28: Minor Prophets – Zechariah 14 – Malachi 1:5

[Dunkle] Alright, so this is Minor Prophets class, and we're carrying on as we have been. We're coming near the end. We're coming up to the last chapter of Zechariah.

And as I looked at this, it occurred to me, this is one of the chapters that a lot of people in the Church know better than many others. It has at least two very significant prophecies within it that you'll recognize that we go to pretty often.

And I'll mention it's continuing the one prophecy that starts with Zechariah 12. So Zechariah 12, 13, and 14 are what I like to call a single prophetic utterance. And basically, it shows the Messiah becoming ruler of the world. So this is about Christ's second coming.

And that might be indicated as we see in verse 1 of chapter 14. "Behold, the day of the Lord is coming" (Zechariah 14:1).

Okay, we know the day of the Lord. If it's the day of the Lord, it's that time. I like to say the cataclysm at the end of this age when Jesus Christ is going to return, He's going to subdue the forces of earth that are rallied against Him. He'll impose His Kingdom for good to bring peace.

So it's coming. It says, "Your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city" (Zechariah 14:1-2).

This seems to be telling us that before Christ arrives to conquer the nations, there is going to be another power that will come into Jerusalem. That fits with the prophecies from Daniel 11 of, you know, King of the South pushes against the King of the North, but then the King of the North comes in like a whirlwind into the glorious land, as it's called, and conquers that area.

So this fits exactly with, you know, many prophecies about this time. And it seems to indicate perhaps half of the people that are there taken captive and half left.

There are some Bible scholars who would try to claim that...maybe I shouldn't say try to claim. I don't want to be dismissive, but some believe that this was completely fulfilled in 70 AD, when the Roman armies conquered Jerusalem. I would say at best that would be a type, and maybe it's not even that. I don't think that was the fulfillment. This is looking ahead to the day of the Lord.

So there's this power that comes, takes over Jerusalem, but in verse 3 it says, "Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle" (Zechariah 14:3).

Okay, so then Christ arrives to conquer all human armies. Reference Revelation 19, verses 11 through 18. I'm not going to turn there and read it, but in Revelation 19, starting in verse 11, you know, the skies are open and you see the King of Kings riding on a white horse, and the armies of heaven are with Him, and they're going to subdue all physical armies.

Verse 4, "And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east" (Zechariah 14:4).

I wasn't thinking of doing the map, but it's worth noting. We have Jerusalem in the ancient times, you know, the far ancient times, and the Mount of Olives is over here. More modern Jerusalem, Valley of Kidron, Mount of Olives on the east. So that's where Christ is going to come when He comes the second time.

I think it's interestingly, interestingly, no, it's interesting that if you think about what we saw in the first chapter of Acts, remember, after Christ's resurrection, He appeared on and off to the apostles. The last time He appeared to them, they were on the Mount of Olives, and He gave them a commission, and remember, He rose up into the air, and they stood there looking. You know, instead of cloud received Him, and He vanished from their sight.

You know, and of course, an angel had to come and tell them, hey, stop looking up there. Go get to work. Do what He told you to do.

But as the last place He left on earth was the Mount of Olives, and He rose up, He's going to come back. His feet are going to be planted right there on the Mount of Olives. I think that's kind of amazing.

And it says the Mount will split in two, literally. Half to the north, half to the south.

Verse 5 says, “Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee.” Okay, we know where the Mount of Olives is. Oh, I should have finished verse 5, because it says, "Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with You" (Zechariah 14:5).

This is something I wouldn't have known if I hadn't checked historically, but the earthquake in the days of Uzziah occurred about 200 years before Zechariah would be writing. So that indicates to me that must have been quite an earthquake. Two hundred years later, it's still something they talk about, you know, that earthquake.

It kind of reminds me, when I was younger, I used to hear quite a bit about the great earthquake that hit San Francisco. I believe it was the early 1900s. But that's fading from memory now. I'm guessing a lot of you students don't hear about the San Francisco earthquake that much. So it would have been a bigger one, "as in the days of Uzziah" (Zechariah 14:5).

I was going to comment, the mountain valley is going to reach to Azal, and we don't know where that is. There are some speculations, but to be honest, we just don't know, but we'll find out. More importantly, at the end of verse 5, we know Jesus Christ is going to come. Feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. It says, "Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with You" (Zechariah 14:5).

All the saints coming with Jesus Christ. We want to note just the timing. How does that work? Let's connect it with what we know of in 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection chapter.

I've got a 1 Corinthians in this Bible, I'm pretty sure. I want to start in verse 23, where it says, well, verse 22 says, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22).

"But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming" (1 Corinthians 15:23).

And some say it should be Christ the first fruit. He's first, obviously. Afterward, those who are Christ at His coming. So at Christ's second coming, the firstfruits, those who are Christ, will be resurrected. Let's jump ahead in this chapter to verse 52. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 52.

Paul says, "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51).

This indicates Paul thought Christ was going to return while he was still alive. His timing was a little bit off, but the point is still the same.

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet" (1 Corinthians 15:52).

When is the moment, the twinkling of an eye? At the last trumpet. He doesn't say how many trumpets there are, but if you check Revelation, the book of Revelation, we know there are seven trumpets.

"For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:52).

Connect that to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians 4, beginning in verse 14.

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 4:14).

Sleep in Jesus is a euphemism for dead. But dead in the Church, or in Jesus, died having had the Holy Spirit, so that one will come up in the first resurrection.

"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain,” Again, Paul is expecting Christ to return while he's still alive. “Until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep" (1 Thessalonians 4:15).

Said, "We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep" (1 Thessalonians 4:15). Read dead.

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first" (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

They'll rise first, and it says, "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

So we're going to meet Him in the air, and we're going to be with Him. I want to connect that to Zechariah 14, because if the saints are going to be resurrected and be with Christ, He's going to the Mount of Olives, and then He's going to face the nations.

This shouldn't sound complex or new. I'm pointing it out because there is a somewhat erroneous teaching that's making its rounds in the various churches of God that are making a case for the resurrection being on Pentecost.

Maybe we could argue about the day, but the resurrection will be when the trumpet sounds.

The Bible clearly says that. It clearly says the saints will be with Christ, and they're going to go with Him where He goes, which will be the Mount of Olives.

Nowhere in the Bible says the resurrected saints are going to heaven. There's no mention of a potluck in the sky, as Mr. McNeily likes to talk about, or anything to do with a sea of glass. A sea of glass is in the Bible, but it's not connected with the resurrection and the return of Christ.

So maybe I'm getting sidetracked discussing something that wasn't an issue in this class. It's not an issue in the minor prophets, but I want to be sure we see, okay, here's what's happening. Christ is going to be on the Mount of Olives when it says, "all the saints with You" (Zechariah 14:5). That's why I'm discussing this.

The resurrected saints will go to the Mount of Olives with Christ, and we know we're at the time of the end.

Going on in verse 6, "It shall come to pass in that day that there will be no light; the lights will diminish" (Zechariah 14:6).

We're in that same time period.

"It shall be one day which is known to the Lord—neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen that it will be light" (Zechariah 14:7).

Scholars have struggled to explain this, but I don't think it's really that hard. We've seen various prophecies of darkness coming before Christ's return. We saw it in Joel chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. We see it in Amos 5, verse 18.

Notably, because I'll say Revelation gives us a better chronology than other places, Revelation 16, verse 10. Revelation 16:10 tells us, "Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl" (Revelation 16:10).

So this is the seven last plagues. The fifth of those seven is, "his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain" (Revelation 16:10).

So darkness is something that's prophesied in the sequence of events leading up to Christ's return.

I'll caution. We just read Zechariah saying, Christ lands on the Mount of Olives. Now we're talking about darkness that would be before He shows up. That's not unusual for the Old Testament prophecies. That's why I tell you, we want to remember to get our chronology from Revelation, the sequence of events, and realize that the minor prophets sometimes will get them a little out of order.

And of course, at the end of verse 7, it tells us, "at evening time it shall happen that it will be light" (Zechariah 14:7).

I'll connect that to Revelation 21, in verse 23. Revelation 21:23 says, "The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it" (Revelation 21:23).

So whatever darkness might be because of the plagues is temporary. Eventually there is light, and that matches what Zechariah was inspired to write.

And what we see in Zechariah seems to tell us, this is kind of a unique day, a unique time. It's not something that's happening all the time.

I'm not trying to rush, but we'll move on in verse 8. “In that day,” So again, we're in that time period. “It shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea.” (Zechariah 14:8)

We can… Oh, is that me? Sorry.

So if we're in Jerusalem, Western Sea is obviously the Mediterranean. Eastern Sea would be the Dead Sea. And we see the waters flowing both ways, “and both summer and winter shall occur, and the Lord shall be King over all the earth" (Zechariah 14:9).

This seems to be yet another reference to literal water. I don't want to downplay the symbolism. Often flowing water is a symbol of God's Holy Spirit, and I think there's a duality here.

But we saw, actually just across the page, in Zechariah 13, verse 1, it says, "a fountain shall be opened" (Zechariah 13:1). And when we went through that, I referenced Revelation 22, verses 1 and 2, of the river of the water of life flowing from under the throne. Most of Ezekiel chapter 47.

So this is the kind of thing that appears repeatedly in prophecy. It's going to happen.

The nice thing is, Ezekiel will make the case that when these waters flow into the Dead Sea, it's going to need a new name, because it's not going to be dead anymore. The waters will be healed. There's going to be abundance of fish.

So I'm looking forward to seeing that. I'm not much of a fisherman, but I'd be willing to give it a try if I can fish in the no longer Dead Sea. I have to come up with a better name than that.

Okay, so we have that.

Verse 9, "And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be—‘The Lord is one,’ and His name one" (Zechariah 14:9).

This is going to fulfill a number of prophecies we've seen. Jesus Christ as King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the one King over all the earth.

Now that doesn't mean there won't be lesser kings. We know King David is prophesied to be king over Israel. We know that the twelve apostles were told by Jesus that they would each sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes. And I imagine there will be other kings. Maybe there will be a king over Germany, king over Venezuela, whatever.

But they'll all answer to Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. There's going to be a world-ruling government that's ruled by Jesus Christ.

Verses 10 and 11 turn, interestingly, to geography.

"All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem" (Zechariah 14:10).

You guys know those places, right? Geba is about six miles northeast of Jerusalem. Not something I would memorize. Rimmon about 35 miles southwest.

And then it goes on to describe Benjamin's Gate, the First Gate, the Tower of Hananel. These are places known in Jerusalem at that time. But this seems to be indicating some geographic changes.

If God's going to make somewhat of a plain surrounding the area of Jerusalem, will it still be up at the elevation that Jerusalem is today? Perhaps, but it seems to be leveled off. It does say that the city turned into a plain. "Jerusalem shall be raised up and inhabited" (Zechariah 14:10). So it's still going to be up and high. That's still kind of exciting.

Yeah, verse 11, "The people shall dwell in it; and no longer shall there be utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited" (Zechariah 14:11).

I don't have the reference here, but we covered earlier in Zechariah when it said the streets would be full of boys and girls playing in the streets, you know, old men and women with their staff in their hands. This is this recurring picture of peace and prosperity and happiness.

And this is the same Jerusalem that we saw earlier would be like a heavy stone, you know, that everyone who tries to heave it away will be crushed by it. So Jerusalem is a source of contention and trouble now in this world, in this era. But it's not going to be that in the future. Not when the King is ruling there.

Having established that, though, now the prophecy is going to turn back. Remind us again of what happened leading up to that.

In verse 12, another famous prophecy, I guess.

"And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths" (Zechariah 14:12).

Wow! That's a detail that's not fun to imagine.

I'm guessing different people might have different images that they bring to mind. I can never read this and not think of that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. If you've seen that movie at the end when they open the Ark and this one, it shows this one fella and his face just melts. I saw a special effects, you know, documentary on how they did that. They actually had a mannequin made of wax and melted it. But it looks pretty realistic on the screen.

If you're younger and if you've watched the Avengers movies, you might think of Thanos with his gauntlet, snaps his hands, and there's a dissolving, people turning to dust.

The point isn't exactly how we envision it. It's the fact that when God Himself, as Jesus Christ, comes fighting against armies, it's not an even match. It's not like they're duking it out. He can just cause them to melt and vanish away. There's no contest.

And furthermore, going on to verse 13, "It shall come to pass in that day that a great panic from the Lord will be among them. Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor, and raise his hand against his neighbor’s hand;Judah also will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be gathered together: Gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance. Such also shall be the plague on the horse and the mule, on the camel and the donkey, and on all the cattle that will be in those camps. So shall this plague be” (Zechariah 14:13-15).

It seems to be largely referring to a confusion that happens among the armies. And here again, I thought of, well, in Judges chapter 7, the famous story about Gideon with his 300 men, only 300 to take on a Midianite army that's so vast they can't count them. But the 300 don't have to fight. God gets the Midianites confused and they fight against each other. That seems to be what's described here.

Similar thing is found in 2 Chronicles chapter 20. Sorry, I lost my scripture reference. In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, starting in verse 22, there's a time when Jehoshaphat is king of Judah, and he's threatened by Ammon and Moab. And God tells Jehoshaphat, hey, this battle's mine, not yours. Don't worry about soldiers. Get some singers out there.

Jehoshaphat has some singers singing. He gets the Moabites and the Ammonites confused. They fight and kill each other. That seems to be what's happening here. "Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor, and raise his hand against his neighbor’s hand" (Zechariah 14:13).

Judah might be involved in the fighting, but I'd say it's not necessary.

And starting in verse 16, we see a different image. Happily, we're going to have a contrast. We've been considering the nations coming to fight against Jesus Christ, gathering from all around, you know, the nations gathering in the Valley of Decision, as Joel calls it.

But now, after that's over, all the nations gather, this time to worship the King. They're going to gather to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

And I'm sure we've heard this read during the Feast of Tabernacles, or leading up to it many times.

"And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles" (Zechariah 14:16).

Now, some have called attention and said, well, wait a minute. What about coming up at Passover, coming up at Pentecost? I've even seen some speculation that we won't keep those Holy Days anymore. Now, I have trouble believing that. I don't expect that's the case.

But perhaps, when this time comes in the Kingdom, that the practice will be much as we do today. We keep the Spring Holy Days, and we keep Pentecost, but we keep it where we are in our own localities, and we travel for the Feast of Tabernacles.

When you think about it, it's interesting to consider how many people could come to Jerusalem to keep the Feast. You know, I heard a minister make this point once that I'd never thought of. Can everybody on the planet gather at Jerusalem? Well, maybe at first, maybe, but eventually the population is going to be way too big for everyone to be at Jerusalem.

So, I can only guess what plans Jesus Christ has. You know, maybe you'll have a lottery, you know, that you get picked to go to Jerusalem a certain year, or maybe there'll be a rotation, or there'll be something, but people from all nations will go to Jerusalem.

It's like, imagine, where are you going for the Feast this year? I'm going to Hawaii. Where are you going? I get to go to Jerusalem this year. You know, maybe not everybody gets to, but when you do, isn't that awesome?

Maybe not everybody wants to, though. You know, it says in verse 17, "And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain" (Zechariah 14:17).

So, God's going to have a strong incentive plan. I would certainly guess this is not something that's going to have to be used all that often. People will probably pretty quickly learn the benefits of worshipping God and keeping His Feast Days, and you won't have to withhold rain that much.

In verse 18, "If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain" (Zechariah 14:18).

Notice it doesn't say the family of Egypt won't come. It says, if.

Now, they've been a traditional enemy of Israel, you know, the enslaver, the oppressor. So they're a good example to call out without necessarily prophesying that it will be Egypt.

But if they don't come, they'll have no rain. "They shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles" (Zechariah 14:18).

"This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles" (Zechariah 14:19).

Matter of fact, this reminds us that in the Millennium, when much prophecy has already been fulfilled, we're still going to keep God's Holy Days, certainly the Feast of Tabernacles. There's still value in that.

Okay, in verse 20, "In that day ‘HOLINESS TO THE LORD’ shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar" (Zechariah 14:20).

"Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 14:21).

"Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them" (Zechariah 14:21).

Interestingly, this is one of those places that indicate that there's no sacrifice existing during the Millennium. Ezekiel 43 says more about it. Neither of the places tell us the why. And I don't want to take the time to discuss it now. There are various speculations of why there might be animal sacrifice in the Millennium.

The reason that would not be would be because they pay for sin. We know only Christ's sacrifice pays for sin. And the animal sacrifices were symbolic and helped to teach lessons.

I'll just speculate that perhaps there will still be a learning lesson in the Millennium for animal sacrifice for some people.

But let's just leave it at that.

"In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 14:21).

Some translations don't say Canaanite, they say merchant, which is what the Hebrew term many times really means.

I don't think God is saying, Canaanites, sorry, you can't be in the Kingdom. That doesn't match many other scriptures that say God doesn't want anyone to perish. He wants all to come to repentance.

But He doesn't want to have merchants in the house of the Lord of hosts. Think of how Jesus, when He was a human being, felt about money changers and people selling doves and animals at the temple. He drove them out.

So none of that's going to even exist in the first place in the temple during the Millennium.

Let me call attention to something I read over. Early in verse 20 it says, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD" (Zechariah 14:20).

We see that particular engraving somewhere else in God's law. And I'll give you the scripture reference. Exodus 28, verse 36. Exodus 28:36, when it's describing the garments of the high priest, it includes a gold plate that would be attached to his turban or mitre that says, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD" (Exodus 28:36).

And so the high priest has that carried on his forehead as he represents the people to God and God to the people.

I have a bit of a speculation, although it's not far-fetched. We could say, under the old sacrificial system where you had a high priest as a mediator, there was a separation between God and the people. And the sacrifices were a way to try to approach God. And people wanted to have some access to that holiness to the Eternal.

Zechariah 14 seems to be saying that when the Kingdom is established, holiness to the Eternal is commonplace. Not something just on the high priest's forehead, it's on the bells of the horses, it's on the pots in people's houses, it's everywhere.

And I want that to be the meaning. I think that's probably what it is, because I love the idea of God's holiness being commonplace, readily accessible. That's a good and exciting thing.

And that's kind of where we stop with Zechariah. Interesting book. A lot was in that, isn't it?

Remember, we started off with that one crazy night where Zechariah had eight different visions. We have a message from people about keeping holy days or fast days to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem. And then we get into these longer-term prophecies, you know, at the end of the book, looking ahead to the day of the Lord, but also the Kingdom of God and the coming of Messiah.

Whew! A lot to it.

But having said that, there's another book. My Bible is open to Zechariah, the last part of 14, and just to the right, there's the book of Malachi. Our last book of the 12 minor prophets.

So we have enough time today to begin with this. Let's talk about the five W's. These are our last W's. What do we have? Five times 12? Is that 60? So we've got, what, 60. So we've had 55 W's, we've got five left to go. Not that you have to keep count.

Okay, who wrote the book? Well, we assume that it was someone named Malachi. We don't know anything about the author of this book as a person.

The name Malachi is derived from the Hebrew word malak. Now that name should sound familiar, that word. What does it mean? Messenger. The same as angelos in Greek. So malak is often translated in the Old Testament to say angel or messenger.

In this case, malak would be, Malak or Malachi would be a human messenger, which the word can account for. Thus, this could be a title rather than a proper name, or many scholars think it's probably both. God might have inspired his parents to name him that because God knew He was going to use him as somewhat of a messenger.

Okay, we do know he's the last of the Old Testament prophets, which leads us into the question of when.

When was it written? Probably between 420 BC and 400 BC, and some people think even a little bit later. Now, if you're like me, numbers BC don't always mean a lot, but I'll say this is after the temple has been rebuilt.

So in the stories of Ezra and Nehemiah and the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, there's reference to building the temple. That's in the past now, and has been in the past for maybe even a hundred years. It's in the past long enough that it seems the priesthood has gotten comfortable and a little bit lax in doing their duties of sacrifice and maintaining the temple. We'll see that come up later.

So let's talk about where. Well, Jerusalem. Obviously, it's focused on Jerusalem, on the temple worship and the priesthood.

I'll say, as I did for the other post-exilic prophets, it's Jerusalem that's part of the Persian Empire. And it is Persia still. This is before Alexander the Great comes and leads his conquest, although it's not a long time before.

We'll talk about the why. Much of this message focuses on rebuke. God is offering correction. Maybe I shouldn't say offering. He's giving some strong correction for profaning God's religion.

So He's going to focus particularly on the priesthood, but also the other people. There is also, though, a promise of the coming Messiah, as there often is in many of the prophetic books.

Let me mention three specific faults that God condemns. There are three things that God is correcting them on.

Number one is defiling the priesthood. The priesthood was a special responsibility with special obligations. And God will take note of the priests that they were being lax. They weren't taking it seriously. They weren't honoring God the way they should.

And number two, that's all under number one. I've got just defiling the priesthood on my list, and I made up everything else. Well, I didn't make it up. It's derived from reading the book.

Number two, though, is people, men particularly, were divorcing their wives, but moreover, they were marrying women of other religions. They were getting divorced and often marrying, some translations say, pagan wives. What it means by pagan is a different religion. People that didn't know and worship the true God.

Number three, God corrects them for neglecting tithes and offerings. And that's probably a passage you'll think, you know, probably numerous times in sermons or sermonettes you've heard men turn here and say, "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!" (Malachi 3:8).

Well, "In what way have we robbed You?" (Malachi 3:8).

In tithes and offerings. God says, oh, you know, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse" (Malachi 3:10). "I will open for you the windows of heaven" (Malachi 3:10). You know, so we know that passage. This is where it is.

One of the things I'd like to point out is these points of correction are ones we should consider. All of them could apply to us if we consider our role as in the Church of being spiritual leaders. So all of the members have some responsibility, but the ministry in particular.

So in this, I'm talking to myself more than I am to you students here in the room, that we've got a responsibility that we shouldn't let the correction God gives in Malachi apply to us. And if we see ourselves in that message, we've got to make changes. So that's something, you know, well, ministry has to take to heart.

Okay, along with this, well, let's move into the what? We'll say Malachi is the last prophetic message before the era of the Messiah.

So we're going to have this, and then there's going to be a long time where there's at least no recorded prophecy. We're going to enter what we call the intertestamental period. I don't love to say that. It's hard to say, but I love the concept.

And it's really, you know, in my Bible, I've got one blank sheet between the end of Malachi and the start of Matthew. But what happened in reality is there's some hundreds of years that pass after Malachi writes and before Jesus Christ comes on the scene.

So Malachi is leading up to that time.

Now, we could say he's the last prophet, but John the Baptist is referred to by Jesus as a prophet. So Malachi is not the last prophet, but he's the last of the Old Testament.

The book is one continuous prophetic utterance, or we could say discourse. So it doesn't have separate messages where, you know, God gives this message and then a year later, here's another message. This is all one.

And it assumes the form of a dialogue. So what will happen is you'll have God will say something and He'll then say, but you say this. So God will provide both parts of it, but it's presented as, you know, God is telling you this, but you guys answer back this. Well, let me tell you that. And there's this back and forth that makes it in some ways easy to see the flow of the message and understand why God is saying what He does.

Those who study the Hebrew say Malachi was written in a direct and forceful style. So it's not great poetry. Matter of fact, a lot of it's written in prose. At least some scholars say it's prose.

In my, the edition of the Bible I have, it's formatted as though it's poetry, at least some of it. So I think, you know, if you could read Hebrew, which I can't, you might have a question whether it was meant to be poetry or not. But many scholars believe it's not. It's, what do you call prose? Non-poetry. Everyday normal writing.

Okay, other thing I want to mention before we get into the verse is that Malachi means messenger, and there are five different messengers referenced.

And rather than me writing up here very sloppily, I had my friend, Junior Maron, wrote it ahead of time.

So it's worth noting this.

The first one is Malachi himself. In chapter 1, verse 1, "The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi" (Malachi 1:1).

So he, by a messenger. So he's a messenger.

Another group of messengers would be the priesthood. Matter of fact, if you look at chapter 2, verse 7, it says, "For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 2:7).

We'll talk about that more when we go through chapter and verse, but okay, priests were meant to be messengers.

And God spends some time, as I said, correcting the priest here.

If you, well, I'm turning ahead. Chapter 3, verse 1 seems to mention two different messengers. Some people have gotten confused on this, but our understanding of the New Testament makes it more clear.

So it says, "Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me" (Malachi 3:1).

And we understand from what we see in the New Testament that that's referring to John the Baptist. This messenger will prepare the way before me, that is, before the Messiah.

"And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant" (Malachi 3:1).

So that's a different messenger. One messenger, John the Baptist, preparing the way for the Messenger of the covenant, who we understand to be Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

And so, we can say John the Baptist is a messenger for Christ. Christ is a messenger for the Father, is one way to look at that.

Okay, that's number 5, near the end of the book, chapter 4, verse 5, he says, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet" (Malachi 4:5).

Now, I am going to caution, this is one that I like to categorize as a messenger, but in the text, he's not referred to as a messenger. But we know Elijah was a messenger, and we'll discuss the symbolism here, because Jewish people have been looking for the literal Elijah to arrive ever since this was written.

And if you know their practices when they keep the Passover seder, I believe the tradition says, set a seat for Elijah, and go to the door and see if Elijah is showing up. As far as I know, he never has.

So, actually, we'll discuss this when we get there, but I'll say Jesus seems to indicate that the Elijah to come is John the Baptist. He comes in the spirit and power of Elijah.

So, I am going to admit, some people would say this should be a list of four, because John the Baptist would be listed twice. But, it's before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and Jesus Himself said, "Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished" (Matthew 17:12). That was John the Baptist.

But He said, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things" (Matthew 17:11).

So, there's, it seems to be, an Elijah to come, who's probably not the resurrected man Elijah, but another prophet who will come in the spirit and power of Elijah.

So, I believe five separate messengers is correct. There's one yet to come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

You guys should practice saying that. Great and dreadful day of the Lord is fun to say when you're thinking about what it means, maybe.

Not as fun as Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, but we've got to enjoy the Bible phrases while we can.

Okay, you all with me? We've got time to enter in. We're not going to finish this book in five minutes, that's for sure, but let's look at at least the first part.

It starts that dialogue. God says this in first person in verse 2. "I have loved you," says the Lord. Yet you say, "In what way have You loved us?" (Malachi 1:2).

Now God answers. "Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?" says the Lord. "Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated" (Malachi 1:2-3).

Now, let's stop there. I will note Paul references this in Romans 9.

So what this is showing is we see at first Israel seems to doubt God's love, or Israel, Jewish people, refuse to see it. And God is saying, no, I do love you. Think back over history.

And God is going to reference action rather than emotion. So love here isn't necessarily that warm, fuzzy feeling. And I'm not going to say that God doesn't have feelings. I think He does.

But I always like to say love is more an action by your will. You know, that shows love more than just the feelings you might have.

Okay, so in the action, He chose Jacob.

Now when it says, "Esau I have hated" (Malachi 1:3), you know that, and sometimes we've said in the Bible, the word hate really means love less by comparison. That's probably not what it means here, but it also doesn't mean loathing, despising.

What it means is like a legal rejection. So I legally rejected Esau.

How is Esau rejected? He did not get the blessing of the firstborn, the birthright. Instead, that was given to Jacob.

So God rejected Esau from the role of the firstborn. He gave it to Jacob, and that's how He's showing the love.

And it goes on to say, "I laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness" (Malachi 1:3).

"Even though Edom has said, ‘We have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places,’ thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘They may build, but I will throw down; they shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever’" (Malachi 1:4).

Let me finish the thought in verse 5. "Your eyes shall see, and you shall say, ‘The Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel’" (Malachi 1:5).

You know, God's will is being done not just with this one nation, Israel. He's working in other places, too, even though it's not always seen.

What is this talking about, though? Well, some of it might be reminding us that, you know, Edom as a nation was conquered by Babylon at the same time that Judah was conquered by Babylon. And 70 years later, Judah was allowed to return.

The Edomites would work to reestablish their kingdom, but never had the same success. And what little they did, actually, it seems that the Maccabees, when they had the revolt against the Seleucids, they squashed that.

So, Edom is in an interesting situation as a group of people. I've got a reference to Isaiah chapter 63 and other places. You know, the whole book of Obadiah is about Edom, and God never seems to have anything good to say about Edom as a nation.

Now, I'd like to think individual Edomites might have been okay with God. I believe they're all going to come up in the Second Resurrection. I don't think Edomites are just written off.

But as far as the here and now and, you know, day-to-day, God seems to, you know, how all that... It seems they don't have blessings, the same ones that Israel would have.

You know, I really thought I might get all the way through chapter 2 of Malachi. I've taken my time. I'm not going as fast today as some other days.

And I'm saying that because I think it might be best to stop here, because we're starting a new thought within this dialogue. And I don't want to start it and have to rush to get through it.

So I think we'll save that for next time. So in our next session, we'll pick up with Malachi chapter 1, verse 6.

And we'll see there's a lot of interesting things in Malachi, which, as I said, have lessons for us as Christians today that we want to focus on.

So thanks for your time and attention. We'll pick up from there next time.