Transcript

Well, let’s go back to Malachi this morning and we will conclude preaching through Malachi unless something very, very unforeseen happens.

What a journey this has been as Malachi is about to write the last words of revelation before there is 400 years of silence from God. No prophet, no revelation. They had to live on the promises and the revelations of the past. So what is Malachi going to say as he’s closing out his letter? Well, we’ve already seen some of it in the earlier verses of chapter four, but now we come to verses five and six of Malachi chapter four [Malachi 4:5-6]. “Behold, I’m going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

Two things happening here, is it not? Malachi is about to end the final revelation of the Old Testament canon, and he says, Elijah’s gonna come first. There’s a great judgment coming, but this one Elijah is also gonna work to restore the hearts of the fathers to the children of the fathers. And as the New Testament says, he’s gonna restore all things. Very interesting phrase.

I’ve entitled this exposition, the first point of the exposition, Elijah Comes First. Elijah comes first.

And again, as we see this prophetic word that Elijah the prophet will first come, I wanna make you mindful again that when you see an Old Testament prophecy, almost without exception, there’s a temporal, limited, more immediate interpretation And then also there’s an ultimate and more further in the future, grander fulfillment of that prophecy. And I think that is definitely true here all the way through from the judgment that’s coming to what does it mean, Elijah, the prophet is coming? Does it mean that the hearts of the fathers will be turned to the children, and the hearts of the children turned back to the fathers? Well, let’s try to unpack all of this. So I wanna give you three things that I think are part of the fulfillment of that promise that Elijah is coming.

First of all, I think it’s very clear, this refers to John the Baptist. Matter of fact, the New Testament makes it explicitly clear. Gabriel, the angel, speaks before John the Baptist’s birth and prophesies this of John the Baptist, Luke 1:16-17. “And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord”.

So here we have it very, very clearly. It’s gonna come out even more clearly as we go along, but John the Baptist was not the absolute specific Elijah, the Tishbite of the Old Testament. He was one who was in the power and the spirit of Elijah. That’s an important difference. And that’s the kind of spiritual discernment you have to have when you’re looking at Old Testament prophecies and their fulfillment. John was coming in the spirit and the power of that original Elijah.

Now, these are directly quotes, this Luke chapter one quote from Malachi 4:6, as we’ve already seen. And then Jesus adds to this in Matthew 11:10, 14. “This is the one referring to John about whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger ahead of you who would prepare your way before you, and if you are willing to accept it”, If you have ears to hear and eyes to see, if you have spiritual discernment, “John himself is Elijah who was to come”. No, not literally that Elijah, but he came in the spirit and the ministry and with the message of that Elijah. So did John fulfill the prophecy of Malachi chapter 4:5, and 6 when we get to the New Testament era and John the Baptist is preaching and he’s telling people about Jesus’ coming? Absolutely, he’s the fulfillment of that.

The angel said to Zacharias that John was coming in that spirit and in that power, that mark that set apart Elijah from all others. The Old Testament Elijah was calling Israel to repentance. The Old Testament Elijah was calling Israel to turn back to God because judgment was sure, judgment was deserved and judgment was coming. Malachi chapter four verse five speaks of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

So here we have this John the Baptist as the New Testament era opens and he’s preaching about the judgment to come. And did it come? Yes. I would call this a temporal and incomplete fulfillment, but there was a judgment that was just around the corner.

Just a little while after John’s ministry, we know that Titus of Rome brought in the Roman legions in 70 AD and led a brutal siege and almost completely destroyed Jerusalem. The temple was burned and destroyed. Large portions of the city were destroyed. And Josephus, a reliable Jewish first century historian writes that about 1.1 million Jews were slaughtered and about 100,000 were taken captive. So I think that is a very specific real fulfillment of what Malachi was saying. When this one comes, he’s not the actual specific John or Elijah, he’s John the Baptist, but he comes with the same ministry, the same power, and the same spirit that Elijah had.

Now, there’s another possible, and I would say all three of these aren’t just possible. I would even go further and say all three of these aren’t just probable, But all three of the things are the ones I’m going to lay out are fulfillments of this prophetic word, Elijah comes first.

Secondly, I think perhaps one of the two witnesses. of the end times revelation, Revelation 11:3,6. I think one of these could very well be a fulfillment of that coming of Elijah, who will warn and turn back many from sin and warn about the judgment. And of course, this is forward for us. This is when the Antichrist is about to take the throne. “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses”, Revelation 11:3 says, “and they will prophesy for 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth”. That looks like the original John the Baptist, does it not? “These have the power to shut up the sky”. That’s like the Old Testament Elijah, he did that. “So that rain will not fall during the days that they’re prophesying and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague as often as they desire”. We know Elijah prayed and said it’s not gonna rain until I say it’s going to and that’s exactly what happened. So I think it’s very likely that these two witnesses, or maybe we should say one of the two witnesses, is another fulfillment of one who came in the spirit and the power of the Old Testament prophet Elijah.

So, generally we see from these two and from the balance of biblical teaching, God’s purpose is always to warn of judgment but extend mercy. And that’s what we see here. That’s what the Old Testament Elijah did. That’s what Malachi says, an awful day of the Lord is of wrath of coming, the awful day of judgment is coming, but Elijah’s coming, New Testament says, and he’ll restore all things. There’s a chance for renewal. There’s a chance for repentance. There’s a chance for returning back to God. Listen to me, everyone who will face God in judgment bypassed many chances, everyone.

Now, the third entity, if you will, that I’m convinced is spoken of when Jesus says, I should say Malachi, when Malachi received the revelation from Jesus, but nevertheless, said that Elijah must come first, and I think it is the New Testament local churches. The New Testament local churches. Now, it’s interesting that in John 1:21, John says, I am not Elijah. They ask him, are you the Elijah? Now, the Jews were really big on this. The Jews were really committed to the interpretation that the actual Old Testament Elijah would return from heaven and he’d minister on earth as a forerunner to the coming Messiah, the Savior. Of course, we know that’s Jesus.

So they wanted to know if he was really that person. And John says, no, I am not that one. In Matthew 11:14, Jesus says that John is the Elijah if you’re willing to receive it. In verse 15, he says, if you’ve got ears to hear, if you’ve got eyes to see, that is. If you’ve got spiritual discernment, Jesus says, you’ll understand John the Baptist. Though physically it’s not Elijah, he is the Elijah of God in the fact that he is, as Jameson Fawcett Brown says in their commentary, “he’s not the literal Elijah, but he wore the costume of the literal Elijah”.

Now, building on that, getting back to why am I saying the New Testament church is also one who is an Elijah, who is the forerunner of Christ? Well, another insight, Luke 1:7, “it is he”, John the Baptist again, a true fulfillment of the prophecy of Elijah’s to come. “He goes as a forerunner before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of his fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord”. Interesting. One of the primary purposes of Elijah, one of the primary purposes of John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, was to secure God’s remnant people. To get their attention, to turn them back, to reclaim them, to gather them as God’s true people. Matthew 17:10-11, and his disciples said to them, why then do the scribes say Elijah must come first? And he answered and said, Elijah is coming and will restore all things. Now there’s another insight. Not only does this ministry of Elijah that’s coming make ready a people prepared for the Lord, Luke 1:17, he’ll also restore everything, Luke 17:10-11. But I would say to you, did John restore everything? Did John the Baptist’s ministry restore everything? No, I think in a very real sense, John the Baptist came in the spirit of the power of Elijah to get in initiation, if you will, to begin the era of all things being restored to God. And then he handed the ball off, if you will, like maybe a marathon runner, he handed the stick off to the church.

So the key here is those two phrases, “to make ready a people for the Lord and to restore all things”. So maybe we could say, well, there’s coming a witness in the latter days, those two witnesses out in Revelation, out in the future, they’re gonna restore all things, but I think you have to look at what God’s doing right now, what is God doing today in and through his church, and only in and through his church, he is preparing for himself a people. and he is restoring all things.

I think they’re one in the same. They have the same ministry. As Jesus said again in Matthew 11:14-15, “if you’re willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come, he who has ears to hear, let him hear”. And I think that’s true of us today. What other ministry on earth is doing what the local church is doing, which is the same thing John the Baptist was doing, who came in the spirit of Elijah.

Now, very interesting insight in Matthew 17:10-11. Try not to get lost on me here now. “And his disciples asked him, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? And he answered and said, Elijah is coming and restore all things, but I say to you that Elijah already came and they did not recognize him”. Now, I think Jesus is clearly talking about two different things. I think he’s saying Elijah has come in the person of John the Baptist, and they rejected him, and then he’s gonna go on to say, so they’ll reject me. But he said, Elijah is also going to be coming. And I think that’s pointing to the work of the church today, the local New Testament church.

Listen to me, every true, God-fearing, genuine local church ministers in the spirit and in the power of Elijah. If Elijah was preparing the way for Christ, we are preparing a people and preparing the way for Christ. If we’re not, who is? Who in this dispensation is preparing a people for God? Who in this dispensation is restoring things back to God? It’s the work of the church, friends. It’s not the work of the seminary. It’s not the work of Rome. It’s not the work of some parachurch entity. It’s the work of the local church.

As we think about it, what was Elijah’s ministry and message? What was John the Baptist’s ministry and message? Basically this. Number one, judgment is deserved and judgment is coming. Number two, repent. Turn from your sin and loving the sin and loving the world and loving your rebellion. Turn and turn back to God in his mercy. Number three, look to Jesus. Look to Jesus. Number four, securing a people for the Lord. Who’s doing that today? The church does that today. We, we are to be ministering in the spirit and in the power of Elijah.

I’ve got a question. I’ve got a question. Where is the spirit and the power of Elijah? Where is it? I think too often, those of us who are more Reformed Baptists, we’re too into intellectualism, we’re too into knowledge, we’re too into teaching, we’re too into phrase, parceling out every little verb and phrase and thing in the text. We gotta do that, I understand that, I try to do that myself. Well, I read the guys who can do it, let me put it that way. And that’s important, but where is the spirit and the power?

I don’t know that we need to be any smarter. I think we might just need to be godlier. Don’t misunderstand me. Your pastor studies hard, and I try to give you rich content, but brothers and sisters, listen to me. There’s a time when somebody needs to go out there like Elijah of old and like John the Baptist and say, repent. Judgment is sure. Judgment is deserved. Repent. Turn back to Christ. Because God is preparing for himself a people in this age. God is preserving a people. God’s restoring all things. And he’s not gonna do it through parachurch ministries or schools or all of this other stuff. He’s doing it through his church.

By the way, John the Baptist was the forerunner to Jesus’ first coming. Can I ask you a question? Who’s the forerunner for his second coming? It’s his bride, it’s His church. We’re doing the work now. Casting out the word, throwing out the truth, getting out the holiness of God, the righteousness of God, the law of God, showing men their sin, telling them judgment is sure, telling them condemnation is coming, the wrath of God is deserved, you must repent, but look to Christ. And in that whole process, God’s saving one, saving another, saving another, saving another, and we are preparing a people for the Lord’s own possession. I don’t know about you, but I’m glad I’m getting in on that. I’m glad I’m getting in on that. That’s what’s going to last for eternity.

So we’re bringing men to Christ and building his church, i.e., we’re restoring all things back to God, and the church is God’s instrument to get that work done. That’s why we put a lot of energy and a lot of effort into helping other pastors be on track and be solid and be Bible-saturated and glory of God-focused and Christ-honoring and local church-centered and world missions impassioned and every member of ministry in function. Why? Because the church is key in carrying out the ministry and the message of the Old Testament Elijah and the New Testament John the Baptist.

In addition, as Malachi winds this thing down, he wants us to project forward. He’s telling us things that the Jews of old could have never understood, but we have New Testament revelation, so we can look back and grasp. what they could have never seen.

1 Timothy 3:15 reminds us, folks, I spent a lot of time in my classes the last few days on this because I can’t get away from it. Paul writes to Timothy as he’s telling Timothy how to properly pastor and, you might say, revitalize the church at Ephesus. He said, but “in case I’m delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God”. That’s the local church. I want you to function right in the local church is what he’s saying to Timothy. Which is the church of the living God. It’s God’s living body in the earth. And here it is, “the pillar and the support of the truth”. Listen to me, friend. God, the church does not create the truth. The church does not invent the truth. That’s blasphemy and that would bring judgment. But we’ve been given the truth. It’s a trust, it’s a stewardship. And then we are to give out the truth.

Listen to me, God has no plan B. And if the Methodist won’t do it, he’ll raise up the Baptist. And if the Baptist won’t do it, he’ll raise up the Assembly of God. If the Assembly of God, he’s gonna find a remnant church that’s gonna cast out his truth and stand on his truth and be his witness in the world.

So now an interesting phrase here we need to work on. So we’re talking about when Malachi says, I’m gonna send Elijah the prophet before that day of judgment, that that had to have pointed to John the Baptist and to the judgment of Titus of 70 AD. I think it has to point to the end time judgment and likely points to one of those witnesses who has the Elijah type ministry before that final judgment in Christ’s return. But I think for this era also it has a fulfillment and that’s in the local church.

But you might say, Pastor, just what does it mean then in verse 6 when it says, he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers so that I will not come and smite the land with the curse. Well, the New Testament again interprets the Old Testament for us. Luke 1:16-17, referring back to this verse Malachi 4:6, “And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah”. Here it is. “Turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children”. And here’s where it changes in the New Testament. So you have what you have here. It’s a commentary and illumination from the New Testament to help you understand what that Old Testament phrase meant. “and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous”, but the end result remains the same, “so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord”.

I think the idea here Elijah’s ministry was to reconcile the unbelieving, disobedient latter generations, the children. And that’s where Malachi is. He’s at the very end of the Old Testament era. He’s writing the last words of revelation to Israel. And he’s saying what we need to find, what we need to have is a day that’s coming and it’s going to happen when God uses one in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the latter generations who’ve gone astray back to the glorious faith and truth of their forefathers.

That’s what the text is saying. Now, I have no squabble whatsoever with the truth that when a revival comes and men turn back to God and folks are getting saved, that families get stronger and fathers love their children better and children love and respect their dads better. Of course, that’s true, but that’s not what this is saying. The New Testament makes it clear. It means that finally, finally, finally, God’s people will turn back, as we said last time I was with you, to the ancient paths. The children will embrace the doctrine and the godliness of their forefathers.

When we are down here preaching and teaching and soul winning and enrolling people in small groups and urging people to come hear the gospel and God is saving people, What are we doing? We’re, in effect, turning men back to the God their forefathers left long ago. That’s what you’re doing. There’s no God of the Old Testament and God of the New Testament. There’s only one God. There’s no salvation of the Old Testament and salvation of the New Testament. There’s only one salvation. There’s no Savior of the Old Testament and Savior of the New Testament. There’s only one Savior, and that’s Christ.

No wonder Jesus said, “Elijah’s already come if you can accept it”. That was the Lord’s phrase. If you can accept it, if you have spiritual discernment to see the things of God. That’s what we are today. The church is to go forth and minister in the spirit and in the power of Elijah to prepare for God a people to restore all things. That’s biblical language. Judgment is deserved and judgment is coming. Repent, look to Jesus, and let’s secure a people prepared for the Lord. That’s our message. That was John the Baptist’s message. That was Elijah’s message.

Well, Roman numeral two. Malachi’s writing, he says, the end time’s coming. Great judgment is coming. There’s one coming before that, Elijah. He’s coming and he’s going to restore all things. He’s going to prepare people. Isn’t that interesting as the New Testament gives that interpretation of will and it uses that phrase “to prepare for God a people”. And that’s what Malachi said up in verse 2. There’s a group of people who fear the Lord, he says. You remember this? And they get together and they speak with one another. They spoke to one another. They fellowship together. And what Malachi is saying is God’s already doing it. God’s already gathering together, but he’s going to gather more than just this remnant here. He’s going to have a bigger, bigger, bigger remnant. As Elijah comes, and the person of John the Baptist, and the church continues to minister, and the spirit and the power of Elijah, all the way through to the witnesses in Revelation, who continue to give that same message, and more people are saved, and brought back to the church, and brought back to God.

Interesting now in verse 6, we come to the last phrase. So that, in other words, this turning back to God with repentance and embracing Christ, “so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse”. The word curse here means the ban. It had the idea of something that was devoted to destruction. If you are under the curse or under the ban, it means you had no outcome but ultimate eternal destruction. It was a classification for that which is devoted to destruction.

It reminds me of what Malachi said earlier about the priests. Remember the priests were so corrupt and the priests were so ungodly that God said, I’m going to gather you up. with the dung, the manure from the temple sacrificial animals and wrap you up in all that manure and throw you out with it. That’s the idea, just designated to be thrown out and destroyed. And that’s where we were. That’s where we all were, of course, apart from Christ.

Now, when you see this word cursed under the ban in the Old Testament, it always has a reflection on the final eternal judgment to come. There’s a day coming when God will put a curse upon all of those who do not know Christ and there will be no turning back. There will be no time for repentance. There will be no grace. Can you imagine such a day? Only God in his wrath and retribution will be one’s environment and one’s standing.

But is it not true? Is it not a perfect parallel that Christ whom the church proclaims is the means in which this curse can be removed? In the means in which therefore things are to be restored, again, New Testament language, restore the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers. Christ who proclaims, I’m sorry, whom the church proclaims is the only way to be saved from the curse of sin and be restored to God. We are all under the curse of sin, naturally speaking.

The Bible says in Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”. Christ became the curse for us in our place. That’s why the prophet could write that there’s an option here. I don’t have to come in the Old Testament Jewish understanding. The curse would be particularly on their crops on their land. But there’s a fuller spiritual fulfillment of that and that is the truth that we are all our souls our lives. Our very beings are all under the curse of God. And only Christ can remove that curse.

And the work of the church. is the work of Elijah and the work of John the Baptist, to preach to men, to teach men, to invite men. By the way, this is a group, this is a team effort. I might be the main preacher, but there are other preachers, and all of us are reaching out to our loved ones, our families, our relatives, our neighbors, our work associates, trying to see if they will come, trying to see if they will listen, trying to share a gospel testimony, our gospel witness. that many of them will escape the curse and find the rescue.

So with these words, going back up a few verses, back up to verse four, Malachi writes, “now remember the law of Moses”. It’s gonna be 400 years and God’s not gonna speak. Do you remember the law of Moses? Amplify that out, you remember the God that Moses wrote the law about. And then he writes an Elijah is going to come first. Then he writes that great wrath and judgment is going to come. But there’s a chance for being restored. There’s a chance to be brought back right with God.

So in writing these things, Malachi closes the canon of the Old Testament text. And again, it will be 400 years before God speaks again. And as Malachi writes the final word and lays down the quill, he leaves us with the hope of Jesus Christ. A lot of people wouldn’t see it. With the New Testament completion, we can see it clearly. And I thought about that. In my reading, I came across Calvin’s writings on this. I think perhaps Calvin is right. Calvin said that God withholds revelation. God withholds prophecy. He does it for a time that men might seek after God with greater desire. And that’s the history of God’s dealing with man, God’s dealing with Israel. It’s a season of much revelation. And then a season where revelation is closed and men live on the revelation of the past. And that’s where we are today.

You remember back 400 years past, nothing from heaven. Then John the Baptist, living in the wilderness, clothed with camel’s hair, eating grasshoppers and wild honey, comes out of the wilderness preaching, God, give us another one. Give us another one. Coming out of the wilderness, proclaiming judgment is coming. You’ve got to repent. And there’s one coming and I don’t even deserve to tie his shoelaces.

You better look to him. Woo, when God spoke again, but he spoke again. John the Baptist, as the Bible says, was the voice of one crying in the wilderness. John’s light was true light. John’s light was bright light, but it was short-lived because his light has one purpose, to usher in the brightest light of all, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, John was preparing a people. Jesus comes to procure the people, secure them, seal them, keep them. Jesus said to the Father, “of all you’ve given me, I lose not one”.

So now it’s been 2,000 years. We haven’t heard from heaven again. We have the great promises and revelation that we live by. The silence has been the longest yet by far. Why? Because it’s building up to a more glorious revelation. Christ’s second coming. His final return. And when Christ returns this time, he will be unveiled. He will come in the greatness of His Shekinah glory, and He will come with awful judgment for all sinners, but all who believe to usher in an eternity of love and joy and blessing as God gathers His people.

Malachi concludes his words 2,400 years ago. No, 6,400 years ago.

Do you know Him? How can you take casually? Listen to me. This is a really jumped out at me. How can you take casually that the judgment of God against you is deserved and it’s sure? How can you take that casually? How can you go home not being right with God knowing judgment is sure and it’s deserved upon me? Oh, but I promise you, friend, just as Elijah preached, just as John the Baptist preached, we preach it. Repent and turn to Christ. He is mighty to save.