Showing posts with label Malachi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malachi. Show all posts

Sunday

Reading Through The Bible - MALACHI









Some Books of the bible are very short and some are very long but this one is one of the shortest.








MALACHI  -  OLD TESTAMENT  -  PROPHECY

39th book of the OT 
39th book of the Bible






What is it?

The Book of Malachi is one of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament which means it is Prophecy.




How Long is it?

It has 4 chapters with the last one being very short (only 6 verses).




When was it Written?

It is generally thought to have been written between 433 & 424 BC 




Who Wrote it?

Malachi

Neither the book of Malachi nor the Bible tell us who Malachi was.

All we know is Malachi is a Hebrew term that means “my messenger”


The Overview Bible  tells us the following

The prophet Malachi isn’t mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, but he deals with some of the same issues that Ezra the scribe and Nehemiah the governor deal with when the Jews disregard God’s law in their times:
  • Corrupt priests 
  • Intermarriage with pagans 
  • Lapses in tithes and offerings 

But we do know that Jesus quotes Malachi within the passage Matthew 11:7-15








Who was it Written to?

It was written to the people of Israel as we see in the very first verse.

 "The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi."






Why was it Written? 

It was written because God wanted the people to know that they were falling into sin again and they could hurt themselves and others. 

They were not treating God or His sacraments properly and the Priests were also held to account by God as we can see in chapter 2




The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"God has been faithful to Israel, but they continue to live disconnected from him—so God sends Malachi to call them out."


Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"By the time of Malachi, the people had been back after the Babylonian exile for over 100 years.  They were looking for blessings.  The temple had been rebuilt.  However there was corruption in the priesthood and the people were becoming spiritually disinterested."





What distinctive thing did God tell them about himself?
 

That He never changes - chapter 3 verse 6









How does it end?


Chapter 4 starts by giving great encouragement in v. 2




but this verse also has a condition to it - the people must fear God.


Then

it draws the people back to God's Law in v 4

 "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant,
Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel,
With the statutes and judgments."





OUTLINE of MALACHI


The Overview Bible  gives us the following



  1. God loves His children (Mal 1:1–5)
  2. God disciplines His children (Mal 1:6–2:17)
    • For the priests’ dishonesty (Mal 1:6–2:9)
    • For intermarriage with foreigners (Mal 2:10–12)
    • For husbands’ infidelity (Mal 2:13–17)
  3. God will purify His children (Mal 3:1–15)
  4. Some people again revere The Lord (Mal 3:16–18)
  5. God will bless those who fear Him (Mal 4)




OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR READING THE BIBLE PAGE 






Wednesday

When Can I Trust Him? - A Dose of Encouragement


Fred never asked me to marry him!

He never got down on one knee and produced a sparkling ring in a little purple box.








He never planned a day out beside a beautiful waterfall or wrote a bunch of short letters to guide me to a certain place so that he could ask me that specific question.

He didn't contact his mother and father and ask them to keep an engagement ring safely hidden until a special birthday would arrive.

He didn't contact his future mother-in-law to show her the ring he was planning to get.

No Fred never did anything like that.


He didn't even take a specific time to ask me to marry him.


With Fred it was just taken for granted.


When Fred talked about the future there was no "IF" but just the "WHEN".








You see Fred was sure that he loved me and he was also sure that I loved him so there didn't need to be an "IF we get married" it was automatically "WHEN we get married".

And me?
Well I just agreed with him because I loved him and I knew that he loved me.

Fred had decided he loved me before we even started going out together and in his mind that would mean there would be no-one else for him and it would just be the natural thing for us to get married.


We did not have that

"getting down on one knee in a beautiful surrounding with a friend hidden somewhere ready to step forward and take a picture at just the right moment as the ring is produced"

moment to be forever remembered.


No we had none of that and as our kids know Fred is often reminded of the fact that he did not propose to me at all!

Instead he just started talking about "when we get married".

Well of course that is all in the past and we did get married 41 years and two days ago.  The "WHEN" happened and Fred had been true to his word there was no going back on what he had said.

I have always been able to trust what Fred would say because if he meant something he said it and stuck with it but if he wasn't completely sure then the "IF" would be used.

And because of the proof I have already seen with Fred, I know that I will also be able to trust him in the future.  Just as the "I have trusted Fred" and the "I am trusting Fred" led me to say "I Will" 41 years ago.


These qualities that I see in Fred are the qualities that I have also seen in God.






God doesn't start talking about "IF" something will happen in the future, it is all "WHEN" with Him.




All God's promises are not statements about how something might come to be but instead each one is a definite fact.





God has proved himself throughout Scripture and Time so that we can trust in all that He says.






God has never promised anything He did not intend to do, He always speaks the truth and will never go back on His Word.






This means we can trust Him forever.


Some people will use the phrase "IF and WHEN....."
But does that even make sense?
I would not be inclined to trust in anything that followed those three words.


This means we can trust Him forever.


With God we trust

the "I Have"  







& the "I Am" 





& the "I Will"








We have trusted in Him, we are still trusting in Him and we will continue to trust in Him.


Throughout our lives together Fred & I have enjoyed the "Our Stories & His Stories" because we have trusted God and shared our lives with God.













Sunday

Why We Worship 8






I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"


 This week  Malachi 3 v 6  brings us the reason to focus on
                  






This means that God is UNCHANGING



He never changes in His being (who He is) or in the promises He makes.

We can change from year to year or from day to day but God does not.


Malachi  ch 3
Says the Lord of hosts.
“For I am the LordI do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
Yet from the days of your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

Also look at verse 7 to see another promise from God and because He has already declared He does not change then we can believe what He says here.



This gives us great stability and we know that we can depend on Him 
at all times 
and 
       in all circumstances.    

 





I am thankful that I serve an unchanging God, are you?