Malachi 4: The day of punishment is coming

We read:

1-3 “Count on it: The day is coming, raging like a forest fire. All the arrogant people who do evil things will be burned up like stove wood, burned to a crisp, nothing left but scorched earth and ash—a black day. But for you, sunrise! The sun of righteousness will dawn on those who honor my name, healing radiating from its wings. You will be bursting with energy, like colts frisky and frolicking.

Many passages in Old Testament refers to the day of the Lord, a day of punishment for the arrogant and day of joy for the righteous.

The Old Testament ends with:

5-6 “But also look ahead: I’m sending Elijah the prophet to clear the way for the Big Day of God — the decisive Judgment Day! He will convince parents to look after their children and children to look up to their parents. If they refuse, I’ll come and put the land under a curse.”

Reading the New Testament, Jesus says that Elijah refers to John, the Baptist. So, we may understand that he is the one who clears the way for the Big Day of God; but did we see a day of punishment? Jesus was punished by our sins but all the arrogant people seemed to have a victory on that day; so it wasn't a day of punishment. Thus, this prophecy is uncompleted. We still hope that the day of the Lord as day of punishment, we hope for the second coming of Jesus.

Malachi 3: How can I offend the Lord?

Malachi warns that the people has been offending the Lord, but they reply: "How can we offend Him? Is it possible that we mere humans offend Him?". The people is accused of stealing the Lord when they don't take care of the levites, widows, orphans and foreigners that should be sustained from their tithes. The people is accused of speaking rude words against the Lord when they envy the unbeliever who is not obliged to serve Him. The Lord is offended when his people sees the Lord as a demanding God instead of recognizing Him as the Lord of Grace.
Malachi ends the Old Testament. In this last chapter we read:

1 “Look! I’m sending my messenger on ahead to clear the way for me. Suddenly, out of the blue, the Leader you’ve been looking for will enter his Temple—yes, the Messenger of the Covenant, the one you’ve been waiting for. Look! He’s on his way!” A Message from the mouth of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
2-4 But who will be able to stand up to that coming? Who can survive his appearance?

In the New Testament, this messenger is taken as the John, the Baptist while Jesus is the Lord who live among us. Interestingly, only reading Malachi, it seems that the Lord comes to punish. "Who can survive his appearance?"
I have many doubts about how the prophecies of Old Testament are fulfilled in the New Testament, but the story is not yet finished. Some prophecies will be fulfilled in the second coming of Jesus.

Malachi 2: Does God love sinners?

Malachi preaches against the priests because they sin against the Lord.
Malachi preaches against the men because they divorce from their wives to marry idolatrous women.
So, how can we say that the Lord loves sinners? We read:

17 You make God tired with all your talk.
“How do we tire him out?” you ask.
By saying, “God loves sinners and sin alike. God loves all.” And also by saying, “Judgment? God’s too nice to judge.”

Malachi goes against the preaching that God loves sinners, thus He won't punish anyone. Malachi is warning: the Lord will punish, so repent before it is too late.

Malachi 1: God loves Jacob/Israel but not vice-versa

Malachi is a prophet that lived around 100 years after exile. The second temple is already built. It is composed of questions. It begins with a statement to the people in post exile:

1 A Message. God’s Word to Israel through Malachi:
2-3 God said, “I love you.”
You replied, “Really? How have you loved us?”

Perhaps, we should expect as an answer something like: "I have made you return from exile, I was with you rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, etc.". Instead, the Lord answers that He, in his power, has chosen Jacob instead of Esau; however that is not because Jacob has been more faithful. In fact:

6 “Isn’t it true that a son honors his father and a worker his master? So if I’m your Father, where’s the honor? If I’m your Master, where’s the respect?” God-of-the-Angel-Armies is calling you on the carpet: “You priests despise me!

Here, Malachi discusses how the chosen people has despised the Lord: when they present defected animals as sacrifices.


It makes me think that I believe that the Lord has chosen me and loved me; however, it is common that I believe on it intellectually. May the Spirit of the Lord rebuke me and lead me back to Him whenever it is necessary.

Zechariah 14: on that day

 In a lot of passages Zechariah talks about one specific day in the future. Here we read that godless nations will fight against Jerusalem. It will be difficult days for Jerusalem because there will be: "Houses plundered,    women raped". "Half the city taken into exile,    the other half left behind". Zechariah is a prophet after the Babylon exile but he foresess another exile. He sees a day when the Lord will reign on earth:

3-5 But then God will march out against the godless nations and fight—a great war! That’s the Day he’ll take his stand on the Mount of Olives, facing Jerusalem from the east. The Mount of Olives will be split right down the middle, from east to west, leaving a wide valley. Half the mountain will shift north, the other half south. Then you will run for your lives down the valley, your escape route that will take you all the way to Azal. You’ll run for your lives, just as you ran on the day of the great earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then my God will arrive and all the holy angels with him.

6-7 What a Day that will be! No more cold nights—in fact, no more nights! The Day is coming—the timing is God’s—when it will be continuous day. Every evening will be a fresh morning.

8 What a Day that will be! Fresh flowing rivers out of Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea, half to the western sea, flowing year-round, summer and winter!

9 God will be king over all the earth, one God and only one. What a Day that will be!

When the Lord will be king over all the earth? We understand that it will happen when Jesus return.

Zechariah 13: Strike the Shepherd

In the first part of Zechariah 13, we read about the Big Day when sins will be washed, idols will be removed and false prophets will be silenced and humiliated. It ends with:

7-9
“Sword, get moving against my shepherd,
    against my close associate!”
        Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Kill the shepherd! Scatter the sheep!
    The back of my hand against even the lambs!
All across the country”—God’s Decree—
    “two-thirds will be devastated
    and one-third survive.
I’ll deliver the surviving third to the refinery fires.
    I’ll refine them as silver is refined,
    test them for purity as gold is tested.
Then they’ll pray to me by name
    and I’ll answer them personally.
I’ll say, ‘That’s my people.’
    They’ll say, ‘God—my God!’”

The gospel (Matthew and Mark) reads this text as a prophecy that fulfills when Jesus (the Shepherd) was taken by the soldiers and the disciples abandoned Him. Zechariah goes on saying that two-thirds of the sheep will be devastated and one-third will survive that will pass through refinery fires. At end, there will be a communion between the Lord and the remaining.

Zechariah 12: Jerusalem and the One who was pierced

In Zechariah's days, in post exile, the temple was being rebuilt. Let us suppose that we lived around year 1000 AC: Jerusalem had been destroyed a long time ago by the Romans; how would we read Zechariah 12? Perhaps, we would engage in a crusade to free Jerusalem from Muslims. Now, in 2025 the situation is very different: Jews live in Jerusalem and it seems that prophecies about Jerusalem may be fulfilled more literally:

6 “On the Big Day, I’ll turn the families of Judah into something like a burning match in a tinder-dry forest, like a fiercely flaming torch in a barn full of hay. They’ll burn up everything and everyone in sight—people to the right, people to the left—while Jerusalem fills up with people moving in and making themselves at home—home again in Jerusalem.

The most interesting verses are:

10-14 “Next I’ll deal with the family of David and those who live in Jerusalem. I’ll pour a spirit of grace and prayer over them. They’ll then be able to recognize me as the One they so grievously wounded—that piercing spear-thrust! And they’ll weep—oh, how they’ll weep! Deep mourning as of a parent grieving the loss of the firstborn child.

The Lord says that He is the One wounded. In NASB:

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at Me whom they pierced; and they will mourn for Him, like one mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

The inhabitants of Jerusalem will to look the Lord whom they pierced, i.e. they pierced the Lord; but how can the Lord, the YHWH be pierced? They will mourn form Him like on mourning the an only son. I can easily understand that it refers to Jesus and the Jews repenting for crucifying Jesus in the last days as many commentators say. It reminds Romans 11 where St. Paul says:

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
    he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27
And this is my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.”