God will bless people who are faithful to him
16 Then the people who respected the Lord talked to each other. The Lord listened to what they said. While the Lord watched, someone wrote names on a scroll. Those were the names of the people who respected the Lord and who gave honour to his name. They wrote down their names so that people would remember them.
17 The Lord Almighty says, ‘These people will belong to me. One day I will come to judge everyone. At that time I will bring together all my own special people. I will not punish them. I will take care of them, like a father takes care of his son who serves him. 18 Because of that, you will see again that I am kind to righteous people, but I punish wicked people. I show the difference between people who serve me faithfully and those who do not.’
Malachi 4
The great day when God will judge people
1 ‘The great day when I come to judge people will certainly happen. Punishment will come like the great fire of a hot oven. It will destroy all the proud people who do evil things. It will completely destroy them, like a fire that destroys dry grass. Nothing will remain.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
2 ‘But it will be different for you who respect my name. On that day, I will come to make you well again, like the sun that rises to shine on you. I will show that you are right. When that happens, you will be very happy. You will jump up and down like calves when someone lets them go free. 3 Then you will walk over the wicked people. They will be like ashes under your feet. That will happen on the day when I do these things.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
4 ‘Remember the laws that I gave to my servant Moses at Mount Sinai. Those rules and commands were for all the Israelites to obey.
4:4Moses was a great leader of the Israelites, who gave God's laws to the people.
5 Look! I will send my prophet Elijah to you. He will come before that great day of the Lord arrives. That will be a day that makes people afraid. 6 He will speak my message, so that fathers and their children return to each other as friends. Then I will not have to come and bring punishment on the land.’
4:5Elijah was a prophet who spoke God's message to the people. See 1 Kings 17:1. Here, God promises that another prophet like Elijah will come. See Matthew 17:10-13. 