Malaquias 4
John MacArthur · Citado em PreceptAustin
Malaquias 4
MacArthur: The angel is preaching the good news concerning eternal life and entrance into the kingdom of God (cf. Mt 24:14; 1Co 15:1–10). He is urging the people of the world to change their allegiance from the beast to the Lamb. It is also called in the NT the Gospel of God, the Gospel of grace, the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of peace, the glorious Gospel, and the Gospel of the kingdom. It is good news that God saves by the forgiveness of sin and opens His kingdom to all who will repent and believe. The whole world will hear this preaching by the angel as God graciously calls all to salvation. (Ed: So just prior to the unleashing of God's final wrath in the "Bowl Judgments," in the midst of this coming consuming wrath, God "remembers mercy!" How kind is our God to give this gracious invitation to a world that fully deserves divine wrath!)… The last moment arrives to repent and believe before God’s wrath is poured out. This is the book’s first use of the word judgment, a term that has the same meaning as wrath. (MacArthur Study Bible) Disciple's Study Bible: SALVATION, Fear of God--The eternal Gospel calls for all persons everywhere to fear God and worship Him. God the Redeemer is also the Creator and Judge. There is an awesomeness about salvation which we dare not overlook. Dave Roper has some interesting comments on fear My Name - Malachi begins this section with the distinction between those who truly belong to God and those who do not. There are some people who do not fear the Lord, and they support one another in their conversation; and there is another group of people who do fear the Lord. That is the basic distinction-unobservable, but fundamental. There is no way you can look at a person and tell which group he belongs to. We do not wear fish stickers on our foreheads. But God makes the distinction. He sees the heart. He knows, and he writes the book. You cannot look at a person's circumstances and say, "My, that person must know God because he's blessed." Or, "Obviously this other person does not know God because he's not blessed." Marcus Dods - They that fear the LORD with believing reverence wait for the manifestation of His righteousness, conscious that they love God (Jn 14:15), that they seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Mt 6:33). (The post-exilian prophets- Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings, Ris’n with healing in His wings. Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth. --Charles Wesley Sun of Righteousness - This is a reference to the Messiah -- a presentation of the "scarlet thread of redemption" even as the OT closes. The Messiah shall radiate healing to the broken spirit and comfort Israel in her afflictions. As the dawn of the coming day will herald judgment to the proud and wicked, it will herald healing for those who fear the Lord. See related discussion - The Sun of Righteousness Will Rise NET Note on Sun of Righteousness (NET Bible translates it "sun of vindication) - Here the Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsédaqah), usually translated “righteousness” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT; cf. NAB “justice”), has been rendered as “vindication” because it is the vindication of God’s people that is in view in the context. Cf. BDB 842 s.v. צְדָקָה 6; “righteousness as vindicated, justification, salvation, etc.” The expression the sun of vindication will rise is a metaphorical way of describing the day of the LORD (ED: AND THE LORD OF THE DAY!) as a time of restoration when God vindicates his people (see 2 Sam 23:4; Isa 30:26; 60:1, 3). Their vindication and restoration will be as obvious and undeniable as the bright light of the rising sun. Play hymn: Sun of My Soul, Thou Saviour Dear Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear, It is not night if Thou be near; O may no earth-born cloud arise To hide Thee from Thy servant's eyes. -John Keble John MacArthur - The reference is to the Messiah, “the Lord our righteousness” (Ps 84:11; Jer 23:5, 6; 1Co 1:30) J
Malaquias 4
MacArthur comments: God’s restoration in the Millennial Age is to include physical restoration to the afflicted. Jesus’ first coming gave a foretaste of that future day (Mt 11:5; 12:22; Mk 7:37; Lk 7:21; Acts 3:8). Healing (04832)(marpe from rapha/rophe = to heal) means health, healing, a cure, a remedy. It can speak of restoration, cure or renewal. 2Chr 36:16 speaks figuratively of Judah's spiritual healing, which was no longer possible (same idea of spiritual healing in Jer 8:15, Jer 14:19, 33:6). God's Word brings health to one's body (Pr 4:22, cp Ps 107:20 where "healed" = rapha/rophe). Human words (pleasant, wise, faithful/trustworthy) bring healing (Pr 12:18, 16:24, 13:17). Jer 33:6 speaks of a future healing for the land of Israel when the LORD returns. Marpe - 15 verses. Usage: brings healing(1), composure(1), healing(8), health(1), incurable*(1), remedy(2), soothing(1), tranquil(1). 2 Chronicles 21:18 So after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable (no + healing - marpe) sickness. 2 Chronicles 36:16 but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy. (Lxx = iama = healing, cure) Proverbs 4:22 For they (context - Pr 4:20-21) are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Proverbs 6:15 Therefore his calamity will come suddenly; Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing. Proverbs 12:18 There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, But the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 13:17 A wicked messenger falls into adversity, But a faithful envoy brings healing. Proverbs 14:30 A tranquil heart is life to the body, But passion is rottenness to the bones. Proverbs 15:4 A soothing tongue is a tree of life, But perversion in it crushes the spirit. Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 29:1 A man who hardens his neck after much reproof Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy. Ecclesiastes 10:4 If the ruler's temper rises against you, do not abandon your position, because composure allays great offenses. Jeremiah 8:15 We waited for peace, but no good came; For a time of healing, but behold, terror! Jeremiah 14:19 Have You completely rejected Judah? Or have You loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We waited for peace, but nothing good came; And for a time of healing, but behold, terror! Jeremiah 33:6 (Read the context - Jer 33:6-13) 'Behold, I will bring to it (Jerusalem) health and healing (marpe), and I will heal (rapha) them (Judah and Israel); and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth. (Lxx = iama = healing, cure) Comment: This passage speaks of a future "healing" when Jerusalem is restored to prominence in the world and Judah and Israel are cleansed "from all their iniquity." (Jer 33:8). This event coincides with the Second Coming of Messiah and the establishment of His Millennial Kingdom. Malachi 4:2 "But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. Adam Clarke on healing in his wings - As the sun, by the rays of light and heat, revives, cheers, and fructifies the whole creation, giving, through God, light and life everywhere; so Jesus Christ, by the influences of his grace and Spirit, shall quicken, awaken, enlighten, warm, invigorate heal, purify, and refine every soul that believes in him, and, by his wings or rays, diffuse these blessings from one end of heaven to another; everywhere invigorating the seeds of righteousness, and withering and drying up the seeds of sin. Skip about like calves - Calves, when confined to a stall for extended periods of time, leap for sheer joy when turned loose into the sunlight. The picture is one of a joyful, vigorous, and carefree life. The figure of calves enjoying open pasture after being cooped up in a pen (stall) expresses the future satisfaction and joy of the righteous (cf. Isa. 65:17-25; Hosea 14:4-7; Amos 9:13-15; Zeph. 3:19-20), especially in Messiah's Millennial Kingdom. While the skipping calf simile refers to a future literal day,
Malaquias 4
MacArthur: The prediction that the actual Old Testament person of Elijah would be the forerunner of the Messiah and His judgment was well-known to Jews of Jesus’ day. Therefore, as Peter, James, and John came down the mountainside with the Lord, they could not have helped wondering how the appearance of Elijah they had just witnessed (cf Mt 17:3) fit in with Malachi’s prophecy “If You are the Messiah, as you have declared and we have believed,” they asked, in effect, “why did Elijah not appear before You began Your ministry?” It was doubtlessly that same concern that many of the Jewish leaders used to justify rejecting Jesus’ messiahship. And it was probably Malachi’s prophecy that caused some people to think that Jesus was Elijah rather than the Messiah (Mt. 16:14). “Despite His great miracles,” they may have reasoned, “Jesus cannot be the Messiah, because Elijah has not yet come. So He must Himself be Elijah.” (MacArthur Study Bible) Jesus responded by first acknowledging the partial truth, saying, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things.” There is an Elijah who is yet to come; and when he arrives, he will restore all things, just as Malachi prophesied (Ed: MacArthur does not elaborate, but this would seem to leave open the prospect that one of the witnesses in Rev 11:3 is literally Elijah! See Who Are the Two Witnesses?). “But I say to you,” Jesus went on to explain, “that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist. (Mt 17:12-13) The Elijah prophesied by Malachi was not to be a reincarnation of the ancient prophet. Rather, as the angel of the Lord told Zacharias regarding his son, John the Baptist, the prophesied forerunner would come “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17). John would not be the ancient prophet come back to earth but would minister in much the same style and power as had Elijah In that way, as Jesus had told the disciples at least once before, “[John] is Elijah, who was to come” (Matt. 11:14). Why then, some wonder, did John himself disclaim being Elijah? When the priests and Levites from Jerusalem asked him, “ ‘Are you Elijah?’ … he said, ‘I am not’ ” (John 1:21). He denied being Elijah because, though he knew of the prophecy of Luke 1, like Jesus, he realized the question was about a literal, reincarnated Elijah. And, though John did not share Jesus’ omniscience, he doubtlessly also realized that the questioning of the priests and Levites originated from unbelief, not sincere faith. They were not interested in learning the truth but of finding a way to discredit John, just as they would later seek ways to discredit the One whose way he came to prepare. David