And kids, here s another neat thing: what s the last book in the OT?

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1 An Ancient Oracle Malachi 1:1 9/29/2013 Copyright by Mark Vaughan 9/2013 Keywords OT, love, God, Bible, judgment, relationships Today as you picked up the bulletin or maybe as you viewed it online earlier you found my answer to what book I will preach next. Today I want to introduce Malachi to you and answer some questions why I have chosen to preach Malachi. Let me start with a few surface, circumstantial answers. 1 st, Malachi is in the OT & we just finished a NT book. It is valuable to study all of Scripture whether you get its immediate connection to your life today or not. It takes more work to connect with a different stage of God s plan of redemption, but it is worth the effort as we see God. As we see God s glory and His relationship with His people in other times, it helps us to enjoy our relationship with Him in our times. I want you to know how to do that as you study the OT and one way to help you is to set an example by preaching OT books. So I felt in my preaching it was time for an OT book since we were in the NT letter of Romans for several years. Also since we were in Romans for several years, I felt it was time for a shorter book not another really long one. I wanted to pick something I could finish before my oldest son is 18 so Malachi s 55 verses seemed manageable. Also on a circumstantial level, in my 1 st year here I started through Malachi on Sunday evenings & I wanted to finish it. And kids, here s another neat thing: what s the last book in the OT? Malachi is, right? Malachi is the last book of the OT, the final proclamation before over 400 years without a prophetic word from God. What did God want His people to know before such a long period of waiting for His promises to be fulfilled in Christ? Like we wait today for Christ s Second Coming, Malachi prepared God s people to wait for Christ s First Coming. Malachi probably was written sometime in the middle of Nehemiah s lifetime, so a few chapters of Nehemiah happened after Malachi s ministry, but it s the last whole book in the OT. And since Nehemiah is more historical than prophetic, Malachi is like God s final prophetic words to Israel before keeping quiet until the coming of John the Baptist and Jesus. It s been 2000 years since Jesus Christ came to earth and God has done a lot to transform the world in those two millennia. But it s interesting to consider what temptations and concerns of our times were addressed in Malachi s time too. So let s turn to Malachi and we ll consider 3 more reasons to study and preach this 12 th minor prophet today. That will be my outline 3 reasons to study this as we dive into the first verse today and quickly introduce the rest of the book. The 12 minor prophets, the last 12 books of the OT, are not minor because their message is less important or significant. They are minor in comparison to the majorly long prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. 1

2 So let s note 3 reasons why to study Malachi. Read Malachi 1:1 to lead us into a 1 st reason. [READ] This is the word of Yahweh to Israel that s why we study it. Reason #1 to study Malachi because it is God s Word to His people. The first reason we study this book of the Bible and every other book of the Bible is because it is God s Word to His people. Yes, it s at a different time in history and yes, it s before Christ. But it s still God s Word to His people and so we can expect it to teach us about God and His relationship with His people. It is the word of the LORD in all caps, meaning God s personal, relationship-making name Yahweh that s used 45 times in the book. Yahweh is the name that proclaims His self-existence & supremacy and also His covenant love & condescending grace. He is the Creator God who chose Noah out of the wickedness of his times and similarly chose Abraham and Jacob and Israel. He is the God who enters into relationship with His people though He is also the sovereign Ruler over all peoples. So when He speaks, all people should sit up and take notice because He is the only true God, the One overriding Judge. And His people should especially pay attention because He is the God of grace who rescues from sin and perseveres in love. Verse 1 clearly begins with that note of personal communication and authoritative proclamation. This is a word from Yahweh, a message sent from Him, a discourse with God as the Source and author. Malachi is just the messenger as in fact his name means. Malachi means my messenger or it may be a shortened form of Malachiah, which would mean the messenger of Yahweh. But this is a real man s name just as many biblical names had greater meaning in their various parts. We don t know anything else about Malachi because he didn t list his father s name or his city of birth or anything else. Maybe he felt that the message from the LORD is what matters most, not himself as the messenger, and so he left personal information out. Literally verse 1 says this was by the hand of Malachi though it would seem he also would ve spoken or preached this too. It being by his hand points to his writing down the message God gave to pass along and it s metaphorical of being an instrument God used. As 2 nd Peter 1:20-21 tells us, Scripture is not ultimately the prophet s words even though God used prophets in their times. 2 nd Peter 1:20-21 remind us that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. So this 1 st reason to study Malachi is because it is God s Word. So if you were hoping I would preach something else, maybe I will after this, but realize that we need God s Word through Malachi too. And realize that some of the most important messages we need to hear are those that we may not want to hear. 2

3 For example, if you are expecting to get a ride from someone, and they can t make it for some reason, you don t want to hear that. That may mean you are stuck someone waiting or you have to make other phone calls or arrangements or if it s your kids that needed the ride, then you may worry about your kids. You didn t want to hear the no-ride news, for example, but it s urgent for you to hear because you need to DO something in response to it. That kind of unwanted news is vital to get and act on. That s often the case with messages from God like those in Malachi because the first word of Malachi s book alerts us to its heaviness. The first word is oracle or as you may see in your footnote, it may better be translated as the word burden. This message from Yahweh was a burden in some sense, a load handed down from the Highest King with a weighty responsibility for Malachi to deliver it. One study stated that the term means a burden, imposed by a master, a despot or a deity on their subjects, beasts, men or things [P.A.H. de Boer, quoted in Baldwin, p. 162).] Church father Jerome said it is used when the message is evidently grave and full of weight and labour (quoted in Keil, p. 357). So we sense the seriousness God s prophet felt when given a charge from God to deliver to His people. Don t miss how different that is from the audacious & arrogant claims of God speaking that come from many people today. On TV or the Internet or in Christian bookstores, you can find many people today flippantly claiming that God spoke to them. You may find those who claim new revelation in addition to the Bible or you may find subtle claims of a word from the Lord or God speaking to me that exalt personal authority instead of God. Many self-willed religious leaders bully or manipulate people by such claims that can t be questioned. That wasn t Malachi s response to receiving God s message. This was a serious and holy task. It was a burden in that sense and he did not want to mess it up. And it was a burden at some level in its content. Have you ever had to be the one who delivers bad news to someone? Maybe you work in healthcare and have to do so or maybe you ve had to pass along news to a family member or friend that their loved one has cancer or some other problem. That s no fun, is it? To be the one that has to say, We found a tumor, or This is going to require surgery or This is more serious that we thought or other sad news is not easy. It feels like a burden, a weight to carry that message to others. And that s the other sense of this term burden that is usually used in biblical contexts of warning or judgment. [Jeremiah 23:38; Isaiah; Zechariah 9; 12.] Sometimes what the Bible has to teach is not easy to hear. We need that reminder in our view of studying Scripture and teaching and sharing Scripture with others. 3

4 Most of us so deeply love our comfort that we want to avoid saying anything that may not seem easy to hear. We d rather dance around a topic or issue than deal with it directly because we don t want to ruffle anyone s feathers. Of course, it s certainly right to pray for the right time to speak up in relationships and to be sensitive and compassionate in how we speak. But Malachi s burden reminds us that sharing God s Word can seem heavy and hard at times. You know those hard conversations and those issues that weigh on our hearts until we finally step out in faith to say something. You are not alone when you feel and face such burdens. And like Malachi, we should not be bashful about sharing how hard it is for us to ask hard questions or confront sin when we do it. For example, whenever we ve had to practice public church discipline here, I have wept in every step of the process. People sometimes think it s easy for me to deal with hard stuff because I say hard stuff every week, but it s never easy. I cry over sin s sadness and my gut wrenches in anguish as I pray not to be anxious or to come across as unloving. Sometimes it is a heavy burden to carry out God s Word. And that should be true at some level in how we carry out the ministry of the Gospel every day whether with strangers or with our own children. It s a joy to share Christ s love and to pray for a soul to be rescued, but it s also a scary thought to warn about eternal Hell. Warning others should cause us to tremble and weep, not thunder down with self-righteous condemnation. That s the proper loving weight mingled with hope and joy with which we deliver warnings as a burden of God s clear word to people. Malachi had that sense of the burden of the word of the Lord. But true love is shown by sharing the light of truth, not by leaving people in darkness while we nurture our comforts. The first issue raised and the overriding concern in Malachi is that God loves His people and wanted them to know His love. So God showed His love by delivering the burdensome news of loving rebuke and loving hope to His beloved people. And that reminds us of the love of sharing truth even when it is difficult to do so. Those are all applications to draw from this first verse of Malachi that this is the burden of the word of Yahweh through Malachi. And that gives us reason #1 to study Malachi because it is God s Word or maybe we should add that it is God s LOVING Word to His people. #2, we study Malachi, because it addresses times similar to our times. Reason #2 to study Malachi is because it addresses times similar to our times. I said a bit about this earlier, but note in verse 1 that this is the word of the Lord to Israel to the nation and ethnic people of promise that link back to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Verse 2 quickly makes that link back to Jacob and that alert us that this is to a re-gathered Israel. 4

5 This is not written in the times of the divided kingdom where Israel was the northern 10 tribes and Judah was the southern kingdom. And since Malachi addressed worship of God with sacrifices in the Temple and the ministry of priests, we also know this must have been at a time when the Temple was rebuilt. This must have been in Jerusalem after Jews had been returned from exile and the Second Temple had been built before the 5 th century BC. So that means sometime in the 400 s before Christ came, probably after Ezra because Ezra renewed emphasis on God s Law and Malachi referred to those laws for worship. Yet if you read Nehemiah alongside of Malachi, you find that they address a number of the same issues. Nehemiah came from Persia to Jerusalem in 445 BC & then returned to Persia about 433 BC and came back a second time to Jerusalem around 424 BC. The issues of Malachi are like those of Nehemiah s second visit. So it s best to date Malachi either during Nehemiah s second time in Jerusalem or just before that. That would mean Malachi dates between BC, as I said earlier, over 400 years before the coming of John the Baptist and Jesus. And that s partly how his times were similar to our times. Malachi was God s Word before the waiting for Christ s 1 st Coming & we re in a season of waiting for Christ s Second Coming. As well, in Malachi s time Israel had returned to the land, rebuilt the walls and the Temple but had not seen the Messiah come to bring freedom from foreign leaders. They still looked to Persia as the world ruler & some time had passed. And in their prosperity and comfort and relative peace, they had grown cold and complacent in looking for the Christ. So there was discontent mixed with distractedness and lukewarm worship mixed with latent worldliness. There were questions of God s love and lack of faith in His power and lagging concern for His Word. Families were crumbling as divorce rates rose and fathers were not focused on training up a godly generation to follow. Does any of that sound like problems of our times? We should study Malachi because it addresses times like our times. We ve seen #1, that we should study Malachi because it is God s loving Word to His people. #2, we study Malachi because it addresses times similar to our times. Then 3 rd ly and lastly today, we study Malachi because it addresses issues pivotal in our times. #3, we study Malachi because it addresses issues pivotal in our times. This is similar to the 2 nd reason, but I made the 2 nd point to tell you about the historical background of Malachi. And I make this 3 rd point to introduce you to the issues raised in the book itself with a quick overview. Malachi is a God-initiated question-and-answer session, like a dialogue God was having with Israel. 5

6 If you read carefully, you ll see a pattern of God making a point, then raising a way Israel questioned His statement, and then God answering that question in some way and applied truth to the issue. Often God s point and truth was a rebuke, sometimes as a question, but God also consistently offered promises of hope and restoration and His global rule. So let s survey some of these questions to ignite your interest to read Malachi and be praying for me as I prepare to preach it. I said the 3 rd reason we should study Malachi is because it addresses issues pivotal in our times. To look at those issues, let s start reading in Malachi 1:2-5. [READ] Do you know anyone who questions God s love? I sure do one of the most common questions in the tragedies of our times is where God was & how a loving God can allow such suffering. And even the most faithful Christians need reminders that God loves us and clarifications of what that love looks like. Unbelievers may ask more fundamental questions on God s love. But we are also prone to forget the Gospel or to twist God s love into some man-centered, self-generated, wrong idea. So we need to rightly grasp the love of God, not only in Israel s history but also today. Also here in this first section are issues of God s sovereignty and election and God s judgment and the global spread of His glory beyond the borders of Israel. Those issues that relate to missions and predestination and God s wrath are all pivotal in our times. Conservative denominations like Southern Baptists are trying to balance truths of God s sovereignty & man s responsibility. And liberal denominations and emergent church gurus are throwing off biblical ideas of wrath as their new way of reaching the world. God has truth through Malachi that applies to these issues. Then read on in chapter 1, verses [READ] Are you ever tempted to give God less than your best? Do you ever show up to serve late or unprepared or merely because it s your turn rather than because you love God & others? That s a worship problem. It s a heart issue that s not about study materials or music style or personalities or preferences. It s about our view of God and the way we approach Him. That s true as well if we care more about what our boss or friends or neighbors think than what God thinks. That s a worship problem that Malachi addresses. Read on in verses [READ] Again we see God s emphasis on His global glory and His assurance that He will be exalted. God loves and seeks His own glory and that can and should be the happiest gift to us to get in on that pursuit. In God s kindness, He will include us in the blessed delight of worshipping Him, but He means for us to take that seriously. 6

7 There is much here that is pivotal for today amidst the fuzzy fads that pacify the lukewarm apathy of cultural Christianity. Next read Malachi 2:1-9. [READ] Have you heard any stories of corrupt leadership in our time? Ever heard of leaders letting people cheat & not addressing it? Know any stories of church leaders being dishonest or greedy? Sadly we all probably know such tragedies & Malachi did too. And what about wrong ideas of marriage or relationships? Read Malachi 2:11-16 to see he dealt with those too. [READ] I ve never found anyone who has experienced divorce who liked it. Even in biblically allowable divorces, many pains reveal reasons why God hates divorce. So Malachi confronted that and taught what marriage should be as a covenant between a believing man and his believing wife for life. We certainly need that proclaimed in our times. But as we think of how bad must have been in those times to have issues like these, it raises some questions. How could Christ come to a people so hard and distant from God as it seems Israel had become? What would it take to prepare a people for Christ s coming? Malachi 2:17-3:6 tells us it would take the Lord s discipline. Read chapter 2:17 through 3:6. [READ] When we get here we ll start uncovering links to John the Baptist and shadows of events yet future to us as well. Eschatology is surely an issue of importance to understand today as is God s character as a Caretaker of the oppressed & as a Judge over all. And money is certainly another issue pivotal to address today. As the possibly wealthiest Christians in history, we need to examine how we view and handle money and how we think about giving. Those are other issues of our times that Malachi addressed. Though the details of their government and giving were different, the heart and principles behind it relate to us today. For example, do you have conviction about what you know you ought to give and yet don t do it? Do you open your checkbook and ponder what you can spare to give rather than what you can spare to keep? If it s all God s blessings and He s the One who provides for us, why be stingy with giving to His purposes? Or if you do give and serve, do you ever question whether it profits you or wonder why it s all worth it? Read Malachi 3:7-12 to see those issues addressed. [READ] I trust you can see how the issues Malachi addressed are pivotal in our times as well and we have much to learn here. Yet in all his rebukes and confrontations, we need lastly to see that Malachi is also a book of hope for God s people. 7

8 It is a message from God with hope for those who turn from sin to trust and follow Him and look to His promised Savior in Christ. God will bring justice and He will show mercy to His people and He will even bring a day of restoration for Israel. Read chapter 3, verse 13 through chapter 4, verse 3. [READ] God will bring His final judgment, but He left hope for those who fear Him, which is way of describing faith in Him. And then read the final promises that close the book 4:4-6. [READ] Obviously there is more in this book than I can cover in one sermon, but I wanted us at least to read its 55 verses to get us started into studying it today. I believe God s Word is living and powerful and I pray we treasure the gift and blessing it is to have it and study it. In 47 out of the 55 verses of this book, God is speaking in the 1 st person & we find this book quoted 3 times in the NT. So we are hearing from God when we read and study Malachi. It is worthy of our attention because it is God s Word to His people, because it addresses times similar to our times, and because it addresses issues pivotal to our times. We will either face punishment for what our failures deserve or face welcome from a gracious God who forgives our failures. That forgiveness comes only in Jesus Christ. He was the Promised Savior they looked to in Malachi s time and following Him now is like following Him then it is to trust Him for grace and seek to serve Him by faith. Are you ready for that judgment? If you are not, please let us share more with you of the rescue and restoration God promises in Jesus Christ. You need to know that in His love, God commands you to turn from your own way and embrace His grace through Jesus Christ. And if you already are trusting in Christ, you still need to know that God loves you. His love is why He addresses up issues in your life by His Word. Are you responding rightly to His love as He does so? Pray with me that we will as we close. And the most important issue it addresses is this Lord Almighty or Yahweh of hosts and His coming judgment that will face every person. Several times in Malachi, we read of God s supremacy over all nations, over all the earth, where He will receive glory. God is glorified either by showing justice in punishing evil or by showing mercy in rescuing the desperate and repentant. 8