Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost: Old Testament, Malachi 4:1-6               

Malachi 4:1-6 

We are fast approaching the end of the church year once again. And we find ourselves at the final chapter of the Old Testament reading the words of dear old Malachi. The Lutheran reformers gathering around their leader labored hard in the Scriptures to give aid for God’s people in understanding the text from beginning to end. They did so under the conviction that the Scriptures were and are the only true and final word from our Lord. I share that conviction.

One of their great contributions was to help readers and hearers distinguish between the Law and the Gospel as the two primary doctrinal frameworks in the Bible. The law demands and condemns. The gospel gives and supplies what the law demands and what we cannot accomplish. When they are mixed, it causes chaos. So today in our reading. Malachi begins with the threats of judgment for the unrepentant. But what follows are clear promises given to those who have received the Word of God with His gift of repentance given and also received. There is a vast difference in the two outcomes. 

Both law and gospel are beautiful because of their Source. They are, by the way, both prevalent in both testaments.  And when they are read, proclaimed and received according to their purpose, the truth of God blazes forth. What a marvelous “prelude” to the gospels which will wait about four centuries to be penned. It’s all good because it is all God’s Word.