Malachi Chapter 4
Writing in an attempt to help my daughter and I understand it
God ends as he began, those who ignore his standards will be ‘burned up’ while those who honour him will experience newness of life. He talks of them being like young calfs full of energy. There is a sense of afterlife here perhaps the beginning of a concept of heaven for the right living and fire for the unrighteous.
He exhorts them,
“Remember and keep the revelation I gave through my servant Moses, the revelation I commanded at Horeb for all Israel, all the rules and procedures for right living.”
I had to check out to what he was referring, it may be obvious to some. It is, of course, the 10 Commandments given to Moses on, sometimes referred to as Mount Sinai and at others as Mount Horeb.
The chapter ends with what I interpret as hope with God saying he is sending Elijah to help get the people sorted in preparation for the day of Judgement when he will decide who are the righteous and the unrighteous.
Elijah who? Like so many books of the Bible, they interlink so you gotta grow your knowledge to get the full picture. So Elijah was one of the best-known prophets of God who would not kneel to Baal ( the God of Canaanites) and took on the priests of Baal to see whose God is the true God ( there goes another story). John the Baptist the cousin of Jesus born just before him was seen a the forerunner, the one, ‘to prepare the way of the Lord’. What we have in this is an attempt to reconcile humans to God, a total revolution.
Forget temples, liturgies, animal sacrifices, priesthood. In this new covenant, God would create a way that each human could be a priest in the order of Melchizedek. No need for anyone to act on your behalf you could have a direct relationship with God. Well actually to get to the stage of being a priest you needed Jesus to act on your behalf.
So here’s the plan. God decides he will send his son into the world and through him redeem the world. This almost the equivalent of reversing the clock of time where Adam sinned Jesus would restore. He would become the once and for all sacrifice. By his death, he would take on our sins and the consequences thereof in order that we could be free. Why? Because God so desired to be in relationship with us that he was prepared to create the solution. Such was, is his love for humans that he created a way where there was no way. Previously he created an elaborate system of rituals now he was creating a relationship.
What would it require? For us to acknowledge our lacks and accept his sacrifice. Accepting another’s sacrifice is also an admission that you have a need that you can’t meet yourself. It is unlikely you will be aware of that need unless you have a sense that there is a creator of this universe. After all, if there is no purpose to this life there is no need, at least spiritually. However, if you have an awareness that you are a part of everything and everything has the best way you will seek to know the best way. The Hebrew Bible tells of the Jewish way the New Testament tells the way of Christ. And you will tell me there are countless paths and I will tell you there are countless mortgages and languages yet if I am to get anywhere I have to choose one. The one I know most about is the way of Christ.
In accepting Christ’s sacrifice immediately we are connected to God. Now I do have some thoughts that we have always been connected to God but illusions got in the way. The story of the way infiltrates the illusions and provides a way beyond them.
In the last week or so I have attended a couple of Orthodox services. There is a beauty to the liturgy but there is also a sense that I am entering into something which can heighten my awareness but the truth is as a priest in the order of Melchizedek I am already in a relationship with God, I am his son and he is my father. I don’t need to create further elaborate ceremonies to get to a place where I am acceptable to be in the presence of God, I and God are one.
Right now I am part of a Quaker community in which we have nothing in addition to ourselves. We usually meet in a plain room. There are no hymns no liturgy other than the liturgy of silence perhaps the most ancient of liturgies. Yet as we wait in the silence we are partaking in a divine communion in which the divine may move one of us to convey something to us all.
I know you have recently become more aware of God and that you find the service that includes music and encouragement from the Bible of immense help. I have found this helpful myself but I believe Malachi reminds us that central to our lives in our relationship with God which Jesus through his birth, life, death and resurrection has obtained for us.
Best for the journey,
g
Quotes from Malichi are taken from The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
