The book of Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament.
Malachi carried a sad message from God to the people. They said they loved God but they did not obey Him. God told the people that children on earth show their fathers respect but they had not shown Him, their heavenly Father, respect.
The people did not bring the best animals to sacrifice to God like the law commanded them to do. The people should have brought the best because they were bringing the animals in worship to God. Instead, the people brought animals that were sick or ready to die. God said that He would not accept their offering. We must remember to offer our best when we come to worship God.
The people also whined that worshipping God was a weariness, or tiring. How sad and angry it must make God feel when our parents say, “It is time to go to worship,” and we whine, “Do we have to?” It is a wonderful thing to sing praises to God and learn about Him from His word. Even though the people came to worship, since they did not want to be there, God did not accept their worship.
The people did many other things that Malachi told them to change. They were not faithful to God, they called evil things good, and said that God accepts evil things. Even today people, sometimes religious people, will say that something pleases God when God, in His word, said not to do it. Some say it is sometimes ok to lie when God says not to lie. Some say that it is ok to not go to church when God said that we should not miss worship as some people do (Hebrews 10:25).
Malachi ends his message with hope. He tells of a preacher like Elijah the prophet who would turn the hearts of people back to God. He was talking about John the Baptist who, 400 years later, prepared the hearts of the people to worship Jesus. Jesus is our last hope for if we do not follow Him, we cannot please God.
I hope you liked the study of the prophets. Many young people do not know about the prophets and that is sad. Keep learning and growing!
Lessons from Malachi
