Week 35 Malachi 4
The second-last verse of the OT says this: I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
I notice that Malachi says that Elijah is going to return to earth. Even though this sounds like Elijah is going to return to earth I’ve read the NT and I know where this is going and I check the marginal reference to the gospel of Matthew where the Lord tells his disciples that Elijah had already come back and that their own John-the-Baptist was in reality Malachi’s Elijah. So when Malachi said Elijah would come he didn’t mean that Elijah would come back in person but that someone a lot like Elijah would come back (i.e. John).
Another thing I notice is that Elijah-John would bring in not only the great but also the terrible day of the Lord. When I think about the day of the Lord words like great wonderful fantastic grand notable profound intense unsurpassed superior come to mind. But Malachi added that it would be terrible too. Not bad terrible. Maybe more like frightening alarming awesome shocking intimidating fearsome stupendous & full-of-dread terrible. Like that. Both-And.
Anyway I leave the OT prophets with reader’s reminders like: Don’t relax! Keep Thinking! Read With Care!
Note: quote from Malachi 4:5 (NLT) and see Matthew 17:10-13. Added note: I finished Malachi today but not the OT. Since I skipped Ecclesiastes back in June I’ll be reading it between now and the 31st.