Justice And Injustice

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We believe that God is good, and yet we live in a world that's filled with evil.

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How do we understand or reconcile this disparity?

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That'll be the focus of today's study in Malachi 2.

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When something bad happens in the world around us,

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when something bad happens in our own lives,

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sometimes we're tempted to ask God a question or some variation on this question.

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Why? Why did this happen? God, you're in charge. We come to the table. We come into the house. We

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come to scripture. We go down on our knees and we say you're in charge. And furthermore, we say that

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you're good and just and merciful and righteous and all these things. If you're all that, then

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how come blank? How come this? How come this problem? How come this issue? Sometimes we have

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trouble reconciling God's ability to do what is right and his inclination to be just with the

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injustice we see going on in the world around us. We have trouble reconciling that. Well, today's

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text, that's the great concern of Malachi's day as well. That is the great concern. The people are

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going to look around. They're going to look around. They're going to see what's happening in the world

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around us, and they're going to say, well, hold the phone here. If God is God, then how come blank?

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How come this? If God is God, then how is this happening? And they're going to ask a question.

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It's not especially profound, but it's honest from their hearts.

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And the question is this, where is the God of justice?

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Where is the God of justice?

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And their implication will be that God himself has not done that which is right.

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They're going to impugn God's actions.

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They're going to impugn God's nature.

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So once again, I ask you, how do you process the existence of that which is bad with a God who is good?

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When you see the wickedness going on in the world around us,

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when you see a world that's absolutely stained scarlet by sin,

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when you look around in the world that's absolutely stained scarlet by sin,

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when you see the righteous persecuted, when you see the wicked prospering,

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do you ever wonder where the God of justice is?

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Well, again, in today's text, that's what Malachi's contemporaries are asking.

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They're going to say God has dropped the ball and he doesn't care about justice.

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But what we're going to see in our study is that that is not the case.

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It's never been the case.

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They fundamentally misread the situation.

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God, God does care about justice. God does care about hurt and pain. He cares about your hurt and

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pain. He cares about the ways you've been wronged. He desires to vindicate the righteous,

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those who are victims. He desires to judge and deal with the wicked, those who have committed

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iniquity. And what he's going to remind his people in today's text is that the issue is not whether

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justice will be dealt with. That's not the issue. They thought it was. We might think it is when we

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look and see wicked prospering. God's going to say the issue is not whether they'll be dealt with.

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The issue is not whether every iota of sin will ever be judged. It will be. The issue, the question

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is a matter of timing. It's a matter of when. When it will happen. There's a wise man who put it this

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way. God's justice delayed does not mean God's justice is abdicated. The fact that the judge

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doesn't act on your timetable does not mean that the judge isn't going to act. And that's the

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message we're going to see God having for the people of Malachi's day. We're going to see this.

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God is watching. And in his time, he will act. He will vindicate the righteous. He'll punish the

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wicked. And if you and I could just fast forward to the end of the book, we'd see how. We would

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see how. All right, let's consider the implications of this. Let's look at Malachi 2.17 and then work

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our way through the verses that follow. Verse 17, you have wearied the Lord with your words and yet

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you say, how? In what way have we wearied him? In that you say, everyone who does evil is good in the

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sight of the Lord and he delights in them. Or you say, where is the God of justice? All right, right

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from the start of verse 17, we see this. The people have been complaining about this ad nauseum. This

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is not something that just one guy on a hill just said, God, what's the deal? The whole culture was

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doing this to the point that God says, a God who is infinitely patient, he says, look, my patience

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running out. You have wearied me with your words. If such a thing is possible that you could run out

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of God's patience, or he's saying there and you're doing it. You have wearied me with your words.

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And yet you say, how, how? Well, let me tell you, you wearied me in this, that you say that everyone

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does evil is good in my sight. You say that when someone does something bad, because I allow it to

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happen for a season, that therefore I'm in favor of it. And then you have the gall to ask me, where

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is the God of justice? Let's find that God, because our God is not coming through. That was the

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people's contention, that God is not coming through, that God is not acting. You know, the surest sign

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of a nation or a society's decay is when it inverts, inverts the principles of that which is

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right with that which is wrong. Inverts it. Takes that which is sinful, that which is base,

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and celebrates it, and takes that which is good and holy and just and right,

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and says it's evil, it's bigotry, it's wrong. Sure sign of a nation's decay. It always has been.

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you doubt it read the history of greece rome any of the nations of antiquity well in verse 17 the

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people had the gall to accuse god of doing that same thing of taking out which is good making

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evil taking out which is evil and making it good everyone who does evil is good in the side lord

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and he delights in them you hear what they're saying to god they're saying that the heart of

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god delighted in that which is wicked now do you see why god was weird i mean he even hears that

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once he's got to be irritated or angry and the whole culture is saying our god celebrates that

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which is perverse celebrates that which is wicked now how could they ever get to that point

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given god's good and loving and righteous nature well part of the reason they got to that point

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is because they looked at the pagan nations they looked at wicked bob down the street and they said

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how is bob prospering you see what bob's up to you see what the nations around us are up to

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they don't keep the laws of our forefathers they don't follow laws on tablets of stone

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they're off doing their thing but you know what it seems to be working out pretty well for them

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look at their money look at their resources look how well off bob is look how great things are

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going for them they looked at the success of the wicked the perceived success of the wicked

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and they adopted a prosperity gospel mindset where they said hey if someone is doing well

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that's a sign that God loves them and God is blessing them.

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That's really the prosperity gospel.

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Prosperity gospel teaches that if God loves you,

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he'll give you what you want.

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That those with five jets and all the amenities of Midas,

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that therefore God must love them.

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That's never been the case.

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That's never been the case that God's love

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is primarily demonstrated through material blessing.

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You remember the story of King Ahab?

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Who was Ahab married to?

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Jezebel.

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Do you know anyone, just out of curiosity, do you have any family relations, any relatives named Ahab?

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Any family relations named Jezebel?

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Why not?

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Because these were bad eggs.

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Ahab and Jezebel was the worst.

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Now, were Ahab and Jezebel well off?

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You bet.

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Who was a holy man of Ahab's day?

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There was a prophet named Elijah.

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Now, picture this.

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You have Ahab and Jezebel.

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They're eating the equivalent of steak tartare, I don't know,

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whatever fancy kings used to eat back in the days.

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They're eating well.

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They're doing well financially speaking.

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You got Elijah.

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Where's Elijah?

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Elijah's living in a cave.

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You know what he was eating?

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Birds, ravens were coming and giving him bread.

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That's how he was eating, being fed by birds in a cave.

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Was that a sign that God, that God's blessing was not upon Elijah

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and that it was upon Ahab?

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Not in the least.

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How about Herod?

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How about Herod when you say, compare him to John the Baptist?

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Is the opulence of Herod?

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If you were to go to Caesarea by the sea, was the opulence a sign of God's blessing?

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Was the imprisonment of John the Baptist a sign of God's displeasure?

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Well, no.

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Here's the thing.

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God's people don't often take the long view.

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And we look at a narrow slice of time and say that what I see through my eyes right now,

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If that guy's prospering today, it's a sign that God loves him.

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And God says, look at the whole picture.

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God says, if you could fast forward to the end of the book,

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you'd see how this turns out.

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And it only turns out well for those who are righteous,

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those who are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

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In any case, back in Malachi's day, the people didn't take the long view.

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They thought, well, this country, that nation, this guy, they're doing well.

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Therefore, God's abdicated his role.

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Therefore, God isn't righteous.

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And you know what that allowed them to do?

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And this happens any time you take God and knock him off his pedestal or lower him.

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The moment you can do that, the moment you feel better about doing what you want in your own life.

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The minute you say that God himself is not righteous, then what does that say about the laws he gave you to follow?

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It means they really aren't that critical because he himself is something less than you previously thought he was.

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Therefore, you can do what you want.

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And that's what the people were doing.

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Well, God has a message for them.

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Let's look at verse 1.

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Verse 1, this is God's response.

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starts with one word, the word behold. As we said last week, the moment you see that word, especially

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when it comes from the lips of God, that's the minute you stop the presses. Your eyes go boring.

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You say, all right, what is he going to say? What's he going to do here? Well, this is what he says.

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He says, behold, I will send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom

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you seek, the one you've been looking for to do righteously, the Lord whom you seek will suddenly

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come into his temple, even the messenger of the covenant on whom you delight. Behold, he is

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coming. We get two beholds here. All right. At the very end of chapter two, the people had accused

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God of being unjust. Here at the start of verse three, we see God's answer, but it's not the

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answer they would have expected. Behold, behold, O Israel, behold all you who are complaining.

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If you think, God says, if you think that I'm out of touch, you got another thing coming. If you

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think I've been on vacation, I'm just sitting off in the clouds. There's a harp chorus going on

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around me. If you think that's all I'm up to, you're wrong. And you are about to find out. You're in

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for a surprise. For I am going to send someone to you. I'm going to send someone to you. And I'm

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only going to send one. I'm going to send two. There's two messengers that are identified in

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this text. The first messenger is this one. The one who goes to prepare the way. The one who goes

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to prepare the way. And the second messenger is the one who arrives suddenly in the temple.

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The first messenger that would come would prepare the way for the second messenger.

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And depending on what translation you use, you'll notice this. The second messenger,

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the word M is capitalized. There's a reason. Because the translators, I use the New King

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James, the translators identify that as a divine figure. The first messenger is one who prepares

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the way. He's a prophet. Who am I talking about? Who is the first messenger that Malachi's pointing

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to? John the Baptist. John the Baptist. He prepared the way, right? It's a prophecy. It says just as

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when a king comes in, there's one sent ahead of him to announce the king's arrival, so will John,

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so will this one come. He is on the way. God says, behold. Remember, Malachi's the last book of the

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Old Testament, so it wasn't long before this one would show up. He says, behold, one is coming.

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there's a messenger coming he's going to prepare the way he's going to prepare the hearts he's

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going to season the ecclesiastical landscape he's going to season the world of his age in such a way

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to prepare for the one who's coming and then he will show up you won't expect him when he does

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but the messenger capital m will show up let's look at verses two and three now verse two but

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who can endure it when he does? Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?

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If that's all you heard, you'd be going, uh-oh, hold the phone here. So someone's coming and this

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someone will be a threat to the establishment. This someone, he will show up and he will not be

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what we expected. Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he is

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like a refiner's fire, like launderer's soap.

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He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify the sons

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of Levi. He will purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord

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an offering in righteousness.

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You know,

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I've got good news for you. I've got

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bad news for you. The good news is this.

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God is here.

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The bad news is this.

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God is here.

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You know what the difference is?

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What makes this news either good or bad

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depends on what your relationship is to his son,

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to this messenger.

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So the question in verse 2,

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who can endure the day of Christ's coming?

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That's a rhetorical question because the answer is no one.

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No one can endure the day of his coming on their own.

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For example, the people of Malachi's day, here's what they wanted.

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They wanted justice.

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Now, they defined justice on their terms.

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What they wanted was that Bob or whoever, that the nations would be dealt with,

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and that they themselves would receive everything that they wanted.

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To them, justice was taking away from whoever the villains were of their age,

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seeing them dealt with and themselves blessed to the hilt, given everything they wanted.

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Justice was a matter of where the scale tipped the heaviest in terms of the bounty and abundance one had.

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That was justice.

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That's not true justice, but to them that was justice.

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They wanted justice.

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And God says, when this one comes, he will bring justice.

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But it's not what you expect.

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He will deal with the wicked.

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He's going to be like a refiner's fire.

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He's going to deal with them.

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But here's the problem.

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You're wicked too.

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Looks at the people who have been complaining at him for chapters now, several chapters,

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and is going to say, look, when this one comes, it's not like it's just that guy who's going to be dealt with.

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The whole of the earth is going to be dealt with when this one comes.

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He will purify. He will cleanse. He will make that which is debased holy.

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He will do it.

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But you, O Israel, if you only knew the implications that it will have for you, for your people.

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See, even the sins of the most righteous man in Malachi's day,

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even the sins of Malachi, were mile high in the eyes of God.

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If we'd march down to the local county judge

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and we'd tell them to jail every guilty man in the county,

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it'd probably start with us, because we're all guilty.

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Crimes may differ, but guilt does not.

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So behold, God says in verse 2,

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you want justice without delay, you want it on your terms,

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define the way you define it,

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But when the actual judge shows up, the one you're looking for, you're not going to be able to stand under his verdict.

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When the gavel comes down, you won't be able to stand.

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Now, let me stop and make an observation.

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When people look at this text, they sometimes wonder whether the arrival of the messenger, the arrival of Christ here,

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whether this is referring to the first arrival, the advent of Christ, the first coming, or this is pointing forward to the second, to his ultimate return.

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Well, the answer, as it often is in prophetic passages, is a bit of both.

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See, when Jesus showed up in the first century, when he came into the temple, it was unexpected.

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No one, for one, when he first came in as a babe, when he came in as a child later,

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no one would have expected that.

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That wasn't on anybody's radar when he came in as a child and the like.

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When he showed up to the temple, when he later, you know, chased out bandits of his day,

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when he did these things, no one expected it.

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No one thought that he was the guy.

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But the result of his actions, the result of his actions changed the temple,

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change the entire religious landscape of his day forever. Jesus in his first advent was every bit

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the refiner's fire that scripture said that he would be. And the proof that he was a refiner's

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fire even back then, let alone in the future, is that the entire religious practices and protocols

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of his age, things like the sacrificial system, things like the temple, things like the priesthood,

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all of it was modified and improved really by the time that he was done. After Christ's arrival,

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He ushered in what?

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Today we're going to talk about it.

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He ushered in a new covenant.

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They had an old covenant.

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He says, I'm bringing something new.

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Something radically new.

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A covenant not forged in just the blood of animals,

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but a covenant forged in my own blood.

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He says, the Passover lamb we've been celebrating for centuries,

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well, now we have the lamb of God.

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You're going to say, the priest that we've had all this time,

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the sons of Levi, well, now we have the priesthood of believers.

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He says, the temple, the temple that we've had in Jerusalem,

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well, now guess where the Spirit's going to dwell?

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In the hearts of the saints.

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Do you understand what a change this was?

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What a wholesale change this was.

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When he prophesied, when Malachi prophesied that this one would come

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and he would not be what the people expected,

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he would not do what the people thought he would do.

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Oh, my goodness.

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When he showed up, everything changed.

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everything changed. You cannot overstate what happened in Israel as a result of this one man's

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coming. All right, let's look at verses four and five. Verse four, then the offering of Judah and

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Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord as in the days of old, as in former years, and I will come

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near you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against

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perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn

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away a stranger because they do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. You see, verses four and five

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promise that there are better days ahead. And that's good. I'm doing a whole series on Wednesday

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nights called On the Eve of Judgment. I've spent a lot of time looking at the hard truths of

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scripture, looking at what God has acted. But the good news is that the story does end well.

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There are better days ahead. It's not all a slippery slope down into perdition. There is

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better days ahead. And that's what he reminds me. He says that are pleasant days. Pleasant days

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are coming. A day is coming when God's people are no longer

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what they have been. When they're purged of their iniquity. When they dwell with him

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in peace. But that peace wouldn't be made possible

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because God just forgot about their sin.

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As I said before, God is not like a spiritual

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janitor who takes a broom out and sweeps

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our sins into the coat closet of heaven and just backs away, or under the rug. Have you ever done

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that? When I was a kid, I think that's all I did. I pushed stuff under the edge of the rug.

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God doesn't do that with our sin. He can't do it and still be a just judge. Now remember,

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the main contention that people had was that he was not just because they didn't perceive

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what he was doing in the limited amount of time that they were looking at as just. They said,

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God, you're not only not just,

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you're not only abdicating responsibilities,

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but remember, they took it a step further.

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They said, you're in cahoots with the wicked.

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That's definitely not in the original Hebrew.

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But cahoots, you're side by side,

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you're working with the wicked.

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Remember, he says this in verse 5.

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He says, listen here.

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Listen, listen, listen.

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He said, behold twice.

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He says, listen, I will come near you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness.

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That's a direct response.

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The iniquity of Malachi's day, the iniquity of our own day, God looks out at it.

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God says, I don't like it, and I'm going to deal with it.

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Behold, I am coming.

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However, we see at the end of the whole book, come Lord Jesus.

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Well, he is coming.

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In our day, there is a great deal of injustice in the world around us.

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Some of that injustice in recent days has properly, rightfully been identified and called out.

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Properly, rightfully called out by the world around us, such as the gross and heinous sin of racism.

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We have seen that properly and rightfully called out as something that is wrong, as a sin.

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To be clear, racism is unbiblical, it's unethical, it's an unequivocal affront to the God in whose image we are all made.

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It is wrong.

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To call it out is both appropriate and necessary in a right society.

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I'm not saying our society is right, but I am saying that it is right to call out this as a sin.

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At the same time, we're selective.

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Other injustices are ignored, even celebrated in our day, such as the injustice committed against the unborn.

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The injustice committed against the unborn.

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If they could, millions of silenced infants would cry out now for justice.

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Well, know this.

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God has heard that cry.

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God has heard the cry of all those who have been aggrieved by their fellow men.

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God has heard the cry of the widows, the orphans.

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Those who have been victims not only of their choices, but the choices of the people around them.

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And God says, I am the great vindicator.

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God says, a time will come, a day has been appointed when every wrong will be redressed.

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You and I want that in a sense to be today.

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God says, it is coming.

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It is coming soon.

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When it comes, every ounce, every drop, every bit of sin will be redressed.

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God has heard.

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God will respond.

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That's what we see in these verses.

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Let me fast forward just for a moment here with our remaining moments.

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Revelation.

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Revelation 20, we read this.

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Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.

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There's a picture of a throne that transcends all other thrones,

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a courtroom that transcends all other courtrooms.

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There is such a place and there is a white throne

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that depicts the holiness of the one who sits upon it.

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John here says, I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.

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And from his presence, the earth, the heavens, the stars, the skies, they fled away.

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Before his presence, the entirety of the created realm fled, and no place was found for them.

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And then I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

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Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.

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And the dead were judged by that which is written in the books according to that which they have done.

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You see, in the first century, Christ consistently preached a message that elevated the widows, the orphans, the victims of his day,

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while simultaneously condemning those who would exploit or hurt or kill them.

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In his time, God consistently, Christ consistently described what justice is in the eyes of God.

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In due time, Jesus Christ is going to return, and on that day, he will hold people accountable to what he said back then.

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In other words, back in the day, Jesus looked at the widows, the orphans.

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He looked at those who were hurting. He looked at those who were aggrieved.

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He looked at those who were victims.

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He looked at those who were abused by others in the world around him.

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And he says, I am your advocate.

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And a day is coming when I will deal.

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When I will deal with the wicked.

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I come near you for judgment.

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It is not far off.

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Why is there any time between now and then?

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Because God in his grace and his forbearance gives us time to repent.

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It gives us time to turn, change.

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And that's what he wants.

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That's what he wants.

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Let's look at verses 6 and 7 as we look to close here this morning.

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God says, I'm the Lord.

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I do not change.

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Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

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Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from my ordinances.

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You have not kept them.

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Return to me.

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Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

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I see this as God speaking in a whisper into the ear of his people.

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He says, look, I made promises way back, way back, even in the garden.

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I made promises, a covenant of grace was forged, even in the wake of Adam's sin.

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I have been with your forefathers.

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I have been patient and long-suffering.

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My object in my patience is that you would turn.

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return to me.

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Return to me.

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I'll return to you.

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But then unfortunately, verse 7 closes,

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the people ask this question,

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in what way shall we return?

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There's obstinance,

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even in the face of God at that moment.

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Verse 6, God said,

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I don't change.

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You know the reason I have hope for tomorrow?

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Because God's not going to change his mind

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about what he said in the past.

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See, something that's neat about our faith is that it's forged on a series of covenants.

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God made promises to our forefathers, and he kept the promises that he's made.

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Well, the good news for you and I is he's made promises for us as well.

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He promises us that he will deal with evil.

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We don't have to worry about it.

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There will come a time, if you could fast forward now to the end of the book and see just how he deals with it,

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you would feel fully vindicated.

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You would feel absolutely satisfied that he dealt with it.

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You would have no qualms whatsoever that he dealt with every drop of evil, every drop of wickedness.

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And yet at the same time, when the books are open revelation and you and I come face to face with the deeds, with what we've done, with what we've said, with what we've thought.

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When we see the mountain of iniquity we've caused, at that moment we'll fall down and thank God that he has not dealt with us.

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But rather, rather the wrath that our sins had treasured up was poured out on another.

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Now, Jesus Christ on Calvary.

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The good news of Scripture is that God keeps His promises.