Sunday, October 7
This Sunday, we will begin a 6-8 week study of the last Old testament prophet before the coming of the Messiah, the book of Malachi. It contains the famous verses from Handel’s Messiah:
3:1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. (ESV)
And
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (ESV)
As you can see it is a bridge between the Old and new Testaments, and will be good preparation for our celebration of Christmas. Jesus identified this person as John the Baptist.
Malachi wants us to have a religion of the heart that calls forth our very best efforts to please the Lord and avoid the sins of a dead, formal, and joyless religion. There are 7 demanding questions His people ask of Him, and we will examine the first one in 1:1-5: “How have we not loved you?” Key to our understanding is the well known story of Jacob and Esau found in Genesis 25: 19-34. Please read this over carefully for the background of verses 2-3 in Malachi 1. Also consider Romans 9:10-13, and note how Paul sees the significance of Rebekah’s twin boys. In what way does God hate? This has troubled Christians for a long time for does not the Bible say God is love?
I do not preach on the prophets often, but they have a living message for us today.
4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (ESV)
Read through the book of Malachi at least once a day – it takes about 15-20 minutes. Study the historical background, and ask the Lord to help us learn from this brief, but powerful prophet of truth.
See you Sunday,
Lee