Book of Malachi chapter 4, the
last message of the Old Testament, 400 years before the God of heaven
would touch the heart of a person to make, made holy by the grace
of God, to start writing Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 400 years
are going to be in between these two verses we're going to read
tonight and the New Testament. When I was in that little Bible
school down in Dallas, they brought up the 400 silent years. They
made it sound like nothing happened during that time. Well, we know
that the Holy Spirit certainly was not quiet during that time.
The world has never been without a witness. God has always had
a witness of his grace on this earth. And during this period,
the gospel was preached. The Holy Spirit would bring the
lost sheep under the sound of it and save folks just like he
does today. So during those 400 years, there
was a lot of spiritual activity going on. The Holy Spirit was
accrediting the word of God as it was being preached by various
people, preachers of the gospel during that period of time. say
folks were taught by the same spirit that we are taught by
today. They were taught the truth of
the gospel. They were taught the truth about Christ. They
were taught the truth about the Bible. They were taught the truth
about heaven, sin, and all the other things that we find in
the scripture during this period of time. Now talk about 400 years
of silence, if we take that and apply it to from the year 90,
91 or 92 in the book of Revelations is supposedly written. Some people
put it earlier than that. I have a tendency to put it before
70 AD. But even at that, we've had 2,000
years of silence. But all during that period of
time, the gospel has been preached and been preached freely. And
God's people have been saved and God's people have been taught
by the same spirit that teaches God's people today. They may
have had to hide more than we hide. They may have had more
difficulties than we have, but the gospel was still being preached. I like the illustration an old
preacher used one time, if you are following a herd of cattle,
and they come to a, you don't see the cattle, but you just
see their footprints, and you come to a large river, and the
feet or the marks disappear into the water, and you get in a boat
and go to the other side of the river, and you find feet coming
out, footprints coming out, you're pretty much assured that some
of the cattle made it through. through all ages, we may not
be able to trace everything. And it's not necessary to do
that. But the Lord Jesus said that heaven and earth shall not
pass away until his word is fulfilled. And he tells us concerning the
church, this church is built upon me, the rock, and it will
not pass away. So the gospel is going to be
preached all during that time. The gospel was preached and people
were comforted. just like they're comforted today.
The lost were saved and the last two verses tell our hearers there
is an announcer coming. There is an announcer coming.
So much like the words that were given to Adam and Eve outside
the Garden of Eden, those words about there's going to be a Messiah
coming. And it's interesting that Eve took those words so
literal that she named her first son, I have gotten a man child
from the Lord. She believed. I believe she believed.
This is the Messiah that is coming. Well, the world waited 4,000
years. for the Messiah to come. So we're
going to be waiting between the final words of the book of Malachi
and the first words of the New Testament are going to be about
400 years. But oh, the blessings that we're going to go on. And
we have in this last few verses of this chapter, these thoughts. There is an announcer coming.
One is coming to announce the messenger of the covenant, the
Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, 400 years this message was declared. Now no doubt there were people
felt from time to time that that time was just right at hand.
Well, we're dealing with the same thing, the coming of the
Lord, the second time. And people have said over and
over and over, and it's recorded in the word, It's past, he's
not coming, and yet the Lord has promised that he will come
back. We don't know the date or the
hour, we don't have a lot of marks to check off, a lot of
signs to go through. But we do have this, when the
gospel is preached and the last sheep is saved, this will be
folded up. That's the promise. He is long
suffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish. But all
should come to repentance. And if we read that opening statement
to that book, that book was written to the elect scattered abroad. So we have that message going
out. How do we know that the gospel
survived these 400 years? We get to the New Testament and
it's being preached. There are people that recognize
it. There are people that know it. Very early in the ministry
of the Lord Jesus, even eight days old, he is taken into the
temple and there's a man and a woman that recognize that this
is the Messiah. Well, that had to come by revelation. Zachariah, the father of John,
he had to be given some things. In fact, we'll read that in just
a few minutes. The gospel came all the way, and it continues
to go all the way, and it will continue to go all the way to
the end. There will be that wonderful
message of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus, and people
will be caused to hear it. They will be caused to hear it.
By nature, we don't want to hear it. But by the grace of God,
we're privileged to hear it, and then we are thankful that
we got to hear it. This passage shares with all
who can hear, watch for the announcer. Watch for the announcer. Watch
the one that this verse is speaking of and who this one is going
to talk about. Watch for that one. 400 years
of waiting go by before some got to see it. Now there are
several generations in 400 years. But there was generation after
generation after generation that were taught by the Word of God.
Now, notice with me in verse 4 of Malachi chapter 4, verse
4, remember ye the law. Now, remember the Word of God.
When all of these things look hopeless, remember the Word of
God. When all these things don't seem
to be going in the direction that we think they should go
in, Listen to the Word of God. Hear the Word of God. Remember
the Word of God. Remember the Law of Moses. Remember
the Word of God. Remember the Gospel message all
along. And we're in that time now. as
we wait for Christ coming the second time. Now, maybe tomorrow,
maybe later tonight, maybe in a thousand years, but we're comforted
in knowing that He has promised that He will come back, He will
do exactly what He said He will do, and He is able and has the
power to do what He said He will do. We don't, but He does, so
we take comfort in that. Don't quit or be downhearted. The one promised will appear. The one promise. Now notice here
in verse five. Behold, I will send you Elijah
the prophet. Now we've already been informed
of that earlier in this book, chapter 3 and verse 1. Notice
that with me. Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom
you 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've already been announced,
and now as the last page, the last paragraph, the last verse
of the Old Testament is brought to conclusion. We have that announcement
one more time. Behold, I will send you Elijah
the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day
of the Lord. Now to many it was a dreadful
day, but that word can also be translated a glorious day. To God's people, it was a glorious
day when the Lord appeared. To those shepherds, it was a
glorious day. To those angels, it was a glorious
day. To the announcement of the coming
of the Lord Jesus and to all that would hear and understood. The disciples are going to be
caused to understand that the one that is spoken of as Elijah
was John the Baptist and he is the announcer. And he understood
some of his purpose, and we're going to look at that in just
a moment. It says, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the coming and great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall
turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the hearts
of the children to their fathers. Just like today, just like today,
there are believing parents and unbelieving children. And they're
believing children and unbelieving parents. And he said, the message
is going to come in such a capacity that those who know the gospel
are going to share it with others that don't know it. And this
message will turn all of the elect parents or all the elect
children to the Lord. Heart of the children of their
fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Now,
we know that that's going to happen too. When God judges the
nations there, all people, sheep from the goats, we know that
there will be judgment brought out at that point. The Law and
the Prophets. During this interim, you'll only
have the Word of God to comfort us, just like we do now. We don't
have some physical form coming down. It was really a blessing
for me. I really got a lot out of Hebrews
chapter 12. You're not come to the mouth
that could be touched, not to a physical religion. We're not
brought to a physical religion, but we're brought to a heavenly
Jerusalem. It's spiritual. And there are
people that have always seen it as spiritual. been given the
grace of God not to settle on just physical, just the physical. So the law and the prophets were
until John. Would you turn with me over to
the book of Luke chapter 16? Luke chapter 16. In Luke chapter 16 we find these
words recorded with regard to John, Luke chapter 16 and verse
16 in the scripture share this, the law and the prophets were
until John. Since that time, the kingdom
of God is preached and every man presses into it. Now, when
Brother Lance was here the last time, he preached to us about
the last prophet. from the book of Hebrews, chapter
1, verses 1, 2, and 3. Christ is truly the last prophet,
but the law and the prophets were until John. John was truly
the last Old Testament prophet. During his period of time, the
sacrifices are still going on. The temple is still being used.
It is not what we have shut off when the Lord shut down the temple
in AD 70. They continue to be only lights
to the church till the morning star appears. These prophets
were just lights. They were candles. They were
lit. They burn out. But this one,
the bright and morning star, is the one who has no beginning
and no end. He is the eternal son of God. God never left himself without
witness in the world at any time, the gospel as well as gospel
proclaimers were always somewhere. They're always somewhere. Now
they may not be in New York. I don't know. But there will
be the gospel proclaimed somewhere in this world all the time until
this earth is folded up. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of John chapter 1. John chapter 1 verse 19. John had the golden opportunity
to take upon himself the preeminence. He could have put his thumbs
in his suspenders and told everybody how important he was, but that
is not the manner of a true believer. The importance is Christ. Here
in John 1, verse 19, it says, and this is the 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. I am not Messiah. And they asked him, what then?
Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou
that prophet? And he answered, no. Moses spoke,
there's a prophet coming whom you'll believe, and they're looking
for that prophet. Then said they unto him, who
art thou, that we may give answer to them that sin 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 Isaiah. John understood his ministry. I am the foreteller. I am the
announcer. I'm the one that was promised
by the prophet Isaiah. And we're going to look at that
in just a moment. And they, which were sent were the Pharisees.
And they asked him and said unto him, Why baptize thou then, if
thou art not Christ, nor liest neither that prophet? And John
answered and said, saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth
one among you whom ye know not. Now John says, I know him. Now
the Bible says they were cousins. John was three months older.
They were cousins, but that's not the kind of knowing he's
telling about. He knew him. He it is who, coming after me,
is preferred before me, whose shoelatchet I am not worthy to
unloose. These things were done in Bethabara,
beyond Jordan, while John was baptizing. But notice with me,
verse 23, he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the
Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. Now, let's go back over to the
book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 40. Would you turn there with
me? Some were watching in every generation, and they did not live to see
the fulfillment, but one day all was fulfilled. Generation
after generation came and went, and I believe there were those
who sought the fulfillment of that passage of scripture in
their generation, but it was not fulfilled. But they were
not disheartened because the scriptures just tell them, there
in the book of Malachi chapter four and verse four, trust the
word, believe the word, be comforted by the word, don't let this bother
you. Holy Spirit comforts us. And
here in the book of Isaiah chapter 40, long before Malachi, and
long before John was born, Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 30. Well, I've done it again. It
says that prophecy of John's Verse three, thank you. The voice
of him that crieth in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway of our God. Every valley shall
be exalted, every mountain and hill will be made low, and the
crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And
the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Isaiah
presented this, declared this, preached this, and many, many
years later there is a man born to Zacharias and Elizabeth that
understood that this passage of scripture was about him. He
is the foreteller. The fulfillment of Malachi chapter
4 verses 5 and 6 were found in a man by the name of John and
John had one ministry and that was to declare Jesus Christ as
the fulfillment of every Old Testament prophecy, every Old
Testament type, shadow, and picture, and that this Messiah, the Lord
Jesus, is the one that we have been seeking for, sought after,
the fulfillment of all the promises are made in Him. He is the Savior
of His people, and He will save them from their sins. If you'll
turn with me to Matthew chapter 17. Matthew chapter 17. 400 years have transpired between
the conclusion of Malachi and the beginning of the New Testament.
I don't see it as a start of a new era in that sense. It's
the same preaching. It's the same men called of God. It's the same gospel. It's the
same spirit. It's the same need. We have the
same pandemic, the fall. And the need of that pandemic
is a savior that can take care of the problem. So that's been
declared all through. the Old Testament during the
400 years between the close of Malachi and the opening of what
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But here in the book of Matthew chapter 17 verse 10. Matthew chapter 17 and verse
10. And his disciples asked saying,
why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? Now they had some understanding,
but not the understanding that John had, and that Christ is
going to reveal to them. They went through the scriptures
just as the same as when the Magi came and said, where is
the king of the Jews going to be born? They went and looked,
searched through the old scriptures and says, oh, right there in
Bethlehem is where he's going to be born. They knew the scriptures
that much, but oh, the physical application of the scriptures
has nothing to do with the salvation of his people. We may know some
physical things and never understand spiritual things. But it's what
a blessing it is to understand it from a spiritual context and
also from a physical context. He's going to be born in Bethlehem,
but that's the house of bread, and it truly speaks about him.
Well, Matthew chapter 17, and there in verse 10 and 11, Jesus
answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall come first
and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elias
is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him
whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of
Man suffer of them. John's already been killed. His
ministry is over. And as I mentioned, suddenly
there's a whole bunch of folks would say his life was cut short,
but it was in a point in time that God gave him. Then the disciples,
verse 13, then the disciples understood, now what an understanding
the Holy Spirit gives, what an understanding Christ gives to
us, to see that what they saw, they understood, he spake unto
them of John the Baptist, Well, John the Baptist is the fulfillment
of Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 and also Malachi chapter 4 verses
5 and 6 and many other Old Testament scriptures. Here it is. God has been faithful to declare
unto us the Word of God just as he said. Trust the Word. Look
into the Word and trust the Word. Follow the Word. It is the only
compass that we have. It is the only Word that is truthful
and honest. In Luke chapter 7, would you
turn there with me? Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter
7, verse 26. Luke chapter 7, verse 26. Jesus
said, But what went you out to see,
a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much
more than a prophet, this is he of whom it is written, behold,
I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy
way before thee. For I say unto you, among those
that are born of woman, there is not a greater prophet than
John the Baptist. but he that is least in the kingdom
of God is greater than he. And all the people that heard
him and the publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism
of John. Jesus Christ pointed out, this
is the messenger that the Old Testament was talking about,
the forerunner, the announcer of the messenger of the covenant.
This is the one that preached Christ. I'm not he, but he preached
Christ. Behold the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world. Behold him. There he is. Now,
it is interesting to read Luke chapter 1 about Zacharias' words
with regard to his son. Turn there with me if you would.
Book of Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. Now it's not
been that long ago when brother Mike went through this passage
of scripture and gleaned so much out of it but we just need to
go back there one more time as we close out the Old Testament
because Zacharias understood who his son was. It had been
revealed to him who this son is. Luke chapter 1 And let's look at verse 67. Chapter 1, verse 67. Now, I can't
comprehend all that Zacharias went through for nine months. All the time that his wife is
carrying this baby, he's silent. Imposed upon silence. He didn't
take some vow of silence, it was imposed
upon him. And he is an elderly man and
his wife is an elderly lady and yet she has a baby and his name
is John. It tells us here in verse 67,
and his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost. Earlier
in this chapter it tells about Zacharias and his wife, they
were both justified. So we have him sharing some very
important information with us even today. The Holy Spirit filled
him to prophesy or to share these words about his son, and we get
to enjoy and appreciate those words still. That he is the fulfillment
of the prophecies found in the Old Testament about the forerunner,
the one who went before and announced, we have a king coming. announced
this was a practice with the seizures. The seizure is coming. We have a Messiah coming. We
have the forerunner announced the King is coming. The Savior
is coming. And he did it so publicly. And
he did it every time he took someone down into the water and
raised them up out of the water. He is declaring exactly what
the Lord Jesus Christ would do in his ministry. He's going to
die on purpose. He's going to be buried on purpose
and he is going to raise the third day on purpose and when
he raises he will have taken completely and put sin away on
the behalf of all the people of God. Now there's no greater
message than all that message as he's declaring it every time
that he took people down to the water. It tells us here in verse
67 He says, and his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost
and prophesied, saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for
he hath visited and redeemed his people. Now, 400 years. The people who were in the line
of Zacharias had been looking for the fulfillment of this promise,
and Zacharias gets to witness it. Here it is. He has been used
of the Lord to bring this boy into the world. Blessed be the
Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people.
And I don't think that Zacharias understood that he's talking
about national Israel. He's talking about spiritual
Israel. This is who God redeemed was spiritual Israel. And in
verse 69, hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house
of his father, of his servant David. As he spake by the mouth
of the holy prophets, which have been since the world began, Moses
spoke of him, Joshua spoke of him, Daniel spoke of him, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Hosea spoke of him, Malachi. What that we should
be saved from our enemies and from the hands of all that hate
us, Now Zacharias, I don't believe he understood this to mean that
Rome was going to be thrown off. I believe he understood exactly
who the enemies were. That's the enemies of the church.
That's sin. That's the reality of the fall. It's going to be taken care of.
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember
his holy covenant. The oath which he swore to our
father Abraham, that he would grant unto us that we, being
delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him
without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all
the days of our life. Now notice verse 76. And thou,
child, He shares with us a lot of what he understood had been
revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. It's the word of God. Thou child
shalt be called the prophet of the highest. This child is going
to be the fulfillment of those Old Testament prophets about
someone coming beforehand to declare the Messiah, the Lord
Jesus Christ, to prepare the way, announce We got a preacher
coming. That's what he's saying. We have
a gospel preacher coming. We have the promised one coming.
Hear ye him. For thou shalt go before the
face of the Lord to prepare his ways. To give knowledge of salvation
unto his people by the remission of their sins. Now, Zacharias
is an elderly man. Whether he actually got to witness
this to happen doesn't matter. He understood what was going
to happen. And that is John, his son, was the one that was
promised from the Old Testament times, made mention of in the
book of Isaiah, made mention of in the book of Malachi twice.
This is the one, the announcer. If this be true, then the Messiah
is next. The promise of the Messiah is
next. Now it's interesting that Elizabeth
has already visited her cousin Mary and this babe did leap in
her womb when she came into close proximity of Mary who's carrying
the baby Jesus. John leaped in his womb. He acknowledged
before he was even born, I am in the presence of royalty. I'm in the presence of the Messiah. I'm in the presence of the Savior,
even before he was born. So, Elizabeth understood some
things, Mary understood some things, John understood some
things, and Zacharias understood some things, and whether Zacharias
and Elizabeth actually got to hear her son preach, we don't
know, but it doesn't matter, they believed what the word had
to say. To give knowledge of salvation
unto his people, by the remission of their sins. The knowledge
of salvation, the only salvation that God ever gives is in the
remission of sins. Sin has been dealt with, we will
never have to deal with it on our own. Through the tender mercy
of our God, Zachariah understood the mercy of God, the remission
of sins of God, the tender mercies of God, whereby the dayspring
from on high hath visited us. All these men, from the very
beginning to the end, were just a candle. Some had a longer life
than others. Some lives were very short. Some
lives were pretty long. But the candle burned out, and
God raised up someone else And verse 79, to give light to them
that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our
feet in the way of peace. And verse 80, and the child grew
and waxed strong in spirit and was in the deserts till the day
of his showing unto Israel. Well, John and the Lord Jesus
were in the same situation. They both lived in the deserts. That's where we're born. We're
born in the deserts. They lived in the deserts. Jesus
Christ was in the cemetery every day of his life. Everybody around
him, except those he had touched through the mercy of grace, raised
him from their spiritual dead, everybody else had this black
glow to them. I'm using that figuratively.
He understood and knew everyone that was still dead in trespasses
and sin. Light was given to a few and
those he knew as he always knows those he saves. Well the last
words of the Old Testament are closed but they're opened up
in the very early in the New Testament to announce this one
is coming and since he's here as Zacharias said the Messiah
is next. The Messiah is coming. The Messiah
is here. John was born, three months later
the Messiah is born, the Lord Jesus, and in time their paths
crossed by divine appointment. Now Jesus did not need to be
baptized. He did not. But he went to John
and John says, oh no, I need to be baptized by you. And Jesus
said, we're going to fulfill all righteousness. What's he
going to do? He is going to demonstrate that there's only one person
in all human history that by his very being was righteous
before God. And he is going to demonstrate
exactly to John and everyone that's around him what is required
that that righteousness might be imputed to someone else. the
death, the burial, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
he's going to do that. John submitted, baptized him. They both went down into the
water, and they both come up out of the water. And John and
Jesus' ministry went this way. And all John did from that point
on, says, behold the lamb. And they said, he told him, go
join him. Go get with him. Get with him.
I must decrease. He must increase. And that's
truly the ministry of a prophet. That's truly the ministry of
a minister. Join with Him. I point you to
Him. So the last words of the Old
Testament come to a close. 400 years are going to be before
the next words are recorded. But it says, behold, I will send
you Elijah. And there were some that understood
and many that just said, hmm, I wonder what that means. A whole
bunch of them came to John and said, hmm, I wonder what that
means. And he says, I'm not he. I'm
not the Messiah. And I'm not the prophet. But
I'll tell you who I am. I'm the announcer of the messenger
of the covenant. You know what they did? They
went away. Some of them came down to John says, hmm, we would
like to be baptized of you. You know, I've never heard of
a preacher saying this except what John said. Who hath warned,
oh, generation of snakes, vipers. Who hath warned you to flee from
the wrath to come? Who hath warned, who's made you
scared? That's not the gospel. The gospel
is, it's a pleasure to have Christ as our Savior. It's a glorious
pleasure. We would not have it on our own,
but they were scared. Who hath warned you to flee from
the wrath to come? And then it says there in in
Malachi chapter four and verse six, and he shall turn the hearts
of the father to the children, and the hearts of the children
to their fathers. Oh, how glorious that is, when the message of
grace brings a family together. David said it wasn't so with
his family. Last words of David, not so with all my family. Some,
not all. Lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse. Now, that's gonna happen. In
the end, that will happen. All those that are not on the
right hand will hear that curse. Well, we close Malachi. Pray
that we find somewhere else to go.