For my family:
What do you think Malachi meant in the first verse of Chapter 4:
Malachi 4:1 FOR, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Prizes for the best answers.
5 comments:
ARMA-GAY-DON! There are probably many valid interpretations of this scripture, but my favorite are the most literal.
Orson Pratt said that the earth must be baptized with fire and the Holy Ghost. "Fire will cleanse all the proud and they that do wickedly from its face -- all persons that are corrupt, all sinful persons, all disobedient persons, all who do not keep the commandments of God."
Heber C. Kimball prophesied that "all the inhabitants of the earth that do not connect themselves to the true vine, Jesus Christ, will become as stubble, and they will be burnt up, and become as ashes under the soles of the feet of the Saints that will come upon the earth to trim it, adorn it and make it like the garden of Eden." I've never really thought of the wicked as being fertilizer, but I'd like to see this millennial compost heap.
I think Parley P. Pratt's interpretation rings the truest with today's circumstances: If we were like the people before the flood, full of violence and oppression; or if we, like the Sodomites or Canaanites, were full of all manner of lawless abominations, holding promiscuous intercourse with the other sex, and stooping to a level with the brute creation, and predisposing our children, by every means in our power, to be fully given to strange and unnatural lusts, appetites, and passions, would it not be a mercy to cut us off, root and branch, and thus put an end to our increase upon the earth?
Although this is one of those scary fire from heaven verses, I think it's a message of hope to the stalwart Saints who have no need to fear the Second Coming.
This is from my little brain: There will come a day when those who have hardened their hearts against Christ will be "burn" and "shall be stubble". I think how they burn will vary--natural disasters, etc. Just like in 3 Nephi and as described by Christ in D&C 29. Many of those things are NOT pleasant at all to read. Anyway, so the wicked will be taken off this earth and "it shall leave them neither root nor branch". I always thought the "root" and "branch" referred to genealogy. So... No eternal family with children and ancestors? So we need to accept Christ if we want to survive the burning and if we want to be able to live with our families eternally someday. I don't totally know for sure. But that's I think. What's the real answer?
Good comments. I like Lauren's read from a temple perspective. Malachi 4 is about temple work, and the last verse was the first scripture Moroni quoted to Joseph Smith. It was also referenced when Elijah appeared to Joseph in the Kirtland temple. Thus, I like the idea that those who are without temple ordinances and covenants will be without root or branch in the eternities.
That was fun. Let's do another one. :)
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