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Malachi 4

Chapter 4 in 30 seconds

The day is coming, hot like a furnace. For those who fear God, the sun of righteousness will rise, and they will jump like calves let out of the barn. Remember Moses, watch for Elijah. And then the Old Testament goes quiet.

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In this chapterThe Big QuestionWho Is Elijah? · after verse 6 The Big QuestionThe 400 Silent Years · after verse 6

The Day of Yahweh// Zephaniah 1:7–18; 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11; 2 Peter 3:8–13

¹“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says Yahweh of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”

MAL 4:1[PROPHECY]The day would come burning like a furnace and the wicked would be stubble → STILL TO COME
MAL 4:1[TEXT]HEBREW NUMBERS. The Hebrew Bible has only three chapters here. Malachi 4:1 to 6 in this Bible is 3:19 to 24 in the Hebrew.

²“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall. ³Then you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says Yahweh of Hosts.

MAL 4:2[PROPHECY]The sun of righteousness would rise with healing in its wings → LK 1:78-79MEDIUM
MAL 4:2[NOTE]HEALING IN ITS WINGS. Charles Wesley borrowed this line for Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: Risen with healing in His wings.

⁴“Remember the law of My servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him for all Israel at Horeb.

MAL 4:4[NOTE]MOSES AND ELIJAH. The law and the prophets, the two men named at the end of the Old Testament. Both stood with Jesus on the mountain, Matthew 17:3.

⁵Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of Yahweh. ⁶And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

MAL 4:5[PROPHECY]Forerunner in the spirit of Elijah → MT 11:14; MT 17:10-13; LK 1:17
MAL 4:5[ALLUDED TO]The New Testament refers to this → LK 1:17
MAL 4:5[NOTE]ELIJAH. He was taken up to heaven without dying, 2 Kings 2:11. See Who Is Elijah? and Elijah's Whirlwind, 2 Kings.
MAL 4:6[PROPHECY]Forerunner would turn many to righteousness → LK 1:16-17
MAL 4:6[NOTE]THE LAST WORD. The last word of the Old Testament is curse. When Jews read Malachi aloud in the synagogue, they read 4:5 again after it, so the reading ends with hope.

The Big Question

Who Is Elijah?

The Promise

Malachi 4:4 to 6 · 2 Kings 2:11 · John 1:21

THE PROMISE: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD, 4:5. He will turn the hearts of fathers and children back to each other, 4:6.
WHY ELIJAH?: Elijah never died. A chariot of fire came between him and Elisha, and a whirlwind took him up to heaven, 2 Kings 2:11. So people expected him to come back. Sirach 48:10 says he is ready to come and turn the heart of the father to the son.
THEY ASKED JOHN: Priests from Jerusalem asked John the Baptist, Are you Elijah? He said, I am not, John 1:21.

Who Is Elijah? · Every View

Matthew 11:14 · Matthew 17:3 to 13 · Luke 1:17 · Revelation 11:3 to 6

VIEW 1: JOHN THE BAPTIST: Jesus said it plainly: if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come, Matthew 11:14, and Elijah has already come, 17:12 to 13. The angel said John would go in the spirit and power of Elijah, Luke 1:17. John even dressed like Elijah, 2 Kings 1:8 and Matthew 3:4.
WHY JOHN SAID NO: Most say John was not Elijah come back in person, but he did Elijah's job in Elijah's spirit.
VIEW 2: ELIJAH STILL TO COME: Jesus also said Elijah does indeed come, and he will restore all things, Matthew 17:11. Many believe Elijah will come again before Jesus returns, maybe as one of the two witnesses, who shut the sky so that no rain will fall, Revelation 11:3 to 6, like Elijah, 1 Kings 17:1.
ON THE MOUNTAIN: Malachi ends with Moses and Elijah, and both appeared with Jesus on the mountain, Matthew 17:3.
WHAT ALL SIDES AGREE ON: God sends a messenger first to turn hearts back. See Elijah's Whirlwind, 2 Kings.

The Big Question

The 400 Silent Years

No Prophet in the Land

Malachi 4:5 · 1 Maccabees 4:46 · 1 Maccabees 9:27 · 1 Maccabees 14:41

THE LAST PROPHET: Malachi spoke about 430 BC. The next prophet in the Bible is John the Baptist, about AD 28. That gap, about 450 years, is often called the 400 silent years.
NO PROPHET: Jewish writers knew it. 1 Maccabees says the people stored the stones of a defiled altar until a prophet should come, 4:46. It speaks of great distress such as had not been since prophets stopped appearing, 9:27. Simon was made leader until a trustworthy prophet should arise, 14:41.
THE RABBIS: The Talmud says that after Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel. Josephus said the exact line of prophets stopped after the Persian king Artaxerxes.

The 400 Silent Years · What Happened

Daniel 11 · John 10:22 · Galatians 4:4

PERSIA TO GREECE: Alexander the Great took the land in 332 BC. See Alexander the Great, Zechariah. After he died, the Greek kings of Egypt and Syria fought over it for about 150 years, the wars Daniel 11 describes.
THE GREEK BIBLE: In Egypt, Jews translated the Scriptures into Greek, starting with the five books of Moses about 250 BC. Most of the apostles' quotes come from it.
THE MACCABEES: In 167 BC the Syrian king Antiochus IV set up pagan worship in the temple. The Maccabee family led a revolt and cleansed the temple in 164 BC, 1 Maccabees 4:52 to 59. Jews still remember it at Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication Jesus went to, John 10:22.
ROME: The Roman general Pompey took Jerusalem in 63 BC, and Rome made Herod king in 40 BC.
NOT REALLY SILENT: Synagogues spread, the Pharisees and Sadducees began, and scribes copied the Dead Sea Scrolls. The stage was being set: when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, Galatians 4:4.

Malachi 4

The Day of Yahweh// Zephaniah 1:7–18; 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11; 2 Peter 3:8–13

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