Promises Made, Promises Kept

"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me." Malachi 3:1

This promise to send a messenger is repeated in chapter 4:5 which reads, "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers..."

Promise made, promise kept. In Luke 1, we have the record of the angel Gabriel speaking to the priest Zechariah in the temple. Gabriel was sent with this message: "Your wife Elizabeth (who was too old to bear children and was barren during possible child bearing years) will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you and many will rejoice because of his birth...Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." 

John the Baptist did exactly that as he pleaded with the people of his day to repent, change their minds and hearts to be ready to receive the next Messenger and His message. The command to repent now comes to all people everywhere, including you and me, until we think and act like Jesus (Acts 17:30 and Philippians 2:5). 

Picking up the rest of the verse of Malachi 3:1, the Lord said through the prophet Malachi, "Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire will come," says the Lord Almighty.

What message does this Messenger come with? His message is: God loves you and has sent me to take away the sins of the world by my life, death, and resurrection from the dead. In order to communicate that message, the Messenger came as a speechless baby, born in Bethlehem. When he grew up, he told us all that the Father gave him to tell us both through his words and by his actions. 

He came to establish the covenant as first revealed to Abraham. At the heart of the covenant is the gracious promise, "I will be your God!" Every other blessing he can give is inside those four words, "I will be your God."

The rest of the covenant is: "You will be my people." So we belong to him, body and soul, both in life and in death. We are his property. He may do with us whatever he pleases. And he pleases to bless us and make us to be a blessing.

It is for us to embrace this Messenger and the message he brings. Then, to spread this message in every language to the ends of the earth until the end of time, according to Jesus' Great Commission. We each need to recognize our place in this work of God. 

Then after the message has gone to all nations, the end will come. The task is sure to be finished with or without our help, and the end is sure to come! Then the Messenger will return with power and great glory. It is for us to be ready, and help others get ready for that great Day of the Lord!

Glory to God alone!