“The Great Day of the Lord.”

Malachi Chapter 4

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.  But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.  And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rule that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

I prefer the English Standard Bible, and before chapter four it is titled in this manner; “The Great Day of the Lord.”  Verse one is clear that day will not be a good day for the arrogant and all evildoers, what they value the most before that day was themselves, what they had done, and what they had acquired.  You understand good stuff, I mean like big homes, lots of them all over the world, and money and all the many things it can buy, parks and roads that were given their names, and yes they have gained the world, but on that day they lost it all.  It is not a good day for the arrogant and all evildoers.

You want to make sure you're not one of them, you want to be as He describes in verse two;  “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”  I’m in that group; I was born into the world depending on God to provide me parents that would nurture and train me in righteousness and after a time of trying to get my needs met outside of Christ, I ask Jesus to forgive me and come into my life an takeover the management, and He did.  I have most days allowed Him to lead me into an understanding that I can’t, but He can, and once more I’m dependent on Jesus and the Father to meet all my needs.

When we read in Isaiah 41:10 these words; “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  It is my understanding that God is referring to the fear this world will put on you.  As I’ve studied the Scriptures, I have an extreme fear of my God, of love and awed whose thoughts and ways are vastly different than my thoughts and ways.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice