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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace.
All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming
will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be
left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will
rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed
calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles
of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.
“Remember the law of My servant Moses, the decrees and
laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.”
“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that
great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the
parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or
else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Malachi 4
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
Today marks the end of what has been an amazing journey.
It started back on September 15th, 2007, when I wrote a devotion appropriately
titled, “In The Beginning”. Since that time, I have been writing messages the
Lord has placed on my heart as I moved through every book in the Old Testament.
That ends today as I write from the final chapter of Malachi, a passage that
speaks words of hope to those who would place their faith, hope, and trust in
the Lord.
Look again at these words:
“Surely the day is
coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will
be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty.
“Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name,
the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go
out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they
will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord
Almighty.
“Remember the law
of My servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.”
“See, I will send
the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.
He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the
children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total
destruction.” Malachi 4
In yesterday’s devotion, we saw the Lord ensuring His
faithful believers that He would remember them when it came to His time of
judgment. You’ll recall that the Lord vowed to spare His “treasured possession”,
the loyal Israelites who remained true to Him, even when their peers weren’t.
These final words from Malachi serve as an extension of
the end of chapter 3, as the Lord continues to better define the day of
judgment He was bringing, a day that He assured would “burn like a furnace” and
reduce “all the arrogant” and evildoers to stubble as He “set them on fire”.
Note that there would be no trace left of those people, not a root or branch.
As for His beloved, the Lord promised a much different
ending. For those who made the conscious choice to revere and respect His name would
not perish but rather flourish and frolic, basking under the “sun of
righteousness” and its healing rays.
Two distinct groups of people.
One unfaithful, the other loyal.
One destroyed, the other saved, not by the sun but the
Son, Jesus.
For soon, God would send His “Elijah”, John the Baptist,
to make way for the promised Messiah, Jesus the Savior of the world. Both would
come to try and change the hearts of all mankind, Jew and Gentile, with the hope
of saving them from sin’s destruction through accepting salvation through
Jesus, the Son.
Therefore, anyone who would place their faith, hope, and
trust in God’s one and only Son, Jesus, would escape annihilation and not die
but rather live on forever, basking in the light of the sun and the Son.
As I close writing through the Old Testament today, I
pray you are counted in the number of the saved, the number who have chosen to
receive Jesus as Savior.
Tomorrow, we will start to cover the Gospels where our
focus will turn completely toward Jesus and the life He lived. See you then and
thanks for being a faithful reader of The Christian Walk blog.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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