All Articles For The Prophecy of Malachi

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. Previous article in this series: December 1, 2005, p. 111.   The First Disputation: Chapter 1:2-5 (continued)  5. And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel. Why does the prophet speak in this first disputation of the wrath of God and its eternal source (Malachi 1:2-4)? The answer lies here in verse 5. God’s eternal hatred in reprobation and its results are not an end in themselves. Reprobation is always subordinate and serves another purpose. Here that...

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. Previous article in this series: Novermber 1, 2005, p. 55.   The First Disputation: Chapter 1:2-5 (cont.)  2. I have loved you, saith the LORD, Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? Saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 3. And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 4. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places: thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall...

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. Previous article in this series: September 15, 2005, p. 491.   The Superscription: Chapter 1:1  1. The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. There are several things that need to be noted about the superscription to the book of Malachi besides its identification of Malachi as the writer. Most important is the reference to Malachi’s prophecies as the “burden of the word of the Lord.” That they are the word of the Lord, the inspired and infallible word of God, is beyond doubt...

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. Introduction The prophecy of Malachi, the last voice of the Old Testament, has special significance for those who live at the end of the New Testament era. As a book that describes end times and looks forward to better things, it retains its importance for those who live at the end of all ages and who are waiting for the better things of the everlasting and heavenly kingdom of Christ. The book tells of covenant unfaithfulness—the unfaithfulness of God’s church and of His people in the last days...

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. Previous article in this series: July 2007, p. 426. The Sixth Disputation, Chapters 3:13-4:3 (continued) 4:1. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. There can be no doubt that this prophecy of the destruction of the wicked is a reference to the end of the world and the...

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. Previous article in this series: May 15, 2005, p. 374. The Sixth Disputation, Chapters 3:13-4:3 (continued) 16. Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. As God had shown Elijah that there is always a remnant, when Elijah thought he was the only one left who feared God, so He speaks of that remnant here also through...

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. Previous article in this series: March 15, 2007, p 282. The Sixth Disputation: Chapters 3:13-4:3  13. Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? This last main section of the prophecy of Malachi is more general than what precedes. Its purpose is to make a distinction between God’s people in Israel and the unrepentant wicked. It speaks, therefore, of the spiritual difference between these two groups, of how that difference is manifest in the conduct...

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. Previous article in this series: February 1, 2007, p. 201. The Fifth Disputation, Chapter 3:7-12 (continued)  10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. It is evident from verse 10 that Israel’s sin was primarily the sin of not giving the tithes at...

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. Previous article in this series: January, 1, 2007, p. 150. The Fifth Disputation: Chapter 3:7-12 7. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? In this fifth section of Malachi’s prophecy he returns again to the sins of the people, this time rebuking them for the sin of robbing God in their tithes and offerings. By...

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. Previous article in this series: November 1, 2006, p. 57.   The Fourth Disputation: Chapter 2:17-3:6 (cont.)  In the first part of chapter 3 we come to the heart of Malachi’s prophecy. Here the Word of God through Malachi becomes not just a word of rebuke and judgment but the gospel of God’s grace. Here is the prophecy of Christ’s coming that lies at the heart of all that Malachi says, for it is His coming that delivers Israel, both priests and people, from their sins and provides...