I.　We must see the signs of Christ's second coming and of the consummation of the age—Matt. 24:3, 14-15; Luke 21:28-36:

A.　The Lord prophesied that before Antichrist makes the covenant of seven years with the nation of Israel at the consummation of the present age, the nation of Israel would be restored—Matt. 21:19; 24:32-35; Dan. 9:27.

B.　Antichrist will break his covenant with Israel, and his idol will be set up in the temple of God at the beginning of the great tribulation, which will last for three and a half years; this indicates that the temple must be rebuilt before the Lord comes back—v. 27; 2 Thes. 2:3-4.

C.　Before the great tribulation the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth, and the overcomers will be raptured, leaving the majority of the believers, those who are not yet mature, on the earth to pass through the great tribulation—Matt. 24:14-15, 40-41; Rev. 12:5; 14:1, 4.

D.　The mystery of lawlessness is working today among the nations and in human society; this lawlessness will culminate in the man of lawlessness, Antichrist—2 Thes. 2:3-10:

1.　Antichrist's power will be the power of Satan; Antichrist is the embodiment of Satan; Antichrist will persecute and destroy the people of God—both the God-fearing Jews and the Christ-believing Christians—Dan. 8:24; Rev. 12:17; 13:7.

2.　Antichrist will wear out the saints of the Most High; in the days before the Lord's coming, there will be great deceit and delusion, so we must persevere in and with the Lord in this final hour—Dan. 7:25; 2 Tim. 3:1; Mark 6:45-52.

3.　Satan and Antichrist want the souls of men to be the instruments for their activities in the last age—Rev. 18:11-13; 2 Tim. 3:5; cf. Zech. 12:1.

E.　The mystery of godliness (Christ as the individual manifestation of God in the flesh) is being lived out today by the Lord's overcomers, who are the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh—1 Tim. 3:16; Acts 9:5.

II.　The book of Malachi reveals that as overcomers we need to experience the healing Christ for His second coming—3:1-3; 4:2:

A.　Malachi prophesied at the time of Nehemiah; at that time the priests and the remnant of God's people were in the darkness of self-deception, which is obsession—1:6-7; 1 John 1:8; Acts 9:1-2; John 16:2; cf. Phil. 3:3:

1.　The symptom of a person who is obsessed is that what he thinks and does is totally wrong, and yet he thinks and believes that he is totally right.

2.　Malachi shows us the degraded condition of God's self-deceived people, who were under Satan's authority of darkness—1:2, 6-7; 2:13-14, 17; 3:7-8, 13-15; Col. 1:12-13; cf. Acts 26:18.

3.　The children of Israel worshipped and served God, but in their self-deception they did it mournfully, not at all happy that they were required to do these things—Mal. 3:13-14.

4.　The reasons for obsession, self-deception, are loving the darkness rather than the light (John 3:19-20), pride, arrogance (Obad. 3), not receiving the love of the truth (2 Thes. 2:10-11; Prov. 23:23), and not seeking the glory that is from the only God (John 5:44). Oba 3 The arrogance of your heart has beguiled you, / O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, / Whose habitation is lofty, / Who says in his heart, / Who will bring me down to the ground?

5.　The way to be saved from obsession, self-deception, is to live in the light so that we may see what God sees—Isa. 50:10-11; Psa. 36:9; 1 John 1:5, 7, 9; Col. 1:12.

B.　The healing Christ is the Messenger of God and the living message from God as a refiner's f ire and as fullers' soap to purify and refine the degraded remnant of God's people—Mal. 3:1-3; Rev. 1:20—2:1; Amos 3:7; cf. Luke 2:26; Heb. 11:7.

C.　The healing Christ is the Angel of the covenant—Mal. 3:1:

1.　Christ's coming suddenly as the Angel of the covenant will be to execute upon Israel the covenant that He enacted through His death—Matt. 26:28.

2.　In His first coming Christ came in the way of an Angel, a serving one (cf. Heb. 1:14), to serve God in forming the new testament (Mark 10:45).

3.　When Christ established His table on the night in which He was betrayed, He established the new covenant (Luke 22:20), in which God is obligated to forgive our sins and to dispense Himself into our being to be our life, our law of life, and our everything as our inward content so that we may live Him (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-12).

4.　As the Angel of the covenant, Christ in resurrection executes the new covenant as its surety (7:22), making it real to us by assuring us that our sins have been forgiven and by dispensing the riches of the covenanted Triune God into us.

D.　The healing Christ is the Desire of the nations—Mal. 3:1; Hag. 2:7.

E.　The healing Christ is the Sun of righteousness—Mal. 4:2; 3:1-3:

1.　The word Sun indicates life, and the word righteousness indicates justice; the whole earth is filled with death and injustice, but with the healing Christ we have life and justice—cf. 2 Cor. 5:4; Heb. 6:10.

2.　In His first coming Christ was the dawning Sun to the dark age; in His second coming Christ will return as the Sun of righteousness in His kingdom—Luke 1:78; Mal. 4:2; cf. Matt. 17:1-8.

3.　As the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings, Christ heals us in life—Mal. 4:2; John 1:4-5; 8:12.

4.　To be healed is to be saved, to be made whole; Christ will heal us, but we must give Him the freedom to use His wings to fly above us, around us, through us, and within us—Mal. 4:2; Prov. 4:18:

a.　We must see God's great love for us and keep ourselves in the love of God—Mal. 1:1-2; Eph. 1:4-5; 2 Cor. 5:14; Jude 19-21; 2 Thes. 3:5. Jude 19 These are those who make divisions, soulish, having no spirit. Jude 20 But you, beloved, building up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, Jude 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

b.　We must take heed to our spirit, exercise our spirit, not grieving or quenching the Spirit—Mal. 2:15-16; Eph. 4:30; 1 Thes. 5:19; Rom. 8:6.

c.　We must honor and fear God by bringing the whole tithe into the storehouse for the need of the church, the advancement of the gospel, the supply of the Lord's servants, and the supply of the needy saints—Mal. 3:7-12; Deut. 14:22-23; Phil. 1:5; 4:15-16; 3 John 5-8; Rom. 12:13: 3 John 5 Beloved, you do faithfully in whatever you have wrought for the brothers, and this for strangers, 3 John 6 Who testified to your love before the church; whom you will do well to send forward in a manner worthy of God; 3 John 7 For on behalf of the Name they went out, taking nothing from the Gentiles. 3 John 8 We therefore ought to support such ones that we may become fellow workers in the truth. 1) Although the word concerning the tithe was spoken to the Israelites in the Old Testament, in principle it applies also to the New Testament believers—Mal. 3:10; cf. Heb. 7:1-3; Matt. 23:23. 2) If we would be faithful to live for God's administration in caring for money and material matters, there would be no financial needs in the recovery—Neh. 13:10-14; Luke 6:38; Acts 20:35; Matt. 6:1-4.

5.　The overcomers, who are reconstituted with Christ as the Sun, will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father—13:43; Judg. 5:31.