BIBLE SURVEY - MALACHI

"Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His Temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, Says the Lord of Hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire…"
Malachi 3:1-2
 
God's Messenger
Malachi is the last Book of the Old Testament. Malachi is the last of the twelve minor prophets. Malachi is God's messenger, who presents God's last Word to the people of the Old Covenant. For the next 400 years, there would be no further Word from God, until the coming of John the Baptist, who was a voice crying in the wilderness "Prepare the way for the Lord." Malachi is the bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
 
God's Last Word
There is more of God's speech in Malachi than in any other of the prophetic books. Of its 55 verses, 47 (that is 85%) are direct Words of God. The Book of Malachi is unusual because of its dialogue style, responding to cynical heckling with counter charges. Malachi is given in prose, not poetry, indicating that the Lord's love for His people was wearing thin, exhausted by their faithlessness and backslidings. This was to be God's last Word to the people of Judah and the last Word in the last Book of the Old Testament is: curse.

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