I will send a messenger ahead of me

 

Read Malachi 3

The Hebrew people were a mess.  The priests were a mess and were largely responsible for the people continuing down the wrong path.  They were complicit in the matter.

What does God do when his people are a mess?  He sends a messenger, and not just a messenger but one that will prepare the way for his coming.

There will be a messenger.  For us he has come.  It was John the Baptist or if you keep reading, Elijah. Later, Jesus would note that John and Elijah were the same man.

God would not leave his people in the mess of their own making.  He would come and bring a New Covenant.  He would offer life to those enslaved by death and sin.

But who could endure his coming?  He will be like a refiner’s fire.  He will sift out impurities.  Those who continue in rebellion will perish.  This is judgment.

But it is also restoration.  God can do more than one thing at once. We are told that God will purify the Levites.  Those who he chastised severely will be cleansed and refined like silver or gold.  Then offerings pleasing and acceptable to God may resume.

For some there is hope.  There is restoration.  The offerings of the people will once again be acceptable to God.  God said not to fear his coming.  He does have good plans for his people.

Were we to continue reading, we would see that God has more admonition for his people.  He gives them hope and he chews them out at the same time. The tithe is the focus of the next reprimand.  We will save that for another time.

For now, let us have hope and take courage that even in our worst mess, God still loves us.  He does not want to see us perish.  He does have good plans for us.

If you go to the end of the chapter, you will see that there were some people who still feared the Lord. They made a scroll of remembrance. God heard them.

There will be a time when it will be too late to worship and serve the Lord, but that time has not yet come.  So long as it is still called today, we hope and encourage and share God’s love.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

God through Malachi is giving his priests and his people a harsh chewing out, but he is also speaking of a time when he will come in the flesh and forgive sins and make a way where there was no way. He will be everything we need.

We have received the fulfillment of this prophecy.  Jesus has come.  He made the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  We have been restored and made right with God not by anything we did but by God alone.  We have received his mercy.  We live in his favor and grace. 

We have received what was promised by the prophet Malachi.  We have received what the people of Malachi’s day saw as a future promise.

That promise lives in us.  We must never let ourselves become like God’s people of Malachi’s time—complacent, apathetic, and without hope.

We have no excuse for God himself lives within us. 

Your pastor, the body of Christ, and the Holy Spirit are here to challenge and encourage you.

The promises of God are true.

So let us never make God second best in our lives.

Let us never give him leftovers when we have first fruits.

Let us always seek him first, and not be enslaved to the things that the godless seek after.

Let us long to be known as his disciples by our love.

Let us take the admonishments and lessons of Malachi and apply them to our lives so as to be his faithful servant. 

Amen.