Prepare the way of The Lord

PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD

Twelve years after the rebuilding of the walls and gates of the city at Jerusalem had been accomplished the prophet Malachi wrote the last prophetic book of the Old Testament. God’s people now had all they needed to present themselves to the world as a people of God who would be a testimony to the fact that an all loving, all powerful, just and good God was alive in the Heavens. They had rebuilt the altar of sacrifice, laid the cornerstone and true foundation and rebuilt the temple, then re-established the Word of God through Ezra and the priests, then rebuilt the walls and gates of the city, and everything looked so good. There had been such a lot of ‘rise up and build’ on the outside - but unfortunately there had been very little ‘rise up and build’ on the inside that God wanted from them.

Prophets like Haggai and Zechariah’s had been speaking a message of the coming of the Messiah and the completion of the temple (516 b.c). And now a mere twelve years after the completion of all the gates and walls and temple there came the final prophesy of Malachi, who was also prophesying that The Messiah would come to this completed temple. Here is the key verse;

Malachi 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord (Messiah) whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

You would have thought that now was the time for something wonderful to happen, but nothing wonderful happened – everything stopped, came to a standstill. There Then there was time of silence for four hundred years – a prophetic pause! The next prophet to speak was John the Baptist. 
What does a time of silence of four hundred years speak of? What does a prophetic pause like this mean?
It speaks of preparing the way of The Lord even in a time of scarceness and insufficiency with a full hope and expectation for something wonderful to happen. I believe we are in a global prophetic pause in this current global catastrophe. But the pause is full of the purpose of God, and a moving forward  in the purpose of God, with the promise of worldwide Holy Spirit activity.

So, There was a silence of four hundred years after the final word from Malachi, no prophets and no revelation of God’s word or priestly instruction in the ways of God. Then something wonderful happened – John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus.
There was also a silence of four hundred years from the time God’s people became slaves in Egypt and then became free, and during that time there were no prophets and no revelation of God’s word or priestly instruction in the ways of God. Then something wonderful happened. God set Israel free to be led on a journey to the Promised Land.

A four hundred years experience is a time of preparation, the time of expectation for something wonderful to come, while at the same time knowing that things should and could be a lot better now. A four hundred years experience in the Old Testament does not have to be a literal four hundred years in the New Testament (Kairos prophetic time). It simply indicates a time of preparation, a time of expectation, and of waiting for God to presence himself among us. 

Paul told us that what Israel went through in the forty years in the wilderness was a prophetic pause for them to be ready to go into the promised Land. He spoke of Israel in their forty year wilderness experience as an example for us of learning how to trust God individually and corporately so as to enter into the fulness of the promise of God in Christ. For us that obviously doesn’t mean forty years – it means the challenges of faith and trust in God that can be jammed into whatever time frame God has to get our attention, to get our response.
1Corinthians 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

This preparation time of waiting and expectation for us becomes the time of understanding how we can be part of the preparing of the way of The Lord, for the powerful presence of God to come, in His time. There are also things we need to attend to that we may need to change, or at least get done with more faith and understanding and revelation from The Holy Spirit. who is our anointed teacher (1John 2:27).

The next prophet to speak after Malachi four hundred years later was John the Baptist, spoken of in Malachi as Elijah, a messenger to prepare the way for the other Messenger who was Jesus the messenger of the New Covenant. Can we presume this ? Jesus said it! 
Matt. 11:13 “For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.  

The Holy Spirit as our anointed teacher instructs us in the way we should go and challenges when we need course correction through neglect or distraction and inspires us when we need motivation to reach a higher spiritual vision – they needed prophets, we have the Holy Spirit. And at that time the anointed prophet Malachi begins to set a higher goal for God’s people by addressing the priests, who were not honouring God and had become corrupt. Worship had become routine and unfaithfulness in marriage was widespread. Their vision had to be lifted higher. Social justice was being ignored and tithing was neglected. “Will man rob God?” the Lord asks (3:8), and he promised to “open the windows of heaven” (v. 10) if they honoured Him in this way. Malachi assures his people that God knows those who fear him and those who do not. 
now let us look at seven things that Malachi said God’s people would need to attend to for that time of preparation to be fruitful. Malachi was actually seeking to set their vision higher for their sakes, not just to admonish them in their insufficiency. God sets our vision high because it the most efficient way to inspire us to embrace a life full of meaning and purpose. The most positive emotion we can experience physiologically is that of pushing toward the highest most worthwhile goals (emote = Pootho’ Grk = push forward). God created us with a neurological hormonal pathway from a certain part of our brain, the Hypothalamus that stimulates and motivates us into a sense of purpose and meaning when we aspire to higher goals. A substance called dopamine is released and energizes our entire motivational attitude when we set our heart on achieving what is worthwhile and meaningful to us (in fact the artificial administration of this substance makes a person feel that whatever they are doing seems amazingly meaningful – thus the popularity of illegal recreational drug taking. But God always has something for us to aspire to that is full of his reality and purpose for our lives. 

Seven pathways of preparing the way

1. Preparing the way as a priest in the role and example of worship and instruction and faithfulness because a priest was a ‘go-between’ from God to His people. Angels could bless people and mediate the Old Testament Law but they are not authorized to preach the Gospel ( and many strange religions have claimed angelic revelation- the warning of this is in Galatians).
Malachi 2:1 Listen, you priests—The words of a priest’s lips should preserve knowledge of God, and people should go to him for instruction, for the priest is the messenger of the Lord. But you priests have left God’s paths
We are ALL his priests and able to give Words of life as God’s messengers of hope in a bleak and disheartened world. (1Peter 2:9 …you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood). So who gets us back on the path, the Holy Spirit, who makes the truth of God’s word alive to us so that we can make it live in other people.

2. Preparing the way as bridge-builders of trust in God’s Covenant.
Malachi 2;10 Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?
We can see all of humanity as belonging to God the Father, and we can be bridge-builders of trust in a world where many people are polarized because of tribalism and identity politics. Holy Spirit can give us wisdom when we become engaged in conversation with people who are being overwhelmed with all the negative talk they are hearing these days, and the abusive criticism they see people attacking one another with constantly on TV or radio. 
Mark 4:24 Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; 
We have the choice of what to have multiplied within us.

3. Preparing the way through loving relationships
Malachi 2:14 You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her.
God honours faithfulness in marriage and wants to see healing in our land because of the wounding caused by unfaithfulness. He wants to see faithfulness in all of our relationships and because we are His beloved as His bride we have a special work of the Holy Spirit releasing a loving faithful response back to Him from our hearts -what an aspiration!

4. Preparing the way through showing justice and mercy
Malachi 3;5 I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans…says the Lord.
True leadership is demonstrating integrity and honesty and mercy in the workplace. When we work as unto The Lord he resources us and rewards the work of our hands (Colossians 3:23)
God’s people can be blessed in the workplace in their faithfulness and their faith and be seen as givers and not takers of all God given blessings. We are here to be blessed and to bless.

5. Preparing the way by embracing trials of faith
Malachi 3:1-3 I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver…
Malachi is talking to the priests again here (that’s us!) and we can only pass on to others what we have actually received from the Lord and then we have the authority  declare the purposes of God – and you will do that by living out the purposes of God.’ That comes by embracing the trials of faith that purify our hearts, knowing that they transform us into his likeness, which is the gold that speaks of the nature of God. (1Peter 1:7). 

6. Preparing the way by honouring God financially and materially
Malachi 3:8-12 Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!
“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’
“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven. “Then all nations will call you blessed,
New Testament tithing is a willing response of grace filled gratitude for God’s provision. It is not a legalistic way of earning God’s blessing or negotiating a deal with God.  We do not tithe to an Old Testament levitical priesthood. We tithe out of grace to Jesus our Melchidisek priest. In all my years of ministry I’ve never believed in putting people under the law in this truth because no human pressure or manipulation  should touch this this act of faith. I have been blessed to witness the response of many hearts of such and grace, and seen the blessing of God upon that.
Hebrews 7:8 Here mortal men (Levites) receive tithes, but there (Heaven) He (Jesus) receives them, and that is our witness that we believe that he lives.
(I have expanded on this special priesthood of Jesus in Commandment eight in my podcast on the Ten Commandments – click the link at   uncreated.podbean.com  ) 

7. Preparing the way through family harmony and honour. This is the final Word for us to hear and respond to in our time of silence, our time of hope and expectation to see the blessing of God upon this world. 
Malachi 4:1 The Lord says, “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse. (So let there come a blessing and not a curse upon our land)

In these times in which we live this is not only a word spoken by Malachi in the very last verse of the very last book of the Old Testament about Elijah/John the Baptist – it is the Word being spoken to us in these days.
Jesus has made us one with Himself and with His Father. That was his great work to make us a part of his family. We have the power of The Holy Spirit drawing us into his family bond of love with them and with one another.

These times of challenge are the times to expect to see the blessing of the healing power of Jesus for families in spirit, soul and body. Pray for reconciliation to happen in families to bless our land of hope and faith and love. There may be ones who feel they have reached out and done all they can, and what more can be done? Remember – We keep our hearts aligned with God’s and It is God who turns the hearts of people. God wants to bring this final blessing upon the earth in these days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malachi’s message is in the context of preparing the way for the Father’s heart of 
blessing to be received by his children
And now Malachi writes. The opening statement from God through Malachi (Ch 1:2) is in the context of a loving Father whose inheritance is not being appreciated. He uses the illustration of Jacob and Esau, where Jacob regarded the inheritance and Esau did not. Then a few verses later (CH1:6) God says ‘A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name! 10 How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord.’
The theme of the honour due to a father is not only spoken of in the first few verses of the book, the aggrieved fatherhood theme is also emphasised in the centre of the book where God speaks as the Father/Creator of all of humanity. 
Malachi 2;10 Are we not all created by the same God? Are we not all children of the same Father? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?
The theme of the honour due to a father is also the theme of the last verse of the book (Ch4:6) I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.
In the last few verses of this book Malachi speaks of judgment and of blessing to come, and so it commands the attention of everyone who reads it.

 

As in the previous accounts of this reset and rebuild of God’s people after a strange time of standstill and disorientation, there are parallels to the Church in this strange time in which we live, in a time of standstill and disorientation. The Church today appears to have all it could need in the form of resources such as churches and worship and leaders and helpers and programs and marketing, but is God calling for something more? What we want and need is the presence of God in our midst, rather than just the presence of all the sincere and wonderful human ability and performance and Bible knowledge in our midst.

From the first few verses of this book Malachi’s purpose was to assure his people that God still loved them and was keeping his Covenant with them (Ch.1:2-5 - "I have loved you," says God. But you say, "In what way have you loved us?). Malachi tells us throughout the book that God calls for respect and honor, and faithfulness and love.

But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations,” says the Lord.