The “sparing” of Malachi 3:17 refers to the coming scenes of judgment of which the last chapter treats—-chapter 3:1 and 3. Then shall the Lord appear for Israel’s blessing as the Sun of righteousness; for the church there is an earlier appearing as the Morning Star, herald of the morning (2 Peter 1:19; Rev. 22:16).
Between these two events one, like John the Baptist in the spirit of Elijah, will be used to bring about for God the accomplishment of verses 5-6, a work for which the Baptist labored with small result, being rejected and cut off as was his Master, four hundred years after Malachi closed his prophecy (See John 1:21; Matthew 11:14; 17:10-12).
These “Bible Lessons” are now concluded.