Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
When I was a kid, there weren’t many 24-hour TV channels. When the broadcast day ended, the station would play the “Star Spangled Banner” and an announcer would say, “This is KZAZ, Channel 11, in Tucson, Arizona signing off.” Then a “test pattern” … a series of circles or bars … would appear on the screen. And that would be it … silence … until the next morning, when the sun rose and a new broadcast day began.
Malachi is the last Old Testament book. After over 1500 years of continuous broadcasting, God signed off the air with Malachi. His sign off was pretty ominous, “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze … it will leave them neither root nor branch.” (Malachi 4:1) God gave a pretty clear warning to His entire creation that things wouldn’t end well for those who live counter to Him and His Word. However, as God most often does, He doesn’t keep secret His desire for His people to return to Him … or how they can return to Him. Or … what He’s willing to do to bring them back to Him one day.
He reminds His people, “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.” (Malachi 4:4) In the law, God teaches His creation how He designed His creatures to live with Him and each other. God gives a clear description of what love truly looks like … love of God and love of neighbor (Matthew 22:34-40). However, the “arrogant and all evildoers” deliberately ignore God’s call to love. They create their version of love in their own image. Instead of giving of what God has blessed them with, they steal from another and give that instead (Malachi 1:13). Instead of proclaiming God’s Word in truth, they twist God’s Word to suit their own desires and use it to justify their sinful ways (Malachi 2:8). Instead of raising their children in the ways of the Lord God, they commit ultimate child abuse … allowing their children to pursue the idols of the world (Malachi 2:15). Despite these grievous sins, God still loves His people … He promises, “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.” (Malachi 4:2)
For over 400 years, God remained off the air … silence. Until one night, in Bethlehem, the “Sun of Righteousness with healing” rose. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Word made Flesh was born. He heals the sins of all who believe in Him. His people will cling to His Word of truth. Children and parents will turn to each other and to their heavenly Father. It’s a new day for us! God is broadcasting 24-7 to us. In His Word and response to our prayer, He guides us all in the work He’s called each of us, His children, to do in His creation so that, when the Day of the Lord comes at last, we and all who believe in Him will be brought into His eternal kingdom.
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Jim