Malachi was the last prophetic voice before the dawning of the New Covenant age. The Jewish Rabbis later recognised that Malachi’s prophecy was the last and so they sealed their collection of prophetic writings in what we now know as the Old Testament. But, though there would follow a silent period of nearly four hundred and fifty years, God promised that the prophetic voice would return. God assured his people, through Malachi, that he would send a prophet, like Elijah, to announce the dawning of the new age. And so, the people waited for this prophet to come. Then one day around 27AD a man came from the desert, dressed in the same clothes worn by Elijah. He came exactly as Malachi had predicted, to announce the dawning of the Messianic age. This man, John the Baptist, called his people to repentance because, as Malachi had warned, the Lord was about to return to his temple, and he was going to call them to trial. God was coming to them as a man, to establish his Kingdom on earth and ultimately to bring about final judgement upon all evil. In the meantime, the Jews from Malachi’s day onwards would have to do what many people throughout the Biblical history had to do. They would have to wait. They would have to remain faithful and keep the fire burning. What happened in the next few hundred years is an amazing story and one that I will relate over the final days of this issue. It shows that waiting certainly does not imply inactivity. Times of waiting for God are times when faith must be exercised more intensely and diligently than ever.
Ask God to give you the strength to persevere in the faith.
Read Malachi 3:16-4:6
