Here God moves the conversation from the present, which is all the remnant cared about, to the future. This is prophetic imagery. It is not a detailed timeline of the end, and faithful Christians hold different views about the particulars. But the imagery makes some...
Ancient empires did not only keep records; they kept treasure. When a city was conquered, its wealth was carried into the royal storehouses and absorbed into the general fund. But now and then something caught the emperor’s eye, and he set it aside for his...
The remnant complained that God was not paying attention. Malachi answers that he was paying very close attention. He heard the grumbling, and he heard the quiet conversations of the faithful. But his response to the few was different. A book of remembrance was...
After chapters of rebuke, one small word changes the mood of the book: “Then.” In the middle of a bitter and apathetic remnant, a small pocket of people responded differently. Those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. Malachi does not record what...
Malachi ends the way it began, with God speaking and his people arguing back. This is the last of the book’s disputations, and it sounds almost exactly like the complaint of Malachi 2:17: the wicked seem to do well, so where is the God of justice? But there is a...
