Malachi

1.       First Impressions

Malachi was a prophet who addressed the wickedness of the people with false senses of hope in the time of Nehemiah. As identifies in Nelson’s maps and charts (pg274) some of the key issues addressed in Malachi are ‘hypocrisy, infidelity, mixed marriages, divorce, false worship and arrogance.’ The name Malachi means ‘my messenger’ and it is debated whether the author was actually named Malachi or simply took on this role of being God’s messenger. There is no exact date for Malachi but we read that it was after the temple had been built and during the Persian reign since the Persian word “pechah” is used for the governor. Based on this we can assume it was written somewhere around 432 and 425 B.C.

The people where not being faithful to God and questioning whether it was worthwhile serving Him even after He had kept his promises of bringing them back and restoring the Temple among the many other great things he had done for them..

 

2.       Theme Tracing

 

·         What does this book show about the character and nature of God?

Most of all I noticed God’s hatred for sin and the way in which he speaks in Malachi. His way of asking and explaining His perspective was new and I loved it. We see that God has always loved His people in 1:2 and yet He can get quite angry (1:4). Malachi 1:5 speaks of God’s greatness and in chapter 2:5 we see that He is a God of life and peace. There are two verses which stood out to me in the boldness which God proclaims who he is. He proclaims, ‘For I am a great king’ (1:14b) and ‘I am the Lord, and I do not change” (3:6a).  That is amazing!

 

·         What does this book show about God’s redemptive plan for mankind?

In these four short chapters there are several passages which point to the coming of John the Baptist, spoken of as Elijah and then the messiah as the next steps in God’s plan in drawing his people back to him. 3:1-3 speaks of God sending his messenger to His Temple to purify His people. Then in 4:1, 2 we are told that his coming will bring judgment and that he will heal His people. In both3:1 and 4:5 there is reference made to someone who will come before the Messiah, this is John the Baptist.  In all of God’s plan he recognizes that the people might reject John the Baptist as well as Jesus the Messiah and proclaims in the very last sentence that if this is to be the case then he will strike the land with a curse and we see this explained more by Jesus and eventually happening when Jerusalem falls again in 70 A.D.

3.       Application questions

 

 

·         Personal application:

The opening page of Malachi in the Source view bible explains that God loves and cares for us passionately and that love-not religious duty-is to be the foundation of our intimacy with him. This is true and although it is something easily said and believed I have realized that there are some areas in my life where my actions are from duty not love. If my motives are not right then there is no point to my actions even if they are good.

I loved seeing God’s hatred of divorce (2:16) and being reminded of the seriousness of covenant and marriage which often gets watered down in the world.

More than all the things I learnt simply from reading the book I have really taken to heart something our speaker said. In talking about the way the priests allowed unacceptable sacrifices so that they may still have food and the way the church now lowers expectations on Christians for their own benefit he explained how we’ve changed the gospel. You do not become a Christian by accepting Jesus. You are blessed that Jesus accepts you! It is in surrendering instead of rebelling against his lordship, acknowledging our own shortcomings; repenting of our sins and giving up everything to follow God, that we are saved. It’s not just acknowledging and accepting God but by following and obeying him accepting his grace that we are true Christians.

Why I mention all this is because I have often felt as though I might not understand in which way I am removing the power of the gospel but it is in taking away the difficulty and responsibility we have when we accept Christ as our Lord. I am really challenged to change this in the way I speak to everyone!

 

·         Point of Passion: 

The question- and – answer format of Malachi led me to see the questions God was asking. Often I found him repeating the people’s questions saying “but you ask/say…?” This made me think of the way God is dealing with his people. Often times when we teach the people we are teaching don’t even know what they don’t know and in order to get across the message we need to patiently highlight every area, explaining our opinions and theirs as we share the truth. This is hard and God does it perfectly in Malachi. No matter what we teach, truth should prevail and therefore it is vital that we share opinions but keep to the truth exposing whatever may be wrong even if it comes across hard. God is honest, he says “ I hate divorce!” Honesty is important in teaching as it carries across your heart for what you are doing which can often have such a big impact.