Title: God's Ordained Day / Mal 3:13-18
Contents God's appointed day / Mal 3:13-18
◎ Bible text: Malachi 3:13-18
◎ Title: God's Ordained Day
☞Text:13 You speak hard words against me, says the LORD, and say, “What words have we spoken against you?” 14 For you say, It is futile to serve God; keep his commandments before the LORD of hosts. 15 For now we say that the proud are blessed, and those who do evil prosper, and those who tempt God are freed from harm.
16 At that time those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD heard it clearly, and wrote in a book of remembrance before the LORD for those who fear the LORD and honor his name. 17 saith the LORD of hosts, I On the appointed day I will make them my special possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then you will return, and you will distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, and between those who serve God and those who do not serve God.
==================================================== ====================================
The student's favorite vacation is approaching. But the days of vacation are mixed! Students with good grades have a pale face, but the opposite student's face is discolored when they think of the disaster that will come once due to the report card.
Closing Ceremony is a day of grace for students with good grades, and a day of judgment for students with poor grades. In this way, there is a fixed day in the history of people, and what they do on that day is evaluated and they are rewarded and punished.
God also set certain days in the history of guiding His people, giving praise and rewards to those who obeyed His Word, and rebuking and punishing those who disobeyed. In the Bible, in the history of God's people, we can see the history of God's blessings and punishments on special days, all of which foreshadow the last day of judgment. The final judgment day is the day of the second coming of Jesus Christ.
In the days of Noah, God set a day, and the wicked were judged with water from the flood, and Noah's 8 righteous family members were saved. He set a day for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and caused the wicked to be burned with fire and brimstone, and Lot's family was saved.
As such, God's appointed day is a day of grace for the righteous to receive rewards and blessings, and a day of judgment and rebuke and wrath for the wicked.
The same is true on the day of the Second Coming of Jesus. Therefore, we want to prepare well for the day of grace, not the day of judgment, as those who are waiting for the Lord's return.
How did you respond to the question, “When should Jesus come?” during the Word Study for District Worship?
Some may have answered when they prayed, when they sang, when their family members were singing together, when they were serving diligently, when they were evangelizing, and so on. That's right. We all want to hear the praise and praise for doing well when the Lord comes on that day, we don't want to be rebuked or punished.
Today, we are those waiting for the Lord. After the people of Judah returned from captivity in the Old Testament era, they were rebuilding the temple of God, and stopped building their own houses. Let us take this as an opportunity to examine ourselves, examining what God has promised through the prophet Malachi to those who fear, serve, and obey the Lord on the appointed day of God when we resist and disobey God without giving.
Since this is a time when God's people are disobedient and rebellious, the prophet Malachi speaks specifically about the blessings that God will give on the appointed day if we fear, obey, and serve God.
At this time, the faith of the people of Judah was what I put in a word, 'flippers faith'. It was a religion of eating chicken and sticking out flippers.
When God says, "I have loved you," they reply, "When did you love us?" When God says, "Priests, you despise me," the priests say, "When did we despise God?" It is to put out flippers, saying, “How do we say that we are against God?” (13).
Is there anyone who has the flippers faith? Of course, there should be no such saints!
Not only that, but they said, "It is vain to serve God. What profit is it to keep his commandments and walk mournfully before the LORD of hosts?" They say, "Blessed are the proud." "Those who do evil will prosper, and those who tempt God will be spared from harm."
If we listen closely to these words at this time, there are many Christians who do not speak even in our day, but who think the same way.
"It is vain to serve God." "What's going on? I lost." "I envy those who do not believe." "Where is the grace?" I secretly envy people who don't believe me, and I keep sneaking around.
Don't do that. No matter how well the unbelievers do, nothing is better than us. We have the grace of being saved through the forgiveness of sins through Jesus, the grace of eternal life, and the grace of calling God our Father.
Not only that. For those who fear and serve God, there are certain things that are guaranteed by God. What is it?
First, all his deeds and names are recorded in a book of remembrance before Jehovah.
Verse 16 “Written in the book of remembrance before the Lord for those who fear the Lord and those who honor his name.” To be written in the book of remembrance before the Lord means that God will never forget and reward him accordingly. do.
Revelation 20:12-15 "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead, according to their deeds, as they were written in the books. And being judged, the sea gave up the dead that were in them, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; and each one was judged according to their deeds, and death and Hades were also thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death, the lake of fire. Whosoever was not written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire."
There are two kinds of books before God. One is the books that record all the actions of people, and the other is the book of life, which contains the list of those who have been saved.
In this text, we know that there is a book written to commemorate those who fear and respect the Lord.
They fear and serve God, do not complain even in hardships, do not envy unbelievers, look to the Lord steadfastly, do not seek other graces, love the Lord, and do not miss anything. At that time, I thought it had passed because there was no compensation at that time. Do not worry. Everything is recorded in the book before God. The record is not erased.
♬I will not exchange the Lord for anything, nor will I seek any other grace. Only you are the help in my life, so I want to see your face. Lord, I love you. I want to be a faithful friend of God with all my heart and sincerity.♪
Second, on the appointed day of Jehovah, He gives sufficient compensation.
Verses 17-18 “I will make them my special possession on the day I have appointed.” “And he will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.”
There is a day set by the Lord. On that day, there will be a full reward for what you have bought by faith. Don't feel sorry for the loss now. Do not doubt the Lord. Don't stalk unbelievers. That day comes. The Lord will surely come again.
We are now waiting for the coming of the Lord. How should I live?
1) Let's fear the Lord God, serve Him better, give thanks even in the midst of suffering, and stand proudly in front of unbelievers and leave many records in the book of remembrance before God.
2) Let's wait patiently and hope that we will receive a sufficient reward on the day of the Lord's coming.