For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Malachi 4:1-6

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 rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,’ 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 the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.’

A. Find Out:

1. What day is coming to deal with who? v.1
2. But what will happen to those who honour the Lord? v.2,3
3. What are they counselled to do? v.4
4. Who will the Lord send before that day? v.5
5. What will he do? v.6a
6. If they don’t respond what will He do? v.6b

B. Think:

1. What sort of day is the Lord speaking about?
2. Yet what has got to happen before it comes?

C. Comment:

  At the end of the previous chapter the Lord had been talking of a time when there will be a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, a time when He will deal with the wicked. In this final short chapter, He flows on to speak about what must surely be a different time, a time of major judgement. It is clearly a day of judgement and of destruction of the wicked (v.1) but it is not all-inclusive for the righteous will survive (v.2) and indeed they will be a means of bringing righteousness to the land (v.3).

  These righteous survivors are simply told to keep to the Lord of Moses, the Law given to establish a covenant between God and His people (v.4). Yet before that day comes the Lord will send a major prophet to the people to bring about an unprecedented peace. When He speaks of uniting children and parents, it is a picture of unity and harmony and so it is in the kingdom of God. This ‘Elijah’ was identified by Jesus as John the Baptist (Mt 11:14, 17:2). There is with this promise an oft-missed curse. If Israel fail to respond to this major prophet then the land will come under a curse.

  Is this what happened when the leaders of Israel rejected Jesus? Is this what happened when Jerusalem was sacked in AD70 and Israel were scattered to the world for two millennia? These words of Malachi are serious words of challenge.

D. Application:

1. God always looks for a faithful remnant, even in judgement.
2. God’s plans scan the centuries. Think big!