SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/6/2016 10:34 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 of The Preachers
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Malachi 4:4-6
Message of the verses: “4 "Remember the law of Moses My
servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for
all Israel. 5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the
coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. 6 “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.’”
I want to
focus in on what we see in verses four and five and who Malachi is including in
those two verses. It was last year when
I studied the book of Revelation and we looked at the two witnesses that are
found in the eleventh chapter of Revelation.
“3 "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for
twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth." 4 These are the two
olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5
And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours
their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. 6
These have the power to
shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their
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.” Now when we studied this passage in
Revelation chapter eleven I said, and this is not my own opinion, that Moses
and Elijah are the ones who will be these two witnesses. There are several reasons, and one is that
neither of them finished their ministry while they were on earth, and when
Jesus was up on the Mount of Transfiguration both Moses and Elijah were there
with Him representing the Law and the prophets.
It was in the days of Elijah when it did not rain for a long period of
time. So as we look at these two men who
possibly are these two witnesses we find them in Malachi 4:4-5. Jesus also told His disciples that Elijah
would come before He comes and if Israel would have accepted Him as Messiah
then John the Baptist would count as Elijah coming before Him.
Dr. Wiersbe
writes that “The prophet Elijah is mentioned at least thirty times in the New
Testament, and ten of those references relate him to John the Baptist. But John the Baptist said plainly that he was
no Elijah (John 1:21, 25). He did come
in the ‘spirit and power’ of Elijah and turn the hearts of the fathers and
children (Luke 1:16-17). Like Elijah,
John was a courageous man, a man of prayer empowered by the Spirit, a man who
lived alone in the wilderness, and a servant who turned many people back to the
Lord, but he was not Elijah returned to earth.”
Dr. Wiersbe
also states that many people believe that Elijah is one of the two witnesses
mentioned in Revelation 11:3-12. And also
states that many believe that Moses is the other one.
We have to
come to the conclusion that the prophecy about Elijah in Malachi 4:5 has not
taken place as yet and we believe that it will take place during the time
period which is called “The Day of the Lord,” which is the last three and a
half years of the tribulation period.
Dr. Wiersbe
then writes “It seems odd that the Old Testament Scriptures should end with the
word ‘curse.’ When we get near the end
of the New Testament, we read, ‘And there shall be no more curse’ (Rev. 22:3). All of creation is eagerly awaiting the
return of the Savior, expecting Him to deliver creation from the bondage of sin
(Rom. 8:18-23). We too should be
expecting Him and, while we’re waiting, witness of Him to others. For when the Sun of righteousness arises, it
will mean either burning or blessing (Mal. 4:1-2): blessing to those who have trusted Him,
burning to those who have rejected Him.
“Nobody can
afford to argue with God the way the Israelites did when they heard Malachi,
because God will always have the last word.
“For you,
will that last word be salvation or judgment?”
I don’t
remember exactly when I began to study the book of Mathew verse by verse, but I
believe it was sometime around 1993 or 1994.
It happened when I visited a doctor who had been a missionary in India
and then had to leave as the government of India did not allow him to
stay. He was the one who taught my wife
and I to use Spiritual Diaries to study the Bible and after a while we both
decided to study the New Testament verse by verse. On December 17, 2005 I finished the book of
Revelation, thus finishing my study of the New Testament. On December 30, 2005 I began to study the Old
Testament and so it has take me almost eleven years to complete this
study. There were times when it was hard
to continue to study but by God’s grace and the help of Dr. Warren Wiersbe
along with John Macarthur’s help for Zachariah and Habakkuk it is complete. I don’t have the early New Testament studies
on my computer and so it is my desire to study through the New Testament once
more as I have already done the books of Revelation, Mark, 1 & 2 Thessalonians
and desire to begin the book of Colossians along with continuing my study of
the gospel of John in the mornings. I
look forward to continue to study the Word of God and also to continue to put
my studies onto my blogs.
12/6/2016 11:09 PM
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