journey through the bible: joel and malachi - the day of the lord

Journey Through the BibleThe Last Prophets: Joel and Malachi

Bible Readings: Malachi 3:1 - 4:6 Page 676 Luke 1:8 - 17, 57-79 Page 723

1

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

• The appearance of John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecy in Malachi 3:1

• “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” (Malachi 3:1, NLT)

2

Joel

Malachi

400

Matthew

John the Baptist


• Jesus told the crowds that John the Baptist was this messenger, “John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way before you.’” (Matthew 11:10, NLT)

3


• In the second to last verse in the Old Testament the Lord promised “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives.” (Malachi 4:5, NLT)

• Jesus' disciples directly asked Him about this prophecy, “Then His disciples asked Him, “Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?” Jesus replied, “Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, but he wasn’t recognized, and they chose to abuse him. And in the same way they will also make the Son of Man suffer.” Then the disciples realized he was talking about John the Baptist.” (Matthew 17:10–13, NLT)

4


• God is the same in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

• The Old Testament keeps pointing forward to the New Testament and the New Testament keeps pointing back to the Old Testament.

• The Old and the New belong to each other like the roots and the trunk of a tree. The Old Testament is the deep root without which the trunk and branches – the New Testament would not exist.

5


• Joel lived around 500 BC

• Three chapters

• Joel begins with a description of a devastating plague of locusts that hit Israel just after a terrible drought.

6


• “Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers?” (Joel 1:2, NIV84)

• “Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness.

It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.” (Joel 1:5–7, NIV84)

7


• “The Lord announces to his people, “Return to me with all your heart. There is still time. Do not eat any food. Sob and cry.” Don’t just tear your clothes to show how sad you are. Let your hearts be broken.

Return to the Lord your God. He is gracious. He is tender and kind. He is slow to get angry. He is full of love. He takes pity on you. He won’t destroy you.

Who knows? He might turn toward you and have pity on you. He might even give you his blessing. Then you can bring grain offerings and drink offerings to the Lord your God.” (Joel 2:12–14, NIrV)

8


• “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the Lord your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame.” (Joel 2:25–27, NKJV)

9


• ““And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:28–29, NIV84)

• “Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say .. . . . . . . this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:14–18, NIV84)

10


• The promise of the Holy Spirit could not have happened before Jesus came and died for sin.

• By taking our sin upon himself Jesus broke down the barrier of sin between man and God that had existed from the moment Adam and Eve chose to disobey God.

• The pouring out of the Holy Spirit was what all of history had been moving toward.

• From the moment the first man and woman sinned God started His great plan of restoration through the long years of the Old Testament.

• God moved history toward the day of Pentecost. Now we live in the days after Pentecost.

• The next great appointment in God's calendar: the Day of the Lord, The Day of Judgement.

11


• Following the ultimate promise of restoration is the promise of the ultimate Day of Judgement.

• “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls.” (Joel 2:30–32, NIV84)

12


• “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:29–30, NKJV

13


• Malachi lived around 450-400 BC the last of the Old Testament prophets. He too has his prophetic eye on the Day of judgement and how people should prepare.

• Through Malachi the Lord brings three main charges against His people and their attitude toward Him.

14


• “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honours his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name! “But you ask, ‘How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’” (Malachi 1:6, NLT)

• They offered animals for sacrifice that were lame, blind or diseased - animals that were of no value or use to them.

• They were supposed to offer the very best, the first born male.

• The application to the present day is giving to the Lord what we don't need. Eg. Praying or worshipping “when we have spare time.”

15


• “Here is another thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and doesn’t accept them with pleasure. You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows.” (Malachi 2:13–14, NLT)

16


• “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.

• Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house,

• And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:8–10, NKJV)

17


• The core issue was trust. They thought they needed 100% of what they earned and could not afford to give God 10%.

• God promised that if they could only trust Him and give Him the 10% then He would bless them so that they would always have enough.

• The Lord invited the people to test Him.

• It is the only time that God invites people to test Him; see if He really can do what He promises.

• In all other things God expects us to trust Him by faith. But He knows that when it comes to money we need concrete proof. Try it.

18


The End of the Old Testament

• Malachi 4:1-6Page 677

19


journey through the bible: joel and malachi - the day of the lord

Spiritual

new testament

old testament

new wine

lord promised look

chapters joel

lord of heavens armies

nlt jesus disciples

appearance of john