MALACHI 1-4: DAY 335 JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR

December 1, 2023

MALACHI 1-4
DAY 335 JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
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Focus Verse For Today: Malachi 2:13-16

Today, we both begin and conclude our journey through the book of Malachi. Malachi is the final book of prophecy in the Old Testament. He is the final prophet recorded until John the Baptist. Little is known of Malachi. He prophesied well after the return of the Israelites, as the temple had been rebuilt, along with a wall surrounding the city. However, Israel had fallen back into the same patterns that had led them into exile.

Ask the Lord for His understanding of Malachi 1-4. Read Malachi 1-4. Let’s journey!

Malachi 1-4: Malachi begins with a brief introduction and then expands upon the numerous ways the Israelites have fallen away from the Lord and broken the covenant they had made with Him. The priests have led the Israelites into their sins. The Israelites have married pagan women, accepted what is evil, withheld tithes and offerings to the Lord, and spoken arrogantly against the Lord. Malachi notes that there was a small remanent that heard and listened, but that rest would face judgment. Malachi ends with the foretelling of John the Baptist being the next prophet to appear. (Malachi 1:1-4:6)

Our focus verses for today:

13 Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
15 Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.
(Malachi 2:13-16, NIV)

Marriage, as ordained by the Lord, is a lasting bond between one man and one woman. It is a holy union. It is representative of the holy union between the Lord and His church, us. The idea of a holy marriage is under attack by the secular world through the popularization of divorces, homosexuality, having children outside of marriage, and affairs. Examine your views on marriage and its importance. Does it line up with how the Lord views marriage?

Godspeace!