Malachi— Our Unchanging God
12.7.22
For I am the LORD, I do not change. (Malachi 3:6a)
In our survey of the Bible, we come to Malachi, the last of the writing prophets. This is the last word from God before the curtain closes in prophetic silence for four hundred years.
Little is known of Malachi’s background. His name means ‘My messenger.’ His prophecies were given in the second half of the fifth century BC. This is about one hundred years after Haggai and Zechariah. The Temple had been rebuilt and the Mosaic sacrifices reinstituted. A Persian governor, or satrap, was in authority.
Looking at Daniel 9:24-27, we have clues to when Malachi wrote. The commandment of Cyrus to “restore and rebuild Jerusalem” (25) was made in 445 BC. If Malachi began his prophecies then, and finished about 397 BC, we would have a purpose for the puzzling 7 weeks (49 years). Measuring forward 62 weeks (434 years), we come to the time of Christ (26) just as Daniel said!
The Book of Malachi presents a dialogue between Jehovah and his people. The text goes back and forth between “Thus says the LORD of hosts,” and “Ye say,” referring to the words of the people. Over twenty such exchanges appear in the book.
God does not change! Therefore His love for His people does not change. Though God does not change, great changes were needed in the nation to prepare the way for the coming Messiah.
Under the leadership of Nehemiah there had been a period of revival. But in the years since he spoke, the priests and the people had grown cold in their walk with God and had become external and mechanical in their observance of the Law. Though they were guilty of the sins that Malachi denounced, they were bewildered over why God was dissatisfied with them. He wrote to answer their questions and to encourage them to turn from their backslidings and prepare the way for the coming Messiah.
The book follows this outline: God Loves Israel (1:1-5); God is disappointed with Israel; God makes promises to Israel (3:16-4:6).
Malachi speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ as he predicts the coming of the Messenger, John the Baptist (3:1; Isaiah 40:30) who will clear the way for the coming of the Messiah. He gives focus to Jesus’ second coming. He will come to bring both blessing and judgment.
The Book of Malachi is the prelude to four hundred years of prophetic silence, broken finally by the words of the angel who announced the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:11-20). Then we hear the words of the Immerser: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
Malachi mentions the Law of Moses in his closing words (4:4). Much has happened since Genesis 1. Israel, however, must keep God’s Law, His Word, in focus. The last word of the OT is ‘curse.’ What a fearful word to be ringing in the ears of the Jews for the next 400 years.
So ends our survey of the OT. “The OT tells of a beginning without an ending, relates hundreds of promises and predictions without any lasting fulfillments, and begins with blessings and ends with a curse. Gratefully we now acknowledge that the silence of God has been broken. God has spoken to us in these last days in His Son.” [John Phillips]
The New Testament will begin where the Old Testament left off: the promised Messiah will come “to seek and to save that which was lost.”