Ensign: A Fifth of Malachi
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3
AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 13 March 2015
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
And so the book of Malachi in that bound Old Testament of the Bible you've been reading -- well, at least that I was reading from in last week's message -- ends, with the fifth and sixth verses of the fourth chapter I quote above. To Christians that's part of the prophecy predicting the coming of John the Baptist, the forerunner and cousin to Jesus the Christ. BUT there were four hundred years between the end of Malachi and the beginning of Matthew in the New Testament where you might think nothing happened -- at least, nothing that God inspired anyone to record.
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
But lulls in history, or what we perceive as lulls where "nothing happened", are like lulls in the weather. They're purely local. Over the historical of that little corner of the world we know today as the Middle East we see Alexander the Great come bringing the Hellenization of the world in his wake, the end of the Persian Empire (a major player in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther), an attempt to totally wipe out Jewish culture culminate in the Maccabean Wars, the rise of the Pharisees, and the beginnings of Chanukah, and the Romans stepping in to restore order.
But there was no prophet of God. The gap between the Old and New Testaments is significant for us today because for four centuries, 400 years, God didn't speak through anybody. Did God cease to be, did God take off for a vacation like the original Elijah taunted the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18? Or like the believers in God -- more accurately, a god -- as a "cosmic watchmaker" did He (he) just wind up creation and then leave it running? No. I see where it's easy to think that, but no.
[I'd go on, but the next fifteen verses of the first chapter of Matthew trace the family line of Jesus. I urge it to read it yourselves, it's got rhythm. Besides, how many generations can you trace YOUR family back?]
No mention of God by any of His Titles or Names appears in the book of Esther either, which spans ten years in the first half of the fifth century BC, but if you read the story arguing that God was not present and required Esther and Mordecai and the Jews to speak for Him because He'd "lost it" just does not hold water. Any more than it holds today that because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling fifty-odd years ago that forbade a public school administration from composing and reciting a prayer to God that any mention of God AT ALL is forbidden in a public setting ... but that's another story.
The parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31) comes to mind, particularly where Abraham who comforts Lazarus tells the rich man in torment, Verse 29: "They [your five brothers, and by extension anybody we who are tormented want to keep out of hell, the ultimate torment] have Moses [the Law] and the prophets; let them hear them." Verse 30: The rich man says no, but if Lazarus goes back, he believes they would repent and avoid his suffering. Verse 31: Abraham replies that NO, if they don't hear Moses and the prophets, then even someone rising from the dead won't persuade them.
That deserves a message itself, but my point is that two thousand years ago JESUS rose from the dead, and you and I both know people today who still aren't persuaded that Jesus is the Son of God and that he's the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to [God] the Father but through Him! We have the writings of the prophets, both those who get books and those who don't. We have the Law; even though as followers of Jesus the Christ we are not saved by keeping the Law (start at the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20 and go outward) but by God's grace, that is still our touchstone to obey God's will and keep civilized society intact.
We don't need more Scripture than we have when we are following God's plan for us.
No fifth [chapter] of Malachi needed,
David
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
And so the book of Malachi in that bound Old Testament of the Bible you've been reading -- well, at least that I was reading from in last week's message -- ends, with the fifth and sixth verses of the fourth chapter I quote above. To Christians that's part of the prophecy predicting the coming of John the Baptist, the forerunner and cousin to Jesus the Christ. BUT there were four hundred years between the end of Malachi and the beginning of Matthew in the New Testament where you might think nothing happened -- at least, nothing that God inspired anyone to record.
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
But lulls in history, or what we perceive as lulls where "nothing happened", are like lulls in the weather. They're purely local. Over the historical of that little corner of the world we know today as the Middle East we see Alexander the Great come bringing the Hellenization of the world in his wake, the end of the Persian Empire (a major player in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther), an attempt to totally wipe out Jewish culture culminate in the Maccabean Wars, the rise of the Pharisees, and the beginnings of Chanukah, and the Romans stepping in to restore order.
But there was no prophet of God. The gap between the Old and New Testaments is significant for us today because for four centuries, 400 years, God didn't speak through anybody. Did God cease to be, did God take off for a vacation like the original Elijah taunted the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18? Or like the believers in God -- more accurately, a god -- as a "cosmic watchmaker" did He (he) just wind up creation and then leave it running? No. I see where it's easy to think that, but no.
[I'd go on, but the next fifteen verses of the first chapter of Matthew trace the family line of Jesus. I urge it to read it yourselves, it's got rhythm. Besides, how many generations can you trace YOUR family back?]
No mention of God by any of His Titles or Names appears in the book of Esther either, which spans ten years in the first half of the fifth century BC, but if you read the story arguing that God was not present and required Esther and Mordecai and the Jews to speak for Him because He'd "lost it" just does not hold water. Any more than it holds today that because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling fifty-odd years ago that forbade a public school administration from composing and reciting a prayer to God that any mention of God AT ALL is forbidden in a public setting ... but that's another story.
The parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31) comes to mind, particularly where Abraham who comforts Lazarus tells the rich man in torment, Verse 29: "They [your five brothers, and by extension anybody we who are tormented want to keep out of hell, the ultimate torment] have Moses [the Law] and the prophets; let them hear them." Verse 30: The rich man says no, but if Lazarus goes back, he believes they would repent and avoid his suffering. Verse 31: Abraham replies that NO, if they don't hear Moses and the prophets, then even someone rising from the dead won't persuade them.
That deserves a message itself, but my point is that two thousand years ago JESUS rose from the dead, and you and I both know people today who still aren't persuaded that Jesus is the Son of God and that he's the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to [God] the Father but through Him! We have the writings of the prophets, both those who get books and those who don't. We have the Law; even though as followers of Jesus the Christ we are not saved by keeping the Law (start at the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20 and go outward) but by God's grace, that is still our touchstone to obey God's will and keep civilized society intact.
We don't need more Scripture than we have when we are following God's plan for us.
No fifth [chapter] of Malachi needed,
David
P. S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with you, and I hope it encourages you too. If I'm not or you want me to get lost, please let me know -- thank you!
Thank You, Lord, that we can come to You in praise and prayer and that You provide for all our needs, even the ones we don't know we have! Let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence there and around the world.
Thank You, Lord, for all of us in leadership and service here and abroad, as well as for opportunities we have and the promise of new life! I pray we all seek and have a blessed week. Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment