Malachi 3:1; 4:1-6, Merry Christmas from Malachi!

Everywhere you go in the Bible you find Christ.  Malachi is no exception.  And actually, being the final OT writing, it ends with a flurry of Messianic hope, a hope that continues to encourage the righteous at the time of Jesus’ birth.

·       Malachi has some powerful things to say about John the Baptist.  In 3:1 the LORD speaks of my messenger who will prepare the way before Me.  Malachi is building on Isaiah’s prophecy of the voice of one crying in the wilderness (Isa. 40:3-5).  Then, at the end of Malachi (4:5-6) there is the famous “Elijah” prophecy.  John fulfilled the roll of Elijah for those who repented in preparation for the coming of Christ (Matt. 17:10-13).  Even though there is a future great and dreadful day of the LORD when Israel will again be warned to repent, she cannot complain that in Christ’s first coming the call was issued loud and clear.  The people knew this about John, though the leaders rejected him (Lk. 7:29-30).

·       Malachi 3:1 speaks of another Messenger, the Messenger of the covenant.  It is the same word, but it speaks of the Messiah.  Pay careful attention to the words: My messenger … will prepare the way before Me … John would prepare the way for the LORD.  But who is the Lord?  The Lord … will suddenly come … even the Messenger of the covenant.  The messengers are not the same.  One goes before the Lord; the other is the Lord.

o   What covenant is spoken of here?  I suspect that the answer must be, as I have seen with many commentators, the Abrahamic Covenant.  This is the one “whom you seek.”  He will come to fulfill the covenant that some might think God had set aside.  But when you say that, the OT prophets made it clear that the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant is bound up in a New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34).  And Jesus is the Mediator of this New Covenant (Heb. 9:15). 

·       There is another Malachi reference to Christ, in 4:2: He is the Sun of Righteousness.  Yes, the “Sun,” not “Son.”  In the context of Malachi 3-4 this is a title of hope for Israel.  As the sun is a great blessing on the earth, so the Sun will be a great blessing in the restoring of Israel.  And it will all be in the context of His righteous reign on the earth. 

Now, read Luke 1:67-80, the prophecy of John’s father Zacharias.  As you do, note, first, how Zacharias realizes the coming of the Messiah means the long-awaited salvation and deliverance for Israel is coming.  God has not forgotten His people.  As Malachi indicated, the deliverance will come after Messiah does some cleansing (3:2-3).  Second, Zacharias used a title for Messiah that is reminiscent of Malachi.  He calls Him the “Dayspring from on high” (Lk. 1:78).  The Dayspring speaks of the beginning of the sunlight, the light from the Sun of Righteousness.  May I say, this Christmas, that our hope would shine more brightly if we believed the promises of God.  And if we would heed His calls to us to repent, to put off the old man and put on the New Man created in righteousness and true holiness!