taking place right there

He says all israel shall be saved Prior to paul saying that of course he is prophesying out into the future

But before that future event can take place The quote -unquote dross of the nation

Will be removed During the great tribulation period just as the bride will be will be made white as snow during that time

The dross of the nation of israel will be removed during that time as well

So that at the point when jesus starts coming back in the clouds and all that remain of the entire nation of israel looks up and are saved

They are then the refined gold. Remember the the analogy that's being used in malachi. He is a refiner

He's a purifier as of silver and gold The tribulation leading up to his return as we know

Is going to be remarkable For the entire world it's going to be

It's going to be making the the bride of christ white as snow and it's going to be uh

It's going to be a time of judgment for the heathen of the world um as well

But at the time that they look up and they see him coming back in the clouds They will they're at that point.

They are purged They are purified They are redeemed As they see the messiah and the king that they have been waiting for so many millennia to To return to come to save them as it's happening.

They will look up And they will be purged they'll be redeemed and their sins They'll be purged of their sins and there of course will prepare a new generation of righteous levites to offer sacrifices once again as Malachi tells us so part of the refining in verses two and three is done necessarily

To cleanse god's priests and prepare them for proper service once again It says in verse

Three he shall be he shall sit as a refiner purifier of silver. He shall purify the sons of levi

Specifically it mentions the sons of levi specifically there. He is setting up a pure priestly class once again that will

That that sits here in stark contrast with the way the priests were conducting themselves at the time of malachi

So there's again a reason why malachi is bringing this to the forefront. He is showing them

This is what god is going to do because y 'all have totally Totally wrecked it yourselves

So now okay, you've had jesus return who can abide the day of his coming jesus returns

He Is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap according to verse two

And he is now sitting in verse three as a refiner and purifier of silver He refines

And purifies the sons of levi he purges them as gold and silver that they may offer

What's the purpose that they may offer into the lord and offering in righteousness? So now at this point

And again, the sequence of these events that is that are being unfolded in these verses

He's now sitting as that great purifier and refiner not only having cleansed his people but This is the key part

Now ready to judge the heathen But get this

And this this is important Because we think millennial kingdom we think his second coming and then

The millennial kingdom and what do we think we think perfection literally heaven on earth. I'm sitting on his throne

Uh ruling And The church, of course his bride at that point is totally glorified

And not only that but all of israel is saved going in the millennial kingdom. It's perfection But what we sometimes forget but what is so vividly laid out in revelation near the end of revelation

Is that the heathen will come back? the heathen Aren't totally done at this point

Because the interesting thing Is that when he's coming back in the clouds and the rapture takes place

All of israel and anyone else that looks up and sees jesus coming back and is saved at that moment They're not glorified.

They're not raptured like the rest of us will be and therefore not in their glorified bodies They are still in their natural human form just as we are sitting here today

What that also means is that as they go into jesus's kingdom on earth the millennial kingdom With him sitting on the throne of david and ruling

Is that those people will have kids and that new generations will be born on earth

And what that also means is that there will be some heathen there will be some there will be some People that will in their hearts rebel against their ruler who sits on the throne of david

Which of course is the most mind -boggling concept The devil will be gone the world system totally abolished because jesus is the ruler

There's only one enemy left and it's the flesh and it's so strong That even then and even still there will be some that rebel in their hearts against jesus sitting on his throne.

So He is sitting as a refiner and purifier And he is ready to judge any unregenerate heathen in his established kingdom

Which will happen as people begin to be born in those days now

It's really interesting because I was going through this and everything

I had read up to this point is kind of the way I was breaking down again the sequence of events, but Verse five was a little interesting

Because verse five as you guys recall it says And I will come near to you to judgment and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and it goes into naming all these people

A lot of commentators all every commentator i've read first of all agrees that these verses verses two through six

Are referring to jesus's second coming And that there will be some judgment associated with it they all agree on that but they they then just kind of Kind of go through it somewhat swiftly judgment

Will will be upon israel They will say and then they'll move on while i'm reading these commentaries.

I'm like that just doesn't quite make sense In those Simplified terms because of what paul tells us all of israel will be saved so At the time of his second coming.

So who is he talking about in verse five? As dad pointed out earlier. He's talking to jews

Because he mentions that one of the things they're doing is turning aside from the stranger which in the old testament is

An expression used to refer to gentiles, so he's talking to jews But this is after jesus's second coming

And at that point we know because of paul's words that all of israel will be saved and So I had to take this to dad

And we're talking this through and I and I told dad what I thought this meant uh, what what I what the way

I thought that verse five could be um The way it could fit with the previous verses and and with what we know from paul's teachings and revelation paul's teachings and revelation, um

And then dad threw out some ideas as well. He did he You know quickly realized

I mine was a little bit incomplete And so he's throwing out some of his ideas um

And so thankfully though I did get a little bit of help but Her name was not david mitchell

Her name was ashton mitchell um Because she happened to be sitting in the room as well and she's over there reading uh and cross referencing and doing a number of things but dad and I are just going back and forth and It's perfectly clear.

Um after she said something and after i've thought about it quite a bit by the way ash is um the way that the the this is totally consistent with The way this is the way that verses two through six unfolds again the sequence of events

It's perfectly consistent in a in a linear pattern first of all as far as like a progression of time

Which is how malachi is talking anyway, but it's also perfectly consistent with what we know Takes place in the book of revelation

From the time of the great tribulation to his second coming to the establishment of the millennial kingdom

And how all that works The lord draws near to israel with the intention of judging

And the hebrew word for judging there and this is at the beginning of verse five is mishpah

And all it means is the act of deciding a case So when we hear the word judging we immediately think you know bringing the hammer down and um

You know who knows what what could follow, you know wrath um, and it can mean that for sure the act of deciding a case it could it can be uh a a

You know a person being brought forth to a judge into maybe a a jury

And they're on trial Their actions are brought forth to that judge and the judge then mishpah

At he he he engages in the act of deciding a case this is what jesus it says we'll be doing in verse five there

But who will be he be judging exactly I'm almost done believe it or not.

I have five minutes. Uh go to psalm chapter two for a second Remember, what do we think about we think the millennial kingdom?

We think uh, we think well first of all it starts with jesus coming back. Awesome Greatest day of human history

Then we think about the millennial kingdom, which is just going to be heaven on earth. It's going to be perfect Uh, we'll be in our glorified bodies doing who knows what you know

Exploring the planets or whatever it may be But there will be humans living on earth and jesus will be on the throne of david

Ruling these people how is he going to be ruling these people though? Well David prophesies of it and it's talked about in revelation three different times as well

But david says it crystal clearly in psalm chapter 2 verse 9. It says thou shalt break them with a rod of iron

Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel and the context here is talking about things to come revelation

We can glean even more information on what psalm 2 is referencing on the in the later half there um

Because him ruling with a rod of iron is him on the throne of david physically during the millennial kingdom

So he will be judging he will be a righteous judge on his throne deciding a case as the heathen are brought forth to him

And when the verdict is that yes, you have opposed my word. You have opposed my name You have opposed my very being as I sit here and rule

He will dash them to pieces and he will bring swift wrath, what does it say in verse 5

I will come near to you to judgment and will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and the adulterers

Anyone that engages in any kind of the egregious sins that permeate our culture today that are around us

And talked about as good as evil evil is good. Jesus isn't going to have any of that when he's here

He will he will clearly lay out the objective reality of Good as good evil is evil and he will punish evil accordingly

As those cases are brought forth to him as the righteous judge sitting on his throne so The sequence the segue that we have here from verses 2 through 5 is he comes back

He is a refiner's he is as if a refiner's fire. He purifies The he he purifies the earth in one sense because he separates the sheep from the goats and he sends the goats to to hell so at least at the beginning of the millennial kingdom you have

The glorified bride of christ as well as all of israel all of redeemed israel being saved going to the millennial kingdom

So that's a great start Then it progresses from there and talks about him being a

Judge and a swift witness I'm, sorry. I skipped one part then it progresses further into there and tells us that these purified sons of levi will be offering the pleasant and the righteous offerings to the lord once again

So that happens then it segues into verse 5 where it tells us he will be the judge

He will be a swift witness against the heathen Um During the millennial kingdom and all of these verses of malachi are referenced that And let's finish with verse 6 which also concludes this

Parenthetical of malachi that we've been in because keep in mind Malachi was talking directly to the people about how sinful they were being

And then and then you get to chapter 3 and he stops for a second and for six verses He prophesies about future events, which is what we've been talking about what we've been reading about And he concludes this parenthetical before he goes back to talking about their sins again in the following verse

Malachi 3 6 says for I am the lord. I change not he affirms his characteristic

Or the part of his character that is his immutability. I change not Therefore ye sons of jacob are not consumed

How does that play into to everything here Why would he even word it that way?

Why would he start? By saying you will not be consumed by saying I change not He promised

Because he promised them that they would not be consumed and he made those covenants those unbreakable covenants with them

He reminds us that because he doesn't change in other words because he keeps his covenants and his word

Jacob is not consumed during this time the judgment of the wicked during the great tribulation as well as during his return

Will not wipe out or consume the nation of israel Rather as the prophets predicted israel will be delivered in the day of the lord

Jacob will be delivered because of god's covenant promises to him It will not change his word like himself is immutable and verse 6 of malachi 3 there is

One of the the greatest reminders we have of his immutability, of course for the remnant of israel This reality is the basis for their hope.

I don't have time to do it But if you go to ezekiel chapter 36 starting in verse 22 for 10 verses

It talks about It talks about god Never turning his back on his covenants with them and For the remnant of israel and i'm and i'm quick to say the remnant not the whole nation because most of the nation at the time of malachi has totally

Lost faith as far as they're concerned messiah is not coming. So let's just do whatever we want to do

But for the remnant of the nation of israel those israelites that have all that always trusted in god never wavered

And that were of his elect The basis of their hope was that he would not change and that he would not break their covenant with them ever

And that covenant Is fulfilled all the way to the end and because of that they will not be consumed on the day of the lord

Otherwise who can abide that day if it wasn't for that covenant the answer would be no one So yeah, go ahead

Talking about the first coming and the second coming Yeah, and then verse four starts talking about the second coming

When you and I were discussing it, uh, I was leaning towards it being that he was just talking to the jews and his audience right there uh, but then you pointed out well

You know, when did judgment come after that though? If you look at history after malachi They weren't called off to another nation again

And I thought well got a point there and that's when ashton had been on their reading

And uh, she said well didn't that refer to the rod of iron that jesus rules with during the kingdom?

That's when you and I saw it uh I believe that is what it is It's it goes jumps all the way to the million people when they start doing sacrifices again in memorial to the work

Jesus has already done The jews will be ruling the entire world And so he's speaking predominantly to them first But also that every nation in the millennial king 12 gentile nation will be ruled with that same rod of iron

So it's amazing. Yeah, it was a great great insight there crazy passage. Um, Especially considering the context remember

He's rebuking the israelites and he uses this to remind them why they need to get their act together

All those six verses we just read i'm now two minutes over. So sorry. I didn't leave for enough.

Uh, Additional comments or anything like that. I apologize for that But I better dismiss this real quick and we will jump into the next service here only father

Thank you so much for this wonderful day. Thank you for bringing us together in fellowship once again for this church family and the the closest we all have

Among one another with each other. Of course, we are very thankful for this particular day that we get to come and commemorate

The mothers that bless each and every individual family. That's a part of this church body but also just the skills and the blessings and the

Gifts that they each bring to the table for the church family as well. Thank you for The opportunity we have to commemorate them to celebrate them and we know that Everything wonderful all of the the wonderful things that we do celebrate

During this day are things that come directly from you lord So we thank you for that We ask you to be with us for the rest of the day for the rest of the services