Malachi: Preparation For The Establishment Of Christ’s Kingdom On Earth

In Part 3 of our series on the end times prophet Malachi, Sheldon Emry completes his discussion of the return of Christ, the destruction of the enemies of Israel, and the establishment of his kingdom on earth — a complete refutation of the “Rapture” doctrine preached today by the majority of so-called “judeo-Christian” pastors and churches.

Audio:

Sheldon Emry continues:

Since there is so much false teaching about Christ’s return from men who get their information about Christ’s return from the New Testament, let’s turn to 2 Peter 3:

12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

This sounds like a dreadful time, especially to those who do not want Jesus to return, and do not want his Kingdom — and it does not sound anything like the silent, secret “Rapture” that is taught and promoted by so many of the fundamentalists.

Those unfamiliar with the New Testament could think this is about some other time — but going back to the first verse of 2 Peter, you’ll see what the time is here that he’s talking about:

3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

So the rest of this chapter is about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the end of the age — because the scoffers — these humanists — do not believe that Jesus is going to return — so they will say where is the promise of his coming?  They will question Jesus ever returning:

2 Thessalonians

7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

There is going to be an entirely different event coming upon these two classes of people — those who hate him, and those who look forward to him.  2 Thessalonians 1:1 does sound quite a bit like Malachi:

1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Paul is warning Christian people that they should be careful in this future time so that they don’t get fooled about the day of Christ — whether it’s right at hand — or not:

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;

He’s explaining what must happen first before His return.  The “falling away” is usually the falling away from the truth — or it’s an apostasy from the Greek word.  But the falling away causes something to happen — that man of sin be revealed.  I’m inclined to believe it’s from a Greek expression that means a falling away of the scales from one’s eyes.  There shall come a falling away first, then something is revealed — you can now see it.

The fundamentalists and Rapture preachers say there is going to be a turning away from the truth, then Jesus is going to come and take away all Christians — and after he is gone with the Christians, then the Man of Sin is revealed.  But according to Paul here, the Man of Sin is revealed before Christ comes.

Every person who’s been taken in by the Rapture doctrine should read these verses because he’s saying,

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;

They say that “Man of sin” is their “anti-Christ”.  We believe it is something else — but it has to be revealed before Jesus comes.

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.

These verses are enough to bring into question the teaching that the so-called “anti-Christ” will not be revealed until after Jesus returns.

Revelation 19

11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

John saw heaven open and a figure we can identify as Jesus Christ coming out of heaven — and he’s going to judge and make war.

12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

So this would be Jesus, the word made flesh.

14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

This would be Jesus coming with wrath and anger and making war. This is not the Jesus of the silent, secret Rapturists.

16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. 17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

Here is a great battle — so terrible that he’s going to call the fowls of the earth to eat up the flesh of those who die in this great battle upon the return of Jesus Christ.  This battle is practically identical to the one described in Ezekiel 39.

Acts 3

19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Jesus will not return — according to this New Testament passage — until it is God’s time for the restitution of all things.  This nonsense that is constantly preached that Jesus is going to come and take all the Christian people off to heaven is the exact opposite of the truth.

Jesus is going to come here to establish his followers in his kingdom here on the earth.  And a good share of that re-establishment apparently is going to be done before he returns — and his saints will be involved in a great battle at the time he returns.  And then he will judge and make war — and destroy the enemies of his people and establish his kingdom.

And there is no place in any of the prophets for any “seven year reign” of the anti-Christ while the followers of Jesus Christ are not here.  It simple does not exist in any of the prophets in the Old or New Testaments.

Malachi 3

3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. 4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

The offering that was refused was the offering of Levi — because they offered a polluted sacrifice.  Now the one that will be received will be the offering of Judah — and that is Jesus Christ, who was born out of Judah.  Jesus is physically and spiritually out of David and the Tribe of Judah, and he is our offering.

5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

He’s going to be a against the sorcerers — the druggers — those mind controllers and health destroyers.  He will be against the adulterers who are worshipers of false gods.  Against the false swearers — today’s so-called ‘men of God’ who preach against God and the true Israel people.  And he is against the economic oppression of the Babylonian system.

6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

We will not be destroyed even though we have sinned and committed iniquity against God because we are under a covenant.  God has sworn to our fathers —Abraham, Issac, and Jacob — that he will deliver Israel from all her enemies.

So many of our people who are in churches who preach only the New Testament — they read some of these things, and almost invariably they cannot be explained from the New Testament, so then they apply them to them personally or in a spiritual manner — and destroy the true meaning of it.

So let’s reach this prophecy by Zacharias, who was a priest in Israel, the father of John the Baptist, given shortly before the birth of Jesus Christ:

Luke 1

67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, 68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,

The act is redemption, and now we are going to read what redemption is — because this is often misunderstood:

68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;

Very few of the church-goers in America that God has promised to save us from our enemies.  They see this world anti-Christ system — they see all its power — and they see the humanists taking over their government and educational system, and establishing their anti-Christian religion, and they recognize those people are enemies of Christians, but they do not know they are under a covenant involving Jesus Christ that they should be saved from those enemies — and it’s in the New Testament, but they don’t read it — or understand it.  Luke 1:

72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,

What have the New Testament writers based their prophecies of our deliverance at the end of the age on?  They base it on the oath that God swore to father Abraham — and that’s what Zacharias is prophecying here:

74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

That is what the kingdom is all about — deliverance of Israel from her enemies, eternal life, and to serve God all the days of our eternal life.  But we have to be delivered from our enemies — and that’s what we’ve been reading about in Malachi is that deliverance and the turning to God before the establishment of the kingdom.

And here we see it’s verified in a prophecy about Jesus Christ before he was born.

Malachi 3

6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

No, you’re not going to be snatched off to heaven — you are going to be delivered from the hands of your enemies right here on the earth during the time of the consuming of Jacob’s enemies.

But then he begins with another rebuke:

7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

This is always the call of God through his prophets to Israel — return unto God and God will return unto you.  But look in this case — Israel asks the question: “But ye said, Wherein shall we return?”  Israel does not know how to return to God.  So even in this time, apparently Israel is going to be asking how they can return to God.  And here is the answer that would amaze most New Testament Christians:

8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me.

God says you’re robbing me — but he didn’t answer the question yet. Then Israel asks again:

But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.

What are the enemies of Israel doing today? They are robbing Israel of everything they work for, but God says “I’ll rebuke the devourer.”

12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

Predicated upon what?  Quit robbing God.  And then he tells Israel what he will do if they give the proper tithes and offerings — he would take away the curse, open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing, and rebuke the devourer.  And when is this supposed to happen?  Right in the time, in the day of the Lord, before Jesus’ coming when God is preparing to destroy all the enemies of Israel.

Now, many Christians have been taught that God has put away the laws — including the law of tithing — by Jesus Christ and the New Covenant.  But one thing is positive — Israel is not tithing today.

A man told me a story — he said, “You know, I learned about tithing that hard way. I attended church very diligently and I gave rather generously, I thought, and I finally ended up tithing, God finally reduced my income until it was ten times my tithe.” God reduced his income every year until it got down to the money he was giving in his church. And once he realized what was happening, he began giving more money, and his income began to go up again.

The first time we find tithing discussed is in Genesis 14:

18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. 19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: 20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

Abram gives tithes to the priest of the most high God. Hebrews 6:

13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

God stated his promise to Abraham — and then he confirmed it several times.  Remember, the covenant at Sinai had two parties — God and Israel — but Israel broke the covenant, but under the Abrahamic Covenant, the two parties are God Almighty.  That covenant does not depend on Abraham or his descendants.  It depends on two immutable things — God and his word.

19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

So here is the connection between Jesus as the seal of the New Covenant — our high priest. Hebrews 7:

1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;

He is identifying who Jesus is here:

3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

Melchisedec was Jesus.  Abraham gave tithes to Jesus.  There is a connection between Christians giving tithes and Abraham, the father of all Israelite Christians.

 

Part 1 – Malachi: The Treachery Of End Times Anti-Christ ‘Judeo-Christian’ Ministers

Part 2 – Malachi: End Times Destruction Of Esau-Edom And Preservation Of Jacob-Israel