The Bridge - Malachi

Reformer Martin Luther called John 3:16 “the little gospel”. In the same way, we can speak of Malachi as the “little Old Testament”. Malachi is the bridge between the Old and New Testaments (Malachi 3:1). A silence of 400 years lies between the voice of Malachi and the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord” (John 1:23). Malachi is the last prophet to speak to Israel in its own land. “Malachi” means “my messenger”.

When we read the book of Malachi we find that the priests became irrelevant and neglectful (Malachi 1:6,11,12). The priests refused to work except for money. This resulted in carelessness among God’s people in keeping themselves separate from the heathen nations. Mixed marriages with women of outside tribes became common. Some men had not hesitated to divorce their israelitish wives to make this possible (Malachi 2:10-16).

In Malachi 3:10 we see of giving a tenth or tithe in everything which belongs to God.

In Malachi 3 and 4 we see people saying that God did not seem to distinguish between good and bad people (Malachi 2:17). He blesses all alike, and evil people often flourish at the expense of their fellow citizens (Malachi 3:14-15) and so what’s the use of being good? The answer to such a complaint is that God does care. He showed this to them by saying that one day he will send his messenger to prepare his way, then he will come in person suddenly and sit in judgement and separate the evil from the good (Malachi 3:1). When God really gets ready to act, what will he do? The action will be final (Malachi 3:1-3). God wants all his children to honour and adore him. He longs to have us obey and worship him.

Each one who loves and looks for him may help prepare his way by the very manner of living and work. Amid all the hypocrisy of the day, there were those in the Jewish community who still feared God and remained faithful (Malachi 3L16). God bent his ear to hear his people speak about him.

There are certain sins that Malachi rebuked

·         Spiritless routine worship (Malachi 1:6-8)

·         Evil associations (Malachi 2:10-12)

·         Questioning God’s justice (Malachi 2:17-3:6)

·         Robbing God (Malachi 3:7-12)

·         Impatience in waiting (Malachi 3:17-4:3)

Suppose we do find some of these sins in our daily lives. What are we to do? Confess them to God. Malachi had to encourage the people by assuring them of God’s wonderful love. In the same way, I encourage you to confess the sins and ask God to forgive in Christ Jesus name, so that your prayers will be answered and you will stay blessed.