23. The End Of The World In Malachi (End-Times Series Part 4)

Welcome to the podcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 23, the end of the world as told by Malachi.

As a boy, some of my fondest memories came when my grandfather and I would steal away from the house with a couple of 20 gauge shotguns in his rusted out

Ford pickup truck and we would go down to the turkey shoot at the nearby moose lodge. In those days, turkey shoot was not about traipsing about in the

North Carolina woods trying to nab a herd of unsuspecting fowl, but it was to gather around a fire with a group of like -minded southern boys, all shooting competitively at paper targets lined up methodically in the distance.

The reward for cutting out the crosshairs, as we called it, in a particular round was a corresponding cut of delectable meat, meaning that if you won the round, if you were the closest to the center, then you won whatever round it was that you were in, and typically a round was associated with a really nice quality cut of meat.

In fact, some of the greatest bacon and the most tasty ham and turkey that I've ever tasted came out of winning one of these turkey shoot rounds, and I've won a many.

Although my weapon of choice, a modest Remington 1100 with a standard choke, was not all that much to look at, it consistently delivered a tight pattern of buckshots through the paper target before me and netted me plenty of victories along the way.

Even while all the competitors' targets contained hundreds of small little holes, the winner simply needed to accomplish one thing, one strategically placed hole right in the very center, cutting out the crosshairs, and they won the round.

And this, ironically enough, is what the Lord reminded me today of when I was thinking about eschatology.

You see, these days there are hundreds of stray positions that are spread all across the riddled canvas of modern end -time study, and yet, no matter how many holes there are in our thinking, almost none of them have brought us back to the center, to the biblical point where we see

Christ's amazing victory. My aim in this series is to narrow our focus onto the heart of the matter, focusing on what

I believe to be the single buckshot of biblical truth that will open up this field of study for us and help us understand everything that the

Bible has to say on this matter. When we do that, eschatology will bring us hope, peace, and great joy as we await for our

Savior's return. Think about it this way. If a single buckshot at the center of a piece of paper would gain a man, or a 15 -year -old boy in my case, the most joyful and bacon -infused victory, then how much more will a single concept aimed right at the center of biblical eschatology not only expose for us the kind of victory in the kingdom that Jesus has purchased for us, but would also make us leap like newborn calves.

But let us not get ahead of ourselves at this moment. The Buckshot of Biblical Eschatology That concept that we're talking about here, which we spoke about last week, is that there are two kinds of comings described in the

Bible. There is a past -tensh, spiritual and covenantal, non -bodily coming of Jesus when

He raises up the Roman armies to rain down God's judgment upon apostate

Jerusalem, and that happened in A .D. 70. That, in the Bible, is described as a coming of Christ.

But then there's also the future coming of Christ, the physical and bodily coming of Jesus at the end of human history, where He will come and He will separate all people according to their election.

He will deliver over the saints to the never -ending kingdom of heaven and those who are not

His to eternal destruction. One coming has already happened to national

Israel in the first century. The other coming is going to happen to spiritual

Israel, Galatians 6 .16, in the future. And knowing the difference between these two events actually can make the difference between eschatological defeat and victory, confusion or clarity, despair and abiding delight.

We flat -out must understand the difference in these two comings and which passages are talking about what.

So, with that in mind, my goal over the next several weeks will be to focus on the judgment coming of Christ against Jerusalem in A .D.

70. That's the first kind of coming in the Bible. And I want to talk about all the verses, all the various passages that deal with that kind of coming, those harrowing events, and expose their meaning in the proper biblical context.

And forevermore, I want to extricate these passages from dogmatic eschatological futurism and confusion and put them firmly back in their place as fulfilled past prophecies.

Then, after we've dealt with all the passages in the New Testament that have to do with the downfall of Jerusalem, and we've dealt with them rightly, and we've understood them correctly, then, and only then, can we look at the future passages that talk about the future glorious hope for the church.

And we'll do that as we close out our series in the weeks ahead. So, today I want to begin in the

Old Testament, and I want to describe the judgment of Christ, the judgment coming, that Malachi tells us about in his terrifying, fiery, doom -filled book.

The Judgment of Christ in Malachi. In our modern Bibles, the last book of the

Old Testament is called Malachi, which in Hebrew means, My Messenger.

Now, that title is given to him for good reason, since the Old Testament ends the very same way that the

New Testament begins, with a messenger. Malachi is the messenger of the

Lord. John the Baptist is the messenger of the Lord. So, we see that the New Testament and Old Testament are ending and beginning in the exact same ways, with the message and the oracle of God.

For instance, in the Old Testament, that message of doom is carried to the people by the prophet Malachi, who speaks urgently for the people to repent of their sins before it's too late.

And in the New Testament, by the time that it opens up and dawns 400 years after Malachi, we see that time has actually ran out.

That John the Baptist, one of the men that Malachi had actually warned them was coming, in chapter 4, verse 5, is there to deliver an urgent message that the time has come.

The ax is already at the root of the tree. Judgment is coming. Perhaps this is why

John the Baptist was killed, and perhaps this is why Malachi is called by many people the prophet of doom.

Because his oracles foretell of the terrifying calamity that will befall Judah and Jerusalem if they continue in unrepentance, which is exactly what happened.

In the book of Malachi, the Lord himself assumes the role of the prosecutor and the judge, and this is typical for the prophets, because the prophets are covenant lawyers.

They are men who come to the people of God and bring them up on charges for their covenant infidelity.

That is certainly true in Malachi, but more so. In this book, it's not just the prophet who is bringing them up on charges, it is

God himself who is assuming the role of both prosecutor and judge, leveling one accusation after another upon the people who have forsaken their covenant with God.

He accuses them. God himself accuses them of doubting his love, chapter 1, 1 -5, having corrupted and defiled priests and sacrifices, chapter 6, 1 -14, and in chapter 2, he further explicates their guilt by heaping additional charges upon them, such as spiritual infidelity, apostasy, blasphemy, hypocrisy, and a hatred of God.

Against all of these and more, most truthful and substantiated charges, the people boldly put forward their untrue plea, not guilty, almost like a sociopath mocking the jury.

It's in chapter 3, after this back and forth sort of display between God and Judah, it's in chapter 3 that God details the awful judgment that is going to soon come upon these people.

For instance, Malachi says that another Malachi, my messenger, is gonna arise called

John the Baptist. This is in Malachi 3 -1, when it says, my messenger is coming, he's saying, my Malachi.

The Old Testament prophet Malachi was my messenger, but now I'm gonna send another messenger.

He's gonna also be my messenger. His name is John the Baptist, and he is going to prepare the people for the urgent coming destruction that is gonna overtake them if they don't repent.

After this messenger, John the Baptist, after his ministry of warning, the Lord himself,

Malachi tells us, is gonna visit the Jerusalem temple, and he's gonna bring judgment upon these unrepentant people of Judah.

That's Malachi 3 -2 -4. I want you to read those passages. Even though we're not reading them here, we're just referencing them.

Go back and read the book of Malachi. Judgment is coming against these wicked people. But what

I find so fascinating is before God, when we're talking about the coming of Christ, before he talks about the coming of Christ in a positive way, before he talks about the coming of Christ in a salvation sort of way, he talks about the coming of Christ in judgment, in terrifying judgment against the wicked.

Notice what he says in Malachi 3 -5. Then I, that's God, will draw near to you.

What a sweet, comforting phrase that normally would be when God draws near to his people but not here.

In Malachi 3 -5, it says, then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be swift against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear me, says the

Lord of hosts. In this sense that Malachi is describing, the purpose of Jesus' future coming, future to Malachi, that would happen 400 years after Malachi was finished, that coming was just as much about the reckoning that God was gonna bring upon the rebels as it was about saving the righteous.

Both events are true. You can't separate one from another. Yes, Jesus came to this earth to save sinners and he grafted those sinners into true

Israel. That's what the New Testament is trying to teach us, that we have been grafted in. But as the

Bible describes, that not all Israel is true Israel, and as Malachi demonstrates with crystal clarity, that the judgment of Christ is going to happen upon false

Israel, that they will be cut off. The ones who think they're true Israel, but they're not, they will be severed.

As Jesus saves his elect people, when he comes, those who hate him will be crushed,

Malachi 3, 16 through 18. You cannot have one without the other.

He comes to save some by judging others.

That's what his coming is gonna be like, according to Malachi. Listen to how Malachi describes the judgment coming of Jesus in chapter four, verses one through three.

For behold, the day, the day of his coming is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaffed, and the day that is coming will set them ablaze, says the

Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch, but for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall, you will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which

I am preparing, says the Lord of hosts. As you can see, in this final book of Old Testament prophecy,

God is preparing the covenant people for the blistering reality that most of them will be treated like chaff.

Most of them will be violently removed from the root of Israel, from the stump of Jesse.

Most of them will be set ablaze as a withering fig tree that bears no fruit, and most of them will be punished for their unfaithfulness to the law of Moses and for their hardheartedness to the prophets.

That's Malachi 4, 4 through 4, 5. Most of the

Jews will have the fury of God poured out upon them in a sudden and horrifying display of God's purity and power.

Judgment coming accomplished. With such astounding clarity set forth by the prophet

Malachi, our only question must be this. When will these predictions occur?

From the text, it seems clear that God's messenger was talking about two very unique events in Israel, both that were occurring in Malachi's future, both that would happen in a single generation.

The saving of one group and the destruction of the other. Our question must be, was there a coming of Jesus that accomplishes both aspects of Malachi's prophecy?

Is there an event in the first century that would adequately and accurately accomplish both the salvation of God's people and the fiery destruction of covenantal dissenters?

And if so, when does it happen? Well, just as we suspect, it already has.

As we know, the New Testament describes Jesus coming in the first century to provide salvation for God's people, for all who believe in him.

That's half of Malachi's prophecy. He would give them a kind of new resurrection life that would make them leap like calves, which is what

Malachi tells us, that would heal them in his radiant wings, which is what Malachi tells them in chapter four, verse two.

In the first century, when Jesus came, he would begin the kind of wholesale redemption that would eliminate, that would eventually eliminate, he began the work when he came, he'll finish the work when he comes again, that would eventually eliminate the curse from his people's hearts and would begin the transformation of their land that will be completed in heaven.

That's Malachi 4, 6. That is what Jesus came to do in part, but that's not the whole story because the other part of his coming was directed at Jerusalem.

While the glory and the honor and the joy and the hope and the majesty of his salvation was directed at his people, there also was fury directed at the people of Israel for their covenantal rebellion.

And this is what Malachi is talking about and this is actually what happened. In the very same century that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven to save sinners, in the same century, just 40 years after,

Jesus appeared at the temple for the final time. It's what Malachi says. Your messenger will appear suddenly at the temple.

The messenger of the new covenant, he'll appear suddenly at the temple. Jesus does that in Matthew 23. And while he's standing there, just outside the city, he gives the clearest exposition and prophecy of Jerusalem's downfall ever recorded in Matthew 24, where the

Romans, used by Jesus, are going to surround the city with their armies and they're eventually gonna burn it to the ground in a ash heap of Jerusalem.

Malachi's prophecy about the astounding downfall of this city comes eerily true.

Malachi said that it would be burned with refiner's fire, that it would be an ash heap, that it would be set ablaze.

Malachi says, who can endure the day of his coming? A million people could not endure the day of Jesus' coming when

Jesus sent Rome against Jerusalem. Read the passages in Malachi 3.

Read the passages in Malachi 4. It's all there. In history, in the year

AD 68, when Vespasian, the Roman general, came against Jerusalem all the way until AD 70 when the last stone was ripped apart and the city was lying in a heap of ashes, this prophecy from Malachi came true.

On that day, in the exact same generation as Jesus' incarnation, the fury of God was poured out upon the

Old Testament people. Their temple was destroyed. Their religion was destroyed. Every aspect of them was permanently removed from history.

And the people of God, the true people of God, the covenant people of God, were given their new place in Him.

Knowing this, knowing that there's two kinds of comings will help us understand the judgment passages in the book of Malachi.

And in the weeks ahead, you're going to see how they help us understand what John the Baptist is saying, what

Jesus is saying, what the gospels are saying, what the epistles are saying, what the

Olivet Discourse is saying, and even what the book of Revelation is really trying to teach us.

Knowing these two comings will help you understand the Bible in such a crystal clear way.

That you won't be confused about it again if you can just grab hold of that point.

Join us next week as we unpack John the Baptist's contribution to the judgment coming of Jesus against Jerusalem.