The Day of the LORD
(Zephaniah 1:7–18; 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11; 2 Peter 3:8–13)
This message shifts away from the disputation format,...
This message shifts away from the disputation format, directly warning the people that repentance is the only proper response to the Lord’s message because God’s judgment is inescapable.
1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”
2“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings,† and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall. 3Then you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the LORD of Hosts.
The book concludes with an epilogue containing appeals...
The book concludes with an epilogue containing appeals to Moses and Elijah, two ideal models of faith in the Lord and of the ideals of the Law and Prophets (see Matt 17:1–4). The two are upheld as examples for Malachi’s audience to follow. In ancient Hebrew tradition, the two appeals may have served as postscripts for the scroll that contained the twelve Minor (shorter) Prophets. If so, the first postscript (Mal 4:4) connects the scroll to the Law of Moses. The second (4:5–6) ties the scroll of the Minor Prophets to the Major (longer) Prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.
4“Remember the law of My servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him for all Israel at Horeb.†
The second postscript warns that divine judgment of...
- The second postscript warns that divine judgment of the wicked is indeed approaching, and promises divine deliverance and restoration of the righteous.
- Elijah is a supreme example of a prophet of God who preached repentance with messages that were authenticated by signs and wonders (see Luke 1:17; Jas 5:17–18). Elijah was a forerunner of the day of the Lord (see Mal 3:1). The New Testament identifies John the Baptist as the prophet who prepared the way for Jesus the Messiah (see Matt 11:11–15; Luke 1:17).
5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome† Day of the LORD. 6And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.† Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”