“Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.  But who may abide the day of His coming, and who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.  Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me,” saith the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:1-5

“My messenger” mentioned in our text today was spoken of four hundred years before he came. His name is John, known as John the baptizer of the Baptist. The One that shall suddenly come to His temple is Jesus the Christ who sets up a New Covenant for His kingdom. That makes that same Jesus the Messenger of the covenant.

Malachi says that the messenger who is John is the one who is to get the people ready for the coming of Messiah,  and that the Lord is coming suddenly to His temple. “He shall come,”  saith the LORD of hosts.

John the Baptist is born to Zechariah and Elisabeth though they were of a great age, really a miraculous birth (Luke 1). It is marvelous and amazing and spectacular that God shows up in a place that the people have prayed for, yet many miss out on the events.  Six months after Elisabeth conceives John, a young family member of Elisabeth’s, by the name of Mary who is betrothed to Joseph, is confronted by Gabriel an angel of the Lord, and is told that she will have a Son, and that He is the Son of God, Most High. Mary is a virgin, she has never been with a man, and tells the angel so. The Holy Spirit of God comes on her, and she conceives, and about six months after John’s birth, Jesus is born.

John and Jesus may have played together as children. John was a sinner. Jesus was without sin. John preached along the Jordan River, and many people heard His words of warning and great promise of One who was coming that was greater than he. Jesus came walking to see John, and as he saw Jesus coming he says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, 36).

The religious leaders, most of them, hated Jesus and all that He taught the people. Much of their hatred for Him was envy, because He could draw a crowd, with signs and wonders, miracles of healing, and healing lepers, casting out demons, ever raising the dead to life. He did no evil. He is the Son of God and He  is God the Son. One with the Father (John 14:9-11).

Herod killed the Baptist by beheading him, and Jesus Christ died on a cross, becoming sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He was buried, and He rose from the grave proving that all that He taught, all that He said was truth. Without the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, without the burial, and without the resurrection of Jesus Christ there is no hope for Adam’s race (mankind).

Will you make a one hundred eighty degree turn from your broken, sin filled life to Jesus. He will comfort, encourage and strength you, your life will change for the good, and you will have eternal life. Will you call on His name today?