Malachi: Prophet c. 420
“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his
temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom
you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. Malachi 3:1 (NIV)
READ: Malachi 1-4
Spurred
on by the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah the returned exiles finished building
the Temple and were strengthened spiritually.
Unfortunately, the people fell back into their old ways as they ignored
tithes, broke the Sabbath, intermarried with foreigners and the priesthood had
become corrupt. Several of these sins
are mentioned in Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament era. The people were discouraged. The glorious return of the splendor of Israel
had not yet been realized, God had not returned to dwell in the Temple and the
people doubted God’s love and were losing hope.
So they no longer took the law seriously causing their worship to become
corrupt. The priests were not observing
the Law of Moses and were offering blemished and diseased animals in worship
and had gone further in their indifference by offering polluted bread before
the Lord. Malachi rebukes their
disobedience, their doubt of God’s love and the faithlessness of the
priests. He warns that God will come as
a “refiner’s fire”. The children of
Israel exist for God to work out His purposes through them therefore they were
not completely destroyed. Only through
repentance and reformation will they again experience God’s blessing. Those who honor the Lord will be spared when
He comes to judge. Malachi warns the
people that the dreadful day of the Lord is coming and that the righteous will
rejoice at it and the wicked will be trampled down. Important in Malachi’s message was his
insistence that the first step toward a proper relationship with God was true
repentance. He also prophesied of a
forerunner of the coming of the Lord who would offer a disobedient people the
last chance of repentance before the onset of Divine judgement. Jesus regarded this forerunner to be John the
Baptist.
JOURNALING AND PRAYER
1. Where do you feel weak in your faith?
2. Ask God how He wants to grow your faith this summer. What does He want to do in your heart?
3. Thank God for what He has shown you, and pray that it would become a reality in your life.
