Getting to Malachi

This year on my Spanish blog, En la Biblia (In the Bible), I’ve been going through 7 day summaries of each book of the Bible. The idea is that you can take 5 minutes or less per day and get a bit of background on each book.

It’s been encouraging to see people interested in learning more about God’s Word. The blog even has a Facebook page now (with 5999 “likes” as I write this – c’mon, just one more…), and visitors from all over the world, especially from Columbia, Peru, Mexico, and the United States.

Anyway, next week is a milestone because I’ll be publishing the series about the last book of the Old Testament. So here’s a pre-published and translated version of the post from this coming Friday – Malachi: The Christ (every Friday we look at how the Messiah can be seen in the book – usually a longer post):

Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.
Exodus 23:20

The Israelites had left Egypt, and were going to the promised land. God sent His angel, His messenger, ahead of them to prepare the way. The wicked nations would be destroyed, and the land would be given to Israel.

In the book of Malachi, we see that God is going to send a messenger once again:

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.
Malachi 3:1

What’s the difference? This time, the messenger will not prepare the way for Israel, but for her God. And Israel – horrors! Israel is now the wicked nation!

But God is merciful. It wasn’t His plan to completely destroy Israel. The messenger would call for repentance.

“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.”
Malachi 4:5-6

The Gospel of Mark says:

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,'”

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Mark 1:2-4

Mark uses a quote from Isaiah 40:3, but he also seems to use words from Exodus 40:3 and Malachi 3:1. The messenger is John the Baptist – and he is calling the people to repentance.

Preparing the way for – whom? The Lord – the Lord Jesus.

Mark applies the words of Yahweh – the LORD – in the Old Testament – to Jesus! Yes, Jesus is Yahweh, who comes to save and to judge.

And Jesus is still jealous for true worship in the temple. As God spoke against evil priests and corrupt worship in Malachi, so Jesus hated corruption in the temple.

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
Matthew 21:12-13

However, the cleansing isn’t finished. One day Jesus will return to finish his work. Those who fear the Lord will be a “treasured possession” (Malachi 3:17). “…the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall” (Malachi 4:2). Yahweh says – “my name will be great among the nations” (Malachi 1:11).

Once more, in the book of Revelation, Jesus sends His angel (messenger) (Revelation 22:16) with good news:

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Revelation 22:3-5

But don’t forget the warnings of Malachi (Malachi 3:16-18) and Revelation:

But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 21:27