Originally posted: 12/07/2021

The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. ² “I have loved you,” says the Lord… (1:1-2).

We come to the last book of the Old Testament, the last of the minor prophets, Micah, who Bible scholars assert to be the last of God’s messengers sent to His people before they are deprived of His Word and suffer 400 years of silence.

From https://www.gotquestions.org/400-years-of-silence.html:

“The 400 years of silence refers to the time between the Old Testament and New Testament, during which God did not speak to the Jewish people. The 400 years of silence began with the warning that closed the Old Testament: “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6) and ended with the coming of John the Baptist, the Messiah’s forerunner.

At the time of Malachi’s warning, about 430 B.C., the Jews had returned to Israel from the Babylonian captivity (as merchants, not shepherds). The Medo-Persian Empire still ruled Israel, and the temple had been rebuilt. Both the Law and the priesthood of Aaron’s line had been restored, and the Jews had given up their worship of idols. Nevertheless, Malachi’s warning was not without cause. The Jewish people were mistreating their wives, marrying pagans and not tithing, and the priests were neglecting the temple and not teaching the people the ways of God. In short, the Jews were not honoring God.”

This last recorded book of prophecy before the Messiah comes, reminds me a bit of a devoted teacher who prepares his students for the day of their coming exam. And in a sense, Malachi is a message from our Loving Teacher, packed with the study notes needed to be prepared for That Day. So before we dig into this first chapter, let’s look at a brief overview of our study guide from the NIV Study Bible.

“Although the Jews had been allowed to return from exile and rebuild the temple, several discouraging factors brought about a general religious malaise: (1) Their land remained but a small province in the backwaters of the Persian empire, (2) the glorious future announced by the prophets (including the other postexilic prophets, Haggai and Zechariah) had not (yet) been realized, and (3) their God had not (yet) come to his temple (3:1) with majesty and power (as celebrated in Ps 68) to exalt his kingdom in the sight of the nations. Doubting God’s covenant love (1:3) and no longer trusting his justice (2:17; 3:14-15), the Jews of the restored community began to lose hope. So their worship degenerated into a listless perpetuation of mere forms, and they no longer took the law seriously.

Malachi rebukes their doubt of God’s love (2:2-5) and the faithlessness of both priests (1:6—2:9) and people (2:10-16). To their charge that God is unjust (2:17) because he has failed to come in judgment to exalt his people, Malachi answers with an announcement and a warning. The Lord they seek will come—but he will come “like a refiner’s fire” (3:1-4). He will come to judge—but he will judge his people first (3:5).

Because the Lord does not change in his commitments and purpose, Israel has not been completely destroyed for her persistent unfaithfulness (3:6). But only through repentance and reformation will she again experience God’s blessing (3:6-12). Those who honor the Lord will be spared when he comes to judge (3:16-18).

In conclusion, Malachi once more reassures and warns his readers that “the day [‘that great and dreadful day of the Lord,’ (4:5)] is coming” and that “it will burn like a furnace” (4:1). In that day the righteous will rejoice, and “you will trample down the wicked” (4:2-3). So “remember the law of my servant Moses” (4:4). To prepare his people for that day the Lord will send “the prophet Elijah” to call them back to the godly ways of their forefathers (4:5-6).”

It’s a short book of only 55 verses, but so very full. And while there is definite attention given to the faithlessness of His people, the message of Malachi is filled with His faithful provision in the waiting for That Day. And in the next three days in the four chapters of Malachi, we will consider one facet each day of how He is faithfully Preparing Us for That Day.

And really, the prophecy of Malachi is in perfect keeping with what we considered yesterday in the letter written by Jude; for He Is Able to Keep Us as He Prepares Us for That Day.

Consider Him Who Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love

The very first words the Lord sent through His messenger before 400 years of silence should have absolutely stolen their breath and quieted every fear and doubt.

The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. ² “I have loved you,” says the Lord… (1:1-2).

Before the Lord addressed the sins of the priests, before He called their attention to their irreverence toward His Name, before He disclosed their polluted offerings of worship, He would turn their attention to His Covenant Love, unable to be fully grasped by the finite mind. And though some doubted and even scoffed, still He would send His messenger to proclaim the Covenant Love of the Faithful God.

And today, through faith in Christ, this prophecy also pertains to us. For He faithfully Keeps Us as He faithfully Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love.

• He Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love that chose us before we were born.
  • “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob; (1:2).
  • “Two nations are in your womb;
    And two peoples will be separated from your body;
    And one people shall be stronger than the other;
    And the older shall serve the younger.”
    ²⁴ When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. ²⁶ Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them, (Genesis 25:21-26).

• He Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love that chose us before the foundations of the world.
  • just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love ⁵ He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, (Ephesians 1:4-5).

• He Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love that chose us in keeping with His oath.
  • “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸ but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt,” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).

• He Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love that will never be removed.
  • “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
    But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you,
    And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,”
    Says the Lord who has compassion on you, (Isaiah 54:10).

• He Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love that is Everlasting.
  • The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying,
    “I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness,” (Jeremiah 31:3).

• He Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love that is Unchanging.
  • Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity
    And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?
    He does not retain His anger forever,
    Because He delights in unchanging love, (Micah 7:18).

• He Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love that Gave His Only Son.
  • “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life,” (John 3:16).

• He Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love that was Demonstrated in His Death.
  • But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, (Romans 5:8).

• He Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love that is Inseparable in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  • Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Romans 8:35, 38-39).

• He Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love that has Adopted us as His Children.
  • See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him, (1 John 3:1).

How do we respond to Him Who Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love?

We have to remember that one of the greatest tools the enemy employs is to get us to doubt His Covenant Love. The enemy will constantly barrage us with feelings of unworthiness. And in those times, we can agree with that. The truth is, we are unworthy of such Love.

And the truth is, God did not wait on us to clean ourselves up, that we would somehow deserve His infinite Love. He died for us when we were infinitely unworthy! His Covenant Love is dependent on His Faithfulness and Worth, not our own.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, (Romans 5:8).

But doubting His Covenant Love leads to doubting His Covenant purposes for our lives and we can then find ourselves lost in a vacuum, analyzing the current state of waiting for That Day apart from His Covenant Love.

Let us never lose sight of this: He is Preparing Us for That Day by His Covenant Love, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love ⁵ He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, (Ephesians 1:4-5).

Oh, let us accept all things from His Loving Hands, that we would respond, not by doubting His purpose but by loving Him in faith and believing His Word: that in all things He is Preparing Us for That Day by His Covenant Love as He grows and conforms us to the likeness of His Son.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren, (Romans 8:28-29).

Oh, that we would come to truly believe that He Loves Us as He has proclaimed and proven; that as we face the troubles of this life and the attacks of the enemy, we would live with our eyes kept on His promises, convinced that His purposes for our life will be accomplished as He Prepares Us for That Day by His Covenant Love.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;
You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
⁸ The Lord will accomplish what concerns me;
Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands, (Psalm 138:7-8).

Let’s Grow Together!