Malachi 4:1-6

Malachi chapter 4 verses 1 to 6 for behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up said the lord of host that it shall leave them neither root or branch but unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall you shall tread down the wicked they shall be ashes under the souls of your feet in the day that i shall do this set the lord of host remember ye the law of moses my servant which i commanded unto him in horrib for all all Israel with the statutes and judgments. Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. And God bless to us. His heart. Holy and sacred word this evening. Several years ago there was a volcanic mountain in Mexico that lay dormant for many, many years and then suddenly it erupted. It erupted with so much power and force became one of the world’s largest volcanoes. The 73-foot El Chacon giant had been quiet. For hundreds of years, before this explosive reawakening, it sort of reminds us of Mount St. Helen in our own country and how it had been dormant for so long. And then in 1980, it exploded as well. In each case, it was the kind of disruption that was totally unexpected. The people living near the mountains never anticipated such a massive explosion. the danger crept up on them without any warning. Throughout time, there had been another kind of eruption, that of God’s wrath, that of God’s wrath, that flashes forth, and judgment falls upon men because of it. And like a volcanic eruption, often God’s judgments catch people off guard. ungodly men and women live their lives thinking that their evil ways will never catch up with them, that God isn’t paying attention, or that he is indifferent to how they live. And yet God’s past judgment should be a warning to them who live such a way, because eventually God’s judgment does fall. God’s wrath against sin may be a warning. seemed to lie dormant even for a long period of time and then all of a sudden it flashes forth. We have a case of God’s judgment flashing forth in our text tonight. Let me begin by saying this. You must realize there is a difference between the righteous and the wicked. They’re both spoken of here in the first three verses of this chapter to distinguish between them. Now, he begins by talking about the day of the Lord is coming. He talks about the day cometh in verse one, but if you look at chapter four and verse five, he says, he talks about the dreadful, the great and dreadful day of the Lord. So it’s the day of the Lord that’s coming. What does this expression mean in Scripture? Well, the day of the Lord is commonly believed. to refer to the final day, the day of judgment, when all mankind stand before God and are assessed. Revelation 20, Matthew 25 gives us us indication of this. A day when sin, unfairness, inequity of the present age are balanced in the books of God’s holy justice. However, the day of the Lord is not used exclusively for the final day of judgment. A lot of people think that it is, but actually it’s not. We might say there are many days of the Lord. There’s one the day of the day of the Lord, the final day, but there are many days of the Lord down through history. We could talk about Sodom being in the day of the Lord when his judgment fell upon the city and burn it up with fire and broomstone. we could talk about Babylon and its fault being a day of the Lord. We could talk about Israel and 70 AD being a day of the Lord. We’ve been talking about God’s judgment on them. We could talk about the captivity, both of the northern and southern kingdom, being a day of the Lord when he brings his judgment to bear. And all these temporal judgment, certainly foreshadow the final judgment that’s going to come. The expression, the Day of the Lord, is an interesting one. It seems the prophet Amos is the first one to use this particular phrase. Amos was addressing the rebellious Jews up in the northern kingdom, who were about to be destroyed by the Assyrians and hauled off into captivity. Amos is woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord. To what end is it for you? Amos 518. This expression had not been used before, but it was familiar. What it meant was familiar to the Jews. So they understood what he meant by this expression. Now, Israel used the day of the Lord as a day when God would come and judge their enemies, and punish their enemies, like the Assyrians. Ben Amos here, had to correct Israel’s erroneous thinking on this. He says, when the day of the Lord comes, he’s going to punish all sinners. Not just the Assyrians, but you, the day of the Lord, you want the day of the Lord. You don’t know what you’re asking for, because the day of the Lord comes, you’re going to be punished by it. And he will use the Assyrians to do it. So he had to correct them. Now, why is this expression the day of the Lord used for God’s judgment. In the beginning, when you read the creation account, we find that God creates day. He created light and called it day. Genesis 1, 1 to 5, you read about this. Light is a symbol of the image of God. God is light, we’re told. And in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1.5. He’s an unapproachable light that he dwells in. 1st Timothy 616. So day implies that something is going to be manifested that was hidden by darkness. When day comes, it lightens everything up. And thus the day speaks of exposure, of unveiling, uncovering, if you would. This is as it ought to be, for nothing is hidden from the light of God’s presence. But you’ll notice if you read this scriptures carefully, the day also involves assessment. For when God created the light, he said, it was good. He assessed what he had done and said, it’s good. So here we have two things connected with the day of the Lord, I would say, suggest to you. The first is we have an unveiling or exposure, and two, we have an assessment. And that’s connected with the judgment he’s about to meet out. This is what the scripture indicates to us, so that the concept of the day of the Lord carries this thought with it, that God is going to expose men’s sins and their whole lives will be open to him, and then he’s going to assess it. He’s going to make a judgment regarding this exposure. So the day of the Lord is coming. Now the destiny of the proud and the wicked is found in verse one. Behold, the day cometh that shall burn us an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. The day that cometh shall burn them up, say up the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Because God is unchanging, and he’s already told us that in chapter 3. God is unchanging, and His holiness and justice, the judgment of the wicked is inevitable. Though the judgment of God may be postponed, eventually it comes. And he’s telling us here, it’s on its way. It’s coming. Soon it will be here. eventually. The behold here is to capture your attention. Take note of this. This judgment is coming. Now the proud and the wicked are not necessarily the drags of society, so to speak, not just the murderers and the drug dealers and the worst people, the imaginable. No, They’re the people that he’s been describing throughout this book. That’s what he’s talking about. And what has he said about these people? Well, they’re engaged in irreverent worship. Sinful divorce. Married unbelievers. Violation of the unity of God. They rob God of his tithes. They rob God of his offerings. They call evil good and good evil. They have corrupt ministers, those who refuse to obey God’s commands that are mentioned in chapter 3 and verse 7. They don’t want to listen to his ordinances and obey him, as well as the most vile people imaginable. We could mention verse 5 of chapter 3, and we see the false swears and the oppressors and so forth that are mentioned there. in his anger against their wickedness, God’s wrath is going to burn like an oven, he tells us here. A consuming fire. Our God is a consuming fire according to Hebrews chapter 12. This is a common theme used in the Bible for both God’s temporal judgments and his final judgment. If you look at Amos, back up a few books here, to the book of Amos chapter 1, if you would. I can’t read the whole chapter and all the details involved in it. But here, the first chapter and into chapter 2, he speaks about God’s judgment against various nations. Now, notice how he words all this. In chapter 1, verses 3 and 4, thus if the Lord, for three, the Lord, for three transgressions of Damascus, and for 4, I will not turn away the punishment thereof because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron. But I will send a fire into the house of Hesiel, which shall devire the palaces of Ben-Hadetad. My wrath will burn us up, and I’m going to send a fire. I’m going to send a fire. I’m going to send judgment upon them. Then skip down to verse 7. When he talks about Gaza, and we read here, but I will send a fire on the wall. of Gaza, which shall devire the palaces thereof. Verse 10, but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devire the palaces thereof. Verse 14, and I will kindle a fire on the wall of rabah, and shall devire the palaces thereof of with shouting in the day of battle with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind. Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. Thus, say it the Lord, for three transgressions of Moab, and for four, and will not turn away the punishment thereof, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Cariof, and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. And then verse 5, and I will send fire upon Judah. it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. So you can see here, as you go through this chapter, God says, I’m going to burn with fire against these people, I’m going to bring judgment against the present judgment that seems to be addressed here in chapter 4. Relates, I think, to the first coming of Christ and then his judgment upon Israel, for his, the rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah. You’ll notice in chapter 3 in verses 1 to 5, he says this, Behold, I’ll send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. The first messenger is John of Baptist. The second here, the messenger of the covenant, is the Lord. Lord Jesus Christ. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appareth? Or he is like a refiners fire, and like fuller’s soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant on the Lord as in the days of old as in the former years, and I will come near to you to judgment. And I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against the false swears, against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, Seth, the Lord of hosts. So there’s a judgment. associated with the coming of Christ here. And we see in Malachi, our chapter 4, this judgment being spoken of, but then look with me at Matthew chapter 3, verses 9 to 12. You’ll notice some similarity here in language. When John the Baptist comes, he says this. I think not to say within your sense. we have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children and Abraham. Now also the axe is laid under the root of the trees, and every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is ewned down and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water under repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire again we have this judgment associated with Christ and his coming and John the Baptist tells Israel about you’ll notice that he talks about the axe being laid to the root. In Malachi 4 and verse 1, he talks about root and branch being removed with regard to the wicked. So we see that a present judgment here is addressed with regard to the first coming. But we also know in the final coming of Christ, that he comes in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that no not God, and that obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in 2nd Thessalonians 1 8. So again we have the same idea. As a result, all the wicked, the proud, the evildoers will be ignited as dry stubble or chaff and be burned up. And so many, perhaps reading this, well, that’s not the God I believe in. well, that’s the God of the Bible. This is what the scripture. speaks about. Now, people like to talk about God being a God of love, but he’s also a God of justice. He’s a holy God. So we must not forget that when we read the scriptures. Sin is not going to be allowed to go unchecked forever. So all these days of the Lord foreshadow the day of the Lord where there’s the final assessment and everything is brought to light on that day. So the wicked finally will be ablaze in the furnace or the oven of hell. There’s no annihilation, but they continue to suffer for all eternity. So God is faithful. You will preserve a lie forever, all whom he has created. We read in Mark 944, where there worm dieth not, the gnawing pain does not go away, the fire of hell. is not quenched, has never put out. Revelation 1411, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have rest no rest, day, nor night. And so we have the idea here of judgment. There are temporal judgments, but there’s an eternal one. There’s one that will be coming eventually. So the destiny of the proud and wicked, temporal judgments in this life, eternal and punitive, and the life to come. The destiny of the righteous is taken up in verses 2 and 3. But unto you that fear my name shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked. They shall be ashes under the souls of your feet. That I shall do this in the day that I shall do this, set the the Lord of hosts. Now we have here the phrase the son of righteousness mentioned. The champion of the righteous or the people of God is always the Lord Jesus Christ. Some Bibles have the word son capitalized here, and I think rightly so. I think it refers to Christ. King James has it that way. There’s no question in my mind. He is called the Lord. light of men. He is the light of the world. He is a light to the Gentiles. And Jeremiah 236 tells us he’s the Lord our righteousness. So he is the son, the light of righteousness. While some have doubted that Christ is intended by this phrase, I think the context would indicate to us that he is under consideration. We just read that passage in Malachi 3, 1 to 5, where we read about Christ’s coming. The Lord is going to suddenly appear and show up and bring judgment. And it’s interesting that the father of John the Baptist, Zacharias the priest, spoke of Jesus Christ in terms that refer to the sunrise. We looked at this back in Luke chapter 1. If you want to look there quickly with me, verses 76 to 79, we read here, and thou child, speaking of John the Baptist, shall be called the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. Chapter 1, verse 76, now verse 77, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins. For through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring, from on high hath visited us. What is this day spring on high? This word day spring in the Greek here means a rising up or causing something to rise, and it refers to the sunrise. Some refer it to the sunrise, some refer it to stars appearing, but it is also used of the sun rising. It’s always Jesus Christ by whom God’s people have victory. And so I think he is the son of righteousness that’s spoken of here. We see the healing of those who fear God’s name. God would have you realize that the wicked ultimately do not win. They don’t prevail. They don’t get ahead of the righteous. God promises victory for the people of God. A healing of their wounds and bruises bruises caused by the wicked. And the power to tread down the wicked. and see their complete demise ashes. If you read the book of Revelation, there is an indication that you as a child of God overcome by faith, both religious and political persecution. And some of the promises that are made or made with regard to the wicked, how that they will bow at our feet, how that God will make them fall before them. us and we will have power over them. Even in this life God promises victory over the wicked. He says, I will do this. The righteous are like calves of the stall. Well, calves of the stall are those that are well provided for, well fit. And we see that God will take care of his people. the wicked may have an upper hand for a period of time, but eventually God’s hand will topple them. And that’s the promise that he makes. As the sun sends forth its rays, so the long winter of suffering for the righteous will be over. And we see that like the stalls of the calf are let loose, we will be let loose. God will wipe away all our tears. The tree of life will will be, provide for us healing. Healing of the nations is spoken of in Revelation 22. While the wicked are trod down completely and finally in hell, the child or God will be like a calf in the stall, well provided for by God in heaven. That is certainly the final outcome of the righteous and the wicked that’s revealed to us in Scripture. So you realize there’s a difference between the wicked and the righteous and what’s going to happen. Secondly, you must follow God’s guides if you wish to be prepared for the day of the Lord. Now, the law of Moses here is mentioned in verse four of this chapter. He says, remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in horror for all Israel with the statutes and the judgments and the judgment. those who ultimately triumph are people who are sincerely obeying God’s word. The law here refers not to necessarily the ceremonial, the civil law, but I think it relates to the Ten Commandments, the moral law in particular. The law expresses the holiness of God. And Jesus Christ told us that not one jot or tittle of that law will pass away. It is this point. that supplies the connection between the coming judgment and your duty now. Because God’s true covenant people, obey him. It’s that simple. If you love me, Jesus said, keep my commandments. Paul says, do we make void the law through faith? Being saved by grace through faith in Christ, does that mean the end of the law? Are we done with the Ten Commandments? We have no responsibility anymore regarding that? that? Paul says, no, God forbid. Yay, we establish the law. The danger of the Jews is they’re always trying to make the law a way of righteousness, that somehow they’re going to gain righteous footing in God’s sight by keeping the law. Whereas the law is not given for that purpose. And we see that the Christian uses the law as a way to live, a guide for life. Our righteousness is in Christ. Why would we want to think that we could somehow have a better righteousness? We can’t earn salvation by good works or lawkeeping, but we find the law has two-fold purpose. One, it shows you your need for the Savior. By the law is the knowledge of sin, and the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Shows you you you’re a sinner, shows you the remedy. It’s a good. It brings you to Christ. And it shows you your duty as someone saved by grace. You read Romans 13 when he summarizes the second table of the moral law. And he talks about, you know, lying to your neighbor, not to lie to your neighbor, not to steal from him, and not commit adultery, so forth. And he sort of gives to the summary. The summary is, thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself. Paul doesn’t say the law is not useful to the crime. Christian, he says, love your neighbors yourself. Do what the moral law commands. Keep the Ten Commandments. Even so the people of God are not to keep the law for deliverance from sin, but as a guide for living. That’s a key aspect of the law for us today. There was a man that was driving along, and a heavy rain had been falling, and as he was driving along, lonely road, he came across a farmer. As he rounded a curve, this old farmer was standing there near the road looking at his barn, which the roof had collapsed on. So the driver stopped the car and spoke to the farmer and asked him what happened. The farmer said, well, the roof fell in. Leaks so long, it just rotted right through. And the stranger asked, well, why in the world didn’t you think? fix it before it got so bad. The farmer said, well, sir, it just never seemed that I could get around to it. When weather it was good, I didn’t need to fix it. When it was raining, I couldn’t fix it that. So many are indifferent with regard to the law of God. They’re very lax in how they live their lives, and yet they want to claim that they’re the people of God. It’s easy to think, well, someday, you know, I’ll live better. I’ll do what the Lord commands. Such an attitude is no different than the farmers. You keep putting off what God commands you to do. You’re dominated by the flesh. You’re not dominated or directed by the spirit. Jesus said that whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them. I don’t liken him to a wise man who builds upon the rock, the solid foundation. You can talk all you want about following Christ, but those that are serious are diligent about keeping the Ten Commandments. It’s not rocket science. I think it’s simple. So here we have the law of Moses. Remember, he says, don’t forget what God has commanded. How that you are to live. And then he talks about the prophet of God in verses five and six. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Here we have Elijah the prophet. Now you and I know that Elijah the prophet lived long ago. And so what is this all about? I’m sending Elijah the prophet. Well, if you read the New Testament, He becomes very clear that what he’s talking about is John the Baptist, the messenger that he spoke of in chapter 3. Read Luke chapter 1, verses 13 to 17. It’s very clearly stated that he’s referring when the disciples ask what about this promise of Elijah coming. Well, Elijah’s already come. And it was John the Baptist, he says. So John would come in the spirit and the power of Elijah, the prophet, the prophet. and he would preach the gospel. He would cry out for justice and purity among the people that they would be obedient to God, and he tirelessly labored preaching repentance to prepare a people for the Lord. Because Elijah is used here to speak of John, Malachi seems to indicate to us some type of succession of prophets that Elijah was like the head of that group, and Elisha came in the power and the spirit of Elijah. And then the other prophets that came along were sort of like in the same vein. And John the Baptist here is sort of like the last one of that group to come. That prophetic order, if you would. He was, Elijah was a reformer, you recall, in a day when there was a lot of laxity among the people of God. They had turned to bail worship. they had turned away from following the Lord and so forth. Remember Mount Carmel and the challenge there and so forth? And Jezebel and Ahab giving him a hard time. You remember the storyline, how Israel was apostate. And he’s trying to turn them back to the Lord. Well, we have the same idea when John the Baptist comes on the scene. The people here are not following the Lord, as they should, for the most part. And he is trying to prepare people for the coming of Christ, the Son of righteousness, who is going to appear. And so we have this same concept laid out for us here. It behooves us to listen to the guides that God provides for the benefit of the people. He says here about turning the hearts of the heart of the people. of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children of their fathers and so forth. The New Testament indicates that the turning here seems to be a returning to the ways of the Lord. In other words, repentance. Luke 117 interprets this as turning of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. The fathers followed the Lord. And he’s saying, the children ought to be followed. what the forefathers were doing. But we don’t see that happening. So there needs to be a reconciliation between today’s children and yesterday’s fathers. All through the book of Malachi, you see this comparison being made that one of the, you know, those who will keep the covenant and do what is right before the Lord. The minister’s task then is to exhort people to return to the Lord. to be one with the saints of old who faithfully serve God. And then he talks about the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Now, John the Baptist came to prepare the Israelites for the great and dreadful day of the Lord, as we read already in Matthew 3, 6 to 12. This is not to be understood. I don’t think of the second coming, but of the first coming of Christ. Both John and Christ, for His God, told of a terrible ruin and destruction that was going to come upon Israel for their apostate condition. The day of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD is called the great and notable day of the Lord by Peter in Acts chapter 2 and verse 20. It would be a dreadful day and which affliction would come upon them as not been seen since the creation of the creation because Israel refused to turn into the Lord, the Lord did smite the land with a curse. We’ve been studying this in the book of Revelation. I don’t need to dwell on it, but you notice how they were terrorized by the Romans legions and the judgment that fell upon millions died by the sword, by starvation, by thirst, and the nation lay in utter ruins when it was all over. Ultimately, of course, there is a final day. of the Lord, and there’ll be a great and dreadful day on that day when God’s ultimate curse falls upon the disobedient and they are cast into hell. Now, as I close this tonight, let me mention two things. The first is this. Let me ask you this. To whom is he speaking in this passage of Scripture? Is he writing to the heathen? Is he writing to those who have really known? interest at all in the things of God and the law of God or the truth of God. Those who blatantly reject his word, the atheist and so forth? No. Malachi’s warning here is not primarily for the ungodly world around us, but for the professing people. Now think about that moment. We talk about the professing church today. The dreadful truth is that we have churches that think they are alive, but they are dead spiritually. And there is a sense in which there are genuine believers, and there are those who eventually depart from the true church because they weren’t all of us in the first place. They’re hypocrites. The church should be as pure as possible. But sometimes we have… those who are not true believers among us. Those who offer insincere worship and live as they please are among the hypocrites. Those who offer sincere worship and truly love God and keep His commandments, they are the ones who are genuine. Jesus taught on the day of judgment there are going to be many who expect to walk into heaven who won’t get there. These people thought they were Christian. Christians. Perhaps they thought they belonged to the people of God. But their heartless and careless service to God showed otherwise. There was a survey taken once by USA Today where 72% of American people thought they were going to go to heaven when they died. They thought their chances to getting into heaven to work, and they rated them as good to excellent. If you read Matthew 25, there are 10 virgins. They’re waiting for the bridegroom to come. They expect to enter into the wedding ceremony and enjoy the blessings of heaven. Half of them, half of them did not have proper preparation. They had not brought oil to keep the lamps burning. In other words, they had empty lamps. You cannot help feeling that their careless, sloppy approach to their duty reflected a real lack of devotion to the bridegroom. When it was too late, they sought to get the oil for the lamps. But they returned to find themselves locked out of the celebrations. The wedding celebration. Locked out. When they knock on the door, Christ says, I never knew you. I don’t know who you are. Many people fully should. look forward to heaven who will not enter into it. Because all their religion, for all that the religious activities they engage in and all that they do, there is a lack of true love and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. The parable closes with that shocking scene. With those who don’t have the oil in the lamp locked out. Shut out. My friends, I hope that you’re not. You’re not one who just merely professes faith in Christ. But indeed, that you have had a change life by God’s grace and that you are trying to follow the principles of God’s word for how you are to live your Christian life. You’re sincere in your faith. Yeah, we have a lot of people that, you know, they go to church, they do this and this, and you look at their personal lives, and you’re the one in the world, they’re violating the commandments of God. blatantly. And yet they think they’re okay. Either they’re taking God’s name in vain, or they’re living in sin and not married to the person, or engaging in fornication, or they think that perhaps stealing from the company or something like that, it’s okay because you needed it or something of his nature. You look at their life, you look at it and say, what are they thinking? What are they thinking? The awesome day of the Lord, and God’s final verdict is such that it is an eternal matter. There’s no way to change it once it occurs. Now is the day of salvation. Today is the day to make things right with the Lord. Today is the day to know Christ and to be sincere in your faith. So Malachi closes here with a call to real faith. the Lord. One day the volcano of God’s wrath is going to erupt again. Could be in this life, but there is one that’s going to be a final one, and then eternity will begin. I don’t know, you know, if you’re going to get swept up in a temporal judgment here and then eventually the eternal judgment to come, but it’s time to think about where you stand with the Lord. And I think this is what the call is here at the end of the point. this book. Think about how you’re living. Look through this book. See how all the things that they were doing. Think about how you’re living. And notice the judgment is coming. Be prepared for it. And that’s the message I think that Malachi closes with for our benefit. Let’s close.