4 For behold, the day comes that shall burn like an oven, and all the proud and arrogant, yes, and all that do wickedly and are lawless, shall be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

² But unto you who revere and worshipfully fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves [released] from the stall and leap for joy.

³ And you shall tread down the lawless and wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the Lord of hosts.

⁴ [Earnestly] remember the law of Moses, My servant, the statutes and the ordinances which I commanded him on [Mount] Horeb [to give] to all Israel.

⁵ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

⁶ And he shall turn and reconcile the hearts of the [estranged] fathers to the [ungodly] children, and the hearts of the [rebellious] children to [the piety of] their fathers [a reconciliation produced by repentance of the ungodly], lest I come and smite the land with a curse and a ban of utter destruction. (Malachi 4, Amplified Version)

Well, today I read a comment by an old friend who is traveling back to ancient Jerusalem (in the spirit) in order to become Torah observant. He was one whom I thought well on the way to New Jerusalem as an overcomer, but now appears to be bent upon becoming a son of Hagar instead of a son of Sarah. The comment quoted Malachi 4, “Remember the Law of Moses,” and spoke of an “Elijah Spirit” (the Holy Spirit which he now must, to be Torah correct, call ‘the Ruach”) which would turn the hearts of God’s children back to the Mosaic Law. And, in keeping with the many videos I have seen this person recommend over the last month, this would mean teaching God’s people (Christians) to obey the many statutes of the Old Testament contained in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Is this what Malachi 4 prophesies and commands?

Malachi clearly commanded the people of his time to remember the law of Moses in the sense of remembering and obeying every aspect of it, including the bloody sacrifices. Today, as seen in the past teachings in this series and many other articles posted here, remembering the law of Moses speaks of understanding God’s definition of good and evil and knowing exactly what he considers to be sinful behavior. This is so that we can repent of any particular sins we commit (John calls this practicing righteousness) and continue in a right relationship with Christ. But, remembering the law of Moses today does not mean that we now have to submit to all of the various Old Testament laws Malachi and the Israelites of his day had to obey, laws like wearing tassels on our garments, obeying the stringent Sabbath laws, and refusing to eat certain “unclean” foods like pork and shrimp.

If the prophetic word God gave Malachi meant that Christians had to obey all the laws of Moses (the Torah), then Paul would not have written what he did and Jesus would not have said what he said, for Jesus did in fact specifically change certain Mosaic laws. Yet Jesus also said,

¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18)

I hope to expound on Matthew 5:17-18 in my next post, but until then let Paul’s word to the Romans suffice regarding the issues raised herein.

Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another

14 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.² One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.³ Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. ⁴ Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master^[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵ One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. ⁸ For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹ For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord bothof the dead and of the living.

¹⁰ Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; ¹¹ for it is written,

¹² So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Do Not Cause Another to Stumble

¹³ Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. ¹⁴ I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. ¹⁵ For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. ¹⁹ So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

²⁰ Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. ²¹ It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.^[c] 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. ²³ But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.   (Romans 14, ESV)

Notice that it is the person “weak” in faith who eats only vegetables. Vegetables would be considered “clean” foods under the law of Moses. The person who is not weak in faith, i.e. one strong in faith, “believes he may eat anything,” even those foods which Moses forbade. Then in verse 5 Paul discusses believers who esteem certain days versus others who treat every day the same. His point in verses 5 through 9 is that that issue simply doesn’t matter. Each is convinced he is right and is serving the LORD, so don’t make an issue of it! Yet, a new group of believers has come upon the scene who now teach all believers that they need to begin obeying the Torah, if not for their justification or sanctification, then to show God that they esteem his law and love him.

I love God and his ways, but I am not going to submit to 21st century Judaisers who would accompany me back to Old Jerusalem as they teach me the intricacies of Torah commandments and compel me to obey them. I will walk in God’s ways, and I can testify that that way is a narrow path, but it is not the path back to the old city. I have set my face like flint toward New Jerusalem!