The Day Of The Lord

THE DAY OF THE LORD

Read Malachi 4:1-6

Read Malachi 4:1-6

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. Malachi 4:5

Years ago, I preached through the Minor Prophets on Sunday evenings. The series took me the better part of five years, with few interruptions. What a mistake! Were it not for the stalwart saints at Trinity Church in Jackson, Mississippi, who were committed to Sunday evening worship, I would have killed the evening worship service altogether. The Minor Prophets are heavy material.

Some may be feeling the same way as we come to the end of this week and our review of the day of the Lord: a week about judgment, vengeance and wrath! Not entirely. The day of the Lord is referred to nineteen times in the Old Testament by nine prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Zechariah and Malachi. The phrase occurs four times in the New Testament. Its meaning is vast and varied, from a specific event of judgment to the second coming of Christ. But it also refers to the day of salvation.

Malachi 4:1-6 speaks of a day that yet lies in the future of Malachi, but in the past for us. Malachi’s prophecy is interpreted by Luke, and it points to the lives and ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. Please read Malachi 4:5-6.

And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. (Luke 1:16-17)

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. (Malachi 4:2)

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his people

in the forgiveness of their sins,

because of the tender mercy of our God,

whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:76-79)

The day of the Lord thus points to the redemptive life, ministry and message of Jesus of Nazareth. In describing His own person and work, Jesus took up the message of the prophets and the imagery of the day of the Lord. In His first sermon in His hometown and synagogue, Jesus preached from Isaiah 61:1-4, another day of the Lord text. Please read Isaiah 61:1-4.

Jesus came to proclaim “the year of the Lord’s favor”––the Jubilee of the Gospel age when men could be released from the slavery of sin, be relieved of all spiritual debt to God and receive again their birthright of salvation previously bartered away for sin. And Christ also preached “the day of vengeance of our God”––not a revenge taken against us who believe, but against our three great enemies: the world, the flesh and the devil. You and I are now living in the year of God’s favor (See 1 Corinthians 5:17-6:2). And we share the Gospel of God with all who would join us in this Jubilee and who would escape the judgment of God’s day of vengeance.

So…the day of the Lord is not all bad news. It is a day of reckoning, but a reckoning between God and His Son, Jesus Christ, for our sake. It is a day and a time in which you and I can repent of sin and believe in Christ and it will be reckoned unto us as righteousness. Not all days of reckoning are foreboding. Some are gracious, even redemptive. But all are glorious as God deals definitively with sin and exalts His champion, Jesus Christ. The day of the Lord is the victorious day of the Lord Christ.

PRAYING FOR THE PCA

CEP: Please pray for spiritual renewal in the lives of “burned out” youth pastors, paid youth staff and youth volunteers. Due to conflict with parents, sessions or Senior Pastors, or due to the pressures of producing a youth program that satisfies youth, parents, sessions and Senior Pastors, or due to personal spiritual laziness, many youth workers are in the process of burning out. Please ask God to give them encouragement today so that they won’t grow weary in the work that God has allowed them to be part of.

CC: Please pray that God will allow us to honor Him by being good stewards of theresources He has given the college, and that we will have integrity in following Federal and State Regulations regarding the handling of allocated funds while awarding students financial aid to allow them to obtain a Covenant College education.

MNA: Pray that more volunteers will be called into MNA ShortTerm Missions opportunities throughout the year and that these ministries will be widely and overwhelmingly supported.

PCAF: Thank God for the PCA Foundation’s Board Chairman, John N. Albritton, Jr., and for the attitude of service and commitment to Christ that he exemplifies.

RH: Pray for the numerous Ridge Haven volunteers who work throughout the year assisting with registrations, the bookstore, the camp store, the camp bank, food service, housekeeping and maintenance. Many of these volunteers are retirees who live in the Ridge Haven residential community.