Well, let us turn to this portion
of scripture that we've just read, Malachi chapter 4. Final words of the Old Testament,
the last of the prophets, Malachi, and I want to turn your attention
to those last two verses in chapter 4, verses 5 and 6. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come
and smite the earth with a curse. In the former part of the chapter
we read of the day, Look at the language there in
the first three verses. For behold, the day cometh that
shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that
do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall
burn them up, saith the 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 ye shall go forth and grow up as the calves of the stall
and ye shall tread down the wicked and there shall be ashes under
the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this saith
the Lord of hosts." Observe then how it is spoken that the day
cometh as an emphasis upon that day and what is the day? It is
really the day of the Lord that is being spoken of and interestingly
there at the end of the third verse it says in the day that
I shall do this saith the Lord of hosts but you will observe
that the word this in italics is evidently a word that's been
introduced in the translation it's not the rendering of a word
that's there in the hebrew literally it says in the day that I shall
do, or we could render it in the day that I shall make, saith
the Lord of hosts. What is being spoken of then
is the day that the Lord hath made. Think of the language of
the psalmist there in the 118th Psalm, this is the day that the
Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. And what is this day that the
Lord has made, it is this day. It is the last days. It is the
day of grace. It is the gospel day. The American commentator, T.V. Moore, observes that the mission
of Christ in the Old Testament is regarded as a whole from the
manger of Bethlehem to the throne of judgment. In other words,
that day is marked from the first advent, the first coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ, to his second advent, his coming again. That's how it's spoken of in
the Old Testament. And so we see that it is in many
ways the Day of Grace. Here in verse 2, unto you that
fear my name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing
in his wings. Isn't this a word that really
applies evidently to the Day of Grace, the Gospel dispensation,
the last days? Peter speaks of a more sure word
of prophecy, wherein ye do well as unto a light that shineth
in a dark place until the day dawn, and the day star arise
in your hearts, or the day of grace. But also, because the
day is measured from the first coming to the second coming of
the Lord, we also see judgment. And as we have it here in verse
3, ye shall tread down the wicked, there shall be ashes under the
soles of your feet. In the day that I shall do this,
saith the Lord of hosts. Oh, the day of the Lord is great
and very terrible. Who can abide it? asks the prophet
Joel. Again, look at the language that
we have in Amos, Amos 5.18. Woe unto you that desire the
day of the Lord! To what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness
and not light. There is a judgment that will
come. We know that the ministry of the Gospel is a discriminating
ministry. The Gospel message comes to some
the savor of life unto life, it comes to some the savor of
death unto death. Who is sufficient for these things?
Even the Lord's own ministry brought about a division amongst
the people. His sayings. Those who minister the Word of
God, those who would be as the mouth of the Lord. They are to
separate the precious from the vile. and ultimately the final
separation will be made in that great day, the last day, the
day of judgment. But thinking tonight more particularly
of the promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
first coming of Christ that is clearly spoken of here at the
end, Behold I will send you Elijah, the prophet before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Dreadful here does
not necessarily have to do with a work of judgment. It's the
same, I suppose, as the word awesome. What God does in His
great mercy is something that could fill us with awe and dread
and reverence. And so what is being spoken of
is that first coming of the Lord, and we see that there was a ministry
that was preparatory to that coming. Historically, are we
not to think in terms of the ministry of John the Baptist? All of the Old Testament was clearly something that was
preparatory to the coming of Christ. The Lord himself makes that quite
clear at the end of Luke's Gospel when he is speaking to his disciples. then in Luke 24 44 he says to
them these are the words which I spake unto you while I was
yet with you that all things might be fulfilled which were
written in the Lord of Moses and in the prophets and in the
Psalms concerning me and he opened their understanding that they
might understand the scriptures all the scriptures of the Old
Testament are preparatory to the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ and then at the end of that Old Testament era, that
Old Testament dispensation. We have the ministry of John
the Baptist. John chapter 1 verse 6, There
was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came
for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through
him might believe. He was not that light, but was
sent to bear witness to that light. And we do repeatedly in
the Gospels read of that remarkable ministry of the Baptist who comes
as that one who is the forerunner, preparing the way for the coming
of Christ. Matthew 11 and verse 11, the Lord says, Verily I say unto
you among them that are born of women, there hath not risen
a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least
in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of
John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence.
and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the
law prophesied until John. And if he will receive it, this
is Elias, which was for to come. He that has ears to hear, let
him hear." How the Lord repeatedly emphasizes the importance of
that ministry, and John the Greatest prophet that ever arose throughout
the whole period of the Old Testament. Again, in John 17 and there at
verse 10, His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say the
scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and
said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things.
But I sound to you that Elias is come already. And they knew
him not, but who had done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of
Man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood
that he spake unto them of John the Baptist." And here is the
prophecy. Behold, I will send you Elijah. That is, Elias. There in the
Gospels, the Greek spelling the Greek version of the Hebrew name.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And now, when we
turn to Mark's gospel, Mark, in the very opening words of
that gospel, speaks specifically of John's ministry. is declaring
the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as we have it there
in the opening verse, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, as it is written in the Prophets, Behold, I send
my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before
thee. And there, the reference is to
the language of Malachi 3 verse 1, those few verses that we read
at the beginning of the third chapter. That is the prophet. As he's written in the prophets,
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which I'll prepare
thy way before thee, the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And there the language is that
of Isaiah 40 and verse 3. But it is John's ministry that
is very much being emphasized then at the beginning of Mark's
gospel. John comes in the spirit of Elijah. He is not Elijah reincarnated. That seems to have been the idea
of some of the foolish Jews, as we see again there in John
1. Verse 19, this is a record of
John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to
ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied
not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him,
What then? Art thou Elias? And he says,
I am not. Are thou that prophet? And he
answered, No. Then said the auntie, Who art
thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest
thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one
crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the
Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. He is not Elijah but he is that
one who, as the Lord himself says in Luke 1.17, he shall come
before him in the spirit and power of Elias. He's in the spirit,
the power of Elijah. He is like a second Elijah. I
found it quite interesting that the great historian of the Protestant
Reformation refers to Martin Luther as a third Elijah. Luther,
as he were, coming in exactly the same spirit. as that that
was evident in the ministry of a man like Elijah or the ministry
of a man like John the Baptist. And so historically here we have
the preparation spoken of in terms of the ministry of John. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
himself comes to the sinner in his experience that sinner also
knows a preparatory work So experimentally we can say that there is a preparation
which involves the conviction of the sinner. The conviction
of the sinner. And here we have mention of the
law, you see. Look at the context. Remember
ye the law of Moses, my servant, it says in verse 4, which I commanded
unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments.
Behold, I will send you Elijah. the prophet before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." Or there is a ministry
of the law of God. And when the Lord comes, there
is that work of conviction that must be accomplished in the soul. Coming back to chapter 3, We
have John's preparatory minister, the messenger, sent to prepare
the way, and then the Lord, the messenger of the covenant, He's
spoken of. Verse 2, But who may abide the
day of His coming? Who shall stand when He appeareth?
He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. Or what a
ministry this is. It is that ministry wherein The
sinner is awakened, brought under conviction, made to realize,
made to feel something of what his real condition is before
God. Remember the language again of
Paul in Romans, that great gospel epistle. Remarkable epistle,
it's such a wondrous declaration and revelation of what the gospel
is all about it's the gospel that was committed to Paul that
he's writing of there and yet he has so much to say with regards
to the law certainly in the third chapter he says we know that
what things soever the law saith, etc. them are under the law that
every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That is the ministry of the law.
Whosoever committeth sin, John says, transgresseth also the
law. Sin is the transgression of the
law. James says, if a man keeps the
whole law and yet offends in one point, he is guilty of all. This is that work that must be
brought in, that conviction of sin. Remember ye the Lord of
Moses, my servant. What is that ministry of the
law? Well, before faith, before saving faith came, we were kept
under the law, shut up to the faith which should afterward
be revealed. We believe the Lord, and the
Lord is at the convinces of sin. It's a ministration of condemnation.
It's the ministration of death. It's our schoolmaster to bring
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a certain priority in
the gospel. The gospel is before the law.
And that was the case. Historically, as we're told there
in Galatians 3.17, the law was 430 years after. What is Paul speaking of? Well,
he's speaking of Abraham and Moses. The covenant with Abraham,
that's the gospel. And the law comes 430 years after. The gospel has the priority. And the law is there to serve
the gospel. And Christ himself comes as that
one who stands in the law place of his people and answers all
those demands of the law, both with regards to its precepts
and also its penalties. He's obedient, he honors it by
the obedience of a sinless life, but he also honors it in his
death. There we see him bearing that
dreadful penalty that was due to the transgressors. as he dies
as a substitute in the room and stead of his people. Christ, the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth. But it's interesting
here also to think of the historical context. Malachi ministering
in the days of Nehemiah. And here in verse 4, it's not
just that God commanded in Horeb. It says, Remember ye the law
of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel,
with the statutes and judgments. All besides that law of the Ten
Commandments are those ceremonial laws. And what was happening
in the days when Malachi was ministering, remember how although
Ezra had returned from the captivity under the decree of Cyrus the
Persian and had commenced the rebuilding of the Temple of the
Lord, when news comes to Nehemiah in Shushan in the palace, still
there in Persia, And alas, that work has not progressed, and
Jerusalem is still in ruins. They've forsaken, really, the
work that they went back to accomplish. And Nehemiah rebukes those who
had returned. Nehemiah 13.11, why is the house
of God forsaken, he asks. They were living in their own
sealed houses. but they've forsaken that great
purpose of their return to to rebuild the temple of the Lord
and this is the context, the historical setting of the ministry
of the Prophet and how he rebukes the people because they despised
God's ordinances, they despised God's laws, those statutes and
judgments that are spoken of here at the end of verse 4. Look at what he says earlier
in the book, in chapter 1. Verse 7 he says, He offered polluted
bread upon mine altar and ye say wherein are we polluted then?
In that ye say the table of the Lord is contemptible. Again at
verse 12, But ye have profaned it in that ye say the table of
the Lord is polluted. and the fruit thereof, even his
meat, is contemptible." They despised those means of grace
that God himself had appointed. They treated him without a contempt. He's rebuking them. What was
the significance? Well, of course, the tabernacle,
then the temple, the altar, the sacrifices, All that was prescribed
there in the Old Testament, it's all highly significant because
it's all typical. It's all a foreshadowing of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that they were
despising. And he is that one who comes
in the fullness of the time, the true tabernacle, which the
Lord pitched, and not man. or that Old Testament tabernacle
was a type of his body he can say as he comes to the father
a body as thou prepared mine how they despise these things
and so there is that work that must be accomplished that work
of conviction but it's all preparatory for the ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ all the fulfillment ultimately comes in him we have
the very last words then of the Old Testament here. Behold I
will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great
and dreadful day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart of
the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to
their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. What does God do in his mercy?
This ministry of The Baptist, in the spirit of Elijah, prepares
the way for the coming of Christ. And that's what we have back
in chapter 3, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare
the way before me. And the Lord whom ye seek shall
suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant. Whom ye delight in, behold, he
shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. So we have the last words
here, and then we just turn over and we're in the New Testament,
and there's the New Testament open, the book of the generation
of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Immediately then we're introduced
to the Lord Jesus Christ. But think again of that ministry
of the Baptist, And this expression that we have here in verse 6,
he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the
heart of the children to their fathers. What does it mean? What
does it mean? Well, Dr. Gill says it indicates
that that ministry of the Baptists was such a fruitful ministry,
as the hearts of men were turned. And we certainly see something
of that in what is recorded concerning John in Matthew chapter 3. And
verse 5, they went out to him, Jerusalem and all Judea and all
the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan,
confessing their sins. That ministry then was fruitful. And yet, Though he was the greatest
of all the prophets of the Old Testament, what does the Lord
say concerning John, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he? Well, maybe we think ourselves
less than the least of all saints, I'm sure we do. But he that is
least in the kingdom of heaven is greater, says the Lord Jesus,
than John the Baptist. Well, how is that? Well, it's
because of that great work that God in the Gospel does in the
lives and in the souls of believers. Isn't that the great promise
of the Gospel really? The work that God does in the
sinner's heart. You remember the promise that
we have concerning the Gospel in the language of Ezekiel, and
there in Ezekiel 36, verse 25, Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. From all your
filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put My Spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you
shall keep My judgments and do them." All these are the great
promises of the Gospel. This is the New Covenant that
is being spoken of here in Ezekiel chapter 36. And where is man's
Great is false. Isn't our greatest fault something
that is inward? Isn't our greatest fault ourselves,
our own hearts, what we are by nature? This is the great fault.
This is the great sin, the heart, deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked. Who can know it? Ask the prophets
as God's mouth speaks and the Lord himself responds, I search
the heart, I try the reins. All God sees, God knows, God
sees the wickedness of man that is great in the earth and every
imagination of the thought of his heart, evil, Continually,
the Lord himself speaks of the hearts of men and those things
that proceed out of men's hearts. It's not what we take in, it's
not the things that we consume inwardly, it's the things that
come out of our hearts. There in Matthew 13, The Lord speaks of those things
that proceed, rather Matthew 15 I should say. Matthew chapter
15 and verse 19. He says, Out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man. but to eat with unwashing hands
defileth not a man." He's answering, of course, the scribes and the
Pharisees. The legalist who want to find
fault with his disciples because they're eating without going
through the necessary, as they saw it, ceremonial washings.
With what comes out of the heart of man, and yet It's there in
the heart of man that God is pleased to do the greatest of
all his works. Christ says the kingdom of God
is within you. It has to come within, it has
to take hold of our hearts. And that is a mighty work of
God that he does. Mightier than any of the works
of God. And what do we have here? in
verse 3, in the day, remember, that I shall do this, in the
day that I shall make this, is what God does. It's God's work. God's work not only to accomplish
the salvation of sinners, but God's work also to apply that
salvation of sinners. This is what we see as so vital,
so important, the Kingdom of God, It's within you, the Kingdom
of God is not in words, says the Apostle, but in power. How
did the Gospel come to those Thessalonians? It came not in
word only, he says, but in power and in the Holy Ghost. Oh, there
is a blessed ministry of the Holy Ghost. It's a great blessing
if we're five to have a real heart religion. It is that that only God Himself
is able to accomplish. He must work effectually. And
God does that work. He does it by the way of conviction,
He does it by the way of conversion, He does it by the way of the
comforts and the consolations also of the Gospel. And all that God does is making
a way, making a way for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't
that the great truth that stands out even as we come to these
words, the very last words of the Old Testament Scriptures? Be it what we have there at the
beginning of the third chapter, the messenger who prepares the
way of the Lord, the message of John the Baptist, Remember
what that message was? Such a negative message really
as we have it in all its fullness there in the language of Isaiah
chapter 40. The voice that's crying in the
wilderness. And the voice said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, comes the
answer. All the goodliness thereof is as a flower of the field.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of
the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the Word of our God shall
stand forever. And that's what we see As we
come to the end of the Old Testament, the way prepared, the coming
of Christ, and that great work that He has accomplished, and
that great work that can only be applied and made a reality
by the Holy Spirit Himself. Well, the Lord grant that we
might be favoured to know these things. for our souls' good and
for God's glory. Amen.