December 9, 2024
The Messenger - Part 1
Malachi 4:1
12/09/2024
1 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. (ESV)
Although everywhere you look you see Santa Claus and the
wishes for a Merry Christmas, the Church is still in the season
of Advent. We are preparing for the coming of Jesus, both as we
remember His first coming two thousand years ago, and look
forward to His return to judge the living and the dead.
Traditionally the second Sunday in Advent looks forward to His
second coming.
Malachi, the prophet, wrote not only for those who lived
four hundred years before Jesus' birth, but for the modern
Church. The words of this book are clear, but there is some
question about the author. Is Malachi the name of the prophet,
or is this a title. In the Hebrew the word Malachi means ``my
messenger'' or ``my angel,'' which certainly can be applied as
the title for someone appointed by God to call His people back to
repentance.
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.
Malachi writes of the entire New Testament era, not merely
the final judgment. This era extends from the day that the angel
Gabriel told Zechariah of the coming of John the Baptizer to the
day when the final trumpet sounds. We are in the last days, as
the author of Hebrews contends: ``Long ago, at many times and in
many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these
last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the
heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.''[1]
May our Lord grant us wisdom to hear His messenger. Amen.
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1. Hebrews 1:1-2 (ESV)