The Messianic Message of Malachi

Introduction

Read Malachi 3:1-6

Malachi 3:1–6 ESV

“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. 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. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Malachi 3:16–18 ESV

Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

Malachi 4:1–6 ESV

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 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.”

I hope that our study of the Minor Prophets have been profitable for you. There are many reasons that we study the minor prophets.

Praise God, he did not leave us in His judgment.

The end of the Old Testament could have been the end of God’s word.

Nothing that we have done earned Christ’s coming. It is all by God’s grace.

Jesus coming ushered a new age away from God’s judgement and towards God’s grace.

The New Testament references the Minor Prophets over and over and over. We know the New Testament better, because we have studied the Old Testament.

It is difficult to read the New Testament without understanding the Old Testament.

Every minor prophet is quoted in the New Testament, and most are quoted or referenced by Jesus.

God is not silent. Malachi is the final Old Testament book, and we have a great record of God’s goodness in the midst of difficulty.

The word of God’s judgement could have been the final word, but praise be to God that He sent Jesus as the living word.

BIG IDEA: We may go through seasons where God does not speak. However, God is not silent, God has not forgotten us, and a better day is coming.

Explanation

Malachi 3:1-6 // God’s Messenger

John the Baptist would prepare the way for Jesus.

The “Voice” that cries out in the wilderness from Isaiah is John the Baptist.

Malachi would call him the “coming of Elijah.”

Luke 1:17 “and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.””

John the Baptist was the herald Malachi spoke of.

John the Baptist is considered the final prophet before Jesus. John Piper would say is was the bridge between the Old and New Testament.

From Malachi to John the Baptist, four-hundred years have lapsed.

I wonder if the people of God wondered if God had left or forgotten them.

God’s silence does not mean that he does not care or he is not working.

Jesus would come into the world, and Malachi foretells what that coming would look like.

He would be like a refiners fire or soap.

He would cleanse people of their sins as he removed their sin and guilt and gave them the ability to walk in holiness.

His death on the cross would be the beginning of a new day.

He is purifying the “sons of Levi,” or the priestly people. I can only think of Jesus in the temple with a whip of chords, overturning tables and driving people out with his whip.

Although Israel has walked in wickedness, they would be pleasing to God.

Jesus would bring a new heart to the people.

He would make them new.

Malachi 3:16-18 // A description of those who have been bought by Jesus.

Godly community: God will be the only thing that His people need in common. If you stepped through the door today and say, “I don’t belong here,” I want you to know that the only right that any of us have to be here is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us.

They feared God.

They spoke with (encouraged) one another.

God remembers you.

Not a single child of God will be forgotten.

I remember seeing my first grade teacher, Mrs. Prescott, many years after she had been my teacher. She retired from Parklane Academy after teaching her whole life. She was my FAVORITE teacher of all time.

I asked her if she remembered me. I figured that she didn’t.

She said, Connor Alford, I remember you.

I felt seen. I never would have thought out of all the students that Mrs. Prescott had, that she would remember me.

Now, my dad says that teachers normally remember their worse students - not their best, but I digress.

We sometimes wonder whether God sees or remembers us.

He does see. Everything.

And he never forgets.

He treasures you.

He sees you as a son and daughter.

He loves and cares for you intimately.

There is a stark contrast between a child who is loved and cherished and one who is not.

Because we have been loved by our Almighty Father, we are different.

God is good, and we love him intimately.

Malachi 4:1-6 // How will this be accomplished? Malachi looks ahead to Jesus.

The sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.

Jesus rose from the grave, and He brought healing.

Leaping like calves.

One of my favorite farm activities was to move calves from the stalls to the field.

We kept calves in a raised pen so that they would not get sick.

When we turned them out, they don’t know what to do. In fact, most of them take off running and run smack into the fence.

Malachi reiterates John the Baptist’s coming.

Elijah will come.

He will turn people’s hearts to God to know Him.

Invitation