Malachi, a Prophet for the End Times

[Keraz]

Malachi 1:2-5 I have shown you love, but you ask: How have You shown love to us? The Lord answers: Jacob, [Israel] I love, but Esau, [Edom] I hate. Edom is a people of wickedness, a people with whom the Lord is angry forever. I have reduced his ancestral lands to desert pastures. Your own eyes see it and you say: The Lord is sovereign over all.
Malachi 1:6-14 The Lord requires thank offerings given in honesty and truth. A curse on those who cheat Him, by holding back their best. Acts 5:1-10

Malachi 2:1-9 Now, you pastors, Rabbis and leaders; this decree is for you. Unless you listen to My Word and honour My Name, I shall lay a curse on you and banish you from My presence. People are instructed by their leaders, because they are the Lord’s messengers, But now you have turned away from right teachings and caused many to stumble with your instruction. So now, I will degrade you in the sight of the people, because you disregard My ways and make your own interpretation of My Law.

Malachi 2:10-12 Have we not only one Father and Creator? Why then do we violate the Covenant of our forefathers? Judah and Israel are faithless, they do abominable things and go after foreign gods. May the Lord banish from His Land those who do these things, even though they bring offerings to Him.

Malachi 2:13-16 You weep and moan at the Lord’s altar, but wonder why He refuses to listen to you. Here is why; it is because you have broken faith with the spouse of your youth, even though she/he is your partner by solemn covenant. God wants you to rear godly children, so keep faithful to your spouse.

Malachi 2:17 You have wearied the Lord with your talk. You ask: How have we wearied Him? By saying: All evildoers are good and asking: Where is the God of Justice?
Malachi 3:1-4 I am about to send a messenger, to clear the way before Me. Suddenly, the Lord, whom you seek will come to His Holy place. The messenger of the Covenant, in whom you delight, he shall come. But who can endure the Day of the Lord’s appearing? He is like a refiners fire, testing and purifying, he will refine His priests so that they will be fit to bring offerings to the Lord. Then those offerings will be pleasing to Him, as they were in years long past.

Malachi 3:5-7 I shall appear before you in judgement and will testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who cheat workers of their wage, who do wrong to the helpless, who push foreigners aside and all who do not fear Me. I, the Lord, do not change and you, My people, have not ceased to be the descendants of Jacob. Ever since the days of your forefathers, you have been wayward and have not kept My Laws. if you come back to Me, then I shall return to you.

Malachi 3:8-12 You ask: How can we return? Because you have defrauded Me over your tithes and offerings, there is a curse on your entire nation. Put Me to the test; if you bring the whole tithe into My treasury, so that it fills with true gifts of righteousness, then I will pour blessings on you as long as there is a need. I will stop pests and diseases from affecting your crops and livestock and yours will be a favoured Land, envied by other nations.

Malachi 3:13-15 You have spoken bad things about Me, you ask: What bad things? You have said: to serve God is futile. What do we gain from the Lord by observing His rules and behaving with humble submission? We think the rich and proud are happy and evildoers prosper, for they disobey God and come to no harm.
Malachi 3:16-18 Then, those who respected the Lord and kept His commandments, talked together and the Lord paid heed and listened. A record was written before Him of all those people. They will be Mine, says the Lord Y’hovah, My own possession on the appointed Day and I will spare them as a man spares the son who serves him. Once more, you will be able to tell the good person from the godless and the servant of God from those who do not serve Him.

Malachi 4:1-3 The Day comes – burning like a furnace, all the arrogant people and the evildoers will be as stubble, for that Day will come and burn them up, leaving them without stock or posterity. But for you, who respect My Name, the glory of righteousness will come to you and heal and save you. You will break loose like calves released from their pens. On the Day that I take action, all wicked peoples will be as ashes under your feet.

Malachi 4:4-6 Remember the Laws I gave to all Israel through My servant, Moses. Now, look, I shall send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible Day of the Lord’s vengeance and wrath comes. He will reconcile the families, [of Judah and Israel] so as to avoid My curse on the Land.
Ref: REB. Some verses abridged

God chose Jacob [Israel] to be His people – a nation to be ‘a light to other nations’, a people who would spread the good news of the coming Kingdom of the Lord. Jacob’s sons split into two Houses; the House of Judah, who have maintained their identity and the House of Israel, who are still ‘lost’; dispersed among the nations. This is how God planned it to be, however from the historical record, archaeological finds, linguistic matches and heraldic signs, we have a fair idea of who and where they are.
The peoples descended from Esau/Edom, those who inhabit the ‘desert pastures’, have kept their hatred of Jacobs descendants and now, in our times, threaten Israel and the Western world with war and disaster. Micah 4:11-12

Sadly, the leaders of His people have not kept to the right teachings and the people do ‘abominable things’. They lust after other gods and think that God no longer cares about them or His creation. But those people who do keep faithful to the one true God, will have their names written in the Book of Life and will be spared on the ‘appointed Day’.
That Day ‘comes burning like a furnace’, this is the fire judgement, the next prophesied event, the Lord’s Day of vengeance and wrath. It is clearly told to us, in Isaiah 30:26 that it is a coronal mass ejection, an explosion of the suns surface, that will ‘burn up all evildoers’. It will be the fulfilment of Psalm 83; the punishment on the Edomite alliance who commence an attack onto the holy land. .

But it is also the Day of redemption and healing for His people, they will then ‘break loose’, and Elijah will reconcile all twelve tribes of Israel. They will then gather and enter the cleared and cleansed Holy Land, in order to fulfil their destiny.

 

[Keraz]

Malachi 4:1-6 This prophecy deals with what will happen to the people of Judah; the Jews and Israel; the Christians, in the last days. Read and carefully consider his Words:

For lo, the sun comes, glowing like a furnace and all the audacious sinners and all the perpetrators of wickedness will be like stubble. And the Day that comes shall burn them up... But the sun [Son] of mercy shall rise with healing in its wings for you who fear My Name...

Soon to happen, God will use the sun; the wicked will be judged by fire and all the faithful believers will be protected by Jesus. Isaiah 30:26-30, Psalms 50:1-6
It will be the Sixth Seal worldwide disaster; Revelation 6:12-17, that will commence all the end time events, leading up to Jesus Returning as world Ruler.

Keep in remembrance the teaching of Moses, My servant, and the laws and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.
The prophet tells them in the name of God; ‘Remember forever the Commandments of Moses, My servant: in every time and situation.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the Lord, that he may return the heart of the fathers through the children, and the heart of the children through their fathers — lest I come and smite the earth with utter destruction.

This means that to prevent a situation in which God will have to come and destroy the earth, He will send Elijah the prophet to arouse people to repentance.
As individuals choose to obey, they will merit to be counted among those who fear My Name and their names will be Written in the Book of Life. Malachi 3:16-17

The above prophecy “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet ... that he may return the heart of the fathers…” means that Elijah’s role to provide spiritual assistance to people living in this World, will take on immense proportions before the great and terrible Day of God’s fiery wrath and he will awaken the heart of people to repentance.

Indeed, what other convincing explanation is there for the wonderful commitment to the faith in these days, in which many youths and young adults are tenaciously swimming against the stream of hedonism and lusts which are part of our modern culture.

Elijah will return the heart of fathers; to the Almighty, through the children, by the children. They will show their parents by their joy and love; the right way to live.

Throughout Jewish and Christian history, the parents responsibility was to educate their children to observe Torah, the Bible and its Commandments. To say that a time will come when the children will teach their parents to repent, seems absurd.

But now, we see many parents becoming religious by the example of their children. “He will return the heart of fathers to the Almighty through the children.”

There is very little time left now, for people to repent and have their names Written in the Book of Life. The forthcoming great and terrible Day of the Lord’s fiery wrath, prophesied over 100 times in the Bible, is near and coming fast. Zephaniah 1:14-18

 

[Jay Ross]

Perhaps we should actually read the actual text instead of keraz paraphrased version.

39 The Book of MALACHI
Polluted Offerings to God

1:1 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.

Israel Beloved of God

2 "I have loved you," says the Lord.
"Yet you say, 'In what way have You loved us?'
Was not Esau Jacob's brother?"
Says the Lord.
"Yet Jacob I have loved;
3 But Esau I have hated,
And laid waste his mountains and his heritage
For the jackals of the wilderness."
4 Even though Edom has said,
"We have been impoverished,
But we will return and build the desolate places,"

Thus, says the Lord of hosts:

"They may build, but I will throw down;
They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness,
And the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever.
5 Your eyes shall see,
And you shall say,
'The Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel.'

Polluted Offerings

6 "A son honours his father,
And a servant his master.
If then I am the Father,
Where is My honour?
And if I am a Master,
Where is My reverence?
Says the Lord of hosts
To you priests who despise My name.
Yet you say, 'In what way have we despised Your name?'

7 "You offer defiled food on My altar,
But say,
'In what way have we defiled You?'
By saying,
'The table of the Lord is contemptible.'
8 And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice,
Is it not evil?
And when you offer the lame and sick,
Is it not evil?
Offer it then to your governor!
Would he be pleased with you?
Would he accept you favourably?"
Says the Lord of hosts.

9 "But now entreat God's favour,
That He may be gracious to us.
While this is being done by your hands,
Will He accept you favourably?"
Says the Lord of hosts.

10 "Who is there even among you who would shut the doors,
So that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain?
I have no pleasure in you,"
Says the Lord of hosts,
"Nor will I accept an offering from your hands.
11 For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down,
My name shall be great among the Gentiles;
In every place incense shall be offered to My name,
And a pure offering;
For My name shall be great among the nations,"
Says the Lord of hosts.

12 "But you profane it,
In that you say,
'The table of the Lord is defiled;
And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.'
13 You also say,
'Oh, what a weariness!'
And you sneer at it,"
Says the Lord of hosts.
"And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick;
Thus, you bring an offering!
Should I accept this from your hand?"
Says the Lord.
14 "But cursed be the deceiver
Who has in his flock a male,
And takes a vow,
But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished —
For I am a great King,"
Says the Lord of hosts,
"And My name is to be feared among the nations.

Continued below: -

 

[Jay Ross]

Continued from #5

Corrupt Priests
2:1 "And now, O priests, this commandment is for you.
2 If you will not hear,
And if you will not take it to heart,
To give glory to My name,"
Says the Lord of hosts,
"I will send a curse upon you,
And I will curse your blessings.
Yes, I have cursed them already,
Because you do not take it to heart.

3 "Behold, I will rebuke your descendants
And spread refuse on your faces,
The refuse of your solemn feasts;
And one will take you away with it.
4 Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you,
That My covenant with Levi may continue,"
Says the Lord of hosts.
5 "My covenant was with him, one of life and peace,
And I gave them to him that he might fear Me;
So, he feared Me
And was reverent before My name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth,
And injustice was not found on his lips.
He walked with Me in peace and equity,
And turned many away from iniquity.
7 "For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge,
And people should seek the law from his mouth;
For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 But you have departed from the way;
You have caused many to stumble at the law.
You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,"
Says the Lord of hosts.
9 "Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base
Before all the people,
Because you have not kept My ways
But have shown partiality in the law."

Treachery of Infidelity

10 Have we not all one Father?
Has not one God created us?
Why do we deal treacherously with one another
By profaning the covenant of the fathers?
11 Judah has dealt treacherously,
And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem,
For Judah has profaned
The Lord's holy institution which He loves:
He has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob
The man who does this, being awake and aware,
Yet who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!

13 And this is the second thing you do:
You cover the altar of the Lord with tears,
With weeping and crying;
So, He does not regard the offering anymore,
Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.
14 Yet you say, "For what reason?"
Because the Lord has been witness
Between you and the wife of your youth,
With whom you have dealt treacherously;
Yet she is your companion
And your wife by covenant.
15 But did He not make them one,
Having a remnant of the Spirit?
And why one?
He seeks godly offspring.
Therefore, take heed to your spirit,
And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

16 "For the Lord God of Israel says
That He hates divorce,
For it covers one's garment with violence,"
Says the Lord of hosts.
"Therefore, take heed to your spirit,
That you do not deal treacherously."

17 You have wearied the Lord with your words;
Yet you say,
"In what way 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?"

Continued in #7

 

[Jay Ross]

Continued from #6

The Coming Messenger

3:1 "Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,"
Says the Lord of hosts.

2 "But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner's fire
And like launderers' soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the Lord
An offering in righteousness.

4 "Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Will be pleasant to the Lord,
As in the days of old,
As in former years.
5 And I will come near you for judgment;
I will be a swift witness
Against sorcerers,
Against adulterers,
Against perjurers,
Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans,
And against those who turn away an alien —
Because they do not fear Me,"
Says the Lord of hosts.

6 "For I am the Lord, I do not change;
Therefore, you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
7 Yet from the days of your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
Return to Me, and I will return to you,"
Says the Lord of hosts.
"But you said,
'In what way shall we return?'

Do Not Rob God

8 "Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
'In what way have we robbed You?'
In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,"
Says the Lord of hosts,
"If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.

11 "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,"
Says the Lord of hosts;
12 “And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land/earth,"
Says the Lord of hosts.

The People Complain Harshly

13 "Your words have been harsh against Me,"
Says the Lord,
"Yet you say,
'What have we spoken against You?'
14 You have said,
'It is useless to serve God;
What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,
And that we have walked as mourners
Before the Lord of hosts?
15 So now we call the proud blessed,
For those who do wickedness are raised up;
They even tempt God and go free.'"

A Book of Remembrance

16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So, a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who meditate on His name.

17 "They shall be Mine," says the Lord of hosts,
"On the day that I make them My jewels.
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him."
18 Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.

Continued in post #8

 

[Jay Ross]

Continued from #7

The Great Day of God

4:1 "For behold, the day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,"
Says the Lord of hosts,
"That will leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
3 You shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,"
Says the Lord of hosts.

4 "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant,
Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel,
With the statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
6 And he will turn
The hearts of the fathers to the children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

 

[Keraz]

4:1 "For behold, the day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,"

So then; Jay Ross, tell us when you believe that Day will/has happened?
Provide scriptural/historical support.

My reason for not posting the entire passages, is only because people have their own Bibles and can look it up themselves, rather than clogging up the threads, as you do. This tactic is used quite often by those who want to bury my presentations of the truth.

 

[quietthinker]

This is a disgusting accusation, I never posted this foolishness,
But the fact that you can't even spell 'interesting', makes your false post null and void.

Stuff like this happens on an intermittently regular basis. The report button used at the bottom of the post gets rid of the culprit

 

[Jay Ross]

This tactic is used quite often by those who want to bury my presentations of the truth.

That statement is based on your opinion about what you are presenting.

What I have done is present the scriptures unmodified by me. You on the other hand do modify the context of the passages to suit your particular private understanding.

Goodbye

 

[Keraz]

That statement is based on your opinion about what you are presenting.

No it isn't, I base my statements on other Bible verses and modern knowledge.

What I have done is present the scriptures unmodified by me. You on the other hand do modify the context of the passages to suit your particular private understanding.

You wasted your time and clogged up Forum space.
As for 'modification', you can accuse every other Bible commentator and preacher as well; of doing that.
What we are doing here is discussing the Prophetic Word. If what is said by me and others doesn't suit your beliefs, use proper rebuttal, not abuse and accusations.

 

[Jay Ross]

No it isn't, I base my statements on other Bible verses and modern knowledge.

You wasted your time and clogged up Forum space.
As for 'modification', you can accuse every other Bible commentator and preacher as well; of doing that.
What we are doing here is discussing the Prophetic Word. If what is said by me and others doesn't suit your beliefs, use proper rebuttal, not abuse and accusations.

What is your modern knowledge? Is it in line with what the scriptures state?

You are not discussing God's Prophetic words, but your own understanding of how the end time will go down.

God's promise to Israel is that when He will gather them once more to Himself that He will plant them in the fertile soil of Christ's and will teach them about the Rock that comes down out of heaven in our near future and become the greatest religion in all of the earth, where they are living scattered throughout the whole world. You can find this in Ezekiel 34 if you care to carefully unpack the Hebrew text.

You claim that I am wasting my time and clogging up forum space.

You are also right when you stated that we can accuse other biblical commentators of modification of the context of the scriptures.

Now I have over the years tried to show you how your understanding is not in line with the scriptures, but you continually reject my words to you. You have confidence in the translations of the Hebrew and Greek texts even though you have not sort out verify whether the contexts of the various translations are right or flawed. You have told me that you do not have the skills to do so.

My Bad. All you have done is looked at all of the translations and then claimed that they all could not have gotten God's context wrong in their respective translations, therefore I must be wrong.

I personally would not make my judgement on the correctness of the translations based on that the sheer number of translations that have followed the traditions of the past understandings.

Now you claim that you have this special modern understanding for your pet theories as to how the End Times will play out.

Oh well, so be it. Your rejection is your problem. I am content to with how I understand the context of God's prophetic words.

Goodbye