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. – Mal. 4:2 NIV
490-The Lord’s Day Will Surely Come_15082021
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That the biblical book of Malachi is the last of the books of the Old Testament section of the Christian Bible is an obvious fact. What remains unclear is whether that also indicated the mind of Jehovah about the activities of mankind as bible historians seem to project. To most of them, the Almighty God actually used the book, especially the last chapter to close a phase in the account of the existence of man on earth, and the preparation of a new phase that will involve the coming of His messiah. A 400-year period of quiet, called intertestamental period, when He ceased to involved in the activities of man, separated the two periods. During this period, no new messages were received from Him through any of the existing Prophets or any new and acknowledged Prophet of His, until the recorded appearance of John in first century AD. Several attempts by men to fill the gap created by the silence of Jehovah during this period led to the emergence of several controversial literatures, which seemed to lack the basic credibility to prove that that they were linked with Jehovah and rather caused unquantifiable damage to Christianity in particular.
However, before the Almighty God went silent on the affairs of men, He had given what seemed like the golden advise with which men could guide their living through the hitherto, un-anticipated period of silence and until His return. He had announced the coming of a day when life will be made unbearable for arrogant people and evil doers, as they will eventually be eliminated – Mal. 4:1. Arrogant and evil doers because they chose to ignore the laws and decrees of Jehovah.
In the scripture that is the foundation of today’s Devotional, only those who fear and revere His name will be spared, on that occasion. For such people, as revealed in that scripture,
- The sun of righteousness will rise over them that will bring them healing through its rays – Mal. 4:2a.
- They will subsequently go out and frolic like well fed calves – Mal. 4:2b. This will be in sharp contrast to what will happen to those who refuse to re-trace their steps, and operate in His decrees and laws.
- They will trample on the wicked people, treating them like ashes under the sole of their feet – Mal. 4:3.
All they had to do was to always remember and operate in His laws and decrees as given to Moses on Mount Horeb (Mal. 4:4), until He sends them his prophet, who will come in the mould of Elijah, and whose main task will be to turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and vice-versa. It is only after that coming of this prophet that the said Day will arrive, when He will strike the earth with total destruction – Mal. 4:5-6.
How much more can human beings be foolish, thinking and believing that the one who created the world, with some set objectives in mind will not react when all those objectives are being deliberately ignored by His creatures. Man lives like the end will never come as they forget that they actually came into this same world on a day that they did not decide. They were not involved in the decision that determined which part of the world they will come to and who was going to sire them. Man completely forgets that they were not part of the decision making process on what the objectives of the creator for bringing them into the world should be, and rather chose to believe that their appearance in this world is a co-incidence, thinking that what they choose to believe will change what surely is. Man operates like they will be here forever, even when they never stop visiting cemeteries to send off people whom they saw and related with, a few hours before they stopped breathing. Man claims to know how he arrived in the world through evolution, but has not succeeded in using the same theory of evolution to defy death when it arrives.
O! Foolish man. Believing and repeating a lie will never turn it into truth as it will always be a lie. Since man came into this world, there is no argument that he will surely depart at some point. There should therefore be no controversy about the fact that each individual would have been sent here for a purpose, as even the so called scientists desire that everyone should do something to leave the world a better place, than how he met it. Whether that is regarded as the divine objective for all men is best left with man, but what should be made known to all, is that someone is waiting for man to return and give account of all his actions whilst in this realm.
Some may say that this Day of the Lord will be the day when all will cease to exist. That may be true but what needs to be made clear is that the day an individual ceases to exist is the Day of the Lord in the life of such, because any one who is dead, has already ceased to play any active role in the land of the living.
Bible scholars may reveal that since the beginning of the first century AD, Jehovah resumed communications with man, but indeed, His talking has no more advantage to the one who is dead. The Lord’s Day for such has already arrived, as the delayed time is only the time being awaited for the announcement of His judgement. The book of activities would have been closed and all that will be awaited will be the announcement of the result of the final assessment of the activities of such a person while in this existence, and the only act that will save such will be pleas for mercy, that will be available during that judgement session.
The ones that will receive that Grace, will be those who, going by today’s foundation scripture, have lived their lives in the fear of Jehovah, and done all in their ability to observe all His laws and decrees. Of course it will never be possible to have anyone perfectly observe all his laws and decrees, but being conscious of them, and showing strong willingness to walk in them, in addition to following all that His promised Elijah, who is Jesus Christ says, will access such Grace. To accept this Elijah-like personality, who is Jesus Christ, is to observe his instructions, which are not difficult – 1Jn. 5:3. It is simply to sincerely and completely love Jehovah and to love one’s neighbour in the manner that such loves self – Mk. 12:29-31.
It will be a very terrible day for all those who will not accept this very simple, yet important fact, as they may end up in the part of eternity called Hell, where they will be the fuel to ensure that the fire never stops burning – Mal. 4:1. What a horrible choice to make, a fate which can be avoided by simply deciding to take to his advise. That Day will surely arrive just as the day of birth surely arrived, which is why the individual is existing in the first place. No one sought your permission before journeying into this world and no permission will be needed to determine when and how you depart, just as your permission is not needed with regards to what your fate will be after your departure. Stop deceiving yourself and accept the fact of your existence, as believing it or not will not change this truth. His Elijah has since come and gone though he is going to return – Matt. 17:10-12. This time, not to convince man that Yahweh is God, as the name of Elijah implies, but to assess how much you attempted to do the needful, in accordance with his teachings. If he finds your thought to be that of the one that is focused on Jehovah, then he has the permission of his father to perfect all your imperfections and make you whole – Jn. 8:36. May the alternative not be your portion in Jesus name. Amen.
