Malachi 4:5-6: Behold the New Day
Christmas Friday, December 29, 2023
As we move from through the Christmas season, let us decide to make our hopes tangible, our dreams a prayer for our reality, our faith unwavering and our love secure. Let us cleave to the Creator, follow the Redeemer and rest in the Spirit. This week let us give one another the gift of preparing for the very real promise of eternity.
The prophet Malachi communicates God’s words to us.
Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse. (NASB)
Elijah was able to perform miracles just as Jesus did in his own day and even in this present time. Malachi advises that we might want to look forward in hope rather than backward in fear.
But also look ahead: I’m sending Elijah the prophet to clear the way for the Big Day of God—the decisive Judgment Day! He will convince parents to look after their children and children to look up to their parents. If they refuse, I’ll come and put the land under a curse. (MSG)
That day is great for some and dreadful for others. As followers of Christ we are convinced that God’s “greatness” is with us in every moment and in every place. We are also convinced that Jesus searches for every last sheep, for every hard heart, for every broken soul.
Behold I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers: lest I come, and strike the earth with anathema. (DRA)
And as followers of Christ, we are also convinced that the Spirit works to remove all anathema, to heal all destruction and to bring about complete transformation for all.
But before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes, I will send you the prophet Elijah. He will bring fathers and children together again; otherwise I would have to come and destroy your country. (GNT)
Malachi calls out to us across the millennia: Behold, Emmanuel is among you. Awake. Rise up. And Malachi asks that we give witness to the enormity of the gift we find in our hands, the gift of God’s infinite peace, Christ’s overflowing compassion, and the Spirit’s miraculous renewal.
When we compare varying versions of these verses, we behold the enormity of God’s gift that we receive without asking.
N.B. Some versions of Malachi number this citation as 3:23-24.
For more about Malachi, the last of the minor prophets, or Elijah, the prophet who life is described in the Books of Kings, click on their names and/or images above.
Images from: https://www.ncregister.com/blog/the-feast-of-st-malachi and
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