Malachi: Return To Me - Week 7 (Malachi 4:1-6)
Malachi 4:1-6
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Malachi 4:1-6
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Malachi 4:1-6 〰️ Malachi 4:1-6 〰️
Well, we made it to the end of Malachi! I hope this series has been refreshing and prompted some reflection with you and your Community Group. Our key focus during this short series has been a desire to see God’s heart for His people and His jealous love for us. When we read a passage like Malachi 4:1-6 in a vacuum, it can be a little uncomfortable, and to be honest, this is the kind of passage that makes people think that God is heavier on judgment in the Old Testament. But we know that God is unchanging, from beginning to end, our Lord is constant. We talked about it last week, and keeping these things in mind is why reading larger portions of Scripture is just as valuable as diving deeper into smaller passages. Last week's passage, in v6, God says, “Because I, the Lord, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.” (3:6). This “God of wrath” that Western culture sees in the OT is actually abounding in steadfast patience toward His people. Generations have come and gone of people who have all the evidence to see God’s presence, character, and attributes. We’re given a lifetime to see these attributes of God, and at the end of our lives, we will meet Him face to face. Did we ignore His clear presence? Did we reject Him entirely? There is no doubt that we have sinned against God (Rom. 3:23), and Paul says that we are “without excuse” for seeing His nature in creation and in our lives (Rom. 1:20). A parent who rightly punishes their child for deliberate disobedience would rarely be called a wrathful mother or father, yet so many percieve God in this way. God is perfect and good (Deut. 32:4, Ps. 18:30, Matt 5:28). His ways are the standard by which we live— if God says it is good and just, then it is so. For goodness and justice to have a definition, there must be a constant, unchanging baseline to which those words are upheld and defined. That baseline and standard is God. So with that as our framework for this week, let’s dive into just what God is telling His people here in Malachi 4.
This passage opens up with a pretty intense image for those who live in wickedness, opposing God. “...The day is coming, burning like a furnace when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble.” (v1). Several English translations of this passage say the word stubble, but another translation for this is “chaff” or “stubble in the wind.” The people of Israel knew and understood agricultural analogies much more than we do, but chaff was the useless part of grain when the usable parts were separated from the husk on a threshing floor. They’d have a threshing floor and utilize the wind to blow away the lighter and useless husks while the grain dropped to the ground. John the Baptist— the (lower case m) Messenger prophesied in Malachi 3— foretold of Jesus’s coming with a baptism of the Holy Spirit. God’s people who failed to remain faithful with an external temple would soon bear the Holy Spirit within them. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. He himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out.” (Matt 3:11-12).
So we have this really cool connection in several points of Malachi, where 1) God tells of a coming messenger, 2) God then warns of a coming judgment, and then later, 3) this messenger concludes this by announcing that this judgment is coming and that the Son of God will both bridge the gap (through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) and usher in judgment, coming at the end of this age. The “sun of righteousness” in v2 is super cool as well, with this imagery of God’s coming rule and reign as a light that overtakes the darkness of sin. This isn’t the only time we see this imagery, as the Gospel of Luke opens by describing Jesus’ coming in a similar way:
“And you, child, will be called
a prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord
to prepare his ways,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins.
Because of our God’s merciful compassion,
the dawn from on high will visit us
to shine on those who live in darkness
and the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:76–79)
We’ve said this over and over as a church, but we want it to stick with you: the Bible is a unified story that points to Jesus. Again, we can read small portions of Scripture and feel as if the judgment of God is most present, but as we see His character unfold over the course of the Bible, we see that God is patient and enduring in His love for us. With Jesus’ arrival, death, and resurrection, that faithfulness extends not only to the people of Israel, but to us (Gentiles: those outside of the Hebrew people) as well! To me, that sounds pretty kind.
We then get another glimpse of God’s goodness and heart for justice in v3. “You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing.” Few people, if any, would ever say that it is just for a wicked criminal to walk free without punishment, and again, as Paul said in Romans 3, we have all sinned greatly against God. What we deserve is eternal separation from God. We sometimes get this cartoonified caricature of hell, in that there’s a short red man with horns and a pitchfork standing at the gate waiting to torture you for eternity upon arrival. I don’t know about any of that, but what’s most important about what we truly do know about hell is that it is eternal separation from God. Those who rejected Him get what they desire. Again, we are not without excuse or opportunity to turn to Him. All of creation is screaming of His presence and glory, and many choose to reject Him.
This passage then closes with God telling His people that He will send another messenger who will “turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers” (v6). This prophesies a day when God’s people will no longer live in selfishness and willing ignorance, but love, compassion, and a righteousness in hearing and obeying God’s words.
Discussion Questions
Could someone read Malachi 4:1-6 for us?
What stood out to you from the passage?
Does this passage remind you of another part of Scripture?
Do you have any questions?
How is God’s character presented in this passage?
How is the day of the Lord coming described in v5? Why both of these adjectives?
In what ways do you see God’s heart for justice in this passage? What hope could this bring to us living in a broken and sinful world?
What hope do we have in Jesus among the heavy judgment in this passage?
With Easter this weekend, does anyone have a person they’re inviting/praying for that we could pray for together?