I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. ~Malachi 3:1

“I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to His temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.” ~Malachi 3:1

This must have stirred the hearts of the believers - here was something straight forward and to the point. The ‘when?’ had to be on everyone’s minds. “Is He coming in my generation?” “During my children’s lives?”

Malachi prophesied about the coming Messiah 460 years before Jesus was born on the first Christmas. Almost 8 generations would pass before Jesus began His ministry. God’s timing is not how we expect. But they passed these prophecies down generation by generation. Picture families gathered around as the father recounted these stories. There was an understanding that every word was exact and precise; they held each other accountable for this oral tradition, critical for preserving the history of the culture.

When John the Baptist entered the scene, many recognized him as this prophesied ‘Messenger’. In fact, when he was born, his father, Zechariah prophesied, “And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord” ~Luke 1:76 John himself told them that very thing, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” Lord..'“~John 1:23

Father, thank you that we now have the WRITTEN word - don’t let us take this for granted. Excite us the way these beloved believers of old were as they waited for Your promise to be fulfilled. Let us each be messengers in our own way, spreading the good news of Your love. Amen.

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