Question
What is the application of the book of Malachai to the church today? What is God saying today through Malachai
Answer
The name Malachi means “My Messenger”. The book was written somewhere around 440 B.C. During this time, the people had been back in Jerusalem for around 100 years after they had been captive in Babylon for 70 years. Malachi addresses great problems of his day that have direct application to us. He also addressed what God would do in the future which has direct application to us.
The two problems he addressing by having an imaginary dialog with the people are corrupted worship and corrupted daily morality.
As to the first, the people had been become indifferent and careless in their worship of God. They were not offering to God what he demanded of them. This is a lesson for us. John 4:23-24, Matt. 15:1-120. We must worship God only in the way He directs, doing what He says from our hearts and not out of careless empty ritual.
Further, the people had become morally corrupt divorcing their wives and marrying idolaters. Mal. 2:11-17. Here, we see God hated unjustified divorce. Is that not a practical lesson for us today? Matt. 19:1-12. Further, we see that their lack of morality was also what corrupted their worship. God did not accept their immoral living and their empty attempts at half-heartedly offering to him whatever they wanted to offer.
Finally, Malachi serves as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments for in the last two verses (4:5-6) he prophesies of one to come who would prepare the way before the Messiah. That one who came was John the Baptist. He preached repentance and obedience to the Jews just as Elijah had done hundreds of years before. See Mark 1 and Matt. 1-3.
By Gary Hunt
