It's not pretty, but there it is--the last word of the OLD Testament is "a
curse" (Mal. 4:6), not so much a threat as it is the inevitable Bad News of
disaster as the unavoidable consequence of sin. It's the "curse" that came in
the flood of Noah when the earth was destroyed, only this one is to be "fire"
(vs. 1). It's something God Himself cannot avoid, for "the wages of [our] sin
is death" (Rom. 6:23). The human race brought it upon themselves "in the days
of Noah," and will do so again, unless somehow help can come.
The "help" that God promises is a totally impossible miracle for humans: God
will "send ... Elijah before the coming of the great and 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" (Mal. 4:5, 6). That domestic
"turning-of-heart" is the only thing that can avert a global "curse." It
concerns marital fidelity and families.
Malachi's context is the "curse" of marital infidelity, for God says "I hate
divorce" (2:11-16, NEB). The only remedy for heart alienation is a
"turning-of-heart." Marital infidelity was a prime factor in the wickedness
before the flood ("they took them wives of all they chose," Gen. 6:2). No one
can "turn" his/her own "heart." Jesus predicted that "the love [yes, marital]
of many shall wax cold" and "iniquity shall abound" (Matt. 24:12). When love
turns cold and the fire in the coals has gone out and hearts are estranged,
only "Elijah's message" can reconcile the desolated hearts and cleanse the
pollution.
But it can! God has promised to "send him" BEFORE the "seven last plagues"
shall be poured out. The story of sinful humanity in the last book of the New
Testament tells how the curse will come (Rev. 15, 16). But the Elijah message
must come FIRST, perhaps has come to you already. It's more than old covenant
resolutions and works; it's a heart-turning "faith-which-works" proclamation of
the cross of Jesus, of grace which abounds more than sin.
--Robert J. Wieland
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