As we come to the end of the Old Testament it is worth noting that it remains entirely unresolved. All of the key promises from Moses and the prophets remain unfulfilled. God’s people, who were supposed to cover the earth with God’s light, remain a discouraged minority in the backwaters of a massive empire. The Davidic dynasty had been discontinued even though God had assured its continuation. The prophets had announced the coming of God’s king of whom, in Malachi’s time up to that of Herod, there was no sign. The great outpouring of God’s Spirit had not taken place. The glory of God had not returned to Israel. Everything is up in the air at this point. As a sacred canon of Scripture, the Old Testament, or what the Jews call the ‘Tanakh,’ is strangely incomplete. It is begging for completion. Today, over 2,400 years after the time of Malachi, if one were to discard the New Testament, one is left with little hope. There is good news however: the promises of Moses and the prophets were remarkably fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ and we have the New Testament to make that fulfilment explicit. In fact, the Old Testament promises were fulfilled in a way that would have been impossible to fabricate. Even now, these promises are continuing to be fulfilled as the light of the Gospel of Christ spreads throughout the whole world. The influence of Christ in this world, though still incomplete, is nevertheless beyond what any Old Testament prophet could have imagined. God is faithful. He always completes what he begins. Step into his purpose today and THRIVE.
Ask God to fulfil his purpose in and through you.
Read 1 Peter 1:3-12
