(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see why)
Focus Question:
What always accompanies promises of God’s love?
Intro:
Take a step back 2000 years. It’s a few nights before Jesus is born (or let’s pretend it is). Not exactly a lot of people yet know what’s about to happen.
For the rest of those waiting for the promised Messiah, the one promised to be from the line of King David some 950 or so years before, the last time they had experienced a prophet was… pop quiz! Malachi. Approximately four hundred years before.
Can you imagine waiting? Patiently? Faithfully?
Today I hope you listen more closely than usual, because I could not have lined up our texts better if I’d tried. And our focus question — What always accompanies promises of God’s love? — should be pretty obvious.
NEW TESTAMENT SEGMENT:
Well, in our NT segment today we hear the author continue his argument that Jesus is the ultimate and final high priest, but notice who does the calling. You’ll hear it again today.
Passage: Hebrews 5
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 14
Words: ~319
OLD TESTAMENT SEGMENT:
Malachi was a prophet and a preacher called to minister to a diverse crowd. His audience included doubters (1:2–3), cynics (1:7; 2:2), the cold-hearted (2:16), cheaters (3:5), the indifferent (3:14–15), faithful (3:16–18), and the openly wicked (4:1). What does God’s prophet say to this flock?(1)
Passage: Malachi
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 55
Words: ~1738
Malachi’s message is a variation on an old prophetic theme: God’s covenant love for Israel (1:2–3). As a stern prophet, he rebukes and warns priests and people alike of God’s impending judgment (3:2–4, 17–18; 4:1). As a compassionate pastor, he calls his audience to repentance and closes his sermon with words of encouragement and hope (2:10; 3:7; 4:1–3).(1)
Wisdom SEGMENT:
We close our Bible reading with Psalm 2 which is undergirded by the Davidic covenant.
Passage: Psalm 2
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 12
Words: ~197
The bottom line:
What always accompanies promises of God’s love? For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, right? But John goes on to write
Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. Jn 3:18–19, CSB
Malachi’s contemporaries may have been free from blatant idolatry (though see 2:11) and relatively orthodox in their beliefs, but theirs had become a dead orthodoxy. They were all too ready to make ethical compromises and to dilute the strenuous demands of proper worship. In response to the cynicism and religious malaise of his contemporaries, Malachi’s prophecy comes as a wake-up call to renewed covenant fidelity…(2)
The Davidic king is the Lord’s anointed (Messiah) and receives the whole world as His domain. All the peoples of the earth are warned to submit to Him. The royal house of Judah obviously never ruled the whole world; the fulfillment is in the greater Son of David, Christ.(2)
…and the lesson — and warning for us — is,
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. Heb 4:14-16
That, my friends, is good news.
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) D. A. Carson, ed., NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 1654.
(2) Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1771.
(3) David S. Dockery, ed., Holman Bible Handbook (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1992), 328.