The Book of Malachi: God’s Call for Israel to Return to Him in Light of the Coming Messiah by Jess Garcia

From the day of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return? Malachi 3:7

THE BOOK OF

MALACHI

THE BOOK OF MALACHI: GOD’S CALL FOR ISRAEL TO RETURN TO HIM IN LIGHT OF THE COMING MESSIAH

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Preparation for the Coming Messiah Depends on God Being Greater than His People ......................................................................................................................................... pg. 1

Chapter 2: God’s Desires for His People are Greater than His People’s Desires Toward Him ….……….…………………………………………………………………...………………………....…...……........….. pg. 10

Chapter 3: God’s Redemption of Mankind is Greater than His People’s Understanding of It ……..…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………........…. pg. 18 Chapter 4: God’s Resolve is Greater than Man’s Resolve …................................................…. pg. 24 Endnotes ………………….…………………………………………….…………………..…………………………….. pg. 28

THE BOOK OF MALACHI: GOD’S CALL FOR ISRAEL TO RETURN TO HIM IN LIGHT OF THE COMING MESSIAH

Introduction Theme: For God’s people (Israel) to know the heart of God, commune with Him, and do His will in light of their present and future redemption (the Day of the Lord) because the Lord their God is a great God. Purpose: The Lord lays out His burden for the people of God in the Book of Malachi. This is because our relationship to God is a burden to Him when we rebel and do not give Him the right place in our hearts. In Malachi the people had returned from exile into to the land a hundred years earlier. The temple was rebuilt, but the duties of the temple were being neglected. The hearts of God’s people needed to return to Him. The intent of the writing is to have His people draw near to Him and become a part of His work concerning the redemption of all mankind. God’s love for His people and His patience toward them is revealed in Malachi. Before God judges His people, He appeals to them. Perhaps, they will heed and change. Godly duty falls apart when the love of God is not felt by His people. The future of Israel is unfolding. The next thing on the prophetic calendar concerning Israel was the coming of Messiah. But the people were not ready. God’s gives them admonition (as He does today) to prepare themselves. This is God’s last words to His people for four hundred years. It is His desire for His people recognize what He is doing in their lives personally and as a nation collectively. Key Thought: Return unto me, and I will return unto you - Mal. 3:7 1 Time Frame: Though there are no dates that are given in the Book of Malachi, it is believed that Malachi ministered to God’s people around about 400 B.C. The spiritual conditions of Ezra and Nehemiah just a few years earlier are similar to those in Malachi.

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PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF MESSIAH DEPENDS ON GOD BEING GREATER THAN HIS PEOPLE

CHAPTER ONE

THE BOOK OF MALACHI: GOD’S CALL FOR ISRAEL TO RETURN TO HIM IN LIGHT OF THE COMING MESSIAH

PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF MESSIAH DEPENDS ON GOD BEING GREATER THAN HIS PEOPLE CHAPTER 1

Key verse: "I have loved you," says the LORD. But you say, "How have you loved us?" Mal. 1:2 Introduction: 1.

God’s people had returned to the land (538 B.C.). They had built the temple, and Jerusalem was somewhat restored. Now, it was about a 100 years later. You would think that things would be great now that God’s people are back in the land. No. Things were bad. The temple was neglected, the crops were poor, and God’s people were becoming secularized in their beliefs about God, that is, they doubted His love and care for them. This caused them to fail in their devotion to Him. The things of God were no longer a priority in their lives.

The big question of the Book of Malachi is: Where are God’s people in relationship to Him? It is a simple enough question for all of God’s people to answer each day of their lives. It is for us to ask ourselves,

Where are we in relationship to God? 3.

Considering the worsening circumstance in the lives of God’s people, they never asked themselves, “Why?” Instead, what they did is to blame God for everything. No one of their generation sought after God. So, there was no one to lead them, except for Malachi. When things are bad in our lives, let’s not blame God, the church, or the people around us, but examine what we are doing wrong in our relationship with the Lord. Why? Because God is the fountain of all blessings in our lives. If the blessings of heaven stop, you have to ask yourself why?

Realize that God cannot bless people that put no faith in Him, that is, people that doubt His love, mercy, and goodness. But for those that depend on Him for these things, life is different. They know God in a different way. To them, He cares, is loving, and involved in their lives. He is a help in the time of need.

God is preparing to do a new thing. The next thing on the prophetic calendar is the coming of Christ. They are to be prepared in their relationship with Him, in performing the temple duties that picture Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and be ready for the coming of the Divine Messenger of the Lord.

The Book of Malachi was God’s last message to Israel before the coming of Christ. There would be about four hundred years of silence. History would show that certain believers took heed while others did not.

Eventually, the priesthood would become a political group governing the Nation Israel, more than God’s spiritual entity guiding His people to become near to Him. We see this during Christ’s ministry on earth.

God bears His heart in the Book of Malachi. He shares how He loves His people, what He has done for them, and waits for their proper response toward Him. Question: if you know that God speaks through His Word by revealing it to us (the process of illumination), do you go to Him daily to hear His voice of love, guidance, instruction? Or, are you waiting for some tremendous event of God like the crossing of the Red Sea to come along to guide your life?

I. THE LOVE OF GOD IS GREATER THAT HIS PEOPLE’S LOVE FOR HIM. A. God’s people are a burden to Him.

1:1 The oracle [burden] of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 1:2 "I have loved you," says the LORD. But you say, "How have you loved us?"

God uses people that walk with Him to give His message to His people. This has been His pattern down through history. The word translated “oracle” in the ESV is massa in Hebrew which means a burden.2 Malachi, the prophet, felt the burden of the Word of the Lord as we should when God is not honored. What God has to say should be a burden upon our souls, and lay heavy on our minds. If God is displeased it should bother us as to why.

God begins by declaring His love for Israel and not His wrath. Expressing His love is always God’s first resort. Wrath is His last. The hearts of the people that have returned to the land react by saying, “How have You loved us?” What a response to God. Their hearts were callous. It is like saying, “Yeah, where is it?” There is a lack of humility in their lives which that comes from pride and arrogance. Notice that it is God that begins with humility in this passage (and book).

God always measures our relationship to Him. In the Book of Revelation (3:15) the Lord says, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot … God always looks at our heart attitude toward Him, but we rarely examine our own disposition toward Him. It is our personal bias to believe that we are at the center of the universe, but that is untrue. God is at the center. It is wrong for our relationship to God to be a burden to Him because of our rebellion in not giving Him the right place in our hearts.

Life changes us. That is a truth. We can go through things and be devastated, thrown down, etc., and wonder why God has allowed it. But life is maze we must work through. We must work through the bad things, disappointments, etc., as well as enjoying the good things. We must look to ourselves and see what is wrong in our lives. Then, go to God in humility for His help and instruction.

Personal Application: 1)

We may wonder where is the love of God when we look at our lives and the world around us. But God has always been there for us. The problem is never God, but always us. Why is that? Because God is perfect, and we are not. We cannot be motionless in our relationship with Him. It is for us to take our wanderings, doubts, and disappointment to Him. We must live in the reality of God’s love each day. It cannot be neglected. Love is like fresh flowers that need to be cultivated each day.

Know that God is working against others, but He is working for His people. Our response should be to be totally committed to Him. The bare fact is that our relationship with God is where we have chosen it to be. We must learn to walk in faith through the darkness. Realize God’s care and live in it. We must say to God, “I trust you for your care, today, for I cannot trust myself, neither the circumstances of my life.” We must always realize that God is the provider of His people. It is often hard to see because it takes faith to see. Trust God always to provide for you, and know that God will always give enough faith to believe in Him. It bears repeating, God will always give you enough faith to believe in Him.

We must learn to see the big picture and not the short temporary one. The hardened Jews couldn’t see what God was doing. They were out of the loop with God, but God has made it possible to for us to be informed and be in the loop of what He is doing in the world around us. We simply have to seek to hear His voice concerning the things happening in our lives.

There is the example of Young Gideon. Gideon wanted to see the LORD work in his life. Judges 6:13, states, And Gideon said to him [the angel of the LORD], "Please, sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian." After a simple test, Gideon knew God in a real way and said (Judges 6:22), Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face. Gideon would later go on to win a great battle for the Lord, and bring Israel closer to God. How about you? Will you go to God and tell Him that you want to know of His greatness? Then, go forward and win the battles you face in life.

B. God has done for His people that He does not do for others.

"Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the LORD. "Yet I have loved Jacob 1:3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert."

God goes on to say that He was against Esau, but promoted His people that had His laws. This reveals His love toward them. To hate means to be set against. God was set against Esau, because he did not value the things of God. He was a man of the world, that is, a godless man. He would sell his birthright (that God valued) because he did care for the things of God. He cared for the things of this world.

The people were trying to follow God without God. There is no blessing in that. God is to be sought, discovered, and enjoyed. It cannot be all one-sided from God’s side, nor can it be all one-sided from man’s side. God would later say, “Return to me and I will return to you.” That is what God is saying to us today. The Jews needed to experience the reality of God in their lives. God in this book offers them that reality as God offers it to us, today. The Jews needed to return to experiencing a living relationship with God that depended on the Levitical system of worship. This is where they failed.

Personal Application: 1)

If Satan can fuel the wicked, then God can fuel the righteous even more. If we are thrown down, God will build us up. If we fall, we can stand again and face anything in life. If God has taught us anything, it is that we can go on. Your enemy cannot keep you down. The enemies of failure, lack of clarity, disappointment, hurt, lack of faith, etc. Nothing can really hold you back from being excited about the things of God in your life. 4

There is a tremendous reality waiting for us. The Thessalonian believers caught the vision and were waiting for their Savior with expectation. Yes, we are in the ministry of waiting. The ministry of waiting is the ministry of living a godly life, sharing the gospel, and living with an expectation going home to be with God forever.

Many times God is in the planting stage. It takes faith to see the end result of what God is doing. We must look to the end result by faith, and believe that God is working in our lives and in the world around us. Planting a seed into the soil gives hope because we know that something good will come of it. Putting faith in the goodness of God now means that we will see the outcome of that goodness later, but we will see it. This is important because all of us operate from a premise. That premise can’t be “Where have you loved me? Or, helped me?” We must live out of the strength that God loves us. Always keep in mind that God is working and that we are a part of that work. We are never forgotten or left out. God never sleeps. Even when we are sleeping, God is working.

C. Everyone will see God’s work against the wicked and His work toward the righteous.

1:4 If Edom says, "We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins," the LORD of hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called 'the wicked country,' and 'the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.'" 1:5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, "Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!"

Know that Satan fuels the hearts of the wicked (the Edomites in this case) in inspiring them to go against God and the people of God. Here, the foolish people of Edom think that they can overcome God who is the keeper of Israel. God is set against the wicked, not the righteous. The wicked have their dreams and doings that do not acknowledge God. They build, but God will tear down. God will tear down the false beliefs of this life until there is nothing left to believe in, which should cause a person to cry out to Him from the depths of their heart. God does not want to demolish His people – He wants to build them up. But He cannot bless rebellion and lovelessness. That is not how heaven works.

God says to the Nation Israel, Your own eyes shall see – these are some of the most beautiful words written in Scripture. Maybe not the living Jews at the time of this writing, but the future Jews will see the greatness of God and give Him glory. God will come and change everything in the world and in our lives. This, all of us shall see. Know that everything is moving toward the great manifestation of God at the coming of Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. A time when God will be magnified before sinners, the nations, and His people. This will be the greatest time of human history. For now, Israel must wait and see. God can bring glory to what was once wickedness. This is a great truth. Praise be to God.

Personal Application: 1)

Know that God wants you to see Him work in your life, but not judgment. He wants to enjoy the things of His Kingdom, now, today. There is the blessing having a personal relationship with Him that most others do not have. Do you know what it is to see God do great things in the world around you? Know that He will, and you can be a part of it.

II. GOD’S SERVICE IS GREATER THAN THE SERVICE OF HIS PEOPLE. A. The service God deserves. 1:6 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, 'How have we despised your name?'

The people failed to give God honor. The word for honor in Hebrew is kabod, which means splendor, glory, majesty, wealth, etc.2 Giving God honor means realizing Who He is and giving Him just recognition. The Israelites lacked an apprehension of the splendor God. They didn’t see the greatness of His Person. They were doing things for God (following the ordinances) that they felt were useless, so they held them in disdain. The disdain went to God, that is, to His holy name. Know that all complaints in life go to God, when it should be our praises. How often have we felt that God did not know what He is doing? God always knows exactly what He is doing, which is, working out His great glorious plan from generation to generation that involves the redemption of mankind.

Personal Application: 1)

It is no good to go to church, be in ministry, and not be in praise of God each day of our lives. God requires love more than service. God would have excited about what He is doing the world and in our personal lives. Christ healed ten lepers but only one came back to give Him praise. Oh dear believer, be that one leper for all the days of your life, and God will be taken back by you. He will call you Beloved to His heart. He will give you the treasures of His Kingdom. Is that not far greater than any suffering you have to endure for now?

B. The service God was given.

1:7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, 'How have we polluted you?' By saying that the LORD's table may be despised. 1:8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts.

The people failed to understand that the offerings were for their good, and not God’s. The sacrifice was to atone for sin, so that a believer could be near to God. Giving the best to God was an act of love and honor to Him in acknowledgement of His Person, His love, and mercy.

What we often do to God is not what we would do to other people. The Lord tells them to offer what they are offering Him to the local governor and see what results. We must ask ourselves why we can give our best to others, and the worst to God?

C. The open opportunity to serve God and give glory to His name. 1:9

And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts. 1:10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.

God knows the fallacies of His people, but still offers an olive branch to them. How simple, just intreat the favor of God, and He will be there for you. How God wished that at least one person would stand up and shut the doors of the temple, because no worship is better than corrupt worship.

D. God’s offerings will continue despite the failure of the Levites. 1:11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.

God’s greatness only depends on God. He is great all by Himself. It is us that learn of the greatness of His love, care, personal sacrifice (the giving of His Son), and mercy, then respond in praise. But we cannot praise a person that we do not seek to know. Dear people, there are rewards in seeking God. It is knowing God that changes us, and it is going to Him in prayer that changes things.

Personal application: 1)

As we learn of God’s intimacy and His greatness as a Person, it has a very positive effect in our lives. The Book of Psalms is filled with references to God’s greatness. David says (Psalm 34:1-4), I will bless

the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. David was under tremendous stress, but was relieved in going to God. May that also be the story of our lives.

D. God is to be given an offering worthy of His Person.

1:12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. 1:13 But you say, 'What a weariness this is,' and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD. 1:14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

There is a personal denial by the Levites of disdaining the ordinances of God. But that is what they did. They said, “No. Not me.” How foolish. All of us know when we are mistreated. How much more God. The priests missed the purpose of the sacrifices. It was a way of attaining nearness to God. God set up a system of redemption, but the Jews scoffed at it. The Jews didn’t realize the greatness of God and His great plan of a worldwide redemption that would involve a sacrifice of sin.

Again, God deserves our best in serving Him. The offerings were to be a way of God blessing His people, and not of cursing them.

OFFERINGS UNDER THE LAW BURNT OFFERING

GIVING SELF TO GOD

MEAL OFFERING

THANKS TO GOD

PEACE OFFERING

PEACE WITH GOD

SIN OFFERING

SINFUL NATURE

TRESSPASS OFFERING

PERSONAL SINS

ATONEMENT

NATIONAL CLEANSING

Personal Application: 1)

God is to be honored and feared (awed). We can only do this in the spirit and not the flesh. Our greatest responsibility is to live by the Spirit in faith through cleansing, prayer, and communion with God. This is what the temple duties represented.

We must offer our best to God each day, not our worst. Every day is an opportunity to offer our best to God. This is pleasing to Him because He offers His best every day. It is never useless to follow God. It is never ineffective even though we may not see the outcome yet. We cannot always have the future now. Yes, we are waiting for the Lordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coming according to His promise, but He is doing a work and we must wait. Hope in His coming is not useless, but shows that we love Him.

GOD’S DESIRES FOR HIS PEOPLE ARE GREATER THAN HIS PEOPLE’S DESIRES TOWARD HIM

CHAPTER TWO

THE BOOK OF MALACHI: GOD’S CALL FOR ISRAEL TO RETURN TO HIM IN LIGHT OF THE COMING MESSIAH

GOD’S DESIRES FOR HIS PEOPLE ARE GREATER THAN HIS PEOPLE’S DESIRES TOWARD HIM CHAPTER 2

Key verse: My covenant was with him [Levi, the Levitical Priesthood] of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. Mal. 2:5

Introduction: 1.

Many of us fall short in serving God, but God will never fall short in serving us (even when we are unfaithful). In chapter one, we learned that God’s love and service is greater than His people’s. In this chapter, we learn that the desires of God that are greater than the desires of His people toward Him.

Know that God wants a lot of good things for His people. He desires the best for all of us. But how can we learn integrity, faithfulness, agape love, overcoming trials, and endurance without being tested? Life will always test our relationship with God.

God does not fail in serving His people, and rightfully desires that His people do not fail in serving Him, especially His leaders in the temple that intercede for God’s people, teach them about the things of God, and perform their priestly duties in the temple that is a means where God’s people can have His presence and blessings in their lives. But God never desires empty ritualistic service. We don’t serve God because we have to. We serve Him because we want to.

To desire is to strongly want something. It is at the root of passion. Did you know that you can have a passion for God? There are many things that God desires for us, such as, righteousness, reverence (godly fear), a sense of duty, justice, service that is holy, for us to love Him with all our hearts, etc. God always desires good things for us and will help us to achieve them. But what are our desires toward Him? Is coming to church on Sunday enough? Or, is your longing much more? Do you long for Him personally, that is, to hear His voice and feel His presence daily?

In the Book of Malachi, we learn that God desired good things for His people, but they didn’t desire Him. They didn’t seek Him. They didn’t know Him. They only blamed Him for how life turned out 10

for them. They never blame themselves and what they were doing wrong in light of the circumstances of their lives. In their minds, everything was God’s fault. How untrue. They didn’t see that everything was their own fault. 6.

The priests failed to examine themselves in their relationship with God, but that does not mean that we shouldn’t examine our relationship with God. One of the greatest opportunities we have in life is the opportunity to be near to God and be in a state of enjoying Him. This is always available to us; despite anything we are going through.

The Book of Malachi teaches us that religion never works. It is only through having a personal loverelationship with God that works. Everything begins to fall apart when there is a breakdown in loving God and putting Him first in our lives.

We all, as believers, are part of a priesthood. I Peter 2:9 states, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,

a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. We all are to fulfill our daily priestly functions of proclaiming how excellent God is and bring His light into the world through how we live and praise God. 9.

In Malachi 2, God reveals a contrast between the ideal priesthood and the corrupt priesthood of Malachi’s time. It gives us a choice of deciding which type of priest we want to be, the one of beauty, or the one of what is detestable to God.

I. God desired a pure priesthood that would know His name and teach it to the people. A. The seriousness of the priesthood. 2:1 "And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2:2 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.

Know that God controls the blessings and the judgments in our lives based on our relationship with Him. God is at the center of joy, happiness, blessing, and judgment. Happiness in this life is not a mystery. It comes from God. Some Christians say that happiness depends on circumstances, but joy depends on God. Not true. Both joy (Ps. 16:11) and happiness (Sermon on the Mount) come from God. The word blessed means happiness in both Hebrew and Greek. The priests in Malachi’s time were unhappy and thought that their unhappiness stemmed from their circumstances, but it did not. It came from their faulty relationship with God. What is offered in the Book of Malachi is a return to God, and therefore a return to a life of blessing and happiness based on the Messianic Kingdom of Christ. All the offerings and sacrifices pointed to Christ’s redemption of mankind through His death, burial, and resurrection. God was sending His Messiah to die for the sins of the world, but the priests couldn’t see that the messenger whom they were seeking was the Lord Himself (Mal. 3:6).

God directly addresses the priesthood of Malachi’s time. The purpose of a priest was to bring the people to God (the purpose of a prophet was to bring God to the people). The priesthood was a system used by God, where His people could have atonement, cleansing from sin, and live in nearness to God. God has tremendous respect for the priesthood, and expects the office to be used properly. The land was suffering because the people of the land were lacking in their relationship with God. But it was for the priests to make it not so by their leadership in the things of God.

All of us have our places in life before God. What we do and how we live in relation to God affects the people around us. There is a wave of atheism or anti-godism sweeping across our land that is affecting everyone. Ministers have lost their boldness in declaring what is righteous and what is unrighteous. Secular life is affecting spiritual life. The church is being more affected by the world in contradistinction to the church affecting the world, despite having the power of God on its side. 11

The priests of today are all believers in Christ that should intercede on behalf of fellow believers and non-believers in their proximity. Believers should care enough to reach out and be a help to people in their communities.

The priesthood also involves the enjoyment of God. There is always joy that accompanies doing the will of God. There is always joy in serving God out of a love for Him. This was foreign to the priesthood of Malachi’s time.

But enjoying God does not have to be foreign to us. What does God say? He says to listen and to heed (lay it to heart) His message. How simple. Just listen to God and apply what He has to say to your heart. Then, a life of blessing will follow. Divorce in the land will stop, the crops will flourish, and the people will reap.

A blessing is when God is working for us, and a curse is when God is working against because of sin in our lives. It is God’s desire to bless His people. It is His duty to curse (bring judgment upon) them for rebellion. But note that God is not quick to curse. He gives warning. Imagine that a terrible storm or fire is coming, but someone knocks on the door of your house to give you warning. God is knocking on the door of the hearts of His people to return to Him. What more can He do? He is righteous and must judge sin in the lives of His people, but not without giving them time to repent. But the priests of Malachi’s time couldn’t repent. What is that? How is it that they couldn’t repent? How does one get to that point of such callousness toward God? It does not happen in a day. It takes a constant hardening of the heart towards God, perhaps years, of saying no to God that one comes to that place. All of us have to be careful not to harden our hearts toward God by going against His will. Hardness of heart quenches the Spirit’s work in our lives. Without allowing the Spirit to work in our lives, we cannot understand what God is doing and fail to approach Him.

Dear believer, never allow yourself to get to that point, and not even in the in-between-point like so many believers of our time. These believers were cold hearted. Many of us are half-hearted, living in between blessing and curses. But the answer is still very simple, lay God’s Word to heart and good things will follow.

Personal Application: 1)

Never get to the point where you exhaust the time God gives you to repent.

Always take His word to heart and make any changes He wants you to make in your life. Otherwise, there will be negative consequences and loving God will become a memory.

Know that God wants to bless you. Give Him the opportunity to do so. God is blessed in blessing you, meaning that God enjoys doing good things in your life. That is what God is like.

B. God’s curse upon the priesthood for disobedience. God will curse their offspring. 2:3 2:4

Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts.

How we live in relationship to God will affect our children. You will later find in the Book of Malachi that God wants godly parents to have godly children, and will help them in this respect. God will have you live long enough to see the effect that your walk with Him has had on your children.

God has the power to affect one’s children for the wrongdoing by their parents. The hardness of heart that the Jewish priests had toward God does not diminish in one generation. It is a truth that one generation affects another, just as a set of parents affect their children in their beliefs and habits that are 12

passed on. In other words, what we do affects our children directly. And our children will affect their children. The curse that God is sending is the curse that results from sinful behavior. God can only withhold judgment so long in waiting for us to repent (change that comes from turning to Him). The most important duty apart from our relationship with God is raising a child in the Lord. Raising a child in the Lord is the responsibility of all parents (weather believer or non-believer), in which there is a tremendous help from God. Genesis 5:22, states, Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Enoch did not walk with God until he had a child. Once the child was born, he turned to God. This should be a rule of life for all parents. 3)

Concerning the law of cause & effect, the people that are living out the effects of their sinful behavior often are blind to the cause. The crops were lacking in Malachi’s time because the people’s relationship with God was lacking. What we do affects the blessings of God in our lives. If we fail, there is forgiveness. If we are downhearted, there encouragement. God is not there to condemn us when we falter, but is there to lift us up, cleanse us from sin, and be a help to keep us from personal and spiritual failure. Turning to God works. But these hard-hearted Jewish priests could not turn to God in repentance. Now, God cannot turn away from cursing them.

We must see the cause of things in our lives. God was giving the Jews the opportunity to change things in their lives. This is what God does for us. There is room for the children of cursed parents to repent. God will honor anyone that turns to Him no matter the sinfulness of their generation, parents, etc. At any point in one’s life one can begin to enjoy the goodness of God.

In Christ the New Man is not cursed, but the old man is. The old man is rendered inoperative if the New Man is operative. It is the New Man that lives the new life, and it is the Old Man that lives the old life.

But as the Jews flattered themselves on account of their descent, and ever boasted of their fathers, and as that preeminence with which God had favored them proved to them an occasion of haughtiness and pride, the Prophet here ridicules this foolish confidence, I will scatter dung, he says, on your faces: “Ye are a holy nation, ye are the chosen seed of Abraham, ye are a royal priesthood; these are your boastings; but the Lord will render your faces filthy with dung; this will be your nobility and preeminence! There is then no reason for you to think yourselves exempt from punishments because God has adopted you; for as ye have abused his benefits and profaned his name, so ye shall also find in your turn, that he will cover you with everything disgraceful and ignominious, so as to make you wholly filthy: ye shall then be covered all over with dung, and shall not be the holy seed of Abraham.” – Calvin 3

C. The ideal priesthood.

2:5 2:6 2:7

My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

Here we see the positive aspects of the priesthood. There was an agreement (covenant, pact) between God the priests of the Levitical tribe. It brought life and peace for themselves and for the people of God. Being a covenant of fear meant that God would reveal Himself to them, and they in turn would respond in holy fear (awe). From that, they glorified His Name, meaning that God was held in high esteem in their thoughts and lives. God made a positive impact in their lives. He was real to them.

We also learn that the priests were to teach the people about God. They were to teach them the reason for the offerings, sacrifices, and duties of the temple that were established by God. We would later learn that the temple illustrated the redemption that is in Christ (the Messiah of Israel and of the world). 13

The priests overlapped into the duty of a prophet by giving God’s people His message for them. The High Priest once a year would enter the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, make an offering for the sins of the people, then he would come out and give them God’s word for them. How tremendous. You see, the priest was a mediator between God and man. When the priesthood is lost, mankind is lost. The patriarchs and the head of the families were the mediators before. Job would make sacrifices for his children. Abraham would also offer sacrifices to God.

Personal Application: 1)

We, as Christians, are priests. We as priests are to live in godly fear (awe of who God is). God’s law of truth is what we are to speak and teach. There should only be godly speech. We should also be turning people to God and away from sin. This is God’s standard.

Realize that you affect others by how you relate to God.

Do not give up on God and the people you are praying for. That is, if you are praying for your children, neighbors, spouse, etc., don’t give up, but continue to incur God’s help. Live to be a blessing in other people’s lives.

D. The corrupt priesthood.

The effect of the corrupt priesthood on itself and on the people.

2:8 2:9

But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction."

The priest had turned from God, which affected their doctrine. They no longer taught what was correct, but what was corrupt. This in turn caused the people to stumble. The teaching of the Law was to bring man closer to God, not the opposite.

Today, we see a similar thing when preachers only teach how bad man is, promote constant repentance, and never speak of God’s grace and the power of new life. So, God’s people fall into sin, repent, fall into sin, repent, etc., and never feel good about themselves. But God says that sin will not have dominion over the person that lives by the grace of God (Rom. 6:14). So, people need to hear more of God’s grace to live better lives. 14

The effect of the corrupt priesthood on Israel’s spiritual relationship with Jehovah God.

2:10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 2:11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 2:12 May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!

Marriage disorders were a further cause of Israel’s troubles. Many Jewish men had married idolatrous heathen women, and introduced idolatrous practices into the holy worship of God (cf. Ezr. 9:1-2; Neh. 13:23-27). Not only did these Jewish men marry idol worshippers, but they divorced their Jewish wives to do so. They despised both the marriage covenant and the covenant God made with Israel at Sinai. God designed the covenant to promote family and national unity, but these men break up families and intermarry with pagans (10-11). Malachi warns that God will act in decisive judgment against those guilty of such selfishness and disloyalty (12). – Fleming

The priests were guilty of this and allowed the intermarriage of God’s people with non-believers, when they have condemned it. Intermarriage corrupts the seed (offspring) of God. To allow this is a slap in the face of God, and a total disregard for the Nation Israel. This sin is so heinous that the person that commits it will be cut off from God’s covenant with Israel (meaning, being cut off from God, His promises, and will inherit eternal damnation).

Personal Application: 1)

Don’t depart from God. It will affect the people around you.

It will lead to hardness of heart from which you may find it difficult to come back from.

The effect of the corrupt priests on their personal prayer life.

2:13 And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.

The priests kept a charade of following God in an outward form. This destroyed their prayer life. God doesn’t look at the outward posture, or the words. He looks at the heart.

God could not accept the offerings because the priests were giving God the sick and the lame animals to offer and cover it up with prayers. You may wonder, how can this be? But yet there are many of us that live secular lives, but come to church, and behave so godly, but God does not hear our prayers anymore. Religion has been around for a long time.

The effect of the corrupt priesthood on marriage in the land of Israel.

2:14 But you say, "Why does he not [regard our offerings]?" Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 2:15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 2:16 "For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless." 2:17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, "How have we wearied him?" By saying, "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them." Or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"

The Jew’s behavior toward God affected their home life. Your relationship with God will always affect your family. Living in nearness to God could be of such benefit to a person’s spouse and children, and living apart from God will have such a negative, or destructive effect.

God created marriage to keep people together, and not for them to fall apart.

The wife was to be the beloved companion of the husband. God speaks speaks so beautifully of marriage and calls the wife a companion from that man’s youth. They had been through so much together. Raising children. Having dreams together. Doing things together, etc. How could he reject her love for that a strange woman? God holds them accountable for their behavior, as He does for us, today.

As stated before, God desires is for godly parents to raise godly children, but no good can come from a believer in God marrying an unbeliever. This is why an ox was not allowed to be yoked to a donkey in the Old Testament (Deut. 22:10). Their natures are different. The believer and nonbeliever cannot go forward together in serving God. Therefore, together they cannot raise a godly seed. The godly line ends.

All this immorality was affecting the Nation Israel. When the personal state of one’s morality becomes depraved, it leads to injustice, where the people suffer. It is only righteousness that makes a nation great (Proverbs 14:34). Corruption in government destroys it.

Personal Application: 1)

There are steps to divorce. Don’t take them. Many times, it may be your spouse that is taking them. If so, know that God will hold you up, help you, and condemn the divorcing spouse.

Divorce, in general, is the outcome of a poor relationship with God. If couples keep in touch with God, that will keep them together. Christ would later reveal that the cause of divorce is from the hardness of heart toward God (see Matt. 19:8). This is not said to condemn anyone, but to understand what is happening in our land. Divorce is rampant because we have failed to return to God.

Bottom line: God doesn’t want outward service that doesn’t mean anything. Trying to live a godly life without God doesn’t work. It will lead to a resentment of God. There is only one God, and only one way to serve Him, which is through having a personal relationship with Him that involves knowing His love and grace.

GOD’S REDEMPTION OF MANKIND IS GREATERTHAN HIS PEOPLE’S UNDERSTANDING OF IT

CHAPTER THREE

THE BOOK OF MALACHI: GOD’S CALL FOR ISRAEL TO RETURN TO HIM IN LIGHT OF THE COMING MESSIAH

GOD’S REDEMPTION OF MANKIND IS GREATER THAN HIS PEOPLE’S UNDERSTANDING OF IT CHAPTER 3

Key verse: From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?' Mal. 3:7

Introduction: 1.

The Jews did not understand redemption. Many people today, do not understand redemption. Actually the Bible is about restoring man into the image of God, which is only accomplished through the redemption of mankind. And it is redeemed mankind that overpowers Satan’s kingdom. a.

All through Scripture redemption involves: i. Promise of a redeemer. ii. A sacrifice for sin. iii. Atonement and cleansing. iv. Personal change. v. Having a personal relationship with God. vi. A belief in eternity.

The redemption of mankind comes through Jesus Christ. He is the Author and Finisher of our redemption. The temple was a picture of God’s redemption through Jesus Christ.

It was a place where God would meet man.

There was a mediator (the priesthood) provided between God and man.

There was a sacrifice for sin made available.

The people’s sins would be atoned for, and therefore sin was cleansed from the people that believed in God (by whom the instructions for the temple came).

It is not hard to understand that man falls short and needs to be made right with God. The priesthood of Malachi’s should have understood what the temple practices were about, but they did not.

So, Jehovah God tells them how He will restore His people to Himself.

LESSON: GOD’S REDEMPTION IS GREATER THAN HIS PEOPLE’S UNDERSTANDING OF IT. A. The Jews did not understand that the redemption of Israel & mankind was coming in the Person of God’s Son. God will correct what is wrong with the Levitical priesthood by sending His Son. The Jewish temple would fall in the year 70 A.D.

Christ purges the temple.

3:1 "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. 3:2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. 3:3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.

God will correct what is wrong with the Levitical priesthood by sending forth His Son, Jesus Christ. He is “the messenger of the covenant.” Christ went to the temple and cast out the money changers. 19

John 2:13-16, state, The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, ‘Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.’

Christ rebuked the temple leadership in Matthew 23. a.

Mat 23:2-3, state, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you-but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

Mat 23:28, states, So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

It is the priesthood that would later seek to kill Christ (God’s Messiah) and would pay Judas 30 pieces of silver to betray Him.

John the Baptist is called “my messenger” in Malachi 3:1. He was to prepare the way for the Messiah of Israel. a.

Matthew 3:1-3, state, In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.'"

Matthew 3:11, states, "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Christ’s first coming was to prepare the way of His second coming.

Then, Christ will return in judgment and refine the priesthood for His Millennial reign.

B. God’s messenger (Jesus Christ) will purge the Land of Israel.

3:4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. 3:5 "Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. 3:6 "For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 3:7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them.

There will be a great purging of sin in the land. Christ will come in judgment (at His second coming). He will bring justice that has been long neglected. In the Book of Revelation there will be a taking back of the earth from the power of Satan. There will be twenty-one judgments upon the people of earth, until the Second Coming of Christ. Christ states (Matt. 24:30), Then will appear in heaven the sign of the

Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

God will accomplish the cleansing of Israel by His own decree. He says, For I the LORD do not change.

Personal Application: 1)

God in grace has given us so much. There are so many blessings that come with our personal redemption. How can we live a life apart from God? It is God that keeps us close to God, so it is for us to continually draw near to Him. That is what He wants most, that is, for us to be near to Him. It is a sad thing when our leaders primarily seek to be in charge, and not because they seek God as a priority in their lives. All of us to develop a personal relationship with the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Redemption can be defined as a return to God, a return to giving, a return to blessing, a repealing of the curse, and a taking back of the earth.

Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?' Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. 3:9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 3:10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 3:11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. 3:12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts. 3:8

The Lord proves their unfaithfulness to Him by pointing out the priests were cheating Him in the tithes and offerings. Then, they had the whole nation cheating God. Robbing God is failing to give God what is due Him. It means that He is of little worth. Giving is not about materialism, but of honoring Him.

A failed relationship with God affects our finances & heart attitude toward Him, but returning to God lifts the curse.

A curse is often contrasted with a blessing. Blessing is associated with prosperity. A curse is associated with a lack of prosperity due to disobedience which comes from a lack of faith in God. Curses in the Bible are by divine decree. Punishment for sin. In Scripture language, it signifies the just and lawful sentence of God's law, condemning sinners to suffer the full punishment of their sin, Gal. 3:10. – Buck4

Personal Application: 1)

God knows that hardship may come where one may not be able to give. This passage is not really about giving materially. It is about honoring God spiritually. As you honor God, He will bless you with a certain amount of prosperity. If there is worry about paying bills and trying to provide for your family. God understands that more guilt does not help you. It is very easy for the well off to give and not understand the hardship of others. But that is partly why we give, that is, to help others.

So, if you have money – give. If money is scarce – take your needs to God, provide for your family, and continue to put God first in your life. There is no one that can condemn you.

There is no tithing in the New Testament. If one wants to follow the Jewish pattern of giving, then tithing would be 23% of one’s income (there were three tithes). In the New Testament it is called “giving.” 10% is a good principle in giving, but there is not a limit to giving. One could give more and more, if so moved by the Sprit of God. This is why God loves a cheerful giver.

What you say in your heart about God is important. 3:13 "Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. But you say, 'How have we spoken against you?' 3:14 You have said, 'It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? 3:15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape.'"

God says the words of the priests had been strong against Him. The Hebrew word used for strong is chazaq. It means to be resolute, stout, hard, firm, etc. This is how the priests felt about God. In other words, they were set in their ways about God. They would not change their wrong opinion about God. They felt that they had to serve God, but hated it.

Whom they did admire is the proud, that is, the arrogant. Those that make it life without God. How terrible. It seems these people are getting away with things, but no one shall escape God’s judgment. The priests had not seen God’s judgment yet, and felt that too should get ahead without God.

Despite man’s failure God will always have a redeemed people on the earth in every generation that will delight in His name.

3:16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. 3:17 "They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 3:18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

There are people that fear God in spite of the failure of their leadership. They find each other and praise God for His goodness. What a blessing to the ears of God, and how appreciative He is. He responds by bequeathing the utmost reward – the recognition of God. 22

People in sin cannot see the blessings of God. They see a God setting them back. They live in a world where if you go against God and due your own ungodly thing you are successful (blessed). Their world is turned upside down and they know it not.

For those that see the world right-side-up. They see and enjoy the blessings of God. It is reflected in their speech and understanding of God. God takes note of such people. They get it.

Personal Application: 1)

Be on the side of God and what He is doing. Even if you are experiencing the curse of others â&#x20AC;&#x201C;you continue to bless God because you can see what is going on, that is, what God is doing.

Prayer: Father, help me to be on the right side of things and always bless you. Not because of reward, but out of love for you because I know you and what you are doing in my life.

GOD’S RESOLVE IS GREATER THAN MAN’S RESOLVE

CHAPTER FOUR

THE BOOK OF MALACHI: GOD’S CALL FOR ISRAEL TO RETURN TO HIM IN LIGHT OF THE COMING MESSIAH

GOD’S RESOLVE IS GREATER THAN MAN’S RESOLVE CHAPTER 4 Key Verse: But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. Mal. 4:2

Introduction 1.

What happens when there is no resolution to things? Things will keep going on and on, etc. One can look at the world and feel things are turned upside down, especially in other parts of the world. We live in the age of man, not of God. Know that God will allow man to see himself and what he becomes by the works of his hands. But God will only allow man to go so far, then comes judgment.

God has a divine plan of redemption for Israel, but the nation at different times lived far from God.

Here in the Book of Malachi man cannot resolve the problems he has in his spiritual nature that were affecting his outlook on life. The Jews did not realize how close God was to them. They saw Him as a far away figure.

So, it is for God to resolve the problems of His people and the problems of mankind. He will do this in a period of time in the future that is called “The Day of the Lord.” It begins sometime after the rapture of the church. It includes 7 years of tribulation, and a thousand years of peace.

In Malachi’s time, it is a low period for the people of God, but can look forward to a time of tremendous purging, then prosperity when the curse will be lifted from the earth.

The “Day of the Lord” involves Christ judging the people of the earth to bring them to repentance. It is Christ that is the Messenger of the Lord mentioned in this chapter.

The coming Messiah will take back the earth and set up the Day of the Lord. A. The Lord’s resolve for the wicked.

4:1 "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. 1)

Eventually, the Day of the Lord has to come. God will not allow humanity to continue without judgment.

The Day of the Lord is also for the righteous. Nothing stops the coming of the Lord Messiah. He will come to take back the earth from Satan’s control. This involves the destruction of the wicked.

B. The Lordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resolve for the righteous. 4:2 4:3

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.

Believers will triumph in the Day of the LORD.

The righteous shall tread upon the wicked when the Seventh Trumpet sounds and the physical return of Christ with His saints takes place.

C. Remembering the Law of Moses. 4:4

"Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb

for all Israel.

Believers will triumph in the Day of the LORD.

D. The coming of Elijah before the coming Day of The LORD. 4:5 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the L ORD comes. 4:6 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."

There will be warning of the Lordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coming & affirmation of his messiahship by Elijah.

You will know it is Elijah through his spiritual ministry of God using him to change the hearts of men back to Him and their families to a loving state.

Again, notice how the heart of a father when turning to God affect his children. We as parents hold the reins of our childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives in our hands. When two people are in disagreement, one has to do the turning, that is, one has to humble him or herself to the other. Then the relationship can open up again. The only power we have over our children is having the knowledge that we love them.

John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah and fulfilled this prophecy in Malachi. He prepared the Nation Israel for the coming Messiah by calling them to repentance, announcing His coming, and presenting Him to the people when He appeared.

John the Baptist baptizes Christ in the Jordan River

ENDNOTES 1.

Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, written by Francis Brown, R. Driver, and Charles Briggs (1841-1846). Public Domain

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible by John Calvin, 1840-57. Public Domain

Buck's Theological Dictionary, written by Charles Buck (1802). Public Domain

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary, written by Don Fleming. First published as Bridgeway Bible Dictionary 2004 by Bridgeway Publications. Fair Use

Note: All but three of the artworks are from James Tissot (1836-1902). Public Domain

Now available at from the same author:

Look for them free online. Our goal is to encourage in you in your personal walk with the Lord. THE BOOK OF MALACHI: GODâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CALL FOR ISRAEL TO RETURN TO HIM IN LIGHT OF THE COMING MESSIAH