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Malachi 4:1-6  Healing In His Wings

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Malachi 4:1-6  Healing In His Wings

[Study Aired January 18, 2024]

Last week we looked at how John the baptist was the messenger of God who prepared the way of the Lord in the wilderness for Christ (Isa 40:3-5, Mat 3:1-3), as a type of the elect bride of Christ who will be prepared to receive her husband (Rev 19:7) in a moment and in a twinkling of an eye at the first resurrection (1Th 4:16-18). 

Mat 3:3  For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 

Our life of overcoming in this flesh is a process that is explained by John himself who realized he must decrease and Christ must increase (Joh 3:30). In John’s mind, that was a very physical statement, as he was acknowledging the greatness of Christ in the earth (Joh 1:27), but for the elect it is an inward statement that we are blessed to contemplate as we think upon our hope of glory within, Jesus Christ, the treasure in earthen vessels (Col 1:27, 2Co 4:7), who increases in us by the growth that God gives, even as we decrease (1Co 3:6-8). 

The meek who inherit the earth are typified by John the baptist, and through Christ God’s elect become the generation who have no confidence in the flesh (Php 3:3  how that fleshly confidence is taken away Mat 24:34, Heb 12:6, Heb 5:8), while at the same time we don’t cast away our confidence in Christ, which has great recompense of reward (Heb 10:35), thanks to the faith of Christ that makes it possible for us to endure until the end in order to be saved in this age (Luk 22:31-32, Mat 24:13). That recompense of reward is to be the bride of Christ and to be blessed to inherit the earth as His bride (Mat 5:5, Oba 1:21, Gal 4:27), we being His inheritance and He ours (Eph 1:18-19, Psa 16:5-11).

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

Psa 16:5  The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
Psa 16:6  The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
Psa 16:7  I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
Psa 16:8  I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Psa 16:9  Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

In this last chapter of Malachi, we’ll look at how all the prophets of old, including John, prophesied not to themselves but to us, the body of Christ (1Pe 1:12, 1Co 10:11), and how Elias who had restored all things in his day, and John the baptist in his day, are all types and shadows of the true spiritual restoration which will come to the world through the church, of which Christ is the head (Eph 3:10, Col 1:18). Christ is our preeminent forerunner in all things (Col 1:18), and His body, the church, must fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ (Col 1:24) identifying with this statement of Christ (Mar 9:12-13), being “accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (Rom 8:36) who must supernaturally be armed with the mind of Christ, the faith of Christ to endure unto the end in order to be “more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Mar 9:12  And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought.
Mar 9:13  But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.

[John coming in the spirit of Elias is a parable of how Christ came in the spirit of His father and how we are sent as Christ was sent with the same spirit (Joh 20:21, Joh 6:37, 1Jn 4:17) Whatever was restored was restored up to that point which God had intended according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). Christ went on to say that, with God’s holy spirit, the body of Christ would do greater works than what He had done, speaking of the spiritual restoration of those called and chosen in this age, and that which the body of Christ would do beyond this age as well (Joh 14:12)]

Mal 3:1  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye 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.
Mal 3:2  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:

Joh 14:12  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Mal 4:1  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, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

This day “that shall burn as an oven” is referring to the day of our visitation, the day of the Lord for those who are being judged now (1Pe 4:17), and also referring to the lake of fire or great white throne judgment for those who will be judged then (Rev 20:14-15). 

Ultimately all the sin of the world will be washed by the blood of the lamb (Joh 1:29) and “all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble“, which represents all the sin of the world that God tells us “the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Those things are first burnt out of the elect so that their lives can be transformed and conform with Christ’s life (Rom 12:2). We are preserved through that judgment (Jud 1:1, 1Th 5:23) that takes away all of our false foundations that we all start off with in Babylon, represented by this statement – “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.“

Joh 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Jud 1:1  Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

Mar 4:24  And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.
Mar 4:25  For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch“

Jud 1:1  Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

1Th 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Php 2:14  Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 
Php 2:15  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Php 2:16  Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Mal 4:2  But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings;H3671 and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

It is the “Sun of righteousness” that bears us on eagle’s wings (Exo 19:4) causing us to “grow up as calves of the stall.” Christ represents the bullock in the offerings of the old covenant (Exo 29:14), and it is those who fear His name who will “grow up as calves of the stall” just as He grew up fearing God and was heard of Him “in that he feared” (Heb 5:7-8, Luk 12:5). 

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wingsH3671, and brought you unto myself.

Exo 29:14  But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 
Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

The bullock is taken without the camp to be burnt and when we go without the camp with Christ who is represented by that bullock and lay down our lives for each other, we fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body’s sake (Col 1:24), a dying daily event of having no fear of what man can do to our flesh (Mat 10:28), but rather supernaturally going where our flesh does not want to go, even giving no thought in that hour what you shall speak, not even premeditating on it, because the Lord will be our strength and the holy spirit will give us what to speak in that hour as God makes “known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27, Joh 21:18-19, Mar 13:11-13). Christ has preeminence in fulfilling all these living sacrifices of the old covenant that represent what he has done for us, and because we partake of the life of Christ through our communion in him (1Co 10:16), we also can be strengthened as he was to go without the camp and fulfill God’s will in this life through those sacrifices. In other words carrying our cross and following Christ is what is preparing us for whatever God has set before us to His glory (1Jn 4:17, Heb 13:13-16).

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
Heb 13:14  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Heb 13:16  But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

Mal 4:3  And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

Christ is our strength, as the bullock within (Col 1:27) who gives us the power to “tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet.” Like the bullock that is sacrificed without the camp and burnt until there is nothing left but ashes, so is our first Adamic life put off through a life time of much tribulation (Act 14:22) that burns up that wickedness, eventually, onto the third day (Luk 13:32), leaving “neither root nor branch” within our naturally carnal and desperately wicked hearts (Jer 17:9), to the point where we can overcome the wickedness of this world within and without and not be controlled any longer by our former conversation in the earth as we go without the camp with Christ (Eph 2:1-6).

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

The question always remains, “Who is doing this work within us?” As always, the answer never changes. It is Christ ‘the bullock’ working within us both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure. If our eyes are set on the strength which God has promised He will give us through Christ, we will be more than conquerors through Him, and we will not grow weary in well doing (Gal 6:9-10) as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling knowing that it is Christ who is working in us both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure in our lives (Php 2:12-13).

Gal 6:9  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Gal 6:10  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Exo 29:14  But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure [Col 1:27, Joh 14:20].

Mal 4:4  Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

Verse four of Malachi is juxtaposed against the last two verses. In verse four we’re told to “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant.” That is the law for the lawless (1Ti 1:9) that does not change the heart, and all the “statutes and judgments” only typify a better covenant, the law of the spirit of life in Christ (Rom 8:2) which will be typified by the prophet Elijah whose life is a shadow of the life of God’s elect who have been called to “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.”

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

The law was given in HorebH2722, a name that is typical of how the law cannot produce any good spiritual fruit in anyone’s life: [desolate ,  parch (through drought), that is, (by analogy) to desolate, destroy, kill: – decay, (be) desolate, destroy (-er), (be) dry (up), slay, X surely, (lay, lie, make) waste].

The law was for all of Israel, which in this instance Israel typifies all the world that are under governors and tutors, under the schoolmaster, whether that schoolmaster is the ten commandments for Jews and Christians or the law unto themselves that gentiles are in the world (Rom 2:14-15). 

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

Both parties are governed by law, but that law does not convert the heart of mankind. Rather it shows us how inadequate we are and incapable of our own selves to reflect a righteous spirit which can only come from God (Rom 7:13). Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags to God (Isa 64:6), and that will be revealed in time by God who creates this contrast for humanity so that in time we will all be able to “discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” within ourselves first and foremost (Mal 3:18).

Mal 4:5  Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 

What exactly is “the great and dreadful day of the LORD” in which Elijah the prophet will be sent just prior to its unfolding? The dreadful day of the LORD is the dreadful day when our old man is exposed by the brightness of Christ’s coming, nothing more and nothing less (2Th 2:2-13). Elijah typifies the spirit of God that comes into our lives to destroy that man of sin on the throne of our hearts preparing the way for the physical Christ in his case as oppose to these verses in Thessalonians that reveal a time when the holy spirit will convict those who God has given his spirit (Rom 8:9) so that they can be prepared for the return of Christ as His bride (Rev 19:7).

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2Th 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Mal 4:6  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.

In the last verse of Malachi, we see the fruit of what Christ coming into our land produces (Isa 26:9), and it is an admonition for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear today that God is able to turn us to observe His truth (Joh 6:44). He is the one who turns the heart of the fathers to the children, meaning He gives us the desire and strength to labor in His word and continue in the truth (Joh 8:31-32). The doctrine is likened to seed and children, and if we are blessed to have a hunger and thirst for that word, we will continue to be drawn as disciples to Christ who alone can satiate that hunger and thirst for righteousness (Mat 5:6).

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. 

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Mat 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

The father represents the head and Christ is our head, and if he is leading us he is turning us to God’s word “fathers to the children.” He is also using the church to receive those who are being dragged to Christ “children to their fathers“, and so Christ admonishes us to not just look to our own needs but to all the needs (Php 2:4) of the body as well and to receive the children as Christ did (Mat 18:10-14).

Php 2:4  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Mat 18:10  Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. 
Mat 18:11  For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
Mat 18:12  How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
Mat 18:13  And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
Mat 18:14  Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

The children are drawn to the fathers, meaning to the mature among us, to the leaders, to the heads in the church, and our response must always be to support and love one another, bearing the infirmity of the weak, the young spiritually (Rom 15:1-3), and not taking for granted what it is that our Father is doing in His house (Heb 2:3, Heb 10:25).

Rom 15:1  We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 
Rom 15:2  Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. 
Rom 15:3  For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.

Heb 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

If we do not pay heed to this commandment, and to all of God’s commandments, it will be of the LORD as well, and He will “come and smite the earth with a curse” for our inattentiveness to what He is accomplishing within the body of Christ. If we are called and chosen and faithful to the end, that chastisement will only make us that much more zealous and capable through Christ to accomplish that which He has called us to in this age (Heb 12:6-7, Tit 2:11-12, Eph 2:8).

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

God has already determined from the foundation of the world who it is that will be able to endure until the end of this age and find spiritual healing in this life via the “healing in his wings” (Mat 23:37, Gal 4:26), which typifies the life of Christ within them, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.”

Mat 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. [“even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings“]

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Jas 4:13  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city [the church that says we will go to Jerusalem above where we are raised in heavenly places Lord willing], and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:[spiritual increase that comes from God alone (1Co 3:6-9)]
Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Jas 4:15  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 
Jas 4:16  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil [Rom 3:27].

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