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| WELCOME TO THE LAST CHAPTER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE INTERESTING AND FUN TO GIVE YOU A COLOR PRISM TO LOOK AT AS YOU READ |
| READING THROUGH THE OLD TESTAMENT IS LIKE SHEDDING DIFFERENT LIGHTS ON THE DIFFERENT GENERATIONS WHO LIVED THEN, THEY ALL HAD VERY COLORFUL LIVES. |
| FOR THE MOST PART THEY ALL WERE FICKLE AND INDIFFERENT TO GOD, AND LOVED TO TRY HIS PATIENCE AND KEEP THINGS RATHER STIRRED UP. |
| MALACHI IN HEBREW MEANS "MY MESSENGER." THIS TITLE USED BOTH IN THE HEBREW AND GREEK TEXT FOR THIS BOOK, SUGGEST THAT THIS WAS THE NAME OF THE PROPHET WHOSE MESSAGES ARE RECORDED. THERE ARE NO OTHER KNOWN REFERENCES TO THIS INDIVIDUAL. |
| THE CONTENT OF THIS BOOK SUGGESTS THAT THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C. WAS THE TIME OF MALACHI'S ACTIVE MINISTRY. THE TEMPLE HAD ALREADY BEEN REBUILT. THE RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS....APOSTASY, INTERMARRIAGE WITH FOREIGN WOMEN, NEGLECT OF THE TITHE....ARE SIMILAR TO THOSE PREVAILING DURING THE ERA OF NEHEMIAH (444-432 B.C.). |
| MALICHI'S CHIEF CONCERN IS THAT THE ISRAELITES' RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IS NOT AS IT SHOULD BE. THEY HAVE NEGLECTED AND MISTREATED GOD. THEY DO NOT RESPECT GOD AS THEY SHOULD, FAILING TO OBSERVE THAT WHICH GOD REQUIRES OF THEM. CONSEQUENTLY, JUDGMENT AWAITS THEM, BUT THE GOD-FEARING PEOPLE ARE ASSURED THAT THEY ARE NOTED IN GOD'S BOOK AND WILL ENJOY GOD'S SALVATION FOREVER. |
| KEY VERSES: 4:1,2 ~ FOR BEHOLD, THE DAY COMETH, THAT SHALL BURN AS AN OVEN' AND ALL THE PROUD, YEA, AND ALL THAT DO WICKEDLY, SHALL BE STUBBLE: AND THE DAY THAT COMETH SHALL BURN THEM UP, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS, THAT IT SHALL LEAVE THEM NEITHER ROOT NOR BRANCH. BUT UNTO YOU THAT FEAR MY NAME SHALL THE SON OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ARISE WITH HEALING IN HIS WINGS; AND YE SHALL GO FORTH, AND GROW UP AS CALVES OF THE STALL. |
| IN THE DAY OF THE LORD, GOD'S WRATH TOWARD THE WICKED WILL BURN LIKE A FURNACE. BUT HE WILL BE LIKE THE HEALING WARMTH OF THE SUN TO THOSE WHO LOVE AND OBEY HIM. JOHN THE BAPTIST PROPHESIED THAT WITH THE COMING OF JESUS, THE DAWN WAS ABOUT TO BREAK WITH LIGHT FOR THOSE IN SIN'S DARKNESS. IN ISAIAH 60:20 AND REVELATION 21: 23, 24, WE LEARN THAT NO LIGHT WILL BE NEEDED IN GOD'S HOLY CITY, BECAUSE GOD HIMSELF WILL BE THE LIGHT. THE LAST VERSES OF THE OLD TESTMENT ARE FILLED WITH HOPE, REGARDLESS OF HOW LIFE LOOKS NOW, GOD CONTROLS THE FUTURE, AND EVERYTHING WILL BE MADE RIGHT. WE WHO HAVE LOVED AND SERVED GOD LOOK FORWARD TO A JOYFUL CELEBRATION. THIS HOPE FOR THE FUTURE BECOMES OURS WHEN WE TRUST GOD WITH OUR LIFES. |
| GOD'S LOVE.....GOD LOVES HIS PEOPLE EVEN WHEN THEY IGNORE OR DISOBEY HIM. HE HAS GREAT BLESSINGS TO BESTOW ON THOSE WHO ARE FAITHFUL TO HIM, HIS LOVE NEVER ENDS. BECAUSE GOD LOVES US SO MUCH, HE HATES HYPOCRISY AND CARELESS LIVING. THIS KIND OF LIVING DENIES HIM THE RELATIONSHIP HE WANTS TO HAVE WITH US. WHAT WE GIVE AND HOW WE LIVE REFLECTS THE SINCERITY OF OUR LOVE FOR GOD. MALACHI SINGLED OUT THE PRIESTS FOR CONDEMNATION. THEY KNEW WHAT GOD REQUIRED, YET THEIR SACRIFICES WERE UNWORTHY AND THEIR SERVICE WAS INSINCERE; THEY WERE LAZY, ARROGANT, AND INSENSITIVE. THEY HAD A CASUAL ATTITUDE TOWARD THE WORSHIP OF GOD AND OBSERVANCE OF GOD'S STANDARDS. IF RELIGIOUS LEADERS GO WRONG, HOW WILL THE PEOPLE BE LED? WE ARE ALL LEADERS IN SOME CAPACITY. DON'T NEGLECT YOUR RESPONSIBILITES AND INSENSITIVITY ARE ACTS OF DISOBEDIENCE. GOD WANTS LEADERS WHO ARE FAITHFUL AND SINCERE. THE PEOPLE HAD NOT LEARNED THE LESSON OF THE EXILE, NOR HAD THEY LISTENED TO THE PROPHETS. MEN WERE CALLOUSLY DIVORCING THEIR FAITHFUL WIVES TO MARRY YOUNGER PAGAN WOMEN . THIS WAS AGAINST GOD'S LAW BECAUSE IT DISOBEYED HIS COMMANDS ABOUT MARRIAGE AND THREATENED THE RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF THE CHILDREN. BUT PRIDE HAD HARDENED THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE. GOD DESERVES OUR VERY BEST HONOR, RESPECT, AND FAITHFULNESS, BUT SIN HARDENS OUR HEART TO OUR TRUE CONDITION. PRIDE IS UNWARRANTED SELF-ESTEEM; IT IS SETTING YOUR OWN JUDGMENT ABOVE GOD'S AND LOOKING DOWN ON OTHERS. DON'T LET PRIDE KEEP YOU FROM GIVING GOD YOUR DEVOTIONS, MONEY MARRIAGE AND FAMILY. GOD'S LOVE FOR HIS FAITHFUL PEOPLE IS DEMONSTRATED BY THE MESSIAH'S COMING. THE MESSIAH WILL LEAD THE PEOPLE TO THE REALIZATION OF ALL THEIR FONDEST HOPES. THE DAY OF THE LORD'S COMING WILL BE A DAY OF COMFORT AND HEALING FOR A FAITHFUL FEW, AND A DAY OF JUDGMENT FOR THOSE WHO REJECT HIM. AT CHRIST'S FIRST COMING, HE REFINED AND PURIFIED ALL THOSE WHO BELIEVED IN HIM. UPON HIS RETURN, HE WILL EXPOSE AND CONDEMN THOSE WHO ARE PROUD, INSENSITIVE, OR UNPREPARED. YET GOD IS ABLE TO HEAL AND FORGIVE. FORGIVENESS IS AVAILABLE TO ALL WHO COME TO HIM. |
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| DAWNING OF A NEW DAY FROM HUNDREDS OF YEARS OF DISCORD THE ISREALITES SHAMED THE LORD. DISOBEYING HIS WISHES AND COMMANDS, WARS AND STRIFE THROUGHOUT THE LAND. LET'S GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING DISOBEDIENCE BEGAN IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN ADAM AND EVE DID NOT HEED TO INSTRUCTIONS WHICH EVENTUALLY LED TO EARTHS DESTRUCTION. GOD ORDERED NOAH TO BUILD AN A HUGE BOAT TAKE ALL CREATURES BY TWO, EVEN THE GOAT. BRING ON BOARD YOUR CHILDREN AND WIFE, WHO LATER REPLENISHED THE EARTH WITH LIFE. THE RAIN CAME FORTY DAY AND FORTY NIGHTS, AND DESTROYED EVERY HUMAN AND BEAST IN SIGHT. THEN AFTER THE FLOOD WATERS RECEDED, GOD MADE A NEW LAND AND COMPLETED. AND SO IT WENT ON FOR CENTURIES UNENDING, THE DISCORD AND STRIFE ALWAYS BLENDING. UNTIL IT WAS TIME FOR A CHANGE TO BE MADE, GOD CAME TO EARTH, THE MESSIAH WAS RAISED. TO TEACH MANKIND THE LOVE OF GOD, AND SHOW THEM THE PATH TO TROD, TO BE READY FOR A GIFT THAT WAS TO COME SALVATION'S PLAN HAD ALREADY BEGUN. WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY SHIRLEY BARR SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 REFERENCES: BIBLES, KJV, AMPLIFIED |
