Book of Malachi - Ch. 4, Vs. 1-2 (07/02/2023)

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Alright, y 'all can turn to Malachi chapter 4, but before we get into our final chapter here,

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I did want to cover one quick note that I didn't have time for last time. So let's see here.

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At the end of chapter 3, the final verses of chapter 3, we learn about this remnant that has been present the whole time that Malachi is giving his rebukes and his charges and all these things to the majority of the nation.

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And then we find out again at the end of chapter 3 about this remnant that feared the Lord that spake often one to another, as it says in verse 16 of chapter 3.

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And then it goes on to tell us how the Lord hearkened and heard it. He had the book of Remembrance written just for them.

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The Lord tells us that they will be his in that day when he makes up his jewels, when he collects his treasure, he will spare them as a man spareth his own son.

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And so that's how chapter 3 ends. Well, one thing

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I wanted to cover again, I really wish I had just squeezed it in, gone a couple of minutes after last time.

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But I opted not to at the time. But one final note as this chapter is now complete is, you know, we've discussed numerous times throughout the book of Malachi, kind of about the reality.

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That despite the harsh rebukes, despite the warnings, despite even the curses that the nation as a whole were under at this time, the actions and the attitudes of the majority of the people that would follow, they wouldn't amount to any kind of revival, if you want to put it in those terms.

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In other words, Malachi was doing everything he could from the human viewpoint, from his perspective, to get them riled up, get them spiritually active again.

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And again, we know that that wasn't going to happen because of the roughly 400 years of darkness that was to follow, where God is silent and doesn't raise up any new prophets to speak on his behalf during that entire time.

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And then we also know, of course, that the Pharisees were coming and were there by the time

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Jesus was born. Remember, we looked at chapter 3, verse 14, and we kind of teased the idea that perhaps this was the beginning of the legalistic factions that would become the

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Sadducees, the Pharisees and so forth. So we've talked about that quite a few times, right?

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Well, the legalistic religious leaders by the time

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Jesus is born were not the only ones that were on the scene upon Jesus's arrival.

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What are some other folks that you guys might be able to think of that were there and that were actually eager and expecting the first coming of the

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Lord by the time he was born? Well, so we know that by the time

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Jesus was born, the Pharisees were all over the place, legalistic religious leaders and a nation that had been in the dark for 400 years and were not in a great place spiritually.

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But there were some other folks on the scene, a smaller group, but there were some other people on the scene when

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Jesus was born. A couple of them we already talked about, John the Baptist's parents, pretty solid people.

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Elizabeth Zacharias, was that John the Baptist's name? His dad's name was

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Zacharias, I think. Really great people. The opening of Luke before it talks about John the

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Baptist and how wonderful person he was, it talks about how wonderful his parents were. So they were great.

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A couple of others, though, the ones that I had in mind were Simeon and Anna. Y 'all recall these two older people when

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Jesus was born, Jesus was brought to them and Simeon and Anna, they were ready and anxiously awaiting for their

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Messiah to come. We know that this that we just read about at the end of chapter three, the last time we were together, this remnant remained faithful.

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And just as the legalizers in verse 14 sprouted the movement that likely became the

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Pharisees, it's also likely that the light that this little remnant had that it carried is what sustained the following generations through 400 years of darkness.

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So four whole centuries between the two prophets of the

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Old and New Testament. They were able to sustain those generations through that dark period until the day that Simeon and Anna actually got to hold

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Emmanuel in their arms. And so they were there, they were ready, they were expecting their

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Messiah. And it's just a cool thought to consider that, you know, despite years of darkness, there were generations that remnant was able to cut through multiple generations and again, sustain a people that were still faithful, ready and got to see the day of the first coming of their

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Lord. Simeon and Anna were a result of the end of chapter three of Malachi. So I thought that was kind of cool.

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And so, again, that's how chapter three ends is with this faithful remnant. And a couple of final thoughts before we start our final chapter here throughout this third section, because not only is this not only was at the end of chapter three, but it was also the end of our third section of the book, which was all about the sins of the people, the sins of the nation of Israel.

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Throughout the third section here, it actually spanned from chapter two all the way through the end of chapter three.

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It displayed, of course, the grievous spiritual state of the nation of Israel as a whole.

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A couple of reminders of what we covered in that third section. They profaned the covenant of their fathers.

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We learn about that in chapter two, verse 10. We learn more about how this profaning took place.

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They were divorcing their wives of their youth to indulge in relationships with the pagans, something that was a big time no -no, going as far back as you want to go, especially to the time of Moses.

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We learn about that in chapter two, verse 11, and it fleshes it out even more in verses 14 and 15 of that chapter.

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We learn the extent at which God hates flippant divorce in chapter two, verse 16.

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In fact, it's the number one passage throughout the whole Bible that is referenced in regard to what

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God thinks about divorce. We talked about that in detail when we covered that verse.

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We learn of a theme of the people wearying the

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Lord with their words and speaking stout words against him. We learned about that in chapter two, verse 17, where they were wearying him with their words.

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In chapter three, verse 13, when they spoke stout words against him, we learned of their robbing of God in tithes and offerings in chapter three, verse eight, and that they considered whatever, quote unquote, worship they did to be in total vain.

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They said it is vain to serve God in chapter three, verse 14. But most importantly, we're reminded on the conditions necessary for them to repair their relationship with the

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Lord in chapter three, verse seven and in verses 10 through 12, that same chapter.

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And finally, as we just spoke about a second ago, we learn of the faithful remnant that feared the

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Lord and kept a light burning through the four centuries of darkness. It was to come in the final verses of chapter three.

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So now we begin section four, our final section and our final chapter. And this section will be on the great and dreadful day of the

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Lord, and it will encompass the entire final chapter, which is only a few verses.

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Let's go ahead and read it together. Malachi chapter four, it says, For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble in the day that cometh shall burn them, sayeth the

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Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and he shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall, and you shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, sayeth the

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Lord of hosts, Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all

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Israel with the statutes and the judgments. 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 and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

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That's the final chapter of Malachi, we'll break it down as we go. But Malachi is now shifting his focus back to an event that he's already talked about at least once in this book, specifically at the beginning of chapter three.

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If you guys recall, he prophesies the messenger, which is John the Baptist.

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He then prophesies of a second messenger, that being Jesus himself. And he mentions his first coming.

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He will suddenly arise. He will suddenly appear in his temple. And then it starts talking about the second coming of the

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Lord in the context of the purification of Israel, the purification of the

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Levites specifically. But this time he talks about the same event, but he's going to elaborate further on the day of the

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Lord as a day of judgment by fire. The first time it was a day of purification, this time it'll be a day of judgment.

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Same exact event, but two different sides of the same coin. Again, unlike chapter three, verses two and three specifically, which emphasize the purification of Israel, this passage will emphasize the destruction of the wicked.

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And it's in that light also that when we read these final verses of this book, the final book of the

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Old Testament, that we should view them in a somewhat somber way because the time of the

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Old Testament closes with the promise of a curse. And it was this final statement of dread upon the unfaithful that the word of the

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Lord was silent for four centuries until the voice of John the Baptist was heard calling

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Israel to repentance 400 years later as he paved the way for Jesus's first coming.

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Now, the ending of this book is it culminates in chapter four. It is very short. It's only six verses long.

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The entire chapter, it's abrupt. The patience of the Lord, while it may be long suffering, is not going to last forever.

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And the abruptness in the language of this final chapter is kind of a stark reminder of that reality. These people need to be prepared.

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They need to understand. They need to heed these warnings. And in hindsight, we know that they don't, at least the majority of them don't.

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But nonetheless, God gives them fair warning, fair amount of time to preserve their generations to that last day.

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And so that's what we're about to dig into. Dad, is everything looking good in the chat, audio and everything? OK, great.

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Turn to Isaiah chapter 66 for a second. I believe it's the final. Yeah, it's the final chapter of that book.

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Isaiah chapter 66. Let's just look at a quick comparison of the same time we're about to dig into in the final chapter of Malachi.

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We're just going to read about four verses here, but they are pertinent to our conversation as well as very colorful in the imagery it presents.

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It says in Isaiah chapter 66, starting in verse 15, for behold, the

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Lord will come with fire. It's exactly what we just read at the beginning of Malachi chapter four.

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The Lord will come with fire and with his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury.

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And his rebuke with flames of fire, keep in mind, remember, as we go through this final chapter, the significance of the fire.

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Also, as I said, we're presented with some pretty colorful imagery here. It's just amazing to me time and time again, it doesn't matter how many times you read these passages that elaborate such detail, what this day of the

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Lord will be like, what it'll be like. I mean, like it just never it never stops amazing me, amazing me how epic this day is going to be in a bad way for the majority of the human race.

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Obviously, a wonderful way for the remnant. And we're going to talk about that as well, because Malachi does not leave that out in his short, brief, final chapter.

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But this is what it's going to look like for the majority of people. For behold, the Lord will come with fire and his chariots like a whirlwind.

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It's a really interesting phrase there to render his anger with fury in his rebuke with flames of fire for by fire and by his sword where the

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Lord plead with all flesh. What is that prophesying? What is the sword? It's going to be his very voice as he speaks.

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And the slain of the Lord shall be many. And keep in mind, this is

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Isaiah's account of this time, but Malachi is using this event to speak to God's people at the time that he is speaking these words and giving this prophecy.

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So isn't it interesting that this very warning, this very warning for the slain of the

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Lord shall be many, is being used as a warning to God's people themselves? Verse 17 says they shall sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse shall be consumed together, saith the

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Lord. This verse 17 is is kind of used as a representation of the idolatry of the blatant rebellion of the majority of people doing the opposite of the statutes that God had given them.

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These are people worshipping in their groves, worshipping who knows what God, but it all comes back to essentially themselves.

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Again, it's an idolatrous people. And these are the people that are coming to be consumed by the

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Lord himself. Verse 18 says, for I know their works and their thoughts. Pretty scary proposition for any of us, but certainly the heathen.

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It shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues and they shall come and see my glory.

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So this is the exact same event that Malachi is about to dig into in this final chapter.

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So let's go back to Malachi for a second. We already read the whole chapter. Let's start breaking it down verse by verse.

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We'll see how much of that we can get done today. Verse one, for behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven.

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It's really interesting. Dad was in Midland recently. He made a trip to the oilies, a big lake more specifically.

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He reached out and asked if there was any way I could find a sermon that Brother Rocky did on cremation of all topics.

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Dad, did you ever listen to that, by the way? Where did you have time? I've listened to about half of it. And it's really interesting.

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Brother Rocky did about an hour and 15 minute long topical sermon on the biblical view of cremation.

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And I was able to find it. It's on the website. It's under Brother Rocky's topical sermon.

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So anyone can go listen to it. But it's interesting, Dad, because the way he opened it is he opened it by looking at every verse in the

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Old Testament and a few in the New Testament as well that spoke of God reserving the fire, the consumption of the body for the wicked.

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That was the context he was setting for the biblical view of cremation. I've only listened to half of it, so I'm interested to hear where he goes with it.

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But this chapter, I mean, this verse Malachi 4 .1 was one of the citations he gave. The significance of God reserving the fire to consume the bodies of the wicked specifically.

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For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven in all the proud. Remember our study in Obadiah and the proud have been referenced a couple of times as well in Malachi, but the proud, these are a people that we see surrounding us all the time.

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And it's just I mean, literally, and it has become a virtue. And we said, you know, we looked at that in detail when we were studying

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Obadiah. But, you know, it can be a very, very depressing thing to be surrounded by.

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I mean, the pride of the human heart is gross. And when you do know the

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Lord and when you are trying and you're striving to do everything you can in your personal life to please him.

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And to do the things that would bring him glory, bring him honor and to to strengthen the relationship between you and him.

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The last thing you want to do is to have any pride in your heart. And you know that you try to cleanse yourself of that.

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And yet you look around and it's what everyone is is immersed themselves in.

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And it can be disheartening, even if you are doing a good job throughout the sanctification process of removing that from your own life.

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You still don't want to see anyone because you realize every single person is made in the image of God. And yet they are taking all the glory from themselves.

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And they were created for a specific purpose. But rather than giving glory to that creator, they are immersing themselves in the pride of their hearts.

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Finally, when this day comes, the proud, all of the wicked. But he mentions the proud specifically here.

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They shall be stubble, it says, all the proud, all that do wickedly. So it is all encompassing.

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But he took a second to go ahead and point out the pride, the prideful, the proud specifically. They shall be stubble in the day coming, shall burn them up, say the

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Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Pretty, you know, again, it's all encompassing, it is complete, it is a it is a complete destruction of these people.

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The fact that God's judgment will burn like a furnace. It emphasizes a couple of things, not only the intensity of the judgment to come.

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We know that. I mean, think about the Isaiah passage we just read. The intensity is inescapable and it is fleshed out again in vivid color, regardless of which prophecy you read about it, any of the minor prophets, several of the major prophets.

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And then, of course, we have even the New Testament accounts all the way to Revelation.

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But we so we know the intensity is going to be bad in the burning like a furnace, the burning like an oven speaks to that.

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But it also speaks specifically to the purpose of this judgment, it's going to be fire, it's going to be.

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It's going to be total consumption, it's going to burn like an oven, but it's not going to be a fire that burns out of control.

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It's not just some wildfire that is just going around consuming anything and everything that it can grab hold of.

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Now, this is going to be a very direct fire. This is going to be fire that has direct intention behind it, which is an even scarier reality than an out of control wildfire that's just consuming everything.

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This will be specific. It has direct intention will be a focused burn, meticulously targeting the rebel haters of Jesus himself, those that, as we speak, are walking around doing everything, anything and everything they can to vote in their rebellion, boast in that pride that is in their hearts.

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It will meticulously target those rebel haters of Jesus, even emphasizing again the proud in verse one as he returns to his kingdom.

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Now, I want to note something really quick. I want to note that Jesus's kingdom on earth is technically already established.

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Before he leaves, he tells us that he has been given dominion.

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He's been given power over all things heavenly, but both in heaven and earth. Paul in first Corinthians chapter 15 tells us that he is reigning.

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And that he has what's the word I hate paraphrasing, what is the exact word he uses?

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Essentially telling us that he has dominion over heavenly things and earthly things now in real time.

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And so when Jesus comes, oftentimes, oftentimes we talk about him establishing his kingdom. The reality is the earth is his now.

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The kingdom is ready to be is ready to be purified, maybe is a good way to put it.

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The very place that will be the the holder of his throne is there already.

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It's just that the devil is usurping it, and so it's ugly, it doesn't look right, it's not functioning properly, as dad has said countless times in my life, much like the kingdom may be looked when

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Saul was usurping the authority of David and David had been anointed. It's an amazing picture.

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Every time I think about it, it's such a classic story. But every time I think about it, I think, man, how neat is it that we have that real life example to explain how it works now, because we can look around and we can be like, you know, we know

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Jesus is at the right hand of God, the father, as we speak, that he is currently reigning, that he has dominion over all things, that his victory was won 2000 years ago.

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But the earth looks so ugly right now. If we didn't have that example of Saul in David, it might be somewhat confusing to us, but it doesn't have to be because in real life we see what it looked like when a righteous king was anointed by the man of God, which was all a picture of Jesus, you know, his his ministry being his ministry and rule being established by the spirit and by the father and all that great stuff.

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But David was anointed and how I wonder, I can't remember off the top of my head, but how many years was it from that point until he actually kind of took took the throne back from Saul, who was just.

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You know, muddying up everything and really, really messing stuff up, making the kingdom look pretty rough, that's what's happening right now, and there's a purpose behind it, as we know, but Jesus will come back.

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So I just want to throw that out there. He's going to return. And he is going to be.

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Returning to his kingdom that has already been established to put it back in order and put it as it should be, the judgment when he returns is going to be so complete that Malachi here analogizes it to a fire consuming not just the branch of the tree, but also all the way down to the root.

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Now, remember, this is not a wildfire. This is a specific fire dedicated and aimed at a specific while it be albeit a large group of people.

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And for that group, it will burn them all the way to the root. Yeah, it reminds me.

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I don't remember if it was in the section with Elijah, which is funny because he's talked about later in this chapter where the king was sending his captain and his 50 men to go and get

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Elijah and bring him back to the king. And he said, if I'm a man of God, let fire come down and consume you.

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And it was that what you're talking about, that targeted comes down and consumes 50 people. And then it's gone.

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They're just they're just gone. And then they send another group of 50, the same thing.

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And then the third group of 50, the captain, of course, begs for the Lord and for Elijah to have mercy on him.

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And so it changes it. But it reminded me of that whole. Exactly what it's talking about here, it's going to happen in where it's just fire that's consuming the evil and the rightful and all of this, it's just crazy pictures.

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The consistency between the Old and New Testaments, the whole of the Bible is so amazing because you'll find consistencies where you weren't even looking.

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And one of the things that's amazing to me is throughout the Old Testament, you have lots of of God doing these unbelievable, miraculous things where the laws of physics are being defied and things are appearing out of nowhere in the supernatural.

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Things are occurring. You could start from the plagues of Egypt and go all the way through. How many times throughout the

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Old Testament is fire used in the very great example that Katie gave of Elijah calling it down from heaven to consume these this band of men who's coming to capture him?

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There were other there are other occasions where was it was it also

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Elijah that soaked the thing? Yes. OK. And so there are many examples where a supernatural fire is coming from heaven.

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There are other examples from Joshua all the way through where hailstones are used as this weapon that the

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Lord uses, brings down from heaven, that targets his enemies. You have all these crazy pictures of that stuff.

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And now we forget about a lot of God's supernatural work because it was reserved for a time or it was used for a time in history.

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At this point in our history, that's not happening, and yet those very same exact weapons are reserved for another time in the future, it's not going to be any different, it's going to be the same hailstones, it's going to be the same direct, targeted, consuming fire.

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And so it's amazing. We will get to see that ourselves, whether we are there, whether the

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Lord returns in our lifetimes or whether it's us coming back in the clouds with him. Either way, we are going to get to see that supernatural fire, hailstones in the way in which the

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Lord works using these weapons that he has reserved for himself. Is it in Job somewhere that mentioned he reserves the hailstones for the wicked?

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And so we're going to get to see all that play out ourselves someday. That's great, Katie. Great comparison there.

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And just like with that band of men, these the wicked, which is going to be on such a larger scale, it's incomprehensible at this time, they will be totally uprooted.

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The roots themselves will be burned. Now, here's what's interesting about this, guys. I'm learning all the time about these weird groups of people that I'd never heard of before.

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But have you has anyone I know that dad has probably heard of them before, but has anyone ever heard of the concept or the the

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I don't know what you would call it, but the annihilationist movement. Have you ever heard of that, people?

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There's a there's a first of all, again, this is new to me, but there are numerous views on.

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The afterlife for the wicked. Specifically, yeah, it's new to me, but apparently this has been something that has been around forever.

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There is a there's a movement called there's a group of people that refer to themselves as conditionalists that believe that, you know, every all of Jesus's teachings on hell is allegorical in that really what will happen is when the wicked die, they just go to sleep and they are unconscious from that point into eternity.

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And it's only the children of Jesus, the only the elect, essentially, they get to experience an afterlife.

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And so they use that as a way to get out of the harsh teachings of hell. But then there's the annihilationists.

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And this is a proof text for them, Malachi four one, where they believe that when the dead

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I mean, I'm sorry, when the wicked are killed or when they die, when judgment comes for them, that it doesn't just consume their physical bodies, but it consumes their soul and their spirit and that they are snuffed out completely.

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How many times has that told us if we were God, we would do it one of two ways. We'd save everybody or we'd snuff them out and start over.

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Well, annihilationists kind of take a little bit of that. And what will happen is it's going to be it's going to be merciful because God is going to take the elect, bring them into heaven to experience eternal bliss with him.

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But the wicked, they're just going to be snuffed out. They're going to be non -existent anymore, which is merciful because they will have to experience the torment, which is all just allegorical or whatever.

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This is a proof text for the annihilationists here in Malachi four one. And in other words, the cessation of the soul in the spirit as well as their bodies.

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However, without having time to dig into that and to branch out on a whole thing on that, because again, this was this was new to me when

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I when I mentioned it, we'll just quickly mention a couple of things. We know that for one cannot be backing up any sort of claim such as the annihilationists would make, because we know that there will be a there will be an awakening of sorts during the great white throne judgment someday.

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Daniel chapter 12, verse two mentions that the dead will rise and it's speaking of the wicked.

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They will rise to be judged. And in verse one here of Malachi, it's merely giving us kind of a full image of the complete exclusion of the wicked from God's kingdom.

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And Jesus himself reaffirms this in Matthew twenty five forty six over to Daniel for a second.

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I want to read that verse. It's really interesting. So Daniel twelve two says in many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life.

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So it's referencing saints that have passed away throughout history. They will awake some to ever.

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They will they will be the ones to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

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So we know that the wicked can't be totally snuffed out, both not only bodily but also spiritually as well as the annihilationists claim that Malachi four one is referencing, because if that were true, they cannot be awakened from that sleep to then be judged and then be sent to everlasting contempt and so on.

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Nowhere in the Bible does it even give a hint that souls will go completely out of existence through God's judgment.

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There's plenty of places where God's judgment is fierce to the point of, again, full bodily consumption.

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Their bodies will be totally consumed in the fire, for example, of his judgment. But nowhere does it even give an indication that the soul or the spirit would be likewise consumed.

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In fact, if that were true, think about phrases like it would be better if they had never been born.

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Jesus himself used that phrase at least a couple of times. Once the son of perdition, Judas himself, also to those false prophets that caused little ones to stumble,

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I believe is another place where that similar phrase is used. It would be better if they would never be born. That would be a meaningless phrase if the soul and the spirit were consumed and not condemned to eternal fire, to eternal judgment.

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So also, if you want to look at Revelation chapter 20 verses 11 through 15, it talks again about the great white throne judgment and the wicked being rised to be judged and then to be cast into the eternal lake of fire.

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So the soul and spirit are not annihilated. How there are such movements, I'm not sure.

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It's new to me. It'd be interesting to see what their other proof texts are. But Malachi four one seems pretty clear, even in the context, it's talking about bodily consumptions, removing the wicked so that Jesus can come and restore his kingdom without them there to mess everything up.

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All right. Verse two of Malachi chapter four says. But unto you that fear my name, so now it's going to shift yet again, the wicked are totally consumed.

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It's going to be a devastating day for them, but now it shifts back to those that fear his name, the remnant.

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But unto you that fear my name, so shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in its wings, in his wings.

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Now, what's beautiful about this is we've already talked about the remnant in Malachi. And of course,

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I believe this is still Malachi from the human viewpoint is still targeting these words to them because that's who he can see.

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But knowing that it's the Lord speaking through Malachi and knowing that this is now talking about a future event, we're included in this.

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And to you that fear my name, that's us as well. Shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and you shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall.

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It's the kind of verse you can look over somewhat quickly, but the wording and the mental like the the inquiry here, the mental pictures are pretty beautiful.

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First of all, here in verse two, we're given one of the most clear contrasts in the whole

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Bible in regard to just how different this same exact event will be for one group compared to the other.

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We have vivid passages on the day of the Lord being a day of judgment, a day of consuming fire like an oven.

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Striking down the wicked. We have other passages that talk about the beauty of that day for the righteous, for those awaiting his return, being glorified, getting to take part in that glory with him and all these things.

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But here we have back to back the same event aimed at two different groups of people.

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Between verses one and two, it'll be like a fire to the wicked as we covered in verse one, and it will be like sunshine to God's people.

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As we see here in verse two, it'll be the wording in human history for the wicked. It will be the greatest day in human history for the followers of God.

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Now, the phrase in verse two here, the son of righteousness, it's a cool phrase.

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It appears only here in Scripture, which is interesting because there's been two or three of these in the book of Malachi where a particular phrase, a particular word formula is used that's not used anywhere else in the whole

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Bible that we can we can gather some pretty cool information from. This is one of them, the son of righteousness.

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Now, of course, if you're reading along with me, it is the son, S -U -N, not S -O -N.

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So it's speaking, it's using a picture of the healing, restorative, wonderful aspects of the son, the physical son, as a picture of what it'll be like at Jesus's return.

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The son of righteousness appears again only here in Scripture. Now, some commentators will lean this being a reference to Jesus himself,

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Jesus specifically, but others believe it references more to kind of the glory of the day, the glory of Jesus's return and his kingdom in general.

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In other words, they think the son of righteousness is referencing kind of the totality of the day of the

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Lord from the perspective of God's people. Now, I personally believe that it makes the most sense that it is a reference to Jesus himself.

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And by the way, the reason why the word son is capitalized in our Bibles, in our

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King James Bibles, is because the King James translators believe the same thing.

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They capitalize the word son because they saw this as an Old Testament prophecy of Jesus himself in his return.

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They didn't generalize it to the glory of that day, but they specified it to Jesus himself.

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I believe that's also the case, that it's a reference specifically to Jesus. Even if you want to take the approach that it's referencing the righteous environment as a whole.

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You can then ask, who is the source of the righteousness that is hence making the whole environment righteous?

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It's still Jesus. So in reality, regardless of which direction you want to take, it will come back to him being the source of that righteousness.

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But again, I think the phrase the son of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings.

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That's a specific reference to Jesus himself upon his return. Psalm 84, 11 says,

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For the Lord God is a son and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory.

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No thing will be with no thing. I'm sorry. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

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And there are other verses as well. Second Samuel 23, 1 through 4, Isaiah 9, 2 and 49, 6, where it references

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Jesus Lord as a son, S -U -N, like using the physical picture of our son to represent what he does for his people as well as his glory in general.

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Now, let me hone in on a quick word here. We're getting close to wrapping up, but in verse two, where it says the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.

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That word healing there is the Hebrew word marpe, which means health or healing or literally a medicine.

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So think about this for a second. The son of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings.

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The word literally translated can reference specifically a medicine.

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You think of him returning. You know, the allegory here being used kind of to reference, like I said, the restorative power of the righteousness within him that is permeating everything at this point.

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It's like a medicine to God's people, and when you consider this in the context of the tribulation period of the second coming after what the children of God have to endure during that time, as well as just living within their own flesh, their own, you know, having that constant battle between the old and new man throughout their entire lifetime, his return and the righteousness that exudes from him will be like a medicine.

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It will be healing. It will have this restorative power for God's people. It will be like rays of sunshine.

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Upon God's people, when he returns, then at the end of verse two here,

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I love this, we have the picture of calves enjoying open pasture for the first time after being cooped up in a stall for their entire life.

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It says, And ye shall go forth and grow up as calves on the stall. Again, a little phrase you can overlook quickly, but think about the joy that those creatures, those little creatures would have after being cooped up, you know, inside of a tight little area in their own filth, with no fresh grass to graze, with no freedom whatsoever.

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That is like us in this state. And yet upon Jesus's return, we're going to be like calves being let loose out of that stall for the first time in running into open pastures.

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That's the imagery that Malachi gives us here. Like these creatures experiencing true freedom for the first time, our future satisfaction and joy and righteousness is expressed in this picture here.

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I'll go ahead and end it there, too. We only have a couple of minutes left. We'll pick it up at verse three next time.

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We're getting pretty close to wrapping up this little book. Do you guys have any thoughts or comments before we dismiss today?

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Happy now to end it on? Yeah, I'll say it's a beautiful picture. Yes, sir. I have a very important question for Isaiah 66, 15, is that verse that you saw in your introduction?

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For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots on the world, with the wind and the thunder and the fury and the beauty of the flames and fire.

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Are those UFOs? Those chariots? There's no telling.

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Yeah, I've got to do theory work in here. I think the Lord sends beings from the third heaven to the earth, vehicles.

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When you think about dimensions and you think about the higher dimensions from which the spiritual realm resides in that we cannot see, it is real.

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Matt, I can't believe you left the book. Matt, there's this book called Flatland. Have you all ever read Flatland?

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It was written by a preacher way back in like the 20s or something like that. But it's just like a little, you know, it's like a little it's not sci -fi.

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It's a little book. And it's basically a critique of kind of Victorian lifestyle, which is funny.

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His critique of the culture around him was through this world called

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Flatland. But in it, and he was a mathematician as well, you get in the most simple terms you can imagine because we're talking two dimensional and three dimensional in just a little bit of four dimensional for the at the end of the story, you get kind of an idea of what it's like to be in a higher dimension, looking into a smaller dimension or a lesser dimension and what it's like to live in that lesser dimension, not being able to see the guy looking at you.

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And it's a really it's a really interesting story because I mean, it's a really interesting thing to pull from the story because that is what it's like.

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With the angels and with the demons looking from without our dimension in, we can't see them, but they are as real, if not more real than us, if that's possible.

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And they're right there with us all the time. What dad is saying is that his theory is the chariots here and the imagery that we're getting in that the prophet was seeing and think about the things that John saw that he was trying to describe and what words he had at that time.

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Chariots is the best he can come up with. The best Isaiah can come up with. But what exactly was he seeing in order for beings of a higher dimension to condescend and do our dimension where we can actually see them because they're here right now.

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Angels are around us as we speak, and yet we can't see them. In order for us to see them, they have to come into our dimension.

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Well, how do they do that? One of the ways may very well be these vehicles, as dad puts it. Now, UFOs is a very ambiguous term.

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It's just an unidentified object. Right. So this is what these will look like. They could be,

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I imagine, very bright because chariots with fire is a is a descriptor that is used a few times.

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So couldn't this be angels coming along with Jesus in these, as dad put it,

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UFOs? Think about the people returning in the clouds with him, the saints that are already in heaven. What will they be returning in?

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Now, Revelation talks about horses, but maybe that's just the best word

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John had to use. Who knows? It is very interesting, though, that Isaiah chapter is really,

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I mean, it has a punch in those few verses as to what they will be like. Yeah, man, it will be kind of what is this alphabet?

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But maybe you'll well, two verses that you reference. Yeah. And they are asleep.

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The dust of the earth shall wake. Is that that those,

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I guess, who have passed on right now will awaken that kind of body?

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What it is referencing their physical bodies, Jesus resurrecting the physical bodies of not only the saints, but also the wicked in order to judge them by their works.

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The great white throne judgment to then be cast into their eternal state, which for it says it says it in the verse, some to everlasting life that will be eternal bliss with God himself, some to everlasting shame and contempt.

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And that will be in the revelation specifies that it will be the lake of fire.

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You got to keep in mind no one's in hell yet. Hell is reserved for a specific time in history when this judgment takes place.

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Right now, the wicked go to a place referred to in the New Testament. The Greek word is Hades or Hadass in Greek, and the

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King James translators translate it as hell. But if you look at the Greek, I can't remember what the Greek word that for actual hell is like the lake of fire.

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Yeah. But if you look at the Greek as you read through the New Testament, you'll see they differentiate between two totally different places.

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And so these people will be resurrected. They'll be judged by their works, then dumped into the everlasting place of hell.

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Did you have a thought, Dad? You had your hand up. Yeah. That verse is

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Daniel. And of course, like you said, it's worth finding first revelation. It's current theories that are out there, they say the first resurrection is only saved people.

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And then they experience the judgment of Jesus Christ, you know, they're all going to heaven.

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But if you read that, it says so. So that theory is wrong.

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See what I'm on. So you're saying it might not be the great white throne there, just his second coming.

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Well, I don't know. Do you think that's the second second resurrection? The second one is for only the wicked.

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And this one's talking about good and bad people. So this has to be when Jesus comes back.

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Well, my point is, most people think the first one is only for saved people and the second one is only for lost people.

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It's true that the second one, it may be true that the second one is only for lost people, but the first one is for both.

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It makes a lot of sense that the second one would be only for lost, because if you consider the people that will be dying during the millennial kingdom, they're going to be people that were cursed for their bad works and or killed because of their bad works with Jesus ruling with the right of iron on the throne.

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And so the righteous during the millennial kingdom, at least to my knowledge, I don't see any indication that they'll be dying of old age or otherwise.

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It'll be like before the flood again. People live into about a thousand years old. Whereas the first, when

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Jesus comes back the second time, there will be a resurrection there as well, the common teaching is that it will be the saints of old, the elect that have passed away and are in the grave that will be resurrected that time and then be taken up, glorified, and we go up with them.

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And that is what some would refer to as the rapture. But Daniel is telling us that there will be some wicked that will be resurrected during that time as well, and judged perhaps with the wicked that are alive and so on and so forth.

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Did you have another thought? Yeah. Yes. Yes. Look, my mind, my college philosophy class,

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Christian to learn that the spiritual realm dimension or dimension is more real than physical reality.

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I'm all free because the spiritual reality is physical and spiritual.

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It is greater reality. It is. It is a higher reality.

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And when you think about the things that can be accomplished in that dimension, anything that we can do plus, I mean, think about Jesus when he came back, he was still able to sit down and have a grill up some fish.

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by the seaside and eat a meal and walk through walls at the same time it's really bizarre stuff.

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That's another way to look at it. Everything here will be destroyed. Everything there will remain.

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Yes, so that that is in our realm is destructible and or consumable and that in the next realm is not to a degree because the evil spirits will be now that maybe they're not destroyed they're not annihilated they're just cast into a prison wouldn't put it in that term so it's still true it can't be destroyed exactly so you're yes that in the spiritual realm cannot be destroyed it can be put into certain places and locked away such as Satan being bound for a thousand years as one example anyway

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I better end it because we're seven minutes after normally father thank you so much for this wonderful day for the wonderful just pictures that we receive in these books of the

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Bible as we go through them that represent not only things that were happening in the historical context and when they were written to that group of people there but in the way that it can be extrapolated into the future in our own time in the pictures that are dedicated to the remnant that was there at the time of Malachi that were struggling with the wickedness and with the grievous spiritual state of their brothers and kinsmen around them and yet we see ourselves in a very similar situation right now and we see the promise the son of righteousness coming not only for that remnant then but also for the remnant now that we get to be blessed enough to take part in through your grace