November 29, 2024 | Be God's Light
He Will Turn the Hearts
Scripture: Malachi 4(NIV)
1 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Devotional
We have come to the final day of our nearly year-long study of the Old Testament. After the ministry of Malachi there will be a four-hundred-year gap until the arrival of Jesus. These final verses of the Old Testament are a bridge to the New Testament.
They look back: “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.” (Malachi 4:4)
They look ahead: “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction” (Malachi 4:5-6). These words are quoted by the gospel writer to describe John the Baptist even before the baby was conceived (Luke 1:17).
In fact, speaking about John the Baptist, Jesus said, “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come” (Matthew 11:13-14). At another time Jesus said, “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law” (Luke 16:16-17).
Jesus certainly didn’t see the Old Testament as outdated or irrelevant. Indeed, He proclaimed, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-19).
In the 1973 musical Godspell, the actor playing Jesus summarizes one of His teachings by saying “Well that is the Law and the Prophets.” The entire cast then echoes Him, saying in unison:
The law and the prophets
The law and the prophets
The law and the prophets
The law and the prophets
The law and the prophets
The law and the prophets
Jesus finally interrupts by singing, “You are the light of the world!” There you go: The entire Old Testament finds its fulfillment in the Son of God, who is the Light of the World. Jesus then told His followers, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). We get the true light from Him. We then have the honor of sharing that light with the world.
This study of the Old Testament has been called, “Be God’s Light.” On the first page of the Bible, God’s first words were, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). On the last page of the Bible, the Lord gives a glimpse of heaven, proclaiming, “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).
Between creation and heaven we live our lives in His light: “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:5-7).
Praise be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
Poem
The Day Of The Lord Is Coming
All my dreams and castles
Like flowers
Wither in a day
All my stored-up treasures
On earth are
Wood, stubble, hay
All the things I boast in
Like chaff
Will blow away
The day of the LORD
Is coming
Repent, do not delay
