What is Malachi's message for us today?

Answer 1

The problems addressed in Malachi are similar or the same as those in our churches today-mixed marriages with pagans (unbelievers today), unjust financial practices, withholding of tithes from God's house, and general spiritual apathy.

Because of the lackluster religious life of the Jews when they returned form exile in Babylon, Malachi sought to stir them up by using his vivid method of dialogue with an unfaithful people.

The last chapter tells of the return of the Messiah and God's judgment.

There a word of encouragement to those who are faithful:

Mal 4:2 But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves.

ANOTHER ANSWER:

It's actually the same message that God has been warning mankind about from the beginning. Even Enoch, on the other side of the flood, warned his generation about the same thing Malachi does: THE DAY OF THE LORD.

That prophesied time at the end of God's plan when Jesus Christ will finally return to earth to ESTABLISH THE WORLD RULING GOVERNMENT OF GOD ON EARTH!

"...ENOCH ALSO, the seventh [generation] from Adam, PROPHESIED of these [these same wicked things as Malachi, that have plagued mankind from the beginning], saying, 'Behold, THE LORD COMETH WITH TEN THOUSANDS OF HIS SAINTS, to EXECUTE JUDGMENT UPON ALL, and TO CONVINCE ALL that are ungodly among them of all their UNGODLY DEEDS [works] which they have ungodly committed, and of all their HARD SPEECHES which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.'" (Jude 1:14-15)

God calls it "GOOD NEWS"Or "GOSPEL."It's the very same message or "good news" or "gospel" that Jesus Himself preached throughout His foreshortened earthly ministry... and that, through the recorded works of The Bible, still warns our generation, today:

"...Jesus came into Galilee, PREACHING the GOSPEL [good news] OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and THE KINGDOM OF GOD is at hand: REPENT YE, and BELIEVE the GOSPEL [good news].'" (Mark 1:14-15)

Malachi's message is as vital a warning today as it has always been throughout the generations of man who have ignored and not believed what is actually the BEST NEWS anyone could ever hear: that THE HATE-FILLED, SELF-SERVING, BICKERING, WARRING GOVERNMENTS OF MAN ARE FINALLY NO MORE! Malachi prophesied to his generation... and IS prophesying TO US of the time JUST AHEAD OF OUR GENERATION:

"The LORD Almighty says, 'THE DAY OF JUDGMENT IS COMING, burning like a furnace ["...For OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE." - Heb.12:29]. The arrogant and the wicked WILL BE BURNED UP like straw ON THAT DAY. They will BE CONSUMED like a tree - roots and all. But you who FEAR MY NAME, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing on His wings... ON THAT DAY when I ACT, you will tread upon the wicked as if THEY WERE DUST UNDER YOUR FEET,' says the LORD Almighty.

REMEMBER TO OBEY My instructions [the Ten Commandments] of My servant Moses, ALL THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS that I GAVE HIM on Mount Sinai for all Israel...'" (Mal.4 NLT New Living Translation)

Malachi is warning all of mankind about the "Last Great Day" of God's plan of salvation for man and the world; JUDGMENT DAY! Warning the world that's even now held sway under the misguiding hand of Satan the Devil, whom the two people God created chose to "worship and obey" in the beginning.

It's the very same message the Bible has been warning man about long before it was written down for us, today. And it's the same message that man has chosen to ignore throughout his existence: God's warning for all men to REPENT of SIN; to stop disobeying His Commandments [which is what SIN IS - see I John 3:4].

The Words of the Bible are VITAL and ALIVE... and shall JUDGE US ALL at the Last Great Day:

"...And THE BOOKS [of the Bible] WERE OPENED... And the [resurrected] dead WERE JUDGED ACCORDING TO THE THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOKS [of the Bible], ACCORDING TO WHAT THEY HAD DONE." (Rev.20:12 NLT)

Few people know what the Bible says... and fewer still believe it when they read it. The DAY OF THE LORD is coming: JUDGMENT DAY. And God's Word [which includes Malachi's timeless prophecy] still testifies and warns man of it. It's as valid a warning today for our generation as it has always been since Enoch first voiced it to his generation.

"...'all who REJECT ME [who don't believe in Me] and MY MESSAGE [or what I say] WILL BE JUDGED AT THE DAY OF JUDGMENT by the TRUTH [see John 17:17 - "...thy WORD {the Bible} IS TRUTH."] I have spoken.'" (John 12:48 NLT)