Sermon Audio: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ministrybymail

“Your words have been harsh against Me,” Says the LORD, “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ ¹⁴ You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God; What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, And that we have walked as mourners Before the LORD of hosts? ¹⁵ So now we call the proud blessed, For those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.’ “

¹⁶ Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name. ¹⁷ “They shall be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him.” ¹⁸ Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, Between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him.

4:1 “For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the LORD of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. ² But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings.”

There’s a storm on the horizon—it is coming. This storm will either bring destruction or salvation, fire and judgment or healing. What will be the determining factor? Fear. The kind that trembles and trusts.

What is the fear of the Lord? Over and over again, the Bible stresses how important the fear of the Lord is. Our text stated that those who fear the Lord have their names written in the book of remembrance—and on the Day of the Lord, they aren’t thrown like kindling into the fire, but are the jewels of God, His beloved children. So we can’t stress enough how important it is that we have fear of God. And yet, it’s something that can be hard to grasp.

Hebrew is a picture language. It uses images and actions to represent ideas. And the basic meaning of this Hebrew word for fear is “to tremble.” You can tremble for all sorts of reasons. You can tremble in fear. You can tremble in awe. You can tremble in reverence. You can tremble in excitement. You can tremble in gratitude or relief. You can tremble in love. And the Hebrew word translated “fear” is used in all those contexts—the context decides which kind of trembling.

Take Jacob, after having the dream of a ladder reaching to heaven. Genesis 28:17 says: “And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’” The word is used twice—first for “afraid,” and then again for “awesome.” Literally, it would read: “He trembled and said, ‘How trembly is this place!’” The translators decided the first trembling was fear, and the second one was wonder or awe.

The people in our text were not ready for the Lord to come because they did not tremble before the Lord—for any reason. Not for joy, relief, awe, or fear. Read the first few chapters of Malachi, and you will see all the ways they did not fear Him. They didn’t tremble to blatantly break God’s ordinances. They were deliberately breaking the commands of God, and they didn’t fear His retribution.

(Malachi 3:5, NKJV) “And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien—because they do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts.

The people of Israel go even further in our text. They openly questioned whether following God brought any good. They didn’t tremble before God’s power or His holiness. They openly questioned Him. They profaned Him.

If that isn’t bad enough, they also didn’t tremble at the thought of wasting God’s grace. They didn’t tremble in joy and thanks at His mercy—nor did they tremble in shame over how they had misused it. They didn’t tremble in fear of losing it.

What was the only reason God hadn’t yet poured His wrath upon them? His great mercy. That mercy was the only reason they hadn’t been consumed. If they did not, as a nation, return to the fear of the Lord, the day of Jesus would be like an oven—and they would be the kindling for the fire of God’s wrath. They were not ready for the Lord to come because they did not fear Him. They did not tremble before Him.

Are you ready for the Day of the Lord? Are you ready for Good Friday and Easter? Well, what is the difference between those who are ready and those who are not? The answer to that is the same as to this question: What is the difference between the righteous and the wicked?

Our text makes the answer abundantly clear. The righteous are those who tremble before God. The wicked are those who do not. The difference is not that some are sinners and some are not. Nor is it that some are less sinful than others. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But on those who fear the Lord, Jesus—the Sun of Righteousness—comes with healing in His wings. He forgives their sins and makes them righteous.

On those who don’t fear the Lord, Jesus comes like an oven—to burn them up, bringing the just punishment for their sins upon them.

Which are you? Are you ready? Is your fear of the Lord ready? Part of us wants to say, “No,” because we don’t fully comprehend the fear of the Lord—and because even what we do understand, we so often fail at. How often have you come into church without any real fear of God? How many times have you worshiped without trembling in reverence, fear, excitement, or love before the power, holiness, and grace of God? How many times, like the people in our text, have you nonchalantly broken God’s will? How many times have you looked at the cross and not trembled in fear and awe and thankfulness for the power, holiness, and grace of God shown there?

The cross shows those things most clearly of all. It shows the punishment for your sin. It shows that the gift of God to you in Christ is the forgiveness of sin. At the cross, the proud see nothing—just a broken man. But those who fear the Lord? They see. Fire and healing. Wrath and mercy. The Judge—judged in our place.

Can you tremble with proper respect, fear, and faith on Good Friday? Can you tremble with proper awe and thanks on Easter morning? You know what? I want to read you something:

“Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. ‘They shall be Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’” (Malachi 3:16–17)

Why did they speak to one another? Why do Christians speak to one another? Because they knew they had failed. They knew they had sinned. They knew it—and so they encouraged and reminded one another of the grace of their God. They meditated on God’s name so they could remember not just His great wrath against sin, but also His great mercy. They didn’t just have reason to tremble in fear—but also to tremble in relief, and in joy, and in faith that God would send a Savior to forgive them for all their failures.

Does that describe you too? Yes, it does. You are a sinner for whom Jesus died and whom He forgave. You’re ready too. Your fear is ready. Your trembling might be imperfect. But your Savior is not. By faith, you see your sin—and your Savior. You see your Savior there on the cross, and not in the tomb on Easter morning—but risen from death. He arose with healing in His wings to forgive all your sins and give you life. That makes you as precious as jewels to God.

You are not stubble to be burned up—but His beloved child. Tremble in wonder, and joy, and thanks.

Amen.

—Pastor Aaron Ude

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Rapid City, SD

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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.