Journey Through Malachi
Our journey through Scripture has brought us to the last stop in the Old Testament. We have come to the final Old Testament book, the prophet Malachi. This was a man who was chosen by God at the end of the Old Testament era to give God’s final great message before the 400 silent years.
His name means Jehovah’s Messenger. The word messenger is actually used three times in this book, and he was just that. He was God’s messenger. He delivered the last great message of the Old Testament. There is much we can learn from this book.
Listen: Journeying through Malachi
Overview of Malachi
Malachi wasmost likely a contemporar Nehemiah. If you read Malachi and Nehemiah alongside one another, you will find they are dealing with the same sins and the same problems.
He prophesied about 100 years after Haggai and Zechariah. So the temple is complete. It is now standing, and just on the other side of Malachi’s message, there will be 400 years of silence, with no open revelation. Just as Nehemiah was the last historical writer, Malachi is the last prophetical writer. (Click HERE 55 Prophecies Jesus Fulfilled).
What does he write about? Malachi can be divided as follows:
The Lord’s Care – Malachi 1:1-5
He opens his book talking about the care of God, how God has cared for them in the past. The first five verses describe the past.
The Lord’s Complaint – Malachi 1:6-2:17
Next, Malachi transitions to the present. Our God is always dealing with us in the present. This particular section is a dialogue between God and His people. It is not the care of God that is emphasized. It is the complaint of God. Eleven times in the book it says, “ye say,” and 25 times it says, “thus saith the Lord.”
What we say and what God says are not always the same. God’s ways are higher than ours, His thoughts are higher than ours, and His words are certainly higher than ours. God delivers a message to His people: “You failed me. You failed to do what I wanted you to do. You are going through the motions of it all, but you have not been obedient to me.”
The Lord’s Coming – Malachi 3:1-4:6
The book ends with an emphasis not on the care of God or the complaint of God, but on the coming of God. It shifts at the end of the book to the future, which I think is beautiful, because, remember, it is the end of the Old Testament. Malachi is not just the conclusion to the first 39 books; it is a connector to the New Testament. This section talks about the coming of Elijah. It is a reference to John the Baptist, the Lord’s messenger coming, and also, of course, to Elijah himself prophesying before the Second Coming. Malachi takes a long look into the future. I am glad that God is still at work and that He is not finished.
Theme of Malachi
What is the great message of the book? Let us look at what is probably the most famous verse in the book. It is Malachi 3:8 where the Bible says: “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?” God answers, “In tithes and offerings.”
Would you just ponder that a moment? It begins with a question: Who would rob God? Then, there is an accusation: You have robbed me. Next, there is an interrogation: Wherein have we robbed thee? Finally, there is a refutation: in tithes and offerings. He said, you have no excuse. You have no defense. God deals here with the principle of obedience, bringing blessing, and disobedience, bringing cursing.
Giving is a Reflection of Our Heart
Obviously, the immediate application is to their giving. They had failed to tithe. They had failed to give offerings. Tithing is not just an Old Testament principle under the law. It is an eternal principle for God’s people. They tithe even before the giving of the law of Moses. I believe that even in our daily walk, we should be tithers by conviction. Beyond the tithe, we ought to give offerings out of all God has given to us, out of gratitude.
But the principle is this: It is not about your money. God does not need your money. He wants your heart. He wants your life. What you do with your money, with the resources God puts in your hand, is just a revelation of how you reverence God or fail to in your heart. What do you think about the Lord? (Listen to Scott’s study of this passage/teaching HERE).
Robbing God With Our Disobedience
The keyword here is robbery. Stealing from God. What am I stealing from God today? Stealing money, or perhaps glory, or worship. Stealing everything He deserves, which is my all. You cannot do that and get by.
God speaks to His people here and says, my great complaint against you is that you have failed to obey me. Is there any area in which you failed to obey God? Is there anything in your life right now that the Holy Spirit has told you to do and God plainly teaches in His Word that you are not doing? If there is, start there. Deal with it now, because this is the final and the lasting message of the last book of the Old Testament.
Two Reasons Malachi Was Written
Malachi wrote for two main reasons:
Expose False Teaching
Number one, he wrote to expose the seeds of Phariseeism and Sadduceeism. Recall that 400 years later, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were fully developed religious systems. They were fully developed groups. In Malachi, the seeds of that are planted.
You remember the sin of the Pharisees was formalism, all the exterior without heart. That is seen in Malachi, in Israel’s rituals apart from God’s power. The sin of the Sadducees was skepticism. Remember, they doubted everything. They questioned anything supernatural, such as miracles. That is seen in the eight sarcastic questions that Israel asked the Lord in this book. Essentially, they were questioning God.
God says in Malachi, “If you fail to deal with these seeds, the beginning of these sins, it willbring destruction.” Ultimately, it did. It became Pharisaism. It became Sadduceeism. If you do not deal with sin when it is small, it will grow. It will get big. God wants to expose those seeds in our lives and say, deal with them while they are small.
Encourage the Remnant
There is a second reason why Malachi wrote, and that was to encourage the remnant. As surely as there will be Pharisees and Sadducees 400 years later, there will also be a remnant. People like John the Baptist, Simeon, and Anna. God says, “There is a remnant, and I am not going to have much to say for the next 400 years, but I want to encourage you.” Keep trusting in the Lord today.
Consider Malachi 3:16-18:
“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.”
By the grace of God, let’s avoid the traps of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Let’s be the remnant of those who trust in God. Speak to one another today. Encourage another remnant Christian today to press on for the Lord Jesus.
Curse or Blessing?
The last word of the book of Malachi, the last word of the Old Testament, is the word curse. Why would that be? For 400 years, they have to live under that word curse. The curse of sin and the curse of the law. Why? Because only Jesus could lift that curse by, “…being made a curse for us…” (Galatians 3:13).
I love this truth! They are going to live under the curse, but Christ is going to break the curse and bring the blessing. He is going to be that Sun of righteousness who will “…arise with healing in his wings…” (Malachi 4:2). He is coming, Malachi says. Indeed, he did come. There is a curse to disobedience, but there is a blessing found in the person of Jesus Christ. I hope you found that blessing today. Look to Jesus, because He alone can break the curse.
Related Article: 5 Ways to Get More Out of Your Bible Reading
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