We all wrestle with these difficult, age-old questions. "Why do the wicked prosper?" "Why do the righteous suffer?" "Why" does God allow evil, and what are we to do when evil comes? Understand that God is very much on the throne and has the answers to all these questions! In fact, He gives us the answers in His Word, the Bible.  

The three letter answer to the "Why?" question is of course " SIN."  To dig deeper, I want us to look at two main passages of Scripture: Romans 13:1-4 (the central passage of this ministry) and then Malachi 2:17-3:6 (yes, OPEN your Bible -- this is a BIBLE study).

My paraphrase of our first passage is one that is on all our Centurion apparel: " COPS -- God's ministers for good and a terror against evil."  Above I posted our image of this with the "thin blue line" of law enforcement. In short, God has ORDAINED government (and thus the police) to be servants (the meaning of the word "minister" in the original Greek) for the law abiding and a literal terror against those who would bring evil and lawlessness upon the so-called "good" and "innocent" (stay with me here these two words).  We in law enforcement are in fact the " thin blue line" God has set good and evil in terms of civil government (law and order).  

Yet time and time again we see governments failing in their God-ordained duty (including a wicked sociopath in Emperor Nero when Paul penned this passage under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and then the wickedness -- SIN -- we're seeing today in our own country).  "Why!?" Why follow God when all I get is trials, pain and hurt? If there is a God of justice in heaven, why doesn't He do something about all the injustice in the world (including here in the United States)?  Why does He allow evil to come?  Is it even worth following such a God?

Part of His answer to us is found in our second passage of Scripture.  As with us here today, the Jews in Malachi's day also struggled with these same questions. They were under the thumb of the exceedingly wicked yet (like America today) prosperous Medo-Persian Empire. Many Jews had become disappointed with God. He had not done for them what they had hoped. They grumbled, "If He is the God of justice, why do we see all of this injustice in the world?" Some had even slipped into cynical agnosticism, doubting that a just God even exists. Through Malachi, God shows them (and us) what to do when evil comes and when evil seems to be winning:

When evil prevails, we must not challenge, but trust in and obey the God who sends His Messiah to judge the earth.

Here in Malachi 2:17, the peoples' complaint is registered before being answered by God in Chapter 3, verses  1-6.  Let's break it down:

Their disappointment with God in their own trials versus the prosperity of the wicked led many of the Jews to think that morals and truth didn't matter. They thought, "There's no correlation between obedience to God and blessing in this life. So we may as well live for all the good times and good things we can get."

The prophets had predicted a glorious future for Israel. But here they were, back in the land for over 100 years after the captivity, and things were not all that glorious. Israel was still under foreign domination. She was not the center of the earth, with the nations flocking to Jerusalem with their wealth. The old folks were not sitting in the streets watching the children play securely The land was not yielding abundant produce. Just a hundred years before, Zechariah had prophesied that all of these conditions would come about. But here they were, and none of his prophecies about the glory of Israel had materialized. They weren't even close!

The rebuilt temple was a disappointment to many. It didn't compare to the former glory of Solomon's temple ( Ezra 3:12-13). Haggai ( 2:7-9) had prophesied that the latter glory of this temple would be greater than the former temple, but there was no evidence of that yet. Because of these disappointments with God's promises, many were voicing their disappointments and complaints, and even daring to question if a God of justice even existed. Some even mocked God, saying that He delights in evil people and calls them good!

Maybe you're struggling with these issues now. You thought that when you trusted Christ, He would give you an " abundant life" and relief from major problems. Instead, you seem to have more problems than you did before! You didn't use to struggle against sin, but now it's a daily battle that you often lose. You didn't use to worry about pleasing God with your use of time and money, but now you feel guilty for squandering those things. In fact, now you feel guilty about things that you didn't even know were sin before you became a Christian. You've prayed a lot, but rather than getting better, your problems seem to grow worse. You wonder, "What difference does it make if I follow the Lord or not?  Where is the God of justice?"

Even if you have not verbalized these thoughts, God knows about them. Malachi says that such words weary the Lord! He is using human language to apply to God, since there is a sense in which Almighty God cannot be weary ( Isaiah 40:28). But there is another sense in which we can try God's patience ( Isaiah 7:13) and "wear Him out," much like a parent gets weary of hearing his child's constant complaining. So we need to check our thoughts when they run in this direction while paying careful attention to God's answer to this difficult problem of what to do when evil comes and even prevails (for a season).

Malachi is referring here to Isaiah's prophecy, " A voice is calling, 'Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God'" ( Isaiah 40:3). This was a prophecy of John the Baptist, the forerunner whose ministry God used to prepare the way for Jesus Christ. John's father prophesied of him while he was yet a baby, " And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, ..." ( Luke 1:76-77). Jesus would go on to apply Malachi's prophecy to John ( Matthew 11:10).

Malachi ( 4:5) predicted that Elijah will come before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. The disciples asked Jesus, " Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" Jesus answered, "Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you, that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him,..." Matthew adds, "Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist" ( Matthew 17:10-13).

Thus Malachi's prophecy has a double fulfillment. John the Baptist was the messenger who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, to prepare the way for the Lord's first coming. Before Jesus' second coming, there will be two witnesses who powerfully bear witness ( Revelation 11:1-12). It is likely that one of these witnesses will be Elijah himself.

The imagery of preparing the way before the Lord came from the custom of clearing the road and preparing a town for the visit of the king. Before the king traveled, he sent out messengers who proclaimed his coming. They didn't have road crews back then to keep the highways in good shape. So when the townspeople heard that the king was coming, they would go out and fill in the ruts and potholes, and clear away rocks and debris. They got everything ready for the coming of their king.

God in His grace does not come upon us unannounced. If He did, He would often find our lives in shambles. We get sloppy about sin. There are potholes and ruts, with rocks strewn all over the place. So He graciously sends His messenger to proclaim, "The Lord is coming! Get ready! Fill in the potholes of sin! Clear out the rocks of self-centeredness and pride. Repent and bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance" (see  Matthew 3:2, 8).  Today, I'm playing that forward by also encouraging us to, "Be prepared! Get ready! The King is coming!" As  1 John 3:3 tells us, " Everyone who  has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure ."

When Malachi says in 3:1, " The Lord whom you seek" and " the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight," he is using irony. In effect, he is saying, "You're asking, 'Where is the God of justice? We want to see Him.' So, you're looking for Him? Let me tell you, He is coming. In fact, He is coming suddenly! But you need to ask, 'Can I endure the day of His coming? Can I stand when He appears?' Because when He comes, He is going to clean house on Israel and He is going to judge all the wicked. So if you really seek Him, you'd better get ready to meet Him!"

You may wonder, "How can the Lord's coming be sudden when it has been announced by His messenger?" Pastor and author Stephen Cole answered with this illustration: "Some of you recall when Mount St. Helens blew its top in 1980. Geologists knew that something was brewing. They could see the bulge on the side of the mountain and they could measure the increasingly threatening tremors. They warned the local residents to get out of there.  But did they leave? Some did, but others didn't. There was one old man named Harry Truman who had lived there for decades. When the newscasters interviewed him, he said that the mountain had been there for centuries. He didn't believe that it would blow up, so he wasn't going to move. But suddenly, one morning the mountain exploded. Harry Truman and others like him who had ignored the warnings perished. Destruction came on them suddenly."

Let me be clear. Jesus is telling us, "I am coming back suddenly to judge the earth. None who ignore this warning will escape!" Do you say to yourself, "Yeah, sure! I know that Jesus is coming, but He hasn't come for almost 2,000 years. There's no sense getting all worked up about it. I've got time before I need to repent." Really? Don't bet eternity on that false "feeling."  In His first recorded words as He began his earthly ministry that culminated in his own death and resurrection, Jesus said,  "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15 -- with "believe" as used here literally meaning, "complete and total surrender")

Malachi shows us who this coming Messiah is and what He will do, first with regard to His true people (those who are genuinely born again in Him alone -- John 3:1-21, 14:6), and then with those who have rejected Him as Lord and Savior (the lost/unsaved).  

So how then should we live in this evil world?  " When Evil Comes"?   Let me start by sharing three  brief words of encouragement for believers (the saved):

If you find yourself doubting whether God loves you or whether He really will punish the wicked, get alone in His presence. Read  Psalm 73, where the author was struggling with the same issue, until he went into the sanctuary of God. There he realized, " My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" ( Psalm 73:26). Then read  Hebrews 12 , which assures us that God's discipline stems from His love for us as His children. His aim is that we might share His holiness and enjoy the peaceful fruit of righteousness ( Hebrews 12:10-11 ). Trust Him!

The people in Malachi's day were saying, " Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them" ( 2:17). In other words, morals do not matter, because God doesn't immediately zap the wicked; in fact, they seem to prosper. We live in a day when even the church (so-called believers) is joining the culture in abandoning God's moral absolutes. But our holy God does not change ( 3:6)! His moral standards do not shift with the winds of the times. If His Word calls something sin, then it still is sin! When someone breaks God's moral standards and seems to be doing just fine, don't be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap ( Galatians 6:7-8).

These people wanted God to take out (kill, destroy) the prosperous, wicked pagans, but Malachi obediently shows that by pointing their finger at others, they had three fingers pointing back at themselves!  The fact is, without Christ, NONE are good (or innocent) and we ALL all deserve God's judgment.