Malachi is the last Old Testament prophet who speaks to the people of Judah before there is a great silence for 400 years. He prophesied around 430 BC, after the people had returned to Jerusalem from exile and captivity, after the Temple had been restored and the people’s relationship with the Law had been renewed.
Everything should have been perfect between the people and God.
But, sad to say, it’s the same old, same old—the same tiresome cycle of wrongdoing and judgement. Malachi asks several rhetorical questions, as he speaks for the Lord: How have you people loved and honored me? How have you priests followed the Law and taught others correctly? Have you honored your marriage vows to your wives? How have you done justice to those who suffer from evildoers? Over and over, Malachi records the response of those the Lord is questioning. They ask: “How have we done wrong?” It’s as though they are children caught red-handed with chocolate all over their faces, and the parent asks, “What happened to the chocolate cake?”—only to hear, “What chocolate cake?”
But it’s more serious than a missing cake. Once again, God’s chosen people have ruined their reunion with God and Temple and Promised Land. Over and over, they have been through cycle after cycle of sin, unfaithfulness, judgement, despair, forgiveness, restoration. God has been faithful, always. They have been faithful, never.
But Malachi sees on the horizon that God is going to do something new. God will send a messenger to His people to prepare the way. Then the Lord will return to His temple, and a messenger of the covenant will arrive. There will come a day when the “sun of righteousness” will rise with healing for those who await the radiant rays.
God is planning a way to break the cycle, and it won’t depend on the people’s ability to live sinlessly. It has become abundantly clear that they (and we) can’t do that. God is going to do a new thing, a new way of salvation and healing. Malachi sensed the approach of the One we know as Jesus, Savior, Life-giver, Good Shepherd, Great Physician, Master and Friend. He will come up on the world’s horizon like the sun coming up to end a long, dark night of sin and despair.