2nd to Last Sunday in the Church Year. Malachi 4,1-6

In the Name of Jesus

Malachi 4,1-6

2^nd to Last Sunday in the Church Year

(Proper 28C); Buß- und Bettag

Justinian, Emperor and Confessor of Christ. † 565

14. November 2010

O Great, Merciful, and Gracious Lord Jesus, we confess that we have sinned against You in many ways and abundantly deserve Your righteous condemnation. Nevertheless, You do not desire the death of a sinner, nor have You any pleasure in the destruction of them who die; yes, even therefore did You Yourself suffer death, and by Your death did rob death of his power, so that the dying may have life. Therefore, we beseech You, reach out unto us from heaven Your mighty and gracious hand to save us from the hand of our enemies so that they do not rejoice over us in our anguish. O Christ, while we were yet sinners You did redeem us with Your precious blood, and have reconciled us to our Heavenly Father. We bow before You seeking Your mercy in the day of judgment, and trust only in You, O Lamb of God, and Your bitter sufferings and death, for our salvation so that the day that is arriving will usher us into eternal, heavenly fellowship (Löhe 309-12). Amen.

Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Prophet Malachi where the holy prophet writes: Yahweh said to Malachi, ,,Certainly the day is arriving! It will burn like a furnace. All arrogant people and all evildoers will be like straw. The day that is arriving will burn them up completely. It won’t leave a single root or branch. The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings for You people who fear My Name. You will go out and leap like calves let out of a stall. And you will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Yahweh Sabbaoth. Remember the torah of My servant Moses, the commandments and judgments 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 advent of Yahweh. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I arrive and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.“ This is our text.

Malachi prophesied 430 years before the birth of Jesus. Malachi was the penultimate prophet, and when he died Yahweh’s prophetic word was silent unto four centuries. The next prophet to succeed Malachi was John the Baptizer in A.D. 30. This is not to say that God’s people were silent, for during the time between the Old and New Testaments, God’s people translated the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek (the Septuagint, LXX) allowing a wide audience of readers and hearers access to Yahweh’s Holy Scriptures, for in Jesus’ day, Greek was the common language of many diverse people and nations much like English is the standard language around the world today. God’s people also wrote what is commonly called the Dead Sea Scrolls and the 20 Books of the Apocrypha from Tobit - 4^th Maccabees.

Malachi prophesies about a future day that will burn like a furnace. These are Yahweh’s very own words that Malachi proclaims, and these are words that point to Yahweh’s destructive wrath against all arrogant and evil people. This final day is a day of fire that will consume sinners and leave them as ashes. This is not good news for us, for we are sinful people who rightly merit Yahweh’s wrath and punishment. Therefore, the Church has the Rite of Confession and the Sacrament of Absolution.

When we confess our sins, we affirm that we are ,,poor, miserable sinners who have offended Yahweh and justly deserved His earthly and eternal punishment“. Thus Yahweh’s law is given so that we do not remain arrogant and evil people, and the law does this by convincing us that we are arrogant and evil people who need to repent of our great, offensive sinfulness. Thus all of Yahweh’s prophets from Moses to John the Baptizer urge and encourage us to repent of our sins.

It is not enough to repent of one’s sins, but that repentance should be followed by faith in Christ Jesus. The Prophet Malachi proclaims this promise from Yahweh, »The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings for You people who fear My Name«. To fear Yahweh’s Name is to fear, love, and trust in Yahweh for healing and salvation. Repentance is the first part of salvation, for in repentance we acknowledge our sinfulness and seek God’s forgiveness. Jesus Christ is the one who merits absolution that declares and proclaims that all sin is covered, paid for in full, and forgiven. Jesus and His righteousness has merited our forgiveness by His crucifixion and resurrection and thus His righteousness is credited and accounted to you, me, and all people. Faith receives this righteousness and accreditation as one’s own. The life of a Christian is one of ongoing repentance of our sinfulness and the daily trusting upon Christ and His righteous merit that we are forgiven, saved, and justified. Therefore, Christians need not fear the future day of Christ’s second advent.

We know that Christ will return. Unbelievers constantly scoff at this, but the Holy Scriptures testify to His return. Jesus, who is the Son of Man, will arrive in a cloud with power and great glory (Luke 21,27). For we who believe in and trust upon Jesus as our Savior from sin, death, and the devil, Christ’s second advent will be a day of great and glorious joy. Jesus gives the signs that will precede His almighty return: signs in the sun and moon and stars, nations on earth in anguish and perplexity at the tumultuous sea, and the heavenly powers shaken (Luke 21,25-26). Such portents prelude the end of this world. Such signs are not unusual natural phenomena, but they are apocalyptic and cataclysmic events in the heavens that underscore that this earthly world is becoming undone as what God has ordered begins to revert back to chaos (Just 800-01).

The average TV special on The History Channel or The Discovery Channel would have everyone react with grave concern as such dates such as 21. December 2012 or some other cosmically significant date rushes toward our present time. Christ who is the Lord over Creation, time, and all the powers of heaven would have His beloved Christian people react with expectation and blissful peace. Jesus consoles us, saying, ,,But when such cosmic signs begin to happen, straighten up and lift your heads, for your redemption draws near“ (Luke 21,28). The unbelieving world sees these heavenly portents as signs of impending horror, disaster, and destruction, but we Christians see these portents as signs of our impending salvation, glory, and bodily resurrection. Eternal life in the presence of the Triune God, all the angels, and believers who have gone on before us is about to begin as we enter into everlasting communion together. Yahweh describes this eternal joy to Malachi by saying, »The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings for You people who fear My Name. You will go out and leap like calves let out of a stall.«

Who is this Sun of Righteousness? He is Christ Jesus our Lord who has ushered in the last day by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. Sin has been forgiven. Death has been swallowed up by life. Christ is returning for you and me and all Christians. All of Creation reverberates at His second advent, rejoicing and ushering in His arrival by quaking and shaking in creative praise to the Lord of Creation. At His return we will join in with Creation and usher Jesus back to this earth with hymns of praise and Hallelujahs. Jesus says, »,,Yes, I am arriving quickly.“ Amen, come Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen« (Revelation 22,20-21).

Let us pray. Lord Jesus, the Firstborn risen from the dead, when we see the signs that pretend to Your second advent, exhort us to straighten up and raise our heads so that we rejoice that our redemption is drawing near. Amen.

One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!

   All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Luke © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.
   Just, Arthur A., Jr. Concordia Commentary: Luke 9:51– 24:53. Copyright © 1997 Concordia Publishing House.
   Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.