Malachi and the Church

Malachi, the last of the three postexilic prophets, appears on the scene about 100 years after the return of the Jewish exiles from their 70 years of Babylonian captivity.  His concern isn't about getting the temple restored, since Haggai and Zechariah had looked after that much earlier.  Malachi's concern was for the people - that they get their lives restored into right living with God.  The people had become morally lax in their daily living and indifferent towards worshiping God and he urgently tells them to return to God.   The prophet is God's voice to them.   In response to their query:
                                  "But how do we return?"

            God answers: "Begin by being honest." 3:8

Several of my favorite verses in this 4-chapter Book are:

"Then those whose lives honoured GOD got together and talked it over. 

GOD saw what they were doing and listened in. 

A book was opened in God's presence and minutes were taken of the meeting, 

with the names of the GOD-fearers written down,

all the names of those who honored GOD's name."  3:16

"The sun of righteousness will dawn on those who honor my name,

healing radiating from its wings" 4:3

St. Isaac's Cathedral in Moscow is huge and magnificent, topped off with a massive dome.  When we toured the inside of this place we were really impressed  with the gorgeous emerald green malachite columns inside the building.  It remains largely a tourist attraction and museum although a section is set apart for some kind of services. 

We were able to climb up to the first ring encircling the outside of the dome from where we could overlook the city.

Now, like in Malachi's day, the church buildings are repaired but what about the people...what about us?

The prophets throughout have spoken, actually thundered most of the time it seems, about the importance of getting our lives straightened around and the importance of preparing ourselves for the coming of the Lord.  Malachi closes off the Old Testament by referring back to Moses in order for us not to forget what God has done for us and then ahead to Elijah the prophet who will come to clear the way for the Big Day of GOD.

Four hundred years later God sent one final prophet known as John the Baptist to prepare the way for the promised Messiah.  John is identified by Jesus (Matthew 17:10-13)  as the Elijah promised in Malachi 4:5

Zechariah and the Church

Zechariah shared the task, along with his contemporary Haggai, of mobilizing the people in rebuilding the temple.  But he did more.  According to Mr. Peterson in his introduction to this Book in The Message:

"Zechariah was a major factor in recovering the magnificence from the ruins of a degrading exile.  Zechariah reinvigorated their imaginations with his visions and messages...(his) enigmatic visions, working at multiple levels, and his poetically charged messages are at work still, like time capsules in the lives of God's people, continuing to release insight and hope and clarity for the people whom God is using to work out his purposes in a world that has no language for God and the purposes of God."

"I know their pain and will make them good as new.  

They'll get a fresh start, as if nothing had ever happened. 

And why?  Because I am their very own GOD, 

I'll do what needs to be done for them." 10:6

(Pictured above is the Kazan Cathedral-1801-11- in St. Petersburg, Russia scanned from a postcard of the site we visited:

"The cathedral was named after the "miracle-making" icon of Our Lady of Kazan, which the church housed till the early 1930s. The Bolsheviks closed the cathedral for services in 1929, and from 1932 it housed the collections of the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism, which displayed numerous pieces of religious art and served anti-religious propaganda purposes. A couple of years ago regular services were resumed in the cathedral, though it still shares the premises with the museum, from whose name the word "atheism" has now been omitted.

Location: 2, Nevsky Prospekt, Kazanskaya Square"

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/virtual-tour/kazan-cathedral.asp)

     Wow, wouldn't it be terrific if these splendid churches which have been restored to their former beauty,  would now flourish with people who have similarly been restored in their inner being and set free?

Haggai and the Church

"Then...the people with them listened, 

really listened, 

to the voice of their GOD.  

When GOD sent the prophet Haggai to them,

they paid attention to him.  

In listening to Haggai, they honored GOD." 

Haggai 1:12

It seems that the prophet Haggai was commissioned by God to encourage the people to rebuild the temple after their return from captivity.  This must have been a daunting task but the key verse I cited to begin with is so wonderful - that the people listened, really  listened and did it.  Wow, tons of room for improvement for me in this area.

This rebuilt temple must have been a much simpler design than the original.  I reflected on the churches I've been a part of and their design.  We had simple churches.  Not long ago I took some pictures of the three churches here in Abbotsford that have been such an important part of my life:

This is the church my family attended when we first moved to Abbotsford more than fifty years ago.  This building, although the front was improved much later, was almost completed when we arrived.  The small wooden building which housed the congregation at that time was off to one side of this property.  This is also the church where Al and I were married 44 years ago.

The South Abbotsford Church:

Al and I attended here for twelve years with our children when we moved to Abbotsford from the Surrey/Delta area in 1979.  This building was made a number of years after we left but the location remains the same.

Northview Church where we've attended since 1991.

Back to Haggai:

"Yes, get to work!  For I am with you. 

The GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies is speaking! 

Put into action the word I covenanted with you when you left Egypt. 

I'm living and breathing among you right now.  

Don't be timid. 

Don't hold back."

Haggai 2:5

Zephaniah

The last few postings have unintentionally become rather dual tracked: showing churches we've seen or visited and sharing something from my daily Scripture reading.  Let's see how they'll mesh today.

The above photo is of the Cathedral in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. This is an enormous edifice.  When we first saw it at night all lit up, we were thrilled with the spectacular sight.  This cathedral, as in many other places in Mexico, is the heart of the city, as the Temple was the heart of Jerusalem during the times of the Old Testament kings.  

When we stepped inside this beautiful church that evening, completely full of people intently listening to a priest's message, we soon realized to our amazement that there was no live speaker on the dais.  The congregants were receiving a recorded message.

 Zephaniah too, was speaking and recording messages in Jerusalem as a warning to the people to leave their wicked ways.  Idolatry was rampant and that God was going to do something about it, is what Zephaniah prophesies.

A few key verses for me:

"Seek GOD, all you quietly disciplined people who live by GOD's justice.  Seek GOD's right ways.  Seek a quiet and disciplined life.   Perhaps you'll be hidden on the Day of GOD's anger." 

Zephaniah 2:3

Earlier in the Intro to this Book Mr. Peterson writes:

 "...the prophets step in and interrupt us, insisting,

'Everything you do or think or feel has to do with God.  

Every person you meet has to do with God.' 

We live in a vast world of interconnectedness, 

and the connections have consequences, 

either in things or in people - 

and all the consequences come together in God.  

The biblical phrase for the coming together of the consequences

is Judgment Day. 

We can't be reminded too often or too forcefully of this reckoning. 

Zephaniah's voice in the choir of prophets  

sustains the intensity, 

the urgency."

But Zephaniah (3:17*) concludes with a glorious promise from God: that God has not finished with His people and that after the exile is complete God will use the  faithful ones to resettle the land:

"The LORD your God is with you, 

he is mighty to save. 

He will take great delight in you, 

he will quiet you with his love, 

he will rejoice over you with singing,"  

*this verse from NIV