At one of our men’s Bible study events one of the guys made a startling (but accurate) statement when he said, “We are going to suffer.” That’s true! But how do we overcome suffering? How do we overcome the evil in this world? Based on the last parts of the book of Malachi, I believe there are four ways we can overcome the evil and suffering in this world.
FEAR THE LORD
“Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name. . . But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.” (Malachi 3:16, 4:2).[1]
These verses tell us that we should have a respectful fear of God. He created the universe, He knew us before we were born, He sent His son to die for us, and He chose us to be part of His spiritual family. And because of that we have a relationship with Him. This leads us to fear and revere Him. When it says “those who feared the LORD” the word for “fear” there can be translated as “revere” or “to give credit, to give him his proper due.”
These two verses also tell us we are recognized by God when we fear Him and stay the course. “and the LORD gave attention and heard it” (Malachi 3:16). God remembers the Israelite’s faithfulness to Him. God still listens to them, watches them, and focuses on them even when He is punishing everyone else. We must remember that God knows us and sees our faithfulness no matter what situation we are in. At work when other people lie, steal, and cheat their way to the top, we need to remain steady and faithful to God. When we are tempted to cheat on our taxes like everyone else does, but we “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” Or when we have to be the only one that works to pay the bills or discipline the kids, remember that God sees our faithfulness.
And because of this small remnant of faithful believers the text says in Malachi 3:16 “the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.” In other words, God won’t forget their correct response to Him. This was a permanent remembrance of their faithful and reverent response kept in heaven. In this verse the noun zik-ka-rown (זִכָּרוֹן) is used to describe acting on what is being remembered, not simply a record to keep in mind. Now of course, God does not need a scroll to remember who is loyal to Him. But the writing on the scroll emphasizes for us the permanence of God’s intention to deliver these people in the future.
GROW IN THE LORD
Second, to overcome evil in the world we grow in the Lord. “Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.” (Malachi 4:4).
To grow in the Lord we need to read His Word. In Malachi here “the law of Moses” describes the Torah that God had Moses write down (Genesis through Deuteronomy), but that phrase is also sometimes used to describe all the books of the Old Testament.
To grow in the Lord we need to listen to his Word. Most people at that point in time did not read. So to “remember” the Word of God meant they had to hear it read. That’s why it’s good for churches to designate a specific part of the worship service to read a Scripture passage aloud each week for everyone to hear.
To grow in the Lord we need to do what His Word says. The Hebrew word used here is the verb zakar (זכר) which means “remember” but means more than just “memory.” It implies acting on what is remembered. So to remember the Law was to do what it says. If a mom that normally picks up her kids from school needs the dad to pick the kids up from school, there are two important elements for that change of routine. The dad needs the knowledge that he was expected to pick up the kids and he needs to do the action of going to pick up the kids from school. There was an action tied to that knowledge. That’s the same idea here too. To remember God’s Word means we need to do what it says.
There is evil all around us in the world, but we can overcome evil by growing in the Lord. And we do that by reading His Word, listening to His Word, and doing what His Word says.
SERVE THE LORD
Third, to overcome evil in the world we serve the Lord. Malachi tells the small righteous and faithful group of people in Israel, “So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.” (Malachi 3:18, NASB). As we look at the importance of serving the Lord we must note two things.
First, we need actions because intentions and emotions are not enough. Just saying “I follow God and believe in God” is not enough. There needs to be actions that match those declarations. Most of us learned in school that “intention” to do homework was not accepted by our teachers. The teachers required “action” of completing the homework in order to get credit. For us believers, we can’t just intend to live a life different than the world around us, but we have to act different than the world around us.
Second, we need actions so that God can distinguish us. In Malachi 3 we learn that God distinguishes between the people that are “arrogant” (Malachi 3:13, 15) from the ones that “fear the Lord” (Malachi 3:16) and “esteem his name” (Malachi 3:16). God makes this distinction because of their service of Him. The NLT puts it this way saying you will “see the difference.” In other words, it should not be a secret that you are a follower of God (not because of your words, but because of your deeds).
Yet another way we overcome evil in the world is doing good things that show we are different than the evil people in the world. These good things—actions not just intentions—mark us out as separate from the evil world in which we live.
WE LOOK FOR THE LORD
Fourth, to overcome evil in the world we look for the Lord. Malachi tells those faithful followers of God, “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. . . Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.” (Malachi 4:2, 5–6, NASB95)
These verses remind us that earth is not our permanent place and that we have something better waiting for us which we look forward to experiencing. One of the best benefits of a vacation—in my opinion—is that it gives you something to look forward to enjoying in the future. The trials and struggles of today are easier when we know we will be free of those trials and struggles in the future. Knowing there is a vacation in the future helps you endure. That’s the same for us that endure suffering on earth now while waiting for heaven in the future.
These verses at the end of Malachi tell us we have good things to look forward to. The text describes “the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.” The people Malachi was writing to might have felt like they were in a dark world where there was no hope. We too sometimes feel there is no end in sight to the world’s evil and wickedness. But when Christ comes and ushers in the Day of the Lord, it will be like the sun with its sunrays shooting out appearing as “wings” like on a dark cloudy day when the clouds break and you see some light shining through as a strong straight line.
The text also describes “and you will go forth and skip about like calves from a stall” (v. 2). In other words, we will be free! They will be set free from the effects of the fall, from the role of Satan in our world, from the mistakes others make, and from the mistakes we make. God’s people will be spiritually renewed and restored. This will be as clear as bright sunshine in the sky and like calves freed from a stall.
These verses at the end of Malachi also show us we have signs that will show us when he’s returning. “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5–6)
There are two events described here. One is the coming of Elijah the prophet (v. 5). “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet” (v. 5). John the Baptist is identified as being Elijah because he came in spirit and power just like Elijah did. And his job was to get the people’s hearts ready. And in the same way, there will be a second future Elijah who will be like John the Baptist, to get the people’s hearts ready for the return of the Lord. This matches what we see in the Transfiguration of Moses and Elijah with Jesus (Matt 17:9-13). Jesus told his disciples, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things.” What Jesus was telling the disciple here was that Elijah would come in the future to restore things and get things ready (just like John the Baptist had gotten the people ready for Jesus).
Second, “before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD” (v. 5). That will be when Christ punishes the world at the end of the millennial kingdom for it’s defiance and rejection of him.
There is evil in the world. Even humanists and secularists admit that and wrestle with answers to that evil. But we as Christians are told how to overcome evil by fearing the Lord, growing in the Lord, serving the Lord, and looking for the Lord.
[1] Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.