Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Let’s continue our study of the prophetic book of Malachi. We’ve used the study approach I call "4S”: spread, sort, structure and summarize. We came up with four points under which we can organize the information we discover: Things to appreciate, avoid, appropriate and anticipate. Looking at Malachi 3 let’s list the things in this chapter we should appreciate. In the first 4 verses we find that God keeps His covenant: “The messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” declares the Lord Almighty. He kept the covenants He made with His people in past centuries. He’ll continue to do so in the future. It’s been said, “The future is as bright as the promises of God.” This is amplified further in verse 6 when God declares, “I the Lord do not change.” Theologians call this, God’s immutability. Though we often are unpredictable and unfaithful, we can count on God to be faithful, and therefore predictable. When we trust in Him He commits Himself to be our faithful friend and master. Even when we fail, He will not fail us. Paul declared in 2nd Timothy 2:13, “He cannot deny Himself” (KJV). Just in case you think He might forget you and His promises to you, Malachi declares in verse 16, “A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. ‘They will be mine,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘in the day when I make up my treasured possession.’” Do you appreciate these precious promises and the one who gave them?