Today’s passage comes from the Old Testament prophet Malachi. He was a contemporary of Nehemiah who had returned to Jerusalem during the reign of King Artaxerxes of Babylon. Nehemiah and those with him found the temple in disrepair and faced major opposition as they began the restoration. Desiring to encourage His people, God gave Malachi a message of Hope to deliver in the midst of their trial. Malachi was the last prophet to speak from God for 400 years until the announcements of John, the forerunner, and Jesus, the Messiah that are recorded in the gospels.
Malachi 3:1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. God wanted the people to be ready and watching for the forerunner that would come preparing the way for Jesus, Messiah. Luke 1:13-17 tells the story of the angel Gabriel announcing the coming of John to his father Zachariah. “But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” John’s birth and life are a direct fulfillment of this Old Testament prophecy in Malachi that was given 400 years prior.
The second line of Malachi’s prophecy is about Jesus, ‘the Lord who you seek, will come to his temple bringing a message of the covenant’. God’s covenant was recorded in Genesis 17:7 “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between 
me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” This covenant or agreement with God was His promise to be their God and they would be His people. Jesus was God’s messenger of the covenant and the fulfillment of all God’s promises. He was coming in the flesh to His temple to be with His people bringing a message of love, repentance, restoration and redemption from God. John was going to come in the spirit of Elijah and prepare the way calling mankind to repent and return to God. He was to prepare the hearts of the people so they would be ready to listen to Jesus.
This was the glorious message Malachi delivered about the arrival of His messenger who would prepare the way for the Messiah, their deliverer. Their long awaited Messiah would come with a message of hope and righteousness. Jesus still has that message for us today. Let this remind you of the Hope and the right standing with God that Jesus brings.
Blessings of Hope as you listen to this instrumental version,
Linda
Isaiah 40:1,3,4 opens the Messiah and that is where our Advent story begins.
bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
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worshiping him with holy fear and awe.
As we approach this wonderful holiday time, take time to put words and thoughts to your thanks both to your family and to God. Thank Him for all He has done, is doing and will do for you. He is an awesome God worthy of all our praises!
In Deuteronomy 33:29 the LORD gave 2 names by which God is known- the Glorious Sword and the Shield. Previously I wrote about the Glorious Sword but today my focus is on God’s name-the Shield. “
Ephesians 6:16 “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” God is a Shield against Satan’s arrows or missiles.
As a believer, God promises to be the Shield in your life. American Civil war hero, Stonewall Jackson, claimed God as his shield and was so thankful. How about you? Be encouraged today!
Two new names of God appear in Deuteronomy 33:29, Glorious Sword and Shield. “
go into battle with God’s sword-the Word of God as our offensive weapon. Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” God’s sword can cut through anything physically or spiritually. Lastly, in the book of Revelation the image of God’s glorious sword is in the mouth of Jesus combining both images of a physical sword and a sword of the Words of God. Revelation 1:16 “In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” Revelation 19:15 describes Jesus as an avenger and judge for Holy God’s honor and hatred of sin, “Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.“
God revealed the attribute of His eternality to Abraham in Genesis 21:33 “Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and 
Do you ever think about where God is? In the Old Testament God came to dwell in the wilderness Tabernacle filling it with His Shekinah glory. As they traveled in the wilderness God went with them guiding their way with a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. When they had their camp set up, God dwelt in the tabernacle in their midst. Exodus 40:34-35 “
18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, 
do, God promises He will send His Holy Spirit to abide or live with us. He will be with us to guide and comfort, strengthen and love us from the inside out. God is There with us.
This revelation of God’s character appears in Genesis 22:14. “Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the 
This name for God, Jehovah-Jireh, is one of my personal favorites. Think back in your life and recall a time when God provided exactly what you needed when you needed it and it seemed impossible for that to have happened. That was the type of moment Abraham experienced on Mt Moriah. He trusted God, and God answered in a miraculous way. It seems that God always answers ‘outside the box’. I think of ways God could answer my prayers, and it is always beyond my imagining. Isaiah 55:8 “
need it.
31:13 God tells Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that 
Being holy is a life-time growing process that can only be achieved through faith in Jesus. It is not an option as God commands us “be holy because I am holy.” We can take heart in Jesus’ words, “But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
asked where the sacrifice was going to come from and Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Genesis 22:8 Then they proceeded up the mountain together. This story has always troubled me as God had asked Abraham to do the unthinkable, sacrifice his only son. It is a picture to us of the anguish God must have felt in sending Jesus to die for our sins. He provides for us the ultimate sacrifice to remove our sins forever through His only Son’s sacrifice in Jesus’ death on the cross. I have thought that Abraham knew and trusted God’s promise of becoming a great nation, children as numerous as the stars and blessing the whole world which God had given him in Genesis 12 and 15. He trusted God to provide whatever was needed and even to the point of resurrecting Isaac if needed. Genesis 22:13-14 tells us what happened. “
in God’s hands. “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
Fearless Living 