God First, Mysterious Messenger Second

There are many moments in the Bible which I would have loved to have been a part of. There are many great leaders and heroes that I would love to meet. Moses with his arms raised as the waters of the Red Sea split apart. Or Elijah as he lay the smackdown on the prophets of Baal. Or even the young David as he slings a stone into the forehead of that giant oaf, Goliath.

There were prophets and priests and kings, oh my!

But it would almost seem as if God's bag of tricks had run empty by the end of the Old Testament. Things were quiet. Beaten down Jews were returning to their land, but God's presence seemed to be incognito. The glory days are gone and the promise of a Messiah seems long in coming.

From this rises a messenger named Malachi, which ironically means...'messenger'. A guy whose message was to remind people that God loved them. He didn't draw attention to himself. He didn't appear to be a flashy guy. He starts and ends with a simple message.

God loves you. He always has. This is why, appropriately so, we end the Old Testament with a prophet that we don't know much about. The significance does not lie with Malachi. The significance is in the message.

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