008 Restoring Righteous Judgment

Malachi 3:13-18

December 11, 2022

· You are aware that we are studying through the book of Malachi.

· And you are aware that the issue of the day was INDIFFERENCE

· People no longer cared about what God thought.

Not only has God been confronting the indifference of His people,

But He is also calling them out of it.

We saw LAST WEEK as God told the people,

“Return to Me and I will return to you.”

When the people asked how to do that,

He told them to start by restoring their tithe and to quit stealing from Him.

And we understand it is because the heart is attached to the treasure

And if they would give their treasure to God then their heart would follow.

THIS MORNING God is still at work to pull His people out of indifference.

AND THIS MORNING WE SEE

The day is coming when INDIFFERENCE WILL BE ERADICATED

In fact, look down at the FINAL VERSE of chapter 3

(18) “So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve Him.”

Currently, God’s people had lost their discernment.

Their indifference was revealed by their

Total lack of care to distinguish between the holy and the profane.

We saw it in chapter 2

Malachi 2:17 “You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”

And we see again in our text this morning:

(15) “‘So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.’”

BUT THIS IS SOMETHING GOD IS PROMISED TO REMEDY.

In short, God has promised to restore righteous judgment.

We currently live in a day

· When people no longer draw hard lines between good and evil.

· When people are called to tolerate that which God hates.

· Where sin is celebrated and paraded.

· Where the most grotesque and vile immorality is defended and encouraged.

AND TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE,

We are living in a day when even those who claim to be God’s people condone, endorse, celebrate, and even participate in such sins.

Indifference toward the righteous standard of God

Is running rampant through the streets

And even through the churches.

BUT IT WON’T ALWAYS BE THIS WAY.

GOD WILL PUT AN END TO IT.

Indifference is real…

Indifference is a problem…

But Indifference is TEMPORARY.

And this is what we learn about THIS MORNING

As Malachi continues to express God’s burden to the people.

Let’s break our text down into 4 points this morning.

#1 THE CORPORATE CONFRONTATION

Malachi 3:13-15

Here we see that God once more

Has a burden that He confronts His people about.

We’ve ALREADY SEEN God confront the congregation:

· Their lack of honor for Him expressed in their corrupt worship.

· Their lack of respect for His word.

· Their treachery against their brother and the wife of their youth.

· Their propensity to rob God of His tithes and offerings.

All of those were expressions of indifference

And a failure to care about what God cares about.

This morning we come to God’ final confrontation

And this one addresses their ARROGANT WORDS.

(13) “Your words have been arrogant against Me,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’”

Let me just start here by reminding you that WORDS MATTER.

I KNOW IN OUR DAY

· People love to talk about how badly our words can hurt other people.

· We are constantly warned about saying “mean things” or “racist things” or “misogynistic things” or “hateful things”

· One thing a person had better learn today is that your words can get you in a lot of trouble very quickly.

While Scripture doesn’t agree with the standard of the world’s judgment, Scripture does agree that you had better BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY.

Matthew 12:33-37 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. “The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

That passage alone should be enough to cause a man to throw his hand over his mouth.

Why are our words so weighty when it comes to our judgment?

Because our words reveal our heart.

Jesus said, “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.”

Matthew 15:18 “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.”

James said that the tongue is an uncontrollable and restless evil

And no man can tame it.

It is an incorruptible gage, accurately revealing the heart.

· You might be able to fudge your odometer…

· You might be able to manipulate your speedometer…

· You might be aware of the tolerances in your fuel gage…

But you cannot manipulate or corrupt your “heartometer”

The tongue will reveal the heart accurately every time.

This is what makes words so important and so dangerous.

AND HERE – God is addressing the words of His people.

God says their words are “arrogant”.

“Your words have been arrogant against Me,” says the LORD.”

And yet in typical clueless and rebellious fashion

The people once again square off with God.

“Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’”

And here comes God’s confrontation:

(14-15) “You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts? ‘So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.’”

Two indictments they claim against God.

1. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS UNPROFITABLE

2. SIN IS UNPUNISHED

They say

· “It is vain to serve God”

· “what profit is it that we have kept His charge..?”

· “what profit is it that…we have walked in mourning..?”

These are people who have considered themselves

To have been faithful in their service of God

And when they examine the effect the say, “That wasn’t worth it.”

Forget the fact that their service consisted of:

· Presenting the lame for sacrifice…

· Attending worship were God’s word was neglected…

· Bringing their new pagan wife to worship…

· And stiffing God out of the offering He deserved…

Perhaps they didn’t “serve God” quite as faithfully as they thought.

But regardless of that fact, THEIR VERDICT IS that

God does not make service worth your while.

The payoff is not worth the cost.

It is the moaning of Asaph:

Psalms 73:13-14 “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure And washed my hands in innocence; For I have been stricken all day long And chastened every morning.”

And if that is not bad enough, they have also looked across the street to their wicked neighbor and said, “That guy made the smart decision.”

They “call the arrogant blessed”

· “they [are] doers of wickedness…they test God and escape.”

· Those guys chose the best path.

· They get to do sin…

· They get to enjoy wickedness…

· And God doesn’t do anything about it.

Again, that was part of Asaph’s selfish lament.

Psalms 73:3-12 “For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, And their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue parades through the earth. Therefore his people return to this place, And waters of abundance are drunk by them. They say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge with the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked; And always at ease, they have increased in wealth.”

THIS WAS THE CRY HERE.

God’s people had reached a point where they decided that

Righteousness was too costly and sin was no longer dangerous.

And God calls those words “arrogant”.

WHY?

Because it was to condemn God as A CORRUPT JUDGE.

They said that God failed to justly reward their service

And He failed to justly punish the wicked.

They were accusing God of being an unjust Judge.

NOW, TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT.

We know that righteousness IS PROFITABLE.

1 Timothy 4:7-8 “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

Revelation 22:12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”

Even when the Rich Young Ruler walked away and

Peter asked if they had made the right decision to follow Jesus:

Matthew 19:27-28 “Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

We also know that wickedness IS PUNISHED.

Luke 16:19-25 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. “And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.”

Revelation 20:11-15 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Just because it may appear on the surface

Like the righteous are neglected and the wicked are pardoned

IT ONLY LOOKS THAT WAY.

There is a day coming when God’s righteous judgment will be unleashed.

BUT HERE we have people who are accusing God of being unjust.

It is so easy to make this application to OUR OWN DAY.

· Churches don’t vote to affirm homosexuality if they think God rewards

righteousness and judges wickedness.

· Churches don’t embrace sexual immorality if they think God rewards

righteousness and judges wickedness.

· Churches don’t support the murder of babies if they think God rewards

righteousness and judges wickedness.

The presence of such indifference is staggering.

Here we have people who claim to be God’s people

And they have totally sought to strip God of His sovereignty

And have stated that what He wants has no bearing on our lives.

For He won’t do anything to reward or condemn our choices.

THAT IS ARROGANT!

And God confronts that arrogance here.

And then we finally get A REPRIEVE here in Malachi’s prophecy.

The Corporate Confrontation

#2 THE DIVINE OBSERVATION

Malachi 3:16

Finally in the book of Malachi we see a ray of hope!

“Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another…”

For the first time we see that there remained A RIGHTEOUS REMNANT.

· There were some in Malachi’s day who still “feared the LORD”

· There were some who grieved over the sin of the people.

We know of Ezra seeing the intermarriage of these people and how he grieved.

Ezra 9:3-4 “When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.”

We remember how Nehemiah worked hard

To correct these very issues of indifference.

How Nehemiah worked to restore the TITHE:

Nehemiah 13:10-13 “I also discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, each to his own field. So I reprimanded the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts. All Judah then brought the tithe of the grain, wine and oil into the storehouses. In charge of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered reliable, and it was their task to distribute to their kinsmen.”

How he worked to restore the sanctity of THE SABBATH:

Nehemiah 13:19 “It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the sabbath day.”

How he confronted them for their PAGAN WIVES:

Nehemiah 13:25 “So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.”

There were some (a few) even in this day of indifference and apathy

WHO STILL FEARED GOD.

And as Malachi relayed this burden of the LORD to the people

“those who feared the LORD spoke to one another…”

Now, WE DON’T KNOW the particulars of what they said.

It’s not hard to assume.

The fact that “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” gives us all the insight we need to know what their conversations must have been about.

God was so pleased with their response to Malachi’s preaching

That He wrote a book and put all their names in it.

· There were some who obviously repented and grieved over their offense of

God.

· There were some who obviously determined to take steps to right the wrongs

they had committed.

And God took note of them.

He wrote down their names.

· God saw that not all were INDIFFERENT.

· God saw that not all were ARROGANT.

· There was a righteous remnant intermingled throughout the congregation who

still cared what God thought.

And this will prove to be very important.

The Corporate Confrontation

The Divine Observation

#3 THE REVEALING VISITATION

Malachi 3:17

God took those who feared Him and esteemed Him

And He wrote down their names.

WHY?

“They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.”

Remember when the spies entered Jericho and Rahab hid them?

Remember how she pleaded for mercy from the coming judgment?

The spies told here to hang a scarlet cord in her window

And if she would they would spare her when they destroyed the city.

That is the same thing happening here.

God recorded their names

So that these would be delivered from the coming judgment.

“the day that I prepare My own possession”

Is a reference to The Day of the LORD.

It is the day when God returns to destroy His enemies

And save those who are His.

This day is alluded to time and time again in Scripture.

And there are always 2 ABSOLUTES ABOUT THAT DAY.

1. Every single wicked man will be destroyed.

2. God will spare His righteous before judgment is unleased.

In Genesis 6 God determined to destroy the world with a great flood, but the flood did not come until the day that Noah entered the ark and God shut the door.

In Genesis 19 God determined to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from heaven, but that fire would not come until God rescued righteous Lot from midst of it.

In Exodus 14 God would close the sea on top of Pharaoh and his army, but not until every single Israelite was safely on the other side.

In Ezekiel 9 God promised to destroy Jerusalem for their blatant idolatry, but notice what God does first:

Ezekiel 9:4-6 “The Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.” But to the others He said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. “Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the elders who were before the temple.”

Before the judgment was unleashed those who “sigh and groan over all the abominations” are marked and spared.

You see the same thing during the tribulation

Just before God unleashes that army of demons to torment the world.

Revelation 7:2-3 “And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”

What did Jesus teach about the wheat and the tares?

Matthew 13:27-30 “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

Jesus explained that later:

Matthew 13:40-43 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

And even at the final judgment when God throws all sinners into the lake of fire, there are those who are preserved from that judgment.

Revelation 20:15 “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

And we could go on and on and on:

· He will gather the good fish and throw away the bad fish

· He will separate the sheep from the goats

· After the wheat is reaped He will tread the grapes under food

OVER AND OVER AND OVER WE SEE IT

Even speaking of Heaven we read:

Revelation 21:25-27 “In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

DO YOU SEE that even when you live in a day of indifference,

God pays close attention to those who don’t just go with the flow?

· GOD OBSERVES those who fear Him and esteem Him.

· GOD MARKS them out as righteous

· GOD SPARES them from the coming judgment.

He will destroy this world for its wickedness.

Those who walk in this terrible indifference will not stand in the end.

It is a foolish thing to go along with them.

STAND AGAINST THE FLOW!

NO IT’S NOT EASY.

People in sin hate to have their sin confronted and exposed.

Listen to Nehemiah as he fought battle after battle for the LORD.

When he refused to be a burden to the people:

Nehemiah 5:19 “Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.”

When he confronted for their failure to tithe and restored it:

Nehemiah 13:14 “Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my loyal deeds which I have performed for the house of my God and its services.”

When he shut down the flea market on the Sabbath:

Nehemiah 13:22b “For this also remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.”

When he put an end to the intermarriage of pagan women and restored the temple worship:

Nehemiah 13:30-31 “Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task, and I arranged for the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.”

And the direct answer from God is that HE DOES!

“They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.”

Peter said it:

2 Peter 2:4-9 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,”

God knows how to judge the wicked

God knows how to save the righteous

AND HE WILL DO BOTH!

Church listen!

INDIFFERENCE IS A BAD DECISION.

· It may be difficult to stand against the grain.

· It may be difficult to care when no one else cares.

· It MAY SEEM like it is all for not.

IT IS NOT!

· There is a day coming when God’s justice will be seen.

· On that day those who are indifferent will be destroyed

· And those who fear God and esteem Him will be saved.

· You bring a righteous sacrifice even if no one else does.

· You honor God’s word even if no one else does.

· You refuse to deal treacherously even if everyone else does.

· You bring God your treasure and your heart even if no one else does.

You live your life as though God is watching

And as though He will reward those who fear Him.

You have to decide that, and you have to decide that PERSONALLY.

We cannot as a church meet and vote that we are going to fear God.

We cannot as a church meet and vote that we are going to esteem God.

You must enter the narrow gate on your own.

These people in Malachi’s day all claimed to be God’s people.

· They brought sacrifices…

· They attended worship…

· They claimed to keep His charge and even to walk in mourning before Him…

But they all were not His.

· They all did not fear.

· They all did not esteem.

GOD WAS EXAMINING THE CHURCH TO SEE WHO REALLY WAS HIS.

IN OUR WORLD

· Of temptations and distractions.

· Were good is called evil and evil is called good.

· Of tremendous pressure to conform to the current moral code.

IS GOD GOING TO MATTER TO YOU?

· Will He matter more than your comfort?

· Will He matter more than your reputation?

· Will He matter more than your hobbies?

· Will He matter more than your wealth?

· Will He matter more than your safety?

· Will He matter more than your tradition?

· Will He matter more than every other worldly thing that comes down the pipe?

It may seem right now like God doesn’t reward those who serve Him

And like God doesn’t punish those who don’t.

BUT IT ONLY SEEMS THAT WAY!

The day is coming when God will clear out

All those who are indifferent towards Him.

TURN TO: ZEPHANIAH 1

Would you follow the example of these faithful few in Malachi’s day who committed to fear God and esteem Him?

Would you follow the example of Ezra and Nehemiah and stand against the flow even if you stand alone?

Those are ones God designates as His own.

Those are the only ones who will be left standing after the smoke clears

On the day God comes to purify His people.

And that leads to the final point.

#4 THE RESULTING RESTORATION

Malachi 3:18

“So…”

In other words – “Here is the final effect of My judgment”

“So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not.”

It may not happen much today,

But there is a day coming when it will.

After the smoke clears from the judgment

And all the wicked are destroyed

And only the righteous are left standing

There will be A NEW CULTURAL NORM ADOPTED in this world.

The world will understand that righteousness matters.

Jesus said after the tares are destroyed:

Matthew 13:43 “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

THIS IS HOW God will eradicate the indifference of this world.

THIS IS HOW God will restore righteous judgment.

God says, “So you will again distinguish…”

“distinguish” is an interesting word.

I looked up synonyms to the word “distinguish”

Here is some of what came up:

· Categorize

· Divide

· Separate

· Discriminate

· Determine

All of those are considered bad words today.

And indeed they are bad words if you are discriminating according to someone’s ethnicity or gender or poverty level.

Even Scripture teaches us not to play favoritism towards those who are rich.

But according to God those words are absolutely good words

When applied to righteous living.

WE ARE ABSOLUTELY COMMANDED TO

DISTINGUISH, CATEGORIZE, DIVIDE, SEPARATE, DISCRIMINATE,

AND DETERMINE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

WHAT IS SINFUL AND WHAT IS RIGHTEOUS.

· Does God not separate the clean from the unclean?

· Does God not separate the holy from the profane?

· Does God not separate the useful from the defiled?

Even the word sanctify actually means to “set apart”.

God pronounces woe on those who refuse to do this.

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

In the New Testament we are commanded to distinguish between the two.

Romans 12:9 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”

Ephesians 5:11 “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;”

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.”

We are NOT called to tolerate what is evil.

We are NOT called to embrace what God calls an abomination.

We ARE CALLED TO DISTINGUISH AND ABHOR IT.

AND WE CALL MEN TO LEAVE THEIR SIN AND BE SAVED.

THE INDIFFERENCE OF THE CHURCH TODAY

Is just as bad as it was in Malachi’s day

And as you can see, God won’t put up with it forever.

THERE IS COMING A DAY

When God will restore righteous judgment to this world.

Church, my appeal to you is to WAKE UP and STAND UP.

· Shake off any apathy

· Mark yourself as one who fears God and esteems Him.

Be a Nehemiah.

Be an Ezra.

Be a Malachi.

Leave the indifference and seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.

Philippians 3:17-21 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”