In our last few blogs, we have been accumulating names associated with the returning exiles after 70 years in Babylonian captivity. These names included the prophets Haggai and Zachariah, in addition to Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the High Priest, both of whom were commissioned by God to oversee the rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. As a result of their encouragement, after completing the altar of sacrifice, they eventually completed the temple in 516 B.C. But even though the temple was completed, the walls of Jerusalem were still in ruins. And that’s when, in 444 B.C., God called Nehemiah to leave his home in Persia and go to the land of Israel (he was born in exile) and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Amazingly, it took just 52 days to complete.

After the temple was completed, sacrifices were being offered daily and at the prescribed times of the year. However, as the years passed, the priests began to tire of their duties, and as a result, moral corruption crept into their worship of God. Malachi’s prophecy addresses many of the evils that Nehemiah faced when he was rebuilding the walls, namely, corruption of the priesthood, neglect of tithes and offerings, and intermarriage with pagan wives. Most Bible scholars place Malachi’s prophecy at around 425 B.C., almost a hundred years after Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the people to finish rebuilding the temple. Thus, Malachi is the last prophet in the Old Testament, and it would be another 450 years until John the Baptist would announce the coming of the Messiah. We call these years the “silent years,” where there was no further prophecy in Israel.

Prophesying during the days of Nehemiah, Malachi, whose name means “Messenger of Yahweh,” directed his message of judgment to a people plagued with corrupt priests and pride over the fact that they, as Israelites, possessed a privileged relationship with God. Using a unique method of communication, Malachi asks a series of questions and then answers them in the way the priests and the people would have answered. Let’s look at this method of communication directly from the prophet himself,

“You have wearied the LORD with your words, yet you say, ‘How have we wearied Him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,’ or, ‘Where is the God of justice?’ Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the LORD, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,’ says the LORD of hosts’” (Mal. 2:17-3:1).

In this section of Malachi’s prophecy, we see some familiar responses in our own society, which sadly, is becoming more and more corrupt with each passing year. The people were saying that everyone who does evil is actually doing good in the sight of the LORD, and in fact, also saying that God even delights in those evil practices. The “messenger” whom God would send to the people would be someone you are likely familiar with. Let’s see how Malachi describes his coming,

“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse” (Mal. 4:5-6).

Let’s talk about Elijah for a moment. Elijah was the Old Testament prophet, hundreds of years before the days of Malachi, who “defeated” the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel and then ran from Jezebel to Mt. Horeb. Furthermore, there is no record of him dying or being buried, as Elijah “…went up into the sky by a whirlwind” (2 Kings 2:11). Some translations suggest that he went up to heaven, but “whirlwinds” don’t reach into heaven, and furthermore, no one was going to heaven before Jesus got there to prepare it for them. So, the best explanation is that God simply “took him,” just like He did with Enoch in the Book of Genesis (Gen. 5:22-24) and buried him at some undisclosed location. Let’s explore this a bit more.

Throughout the Old Testament, and even through Jesus’ ministry on earth, all those who died went into Hades, the “abode of the dead.” And in Hades, Jesus explained that there were two compartments, a “righteous” compartment and an “unrighteous” compartment. Furthermore, in the parable of “The Rich Man and Lazarus,” Jesus said that there was a gulf between the two that no one could cross (Lk. 16:19-31). Hence, once in Hades, there was no leaving or transferring from one compartment to another, as all awaited the “Resurrection on the Last Day.” More on that at another time.

The lack of a “burial site” for Elijah generated the belief that Elijah would one day return and usher in the Messiah. And remember, it was Elijah, along with Moses, who appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt. 17:1-13). That’s when the disciples asked about Elijah coming to “restore all things” as was the common belief among the people, including the scribes and Pharisees. That’s when Jesus told His disciples,

“I say to you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished…Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist” (Mt. 17:11-13).

How do we explain this? Clearly, John the Baptist was not the actual Elijah of the Old Testament, but Jesus wanted us to understand that John came in the “spirit and power of Elijah,” the great Old Testament prophet who always spoke the truth regardless of the circumstances. In fact, before John was even born, an angel appeared to his father, Zacharias, and said,

“And he will turn back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Lk. 1:16-17).

Friends, may we all realize that John the Baptist was the one chosen to “prepare the way” for the Messiah. He consistently announced His coming and recognized that Jesus was the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn. 1:29). After baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River, John realized that he and “his ministry” must “decrease” so that Jesus and His ministry could “increase.” He spoke the truth, and yet humbled himself before God and fulfilled his calling. May we do likewise.

Furthermore, let’s not be like the people of Israel during Malachi’s day, people who turned evil into good, and good into evil. Let’s be sure that we heed the teachings of the Lord who came to not only teach us, but to redeem us from the penalty and power of sin. Let’s honor God with our tongues and with our lives, and fulfill our calling to become more like Him in every aspect of our lives.

May the Lord bless each one of you.