A Dreadful Day

DEVOTION

MALACHI

A DREADFUL DAY

Mal 4:1-6

4:1 "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. 3 Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD Almighty. 4 "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. 5 "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."

NIV

Surely the Lord is speaking of the last day, the Day of the Lord when the wicked will be judged and their names blotted out of the book of life and then they will be cast out into the lake of burning sulfur. This is the picture which is painted for us in the words, “burn like a furnace”. Of course, that can also speak of what occurs on the earth during the great tribulation when the angels blow the trumpets and pour out the bowls. These words also speak of the parable Jesus told about the vine and the branches. If the branch does not bear fruit it is cut off and burned up. This is the fate of the wicked. Horrible as it seems, there is no escape for the wicked. Why would someone give up the opportunity of eternal life, for a temporal time of wickedness? Perhaps the wicked either do not think it matters, that they will still go to heaven, because they are a “good person”, or they simply do not believe in God at all, or that there is no such thing as eternal life.  They may think it is all about this life and they make the best of it for their pleasure. Have they not been told the truth? Would they believe the truth if they were told? We know that we were once one of those wicked, we lived among the wicked, thought as the wicked think, and did things as the wicked do. But we heard the truth and believed. Here in these words are also the promise to those who believe. We will see the sun of righteousness rise and we will be healed. This sending of Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord may well be speaking of the day spoken about in the Revelation given to John when the two witnesses come to the earth. These two may well be Elijah and Enoch the two who the Lord took, who never died, and never buried. However, Jesus told the people that Elijah had already come, and he was talking about John the Baptist. John’s mission, his words matched those of here in Malachi about turning the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. His message was about repenting and make straight the way for the Lord. This final message, this final warning, the Lord is coming, either be prepared by believing, or else be ready to be trampled by those who believe. The choice is up to each person. It seems harsh to think we will trample down the wicked, that they will be ashes under our feet. Why wouldn’t we want to tell them to believe? Why would we want their end to be as it is described here? Do they not understand they were wicked? Again, wicked does not mean evil or doing evil, as we think of people of great evil deeds. The wicked are simply people who do not believe. As we are not truly righteous, as Jesus is the only one who is actually righteous, but righteous is defined as one who believes. So there is the nonbeliever, the wicked and the believer the righteous. Yet those who do not believe will not see eternal life and that is sad. So then who will go and tell them? Have not we all been called to go forth into the world and give them the message? Why would we want them to be stuck with a curse, where is our compassion for them? We have to tell them the Day of the Lord is coming, a dreadful day is coming.