This also brings us to the end of our study in the Minor Prophets.

Throughout the Minor Prophets we have seen God’s faithfulness to the Nation of Israel, keeping His covenant with the nation that had been given to Abraham; yet God is a just God and Israel, before being restored, must be judged for her sins as a nation.

Malachi draws all of this to a close and calls for a people who will offer sincere offerings from the heart out of a love for the God that has called and chosen them.

Malachi also introduces us to two great voices who will ‘prepare the way of the LORD’. Firstly, John the Baptist, who prepared the way at Christ’s first advent, and then Elijah who will return and prepare the way for Christ’s 2nd Advent!

May you be blessed and  encouraged by this study.

(The PowerPoint slides used in this study are available for free download)

The post Malachi Ch3-4 first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

Malachi (whose name means ‘my messenger’) comes onto the scene around 60 years after the Jews had returned from the captivity in Babylon. Dr Chuck Missler comments:

• “The Temple was rebuilt; priestly worship carried on; but the people had fallen into spiritual decline, and their attitudes developed later into the sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees”

Malachi, as God’s messenger to the people challenges the people’s apathy and idolatry. God is a God of love, so much so that Malachi refers to God’s love for Israel as a burden, but God is also a God of justice and cannot condone of overlook sin.

Malachi warns the people that God’s judgment is coming. Only after that will they once again return to the LORD and walk in His blessing.

Malachi is the third & last of the post-exile prophets (Haggai and Zechariah being the other two).

–Written around 486-464 B.C.

• His name means ‘My messenger’
• Jewish tradition states that Malachi was a member of the “Great Synagogue,“ and a Levite from Supha, in Zebulun
• Through Malachi God speaks one more time to the nation before the ‘big day’
• Israel had become apathetic, entering into mixed marriages & withheld that which should have been given to the LORD

The message of Malachi could just as easily have been written directly to us:

• God has delivered us from out captivity
• Do we now think we can just live and worship in the way we please?
• Have we become apathetic?
• Have we entered into mixed marriages with the things of this world?
• Have we withheld from God that which we should have given Him?
• Maybe God is speaking to us one last time before our ‘big day’?

The outline of the book is as follows:

• Introduction 1:1
• God’s unchanging love for His own 1:2-5
• The total failure of the priests 1:6-2:9

–The priests should preserve knowledge!

• Their failure to value covenants 2:10-16

–Their covenant with God, symbolised by the covenant of marriage

• The Messiah’s coming in judgment 2:17-3:6
• Israel’s sin yet future restoration 3:7-18
• The coming & mission of Elijah 4:1-5

May you be blessed and encouraged by this study.

The post Malachi Ch1-2 first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

In this session – the last in our journey through the Old Testament – Pastor Barry gives us an overview of the last four minor prophets, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.

Zephaniah, the great grandson of king Hezakiah, is the last of the pre-exile prophets. 17 times he records “I will” statements of the LORD mainly in regard to the coming judgment, yet like Joel also speaks of “the day of the LORD”.  Thus we see his prophesies span history, speaking to the then current situation in Israel, but also speaking with clarity into our days.

Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are the three post-exile prophets, speaking to the small remnant who returned from captivity in Babylon. Haggai has possibly the shortest recorded ministry of any of the prophets, speaking to the nation for just 4 months, but in that short time, what a impact this man of God had on a people who had been more interested in building their own houses than building the house of the LORD!

Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai, and may well have been stirred by Haggai’s preaching, for two months after Haggai delivered his first sermon, Zechariah began his prophetic ministry. He encouraged the people to spiritual renewal, helping to motivate them to rebuild the temple by revealing to them God’s plans for Israel’s future.

Through Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, God speaks one more time to the nation before the ‘big day’ – the day of the coming Messiah! But rather than just being addressed to Israel, Malachi’s message is as relevant to us today as it was then. Have we become apathetic like Israel had done? Have we entered into mixed marriages with the things of this world? Have we withheld from God that which we should have given Him?

Maybe God is speaking to us one last time before our ‘big day’?

May this overview prompt you to undertake your own study of these divinely inspired books.

The PDF slides are from the PowerPoint presentation used during the teaching session.
You can listen to the audio on this web page, or save it for later listening.

The post Session 31 – Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.