Would you open your Bibles with
me to Malachi chapter four? Malachi chapter four. I want to just read the first
three verses tonight. Malachi four in verse one, 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 you 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, saith the Lord of hosts. The
title of this message is Christ, the Son of Righteousness. The
Son of Righteousness. In the book of Malachi, we've
seen in this final prophecy of the Old Testament, as this book,
by the providence of God and by the arrangement of Almighty
God, closes out the Old Testament, we've seen that man by nature,
man by nature is hopeless. He is just hopeless. Worthless,
really, if you want to tell it like it is. Helpless, hopeless,
and worthless. We've seen that in the people
of Israel, the people of Judah, but this is not just an indictment
against Israel or the people of Judah, it's an indictment
against all men and women born of Adam, fallen in Adam, ruined
by the fall. I love the way The Apostle Paul
was inspired to write it in the book of Romans when he made this
statement about the scripture and the scriptures he was talking
about was the Old Testament. And in Romans chapter three and
verse nine he says, the scripture hath concluded all under sin,
both Jew and Gentile. And we've seen an example of
that in the book of Malachi. We've seen a picture of it. We've
seen that the majority of the people of Judah had forsaken
the Lord. They had forsaken His ways, His
covenant. The covenant of Sinai, the covenant. And we've seen that their response
to God's word as given to them through the prophet Malachi had
been one of unbelief, arrogance. He mentions there the proud in
verse one, that's arrogance, self-righteousness. and total
denial, denying the word of God and opting for their own way.
That's again, that's man by nature, isn't it? And we've seen here
too that in every age, regardless how dark that age is, and when
it comes to man on earth in his sin, it's always been a dark
age. You know, they talk about in
history, the dark ages. I believe there have been times
when the gospel has been more prevalent than others, the gospel
light. But when it comes to mankind
falling in Adam, in every age it's been a dark age, but we've
seen that in every age, regardless how dark, God has always had
a remnant of his people. And that's what he calls them,
that's a small group. We always get in trouble when
we try to number that remnant, but it's a remnant. A remnant
that are by His grace and power true to Him and who serve Him.
He calls them a remnant according to the election of grace. That's
how they're identified quite often in the scripture. Malachi,
the book of Malachi, and in essence the whole Old Testament concludes
with a prophecy and a proclamation of hope. of salvation. And you might notice that the
last word in Malachi doesn't seem to be hope and salvation. It says curse, but there is hope
and salvation here because it really concludes with a prophecy
and a proclamation of the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and identifies him as the Son of Righteousness. And
notice there how Son is spelled. Now we know he's the Son, S-O-N,
the Son of God. which speaks of his deity as
a second person of the Trinity. And that son, the son of God,
was made flesh and dwelt among us. He's God-man, so that we
know that he, as our substitute, is able to save us from our sins. But here it's the sun, S-U-N,
like the sun in the sky. And what it's showing here in
preparation, and this is the theme of Malachi, it's the theme
of the Old Testament, it's the theme of the whole Bible, much
of what's going to be said here in Malachi in these last few
verses can be applied to his first coming, the first coming
of Christ, like the rising of the sun in the east, the day
star, Much of what is written here can be applied to the destruction
of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and much of what is said
here can be applied to his second coming in its full final completion. But what he's showing here in
preparation for the closing of the revelation of God in the
Old Testament, in preparation of 400 years of darkness, that's
what most historians or biblical historians call the the period
in between the Old Testament and the New Testament, 400 years
of night, you might say. He's showing them and emphasizing
to them once again that their only hope of salvation is in
the rising of the sun in the east, not the literal physical
sun, that's gonna burn up in the end, but in the son of righteousness,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's coming. You know, 400 years
is a long time to us, isn't it? We don't live but what, three
scoring 10 and a few years more for some of us because of medical
technology and all of medical science. Think about 400 years. You ever get tired of waiting?
People sure get tired of waiting then. You say, well, he's never
come. Where is the promise of his coming? You know, that's
what Peter talked about the scorners. Where is his coming? 400 years. But I'll guarantee you that day
star is going to rise. The Son of Righteousness will
rise in the East. In the East, in the Bible, that's
where, that's the dwelling place of God where He comes out with
His blessing. The Son of Righteousness. He
starts off here, look at verse 1 again. He says, For behold,
the day cometh that shall burn as an oven. That's the day of
the Messiah. That's what he's talking about.
From his arrival, his incarnation, his birth, his life, all the
way up to his death, burial, and resurrection, and his ascension. onto the destruction of Jerusalem. And as I said, it can also be
applied to the second coming. Some commentators relegate this
only to the second coming of Christ, but I don't believe that.
I don't believe that's the way the Old Testament would conclude.
I believe it could include that, but it's his whole work. Sometimes
we get in trouble when we try to segment history. to our view
of things, because God doesn't view things that way. One day
with God is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day.
And so when we talk about the Son of Righteousness, when we
talk about the coming of Christ and His great work, we'll speak
of His whole work. But here what He's talking about
is a day of God's judgment. This is a day of God's judgment
upon all the wicked in light of their rejection of Christ."
Now, he speaks of Israel. He speaks of the nation Israel.
But the nation Israel is just an example of fallen mankind,
left to ourselves. We'll all, if left to ourselves,
reject Christ. We'll reject the truth of God.
But I was thinking about this when I was preaching this morning
from the book of Luke chapter two with Simeon. You know, when
Simeon took the Christ child in his arms and lifted him up
and said, now let thy servant depart for I've seen thy salvation. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
He spoke this way, but turn over there just a moment. Let me show
you this over in Luke chapter two. We were talking a little
bit about this in the back. He says, this child is the salvation
of God. This is Christ. He is God's salvation. He's the only way of salvation.
The way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by him. What Simeon saw was the son of
righteousness that Malachi prophesies of. And he says in verse 31 of
Luke 2, he says, which thou hast prepared before the face of all
people, Now that shows you that God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. His elect people. And it shows
you that we're all sinners in need of Christ, in need of salvation
by the grace of God in Christ. He says in verse 32, a light
to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. Put
them together and you've got what the Bible identifies as
spiritual Israel. Now look at verse 33. He says,
and Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken
of him. Now, I don't believe Joseph and Mary were marveling
at the fact that this baby was God's salvation. They already
knew that. The angel had come to Joseph and said, His name
shall be called Jesus, God our Savior. His name shall be called
Emmanuel, which means God with us. Mariette already sang her
song of praise when it was revealed to her that she would have a
child and that child would be the savior of his people. What
they were marveling at is what Simeon knew and what Simeon said
and how he brought it forth from the Old Testament, a light, to
lighten the Gentiles. What is a light? Well, that's
the sun of righteousness. Christ, the light of the world.
And it says here in verse 34, Simeon blessed them, he thanked
God for them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child
is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, for
a sign which shall be spoken against. He says, Yea, a sword
shall pierce through thy own soul also, and the thoughts of
many hearts may be revealed. How is God gonna reveal the thoughts
of many hearts? It's how we look at and view
and esteem the son of righteousness. What think ye of Christ? You
want to know the state of your heart? Ask yourself that question. What think ye of Christ? Who
is he? What did he do? Why did he do
it? Where is he now? That shows the state of your
heart right there. If like Simeon, he's all my salvation. That shows
you the heart of grace, isn't it? The heart established with
grace. But my point here is this. He said here, this child is set
for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. The fall,
meaning those who reject the Son of Righteousness, that's
who Malachi is speaking of here in verse 1. This day is going
to come. It'll burn as an oven. All the
proud, look back at verse 1 of Malachi 4. This day of the Messiah,
this day of judgment, He says, and all the proud, all who seek
salvation in any other way or any other person other than the
Son of Righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who the
proud are. I don't care how they appear
outwardly. If you expect God to save you or bless you or forgive
you or reward you or justify you based upon any other person
or any other way but Christ and him crucified and risen again.
That's a proud sinner. And it's gonna burn like an oven.
All that do wickedly shall be stubble. Stubble. You remember
Paul in 1 Corinthians 3 spoke of wood, hay, and stubble. You
know who he's talking about there in 1 Corinthians 3? Those who
follow men and don't follow Christ. That's the wood, hay, and stubble.
The precious jewels and stones, the gold and the silver, that's
those who follow Christ. Those are God's precious jewels.
Remember, Malachi mentioned them in Malachi 3 and verse 17, where
God says he's going to take possession of his people and he'll make
up his precious special treasure, his jewels. That's a sinner saved
by grace whose worth and value shines forth with the glory of
God. Worthy is the Lamb. But here's the stubble. Those
who are found without Christ, who reject Him. The proud Pharisee,
for example, that boasted of his own righteousness, trusting
in himself and despising others. Christ said, except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you
shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. All workers
of iniquity, even those who religiously say, Lord, haven't we prophesied
in your name? Haven't we cast out devils? Haven't
we done many wonderful works? Anyone who pleads anything other
than his blood alone, his righteousness alone, stubble. And the rising
of this son of righteousness will burn him away. That's what
he's saying. It will expose them for what they are. All who are
not washed in the blood of Christ and clothed in his righteousness,
the wood, hay, and stubble, any who are not founded and grounded
and built upon the right foundation, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it
says, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the
Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. That means a complete destruction.
You know, you go out and they say, they used to say, I don't
know if they say this still or not, but they say Roundup will
kill weeds for five years. That's not right. Because unless you get down to
that root, it's going to come back up. And what he's saying
here is that this judgment of God, this outpouring of the wrath
of God through the son of righteousness, it's going to get down to the
root. It's not going to come back up. Branch and root. Complete destruction. So what's
the point? In Christ, complete salvation. Without Christ, complete destruction. That's it. So look at what he
says. Now here's the issue. Whenever
he talks about this destruction, and then he talks about salvation,
he talks about in verse 3, those who will tread down the wicked,
That's the justified. That's the saved sinners. And
he says they'll be victorious. Now what's the issue? Well the
issue is right there in verse 2. But unto you that fear my
name. Now what is it to fear his name? It's to believe in him. It's
to respect and revere God in Christ. It's to trust him alone. It's to worship him. That's a
gift of God's grace. By nature, there are none that
fear God. That's what Romans 3 and verse
18 says. But when God brings a sinner
to see his holiness and his sovereign mercy and grace in Christ, just
like Isaiah, he says, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, what
does he see? He sees that he has nothing in
himself or from himself to recommend him unto God. He says like Isaiah,
I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell amidst a people of unclean
lips. There's no hope for me in myself. There's no hope for
me in the earth. There's no hope for me in my
works. My only hope is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
that's to fear God. It brings about faith. It brings
about a sinner like that old publican. God be merciful to
me, the sinner. And it says, under you that fear
my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings
and you shall go forth Literally, you shall break out, like breaking
out of the stall. And you shall grow up as calves
of the stall. Christ, the Son of Righteousness.
Salvation only in Him. That's what he's talking about.
This is the same as the bright and morning star in the New Testament,
that's what he's called. In Malachi 4 and verse 6 here,
the Old Testament, closes with, lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse. Adam brought that curse in when
he fell and we fell in him. That curse is the curse of sin.
And here we're about to embark upon in this history 400 years
of darkness. What's the only remedy for the
curse? What's the only remedy for the darkness? The son of
righteousness would come. David spoke of it We talked about
this a couple weeks ago in his last words, in 2 Samuel chapter
23 and verse four, when he spoke of the coming of Christ, who
he said was all his salvation and all his desire. He said this,
he said, he, that is Messiah, shall be as the light of the
morning when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds, as
the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain. He wrote in Psalm 84 in verse
11, he says, for the Lord God is a son, S-U-N, and a shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. What is it to walk uprightly
in God's sight? It's to follow Christ. It's to walk in his steps.
Let me give you these things about Christ as the son of righteousness. Number one, As the son of righteousness,
Christ is the source of all spiritual light. Sin, as I said, brought
darkness into the world. Christ brings light. He is the
light of the world. That's what John the Baptist
said, the light of the world. He is the light of the glory
of God. You know spiritual light is wrapped
up in the glory of God. You know what that is? That's
the revelation of every attribute of God, everything about God,
every characteristic of God, every work of God, as it shines
forth in the person, the glorious person, and the finished work
of Christ. Paul wrote about it in 2 Corinthians
4, 6. He said, as God commanded the light to shine out of darkness
in creation, he said, let there be light. And that's a type and
picture of Christ, the son of righteousness. God said, let
there be light. Even so, God shines forth in
our hearts. That's the new birth, shining
forth in our hearts by the power of the spirit to give unto us
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face,
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the light of righteousness. He's called the son of righteousness
to provide his people with righteousness in him. In righteousness, he
shines forth. Because he kept the law, he fulfilled
the law, he satisfied justice on the cross, he shone forth
in the dark day on Calvary. Because he said it's finished,
he completed the work. And then righteousness itself
shines forth in him for he is the righteous judge who will
judge all things in righteousness and he's the standard by which
all righteousness is measured. God hath given assurance unto
all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. He is the
light, the source of light to guide his people to the light
of God's glory as both a just God and a savior. Our God can
be just to justify sinners like us through Christ. That's light.
That's the light of his glory. God's not gonna save you or me
apart from his justice being satisfied. Isaiah spoke of it
in prophecy. Isaiah 9 and verse 2, listen
to this. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great
light. You know what they saw? They
saw Christ. Back then they saw him in the types, in the pictures,
in the shadows of the old covenant. They that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, on them has the light shined. That's
God the Holy Spirit pointing sinners to Christ as the source
of all light. Listen to the prophet in Isaiah
60 in verse one. It says, arise, shine, for your
light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen on you.
I think about that. Has the glory of God arisen on
me? It has if you see the glory of
the son of righteousness. You say, well, I see my sinfulness.
I do too, I see my sinfulness. But thank God he doesn't leave
us in that darkness. But he directs our attention,
the attention of our very hearts to the son of righteousness,
where we find righteousness. Forgiveness of sins, you want
that? Look to the son of righteousness. Isaiah went on to write, for
behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness
the people. There's no light here in this earth, spiritual
light. But the Lord shall rise on you, and his glory shall be
seen on you. How? When you point sinners to
Christ, when you live for his glory. And then he says, and
the Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness
of your rising. We're risen in Christ. On down
in that same chapter in verse 19, Isaiah wrote, the sun shall
be no more your light by day. That is the physical sun. Neither
for brightness shall the moon give light to you, but the Lord
shall be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. He is our light, and he's the
only light we really need. He says, your sun shall no more
go down. It's an everlasting day in Christ
because his light never dims nor diminishes. Neither shall
your moon withdraw itself for the Lord shall be your everlasting
light and the days of your morning shall be ended. Revelation, listen
to this. I love this portion from Revelation
21. It's talking about the city of God, the eternal city. And that's not talking about
earthly Jerusalem nor the Vatican. It's talking about heavenly Jerusalem,
the dwelling place of the people of God in Christ. And it says
about that city in Revelation 21 and verse 23, listen to this,
it says, and the city had no need of the sun, the S-U-N, neither
of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten
it and the lamb is the light thereof. Don't you love that?
The lamb is the light thereof. And he says, and the nations
of them which are safe shall walk in the light of it. They'll
walk in the Lamb, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory
and honor into it, for they have no glory but the Lamb. He's the light of his church.
He's the light of his people. Peter wrote, he said in 2 Peter
1 and verse 19, we have a more sure word of prophecy where unto
you do well that you take heed as to a light that shines in
a dark place until the day dawn and the day star rises in your
heart. Christ as the son of righteousness is the source of all light. And
then secondly, Christ as the son of righteousness is the source
of all life. L-I-F-E. He is our life. It says here in verse 2 of Malachi
4 that the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings. That healing is the healing,
the life-giving healing of the light of the Great Physician.
Sin brought death into the world. Christ brings life. This body
is dead because of sin. We see the effects of it every
day. But the spirit is life because
of righteousness, the son of righteousness. John wrote in
John 1.4, in him was life and the life was the light of men.
Light and life are brought together in Christ. You can't have one
without the other. In John 1.8, John the Baptist, it was said
of John the Baptist, he's not the light, but he's sent to bear
witness of the light, and the word was made flesh, he said,
and dwelled among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. That's
our life and our light. Christ speaking of himself, he
said, I'm the light of the world. and he that follows me shall
not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life they go
together look at this he says in verse two he says he'll rise
with healing in his wings he'll heal that dreaded disease of
sin by his stripes you're healed that's healing that's not talking
about healing of cancer or heart disease or any of these things
we know God's capable of healing all those things and many times
does But that's not the hope of a sinner, right there. You can go through your life
and never be sick and live to be 100 years old. My friend,
if that's your hope, you're still gonna die. How many times have
we talked about Methuselah? 969 years old. And all that's
said about him, other than his name, which is a prophecy of
the coming of the flood. Did you know that Methuselah's
name is a prophecy of the coming of the flood? It says he died
and then the flood came. but he died. Nothing else is
said about him. So this is not talking about
physical healing. It's talking about spiritual,
eternal healing through the Son of Righteousness. And look what
it says. It says, you shall go forth. You shall break out. That's what
that means. Break out of bondage, the bondage
of sin, the bondage of Satan, the bondage of self-righteousness,
the bondage of the curse of the law. You'll go forth with His
grace, His strength in newness of spiritual life. He'll free
you. He'll set you free. And this
is spiritual life that comes from Christ by the Holy Spirit.
He's given us light and He's made us light. That's why He
says, let your light so shine before men that they may see
your good works and do what? Glorify your Father which is
in heaven. In other words, our work should redound to His glory,
not draw attention to ourselves. Christ is the source of all of
this. And as calves out of the stall,
like young calves, a new beginning, going forth with the light and
the life of the Son of Righteousness. You see, because He has justified
us, then we're given life. Justification of life. That's
what Paul wrote of. in Romans chapter 5 justification
of life we stand before God in him the son of righteousness
in the full light and glory of Christ having been given the
life of Christ by the Holy Spirit to walk to break out and walk
as young calves out of the stall frolicking security That means
there's no danger. We're safe in him. Here's the
third thing. As the son of righteousness,
Christ is the source of beauty. Now I'm not gonna give you a
science lesson tonight because I'm not adequate to do that.
But I do know this much, I learned in school and I think I'm pretty
correct here. It's that the light of the sun
is what makes in the spring, you know, when all the flowers
come out and all their colors and the green grass, it's the
light of the sun some way In all of that, scientifically,
it comes out and it makes all that color, makes the beauty
of the earth. Makes the rainbow, we know that. The colors of the
rainbow, which speak of the mercy of God and the faithfulness of
God, makes the flowers, the grass green, the trees green. Well,
Christ is our beauty as the son of righteousness. We wear his
robe of righteousness, imputed, charged, accounted to us. And
his spirit invades our minds and our hearts with the beauty
of his righteousness, his glory. He shows us the beauty of Christ. the glory of Christ who is our
beauty, for he was made sin, he was made our ugliness in essence,
you might say. Our curse became his, our guilt
became his, our sin became his. Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That's what we
are. And let me tell you something, you can't look at me and see
that. I don't care who you are. And I can't look at you and see
it. But I'll tell you who does see it, God does. And it's real. It's no fake, it's no pretense,
it's no fiction. It is as real as God is. It's
as real as Christ is. It's as beautiful as the son
of righteousness. And don't let anybody ever diminish
that for you. You stick right there. The Bible
says in Psalm 37, verse five, commit thy way unto the Lord,
trust also in him and he'll bring it to pass and he shall bring
forth thy righteousness as the light. and thy judgments as the
noon day. God sees it. In Isaiah 62, listen
to this, verse one, this prophecy. He says, for Zion's sake will
I not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until the
righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation
thereof as a lamp that burneth. That's our beauty. And we don't
have to be ashamed of it. Because in Christ, there's nothing
to be ashamed of. There's everything to boast in
in Christ. Paul wrote, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. My
friend, the wedding garment of the bride is beautiful. And it's
all beauty. Here's the fourth thing. As the
son of righteousness, Christ is the source of all joy. You
know, they say that many people And I've sort of experienced
this to some degree. They say that during the winter
months, when the days are short and it's all dark, that many
people have bouts of depression. And I think they manufacture
lights that you can put in your home to kind of combat that.
And during the winter months when darkness seems to invade
the earth, But here when spring and summer come, there's light,
there's joy. Don't you, I love when the days
are longer, don't you all? I do, I love it. I love it when
it's light up until 8.30, nine o'clock. I just love that time.
Because I feel better, I do. Well, that's what Christ is as
the son of righteousness for his people. He is our joy. The
Bible says in Philippians 4 and verse 4, rejoice in the Lord
always and again I say rejoice. Rejoice in him. When we keep
our eyes and our hearts focused upon him, there is joy. I know
there's a lot of things that we can dwell on that'll bring
us down and make us sad and all that and we see this world and
we struggle with our own sins and we even come to doubts and
doubt our own salvation because of the because of the lack of
love and peace and joy. But my friend, when we keep our
eyes focused on the sun of righteousness, there's joy. Joy cometh in the
morning, you see. Isaiah spoke this way in prophecy.
He said, the meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord,
and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
Christ is our joy. Paul wrote in Romans 14, 17,
he says, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Christ spoke of it himself. He said, walk in the light while
you have the light that you may be children of light. He spoke
of that in the sense of the bridegroom is with the bride. He's our joy,
he's our peace. And then lastly, Christ as the
son of righteousness is the source of liberty. Now we've already
spoken of that. The calf breaking out or going
forth, breaking out of the stall. You know when you're in darkness,
you're bound by terror. You can't move freely when you're
in darkness. You have to go like this, don't
you? You have to take those small steps because even if it's a
room that you're familiar with, you might stump your toe. You
have to be cautious. But when the lights turned on,
you're freed up then, aren't you? When the light's turned
on, there's liberty. Now you can move wherever you
want to. Wherever you can see, you can move. And that's what
He is to His people. Christ is a source of liberty
as the Son of Righteousness. We can serve Him in liberty and
freedom, standing fast and firm in that liberty wherewith Christ
has made us free and not be under the yoke of bondage of legalism
and self-righteousness and religious pride that keeps sinners beat
down. 1st John 1.5, listen to this,
John wrote, This then is the message which we have heard of
him in declaring to you that God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all. And if we say we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
You can't walk in darkness and say you have fellowship with
the son of righteousness. That'd be like laying out on
the desert in the bright sun, claiming how dark it is. That's
stupid. That's foolish. You can't walk in darkness and
have fellowship with the Son of Righteousness. God is light,
and His light is Christ. He says in verse 7, if we walk
in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth
us from all sin. We walk in the light of Christ.
Look back at Malachi 4. Look at verse 3 again. He says,
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,
saith the Lord of hosts. Because of the Son of Righteousness,
because of Christ, because of His blood to put away all our
sins, because of His righteousness that justifies us, the people
of God will be victorious. The wicked will be destroyed.
That's their end. We can think of the sun, the
physical sun, beating down upon trees planted by a river. Think
about that, the sun shining on trees planted by a river. You know it's a blessing to them.
They receive nourishment from the sun and water from that river.
But think about the same sun, the same heat, beating down upon
stubble in a dry field. Burns it up. destruction. The same sun we've always heard
that melts wax hardens clay. John spoke of that in John chapter
3 in verse 19. He said this is the condemnation
when the Lord was speaking. He said this is the condemnation
that light has come into the world and men love darkness and
hate the light because their deeds are evil. That same light
that exposes The natural man for what he is, unless that heart
is melted by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to show him
his sin and lead him to Christ, it'll be hatred, it'll be unbelief.
But he says there in verse 21 of John 3, those who do truth,
they come to the light, that their deeds may be manifest,
that they're wrought of God, they're the work of God, Christ
in you. That's what he says. When Christ
comes to this earth to establish his kingdom, the wicked will
be put down. And we see this accomplished
in several ways. We see it accomplished in his
victory on the cross. He put down the wicked when the
Son of Righteousness hung on that cross What was he doing? He put down the wicked. He said,
now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all unto me. And this he said, signifying
what death he should die. Even in his death, where he died
and was buried, he arose again the third day. He came forth
as the son of righteousness for the justification of his people.
We also see it in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
I thought about that because, you know, if you look at Mark
chapter 13, let me just read it to you. That's where he begins
the Olivet Discourse. And he says, he went out of the
temple. One of his disciples said unto him, Master, see what
manner of stones and what buildings are here. They were really impressed
with the buildings of the temple. And not just the temple, but
of all Jerusalem. Because King Herod had really
built that city up. It was like refurbished. And
it says, Jesus answering said unto him, seest thou these great
buildings? There shall not one be left one
stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. It's all
going down. It's gonna be like ashes under
the soles of your feet because there's no hope of salvation,
no hope of forgiveness, no hope of righteousness in that temple,
in that city. is only in Christ, the Son of
Righteousness. And you see, that's the issue.
And then we'll see it at the second coming of Christ. Turn
to Revelation 14, and I'll close. Look at Revelation 14. And look at verse 17. At the second coming of Christ,
the Son of Righteousness will come and put down all of his
enemies. He's talking about the judgment
of God's final wrath here. He says in verse 17, another
angel came out of the temple which is in heaven. He also having
a sharp sickle. That's the sickle of God's wrath.
And another angel came out from the altar which had power over
fire. Again, a picture of God's wrath
of judgment. He cried with a loud cry to him
that had the sharp sickle saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle and
gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are
fully ripe. This is where you get the expression,
the grapes of wrath. The vessels of wrath fitted for
destruction. All who are found in that day
without Christ, without his blood, without his righteousness. Verse
19, the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the
vine of the earth and cast it into the great winepress of the
wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden
without the city and the blood came out of the winepress even
under the horse bridles. Even that which man thinks he
finds power and security, that's what a horse represented in that
culture. Like a war horse. Well, the blood's
gonna come all the way up. The horses won't be able to save
you. by the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs as some
say that's the exact measurement of the city of jerusalem showing
this that there is no hope of salvation in anything on this
earth not even in the holy city of jerusalem not in the temple
not in the law of moses but only in jesus christ and him crucified
and risen again the son of righteousness who has healing in his wings