Written ~800 BC –
Theme: Day of the Lord
Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand:
Joel was there in a vision and he is recounting it to the people of Judah (Southern Kingdom)
How would you be if you saw the same thing? What would you do?
Wouldn’t you want to tell everyone:
what was going to happen
AND
how to avoid it
This is exactly what Joel’s message is
What happens when you die, playing harps? reincarnation? nothing?
If you will stay with me today, we will go through and reveal God’s plan for mankind
Heard on TV:
I forgive…
When can we forgive?
When should we forgive?
Where is God? Why does He not reveal Himself? If He exists, why does He not just come to Earth and prove it and prove all the naysayers wrong? Why does He remain in heaven and allow fallible and imperfect humans to do the work of preaching the Gospel and feeding the flock?
There is no doubt about the pagan origin of Christmas and all its trappings.
The word “Christmas” is not found in the Bible
I’ve mused about the people featured in the Bible. Positive examples like Aquila and Priscilla, negative ones like Alexander the Coppersmith or Diotrephes or the boy that fell asleep during the late night Bible study.
Well it just so happens that God has other books.
Malachi shows how completely devoid of understanding the Jews of his time were. They did not have the answer to the most basic questions that God posed to them.
But before we think too harshly of them, we must first realize that the book was written for us as well today.
Malachi 3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God; What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance [statutes], And that we have walked as mourners Before the LORD of hosts?
Malachi 3:15 So now we call the proud blessed, For those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.’ “
First he addresses the reward of the righteous 3:16 to end 3:18
and now with the beginning of chapter 4 he addresses the punishment of the wicked
Malachi 2:17 You have wearied the LORD with your words; “Yet you say, “In what way have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil Is good in the sight of the LORD, And He delights in them,” Or, “Where is the God of justice?”