Malachi
Mal 1:11 Malachi
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Mal 1:11 [1] Meaning the messenger of Jah (Jah being a shortened form of Jehovah), or My messenger (cf. 3:1). The name indicates that Malachi was a messenger of God to minister the word of God to His people Israel.
Mal 1:11 [2] The central thought of Malachi’s prophecy is the correcting of the priests among Israel for the coming of Christ as the Messenger of God (3:1a) and the advising of the people of Israel for the appearing of Christ as the Sun of righteousness (4:2).
Mal 1:2a loved Deut. 7:8; 10:15
Mal 1:3a desolation Jer. 49:18; Ezek. 25:13-14; Obad. 10
Mal 1:41 Edom
A nation of the descendants of Esau (Gen. 36:1), the twin brother of Jacob.
Mal 1:51 over
Here over the territory of Israel means outside that territory. Even though the nation of Edom has been condemned and the people of Edom are the object of God’s indignation, even in Edom, outside Israel, Jehovah will be magnified.
Mal 1:6a Father Deut. 32:6; Psa. 89:26; Isa. 63:16; 64:8
Mal 1:6b honor Exo. 20:12
Mal 1:6c Lord Deut. 9:26; 10:17; Psa. 8:1; Hab. 3:19; Luke 6:46
Mal 1:6d fear Deut. 6:13; Job 28:28; Acts 9:31; Rev. 15:4
Mal 1:7a table Mal. 1:12; Ezek. 41:22
Mal 1:11a rising Psa. 113:3; Isa. 59:19
Mal 1:14a blemished Lev. 22:20
Mal 2:5a covenant Num. 25:12; Ezek. 34:25; 37:26
Mal 2:7a messenger cf. Gal. 4:14
Mal 2:8a stumble 1 Sam. 2:17; Jer. 18:15; Luke 11:52
Mal 2:10a one 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 4:6
Mal 2:11a sanctuary Ezra 9:2; 1 Cor. 7:14
Mal 2:141a wife Prov. 5:18
Verses 13-14 indicate that the treachery of a priest toward his wife damages his priesthood. If a servant of the Lord cannot live properly with his wife, his service will be annulled.
Mal 2:14b covenant Prov. 2:17
Mal 2:15a did Matt. 19:4-6
Mal 2:151 seed
In marriage God has made the husband and wife one in order to produce “the seed of God,” i.e., godly children.
Mal 2:152 spirit
Our spirit is the source of our conduct. God cares for our spirit (Zech. 12:1), and we must take heed to it (cf. Acts 24:16; Rom. 8:4-6; 2 Cor. 2:13).
Mal 2:16a divorce Deut. 24:1; Matt. 5:32; 19:8; 1 Cor. 7:11
Mal 2:161 behaves
In the sight of God, divorce is a violent act.
Mal 3:1a send Matt. 11:10; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:27
Mal 3:11 My
Heb. malachi. First, this prophecy concerning the coming of Jehovah’s messenger was fulfilled in the coming of the prophet Malachi, a type of Christ as the coming One. Second, this prophecy was fulfilled in the first coming of Christ with John the Baptist as His forerunner (Isa. 40:3-5; Matt. 11:7-13). In His first coming Christ came as a Messenger and even as the message sent by God. As the Messenger of God, Christ not only brings a word or a message from God to God’s people; He Himself is the living message. This is proven by the four Gospels, which are a complete and perfect record of Christ as the living message sent by God to His chosen people (see note 22 in Heb. 1). As God’s Messenger Christ came to adjust, refine, and purify the priests. In the Gospels the Lord Jesus frequently rebuked the priests. Third, this prophecy will be fulfilled in the second coming of Christ with Elijah as His forerunner (4:5 and note).
Mal 3:1b clear Isa. 40:3; Matt. 3:3; Luke 1:76
Mal 3:12c Angel Isa. 63:9
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Mal 3:12 [1] Or, Messenger. Christ’s coming suddenly as the Angel of the covenant will be to execute upon Israel the covenant that He enacted through His death (Matt. 26:28). In His first coming Christ came in the way of an Angel, a serving one (cf. Heb. 1:14), to serve God in forming the new testament (Mark 10:45). When He established His table on the night in which He was betrayed, He enacted the new covenant (Luke 22:20), in which God is obligated to forgive our sins and to dispense Himself into our being to be our life, our law of life, and our everything as our inward content that we may live Him (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-12). As the Angel of the covenant, Christ in resurrection executes the new covenant as its surety (Heb. 7:22), making it real to us by assuring us that our sins have been forgiven and by dispensing the riches of the covenanted Triune God into us. See notes 311, 331, and 332 in Jer. 31.
Mal 3:12 [2] Although the Lord Jesus enacted the new covenant nearly two thousand years ago, generally the Jewish people have not benefited from it. Instead, the benefit has gone to the Gentiles. However, when Christ comes back, He will come as the Angel of the covenant to execute His covenant over the repentant and believing Jews. At that time they will become beneficiaries of the new covenant.
Mal 3:13d desire Hag. 2:7
Cf. Hag. 2:7 and note.
Mal 3:21 refiner’s
Christ will come also to refine and purify the sons of Levi, mainly the priests, like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap that they may offer to God the proper sacrifice (vv. 2-4). In the millennium the repentant Jews who are regenerated through the new covenant will be the priests to care for all the nations (Isa. 2:2-3; Zech. 8:20-23). For this they will need much refining and purifying. Therefore, in His second coming Christ will renew, sanctify, and transform Israel to be His refined and purified priests.
Mal 3:2c fire cf. Isa. 4:4; Matt. 3:10-12
Mal 3:3a refiner Isa. 1:25; Zech. 13:9
Mal 3:5a oppress James 5:4, 12
Mal 3:51 stranger
Jehovah’s concern for the stranger indicates that as Christ He is very human and that He is not happy when His people ill-treat a stranger instead of giving him hospitality.
Mal 3:6a not Num. 23:19; Rom. 11:29; James 1:17
Mal 3:81 rob
To rob God is to not give Him what is due to Him. God established the principle that of all the produce from the land, one tenth (the tithe), the top tenth, should go to Him (Lev. 27:30).
Mal 3:8a tithes Neh. 13:10, 12
Mal 3:10a tithe Neh. 10:38; 13:12
Mal 3:101 food
The food in God’s house is not for man but for God. God’s food, the divine food, is the offerings, especially the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering (Num. 28:2; 29:39), all of which typify Christ (see notes in Lev. 1—7).
Mal 3:10b windows Gen. 7:11; 2 Kings 7:2
Mal 3:102c blessing 2 Chron. 31:10
To be blessed by God here and in v. 12 is to be healed (4:2). To be healed is to be saved, and to be saved is to be made whole.
Mal 3:12a blessed cf. Luke 1:48
Mal 3:141 mournfully
This word indicates that the children of Israel worshipped and served God, but they did it mournfully, not at all happy that they were required to do these things.
Mal 3:161a book Psa. 56:8; Isa. 65:6; Rev. 20:12; cf. Ezek. 9:4
When we consider, love, regard, respect, and sanctify God’s name, God keeps a record of this in His book of remembrance.
Mal 3:17a Mine Exo. 19:5; Deut. 7:6; Psa. 135:4; Titus 2:14
Mal 3:171 day
The day of God’s anger, i.e., the day of Jehovah. See note 151 in Joel 1.
Mal 4:11a day Joel 1:15; Mal. 3:2; 2 Pet. 3:7
See note 171 in ch. 3.
Mal 4:1b burning 2 Thes. 1:7
Mal 4:21a Sun 2 Sam. 23:4; Psa. 84:11; Luke 1:78; Matt. 17:2
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Mal 4:21 [1] The healing Christ, who Himself is the healing of God’s people and of the nations. Christ is the Sun that heals us as it shines upon us. Christ’s being our healing is based on His being the Sun of righteousness. The word Sun indicates life (cf. John 1:4), and the word righteousness indicates justice. The whole earth is filled with death and injustice, but with the healing Christ there is life and justice. Today we, the believers in Christ, enjoy Christ’s shining as the Sun of righteousness for our growth in life in the dispelling of darkness, and also for our healing in life in the effacing of unrighteousness. Our hope, our expectation, is that Christ is coming as the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings to heal the nations from darkness and unrighteousness. We are waiting for Him as the Desire of the nations (3:1b; Hag. 2:7b) and as the Sun of righteousness.
Mal 4:21 [2] In relation to Israel, Christ came the first time to heal the degraded priesthood (3:1-4), but in His second coming, He will heal the remnant of the people of Israel. Then He will be everything to the nations and to His people. This healing Christ will come suddenly. Thus, we need to be alert, ready to receive Him.
Mal 4:22b healing Psa. 103:3; Hosea 6:1; Rev. 22:2
See note 102 in ch. 3.
Mal 4:4b Horeb Deut. 4:10
Mal 4:41 statutes
See note 64 in Luke 1.
Mal 4:51a Elijah Matt. 11:14; 17:11; Mark 9:11; Luke 1:17; cf. John 1:21
This refers to the coming of Elijah as one of the two witnesses during the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21). See Matt. 17:11 and note; Rev. 11:3 and note 2.
Mal 4:52b day Joel 1:15; 2:31
See note 151 in Joel 1.
Mal 4:6b curse Zech. 5:3; 14:11