Malachi 4: 1-6 The coming of John the Baptist

¹ “^[a]For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” ² “But for you who ^[b]fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. ³ You will tread down the wicked, for they will bashes under the soles of your feet on the day ^[c]which I am preparing,” says the LORD of hosts.

⁴ “^[d] Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.

⁵ “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. ⁶ He will ^[e]restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a^[f]curse.”

We now conclude the Old Testament with the introduction of the last Old Testament prophet found in John the Baptist. He was the one who had the spirit of Elijah and made the way straight for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In him, men and women are made right with God and we are now being introduced to the New Covenant which is based on faith apart from the Law of Moses.

Daily Prayer: Lord, thank you for the sending of the son to reconcile me to you. Apart from me, I can do nothing and apart from you I am spiritually dead. Lift me up as one who gives testimony of your deeds, your work, and your righteousness. In your holy name I pray Amen.

Malachi 3: 8-10, 12-14 Will a man rob God?

⁸ “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings you have robbed me. ⁹ You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts. ¹³ “Your words have been arrogant against me,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’ ¹⁴ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts?

Their day and our day are no different. We say without lips that we trust in him, yet many do not give a tenth of their earnings to a local church. You say that a tithe is Old Testament, but we have already discovered that the Lord our God does not change. But we are not only commanded to give a tenth of our earnings to the Lord, but our call is for time, talent, and treasure. God has always been faithful, but our greed runs so deep, we sell off God for a few dollars in the pocket. If we trusted in God, we would learn what it is like to receive blessing from him out of his resources and not from them.

Daily Prayer: Let me let go of those things you have already given me, and allow me to give them back to you. I came into this world without treasure, and I will leave it in the same way. Jesus says, if the father takes care of the birds of the sky, how much more will he take care of you? Let is learn from these words. In your holy name I pray Amen.

Malachi 3: 5-6 the Lord in the postmodern age

“For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

⁷ “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

In our postmodern age, we find people asking questions like, "Is God different than he used to be? It seems that the God of wrath lived in the Old Testament, but the God of love is the God of the New Testament." Be advised, "For I, the Lord, do not change." We also then can decide that God is not more tolerant than he once was. So why do we come up with these ideas that are contrary to the Bible? It is because we come to God in the flesh and not in the spirit. Jesus tells us that when we pray, come to the father in spirit and in truth. Pleasing God is not possible until we make the personal decision to surrender to him and trust only in him.

Daily Prayer: Father, strengthen me in my spirit so that I no longer rely on my own power to live a godly life. Let me not be a man pleaser, but instead be one who pleases God. Following in the footsteps of Jesus, let me die to myself, so that I can live to life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.

Malachi 1: 1-4 the Lord chose Israel & Zion

¹ The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.

² “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob; ³ but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.” ⁴ Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.”

To the human eye, it sometimes appears that God is not fair. The Lord chooses Jacob, but rejects Esau, even though Esau is the first-born. We must remember that God does and He pleases. God builds up, and also tears down. He makes alive, but also kills. God’s ways are not man's ways. His thoughts are not man's thoughts. As far as the heaven is above the earth, so far different He is from us. Yet we know God is all-knowing, sovereign, and just. We must conclude that we must trust Him, because the pot cannot question the wisdom of the potter.

Daily Prayer: Father builds faith in those you have chosen. Let us not question you, but instead obey you. It is good to know that you know the beginning from the end and that you always are faithful to us. In your holy name I pray Amen.

Zechariah 14: 1-4, 16-17 The Return of Lord Jesus & His Reign

¹ Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. ² For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. ³ Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as ^[a]when He fights on a day of battle. Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.

Jesus now returns to the same place from which he ascended which is the Mount of Olives, It is there where Mt. Zion is split which is the foretasted sign of his authority. The Chosen People and the nations will worship and pay homage to their King, and whosoever does not honor the Son will bring upon themselves the plagues and curses of old. This is the fulfillment of God making Jesus's enemies a footstool for him.

Daily Prayer: Nobody can usurp the authority of the king. By grace and in righteousness he rules and I now have accepted his authority, even before his return. I wait patiently for him to fulfill his promises. In his holy name I pray Amen.

Daily Prayer:

Zechariah 12: 3, 10-11 Jerusalem will be a weighty stone:

"It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. All the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. I will pour out on the house of David the spirit of grace and supplication, so that they will look on me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn."

These verses refer to a contemporary future where there will be battle over the Holy Land. God has given Palestine the Promised Land, and though many will seek to take it from her, God will be faithful according to his covenant. In the latter days, Jews will have spiritual darkness and hardened lifted and they will weep over having crucified their King.

Daily Prayer: Holy father, we look for the imminent return of the rightful king. In that day, all things will be made right, and all who have persevered for our Savior will see their reward. In Jesus name I pray Amen.

Zechariah 12: 3, 10-11 Jerusalem & Judah to be a heavey burden