“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts.“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me! The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. Behold, the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, is coming!” says Yahweh of Armies.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.Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire, behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts.
5 sermons cite this verse
… for Jerusalem in the great second coming. Malachi chapter three, verse one. Malachi three, one. Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before you 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. First coming, second coming. Both did the nation of Israel. We made mention of this last time. How important is this? Watch the technical authorship of God's holy, perfect word. Isaiah 61, verse 1. Isaiah, 743 years before Jesus was born. So this is nearly 3,000-year-old prophecy. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. and I have this in brackets. You might remember this last week. …
… we've been rescued by a little period right there amazing there's more look at malachi chapter 3 verse 1 kind of the same thing 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 you've read that in the new testament haven't you even the messenger of the covenant and you now know what that is whom you delight behold he is coming says the lord of hosts you know what if i would have kept reading in malachi 3 verse 2 if i if i get through my notes you'll see that would have been a lot of trouble because verse 2 tells you that he will bring vengeance and judgment upon the nations he stops god's promises Matthew chapter 21. You guys okay? I know this is abusive. You just get a wave of verses after another. But at least it's Bible verses rather than recipes and potluck instructions. Matthew 21, verse 1. …
… Think of Malachi chapter 3, the last prophet in the Old Testament. 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. and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. He is coming, says the Lord of hosts. The very end of Malachi chapter four, behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. This is the fulfillment of that expectation. and it will be met with joy by many. It's also a parable enacted. Think of where this announcement comes when he's in the temple. He's in the holy place among God's holy people. And yet, what do we know from Jesus' ministry about the religion of Israel in the first century? …
… and he delights in them, or by asking, where is the God of justice? 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, and 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 and like fuller's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver and they will bring offerings and righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old, as in former years. Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker and his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. …
… is Malachi chapter 3 in the Old Testament. Listen to this. Behold, says Malachi, the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, and who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and he shall purify his people as gold and silver. This is amazing. Look, the Lord whom you seek. Interesting. I want this God of love in my life. I seek him and all of a sudden he shows up and what? The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple and who may abide the day of his coming and who can stand when he appeareth. Oh, what does this mean? How does, he says, Malachi says, he's a refiner. He's a goldsmith. How does the goldsmith relate to the gold? Oh, he loves the gold. There is nothing more precious to him than the gold, not just economically. This is his treasure. But how does he relate to the gold? He's always beating it. He's always hitting it. He's always twisting it. He's always putting it through the fire and putting it through the fire and putting it through the fire. …