26 Nov As You Prepare for Christmas, Start by Preparing Your Heart
As you prepare for the Christmas season and celebration of the coming of Jesus, one book of the Bible might be the most helpful. Tucked away at the end of the Old Testament, the little book of Malachi had a big purpose – to prepare people to receive Jesus when He came into the world through the womb of Mary. This was the last book of the Bible written for roughly four hundred years as people waited for the coming of Jesus. In some ways, to the people at the time, Malachi was like Revelation – the last book God wrote that tells us what happens next as we wait for Jesus to show up.
Very little is known about the author mainly because He focuses all the attention on God and none on himself. He tells us both his name and ministry as a mouthpiece for God in Malachi 1:1, “The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.” In 3:1 he is simply called by God, “my messenger”. Curiously, the name Malachi literally means “messenger” as God had chosen his name to reflect his mission to be God’s mailman.
As we study Malachi together, it will be most helpful for you to simply read it for yourself multiple times. You can read the entire book quickly in maybe 15 minutes. As you read it, you will notice that of the 55 verses, 47 of them are God speaking to His people. This is an action-packed book where God does most of the talking. If you have ever wished you could just sit down with God and have Him speak to you, this is precisely what will happen as you read Malachi. The entire book is a conversation that God had with His people and wants to have with you.
Find some time to read all of Malachi at least once this week.
