Malachi 1:1-2:17, Revelations 21:1-27, Psalm 149:1-9, Proverbs 31:10-24
Today is the 30th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, wow guys. Tomorrow’s the last day of our journey. We have made it through almost another year, we’re not there. But wow, we’ve done it. And congratulations on that. We’ll talk about that more tomorrow, but here we are, encountering the last book that we will encounter in the Bible, and that is in the Old Testament and that is the book of Malachi, the last of the minor prophets. It’s the last book that we’ll get into this year.
Introduction to the Book of Malachi:
The name Malachi means ‘my messenger’ and so, scholars have debated about, is that a name, like is this book named after a prophet named Malachi, or is this book called my messenger and it was written by somebody else. For our purposes, we’ll assume that the author was a prophet of God, and his name was Malachi. And he was probably a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah, which we read not too long ago. But there’s nothing outside of the book that is known about him. He lived about a century after the Persians defeated the Babylonians and started letting the Hebrew exiles go back to Jerusalem and start rebuilding their homeland. And it had been more than 50 years since the temple, which…which was erected and spurred on by the voices of Haggai and Zechariah, which would just read, had been rebuilt. But the promises that restoration and prominence would come back to them, that didn’t happen. And so, the people were in their ancient homeland, but the glory of their former days did not come back. And so, they were discouraged, and they were a distant tiny people in a province of the Persian Empire. And because of those circumstances, the people became disinterested in their passion for God wasn’t working out. Right, and so, the moral and spiritual decline that we’ve watched so many times in the Bible, happened. They stopped sacrificing pure, spotless, blemish free sacrifices that they have been commanded by God. The priest started using the blind and blemished animals. And the law was receding to become less and less of a relevant plum line for their culture. And so, into all that Malachi comes, probably the last prophet of the Old Testament age, just rejecting that, rebuking the faithlessness of the people and calling them to return to God. And so, we’ll read this and after Malachi, it would be 400 years before another prophetic voice came, in the voice of John the Baptist, which would bring about the onset of what we, what we know as the New Testament era. And we may wonder about the 400 years, what was going on in those 400 years. In part, we can turn to…to writings from that time, from the in between. They’re known as the Apocrypha and they’re many Christian traditions that some of these books are considered as Scripture. Others don’t hold them as Scripture. There’s a lot of versions of the Scriptures that include the Apocrypha, others don’t. And this isn’t really me saying hey, so we’re getting to the end of this and there was 400 years, and maybe you should read the Apocrypha. It’s just, it’s writings from the time between the Old and the New Testament and tells a story that kind of leads forward. Maybe the best way that we can understand this is what was written in the Geneva Bible, that was, that was a…a English version of the Bible before the King James version and it included the Apocrypha. So does the King James version, by the way. But in the Geneva Bible it says these books were received to be read for the advancement in furtherance of the knowledge of history and for the instruction of Godly manners. So, there are writings that are not in the Bible and biblical but are from the time between, what we’re about to read in Malachi and what comes as the New Testament begins in the book of Matthew. But I guess that’s enough, that’s enough for now. Let’s actually get into the book of Malachi. And today we will read chapters 1 and 2.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us to Malachi, the last book that we will encounter, all 66 books now, and we’ll conclude them all tomorrow. And so, we stand here thankful for Your faithfulness to us, Your presence in our lives, the direction that You have given us, the clarity, the patience and understanding and long-suffering. We love You God. May we love You in spirit and in truth, and may we love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, that’s where you can find out what’s happening around here. The Daily Audio Bible app will do that. Just look for Daily Audio Bible in the app store that works with your device. And yeah, what’s going on around here is that were about to end another year. So, let’s get ready. I guess we’re packing up all our stuff, doing some laundry, getting ready to switch rooms maybe and…and start over again. The day after tomorrow and I’m excited to be back in Genesis and Matthew. And so, but we’re here and that’s what’s going on around here. And so, check it out if you can.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as the days of this year come to an end, thank you. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
This is From Junk to Treasure. And I have a prayer request for my grandson Trenton. Just a couple weeks ago, he was in a car wreck where he was in the back seat of a friends car, and his friend had a wreck. He was treated and released. Last night, in the middle of the night, he was in a different vehicle with the same friend and the guy had a wreck and it rolled the vehicle four or five times. Trenton’s phone went dead and we have no contact with him now. And we are having trouble finding out what hospital he is in. And so, I need prayers for my grandson to be located, for the hand of God to hold him until he can get treated or we can get ahold of him to find out what is going on. He was just at church Sunday morning for the first time in years. And then, he has another car, involved in another car wreck from a friend that was driving. So, we need him covered in prayer and my daughter is a nervous wreck because she can’t find him. And his phone is obviously is still dead because it went dead as he was calling her to tell her he needed help. So, thank you very much for your prayers.
Hello DAB family, this is Janus calling from Haytensville, Maryland. I don’t know if this is gonna air before New Year’s or not, but I want to encourage my family to know, you are not alone. There’s so many on the DAB line that is praying for you. We…we weep when you’re hurting, we rejoice when you give your testimonies and we just pour in and pour in. So, you’re not alone, we’re mom’s, we’re dad’s, we’re sisters, we’re brothers, we’re aunt’s, we’re uncles’, we’re cousins, we’re nieces, we’re children, we’re grandparents. You are not alone. God has given you so many family members and we love you. So, please, go into the New Year knowing, you’re not alone. God loves you so much that He’s given you the DAB family. And prayerfully, you also have other family members but know that you are loved. And God is at work in all of us. Be encouraged. God blesses. Bye bye.
Hi beautiful family, this is Prisoner of Hope. Anna in Florida, I’m praying for you and your husband, you’re going for your RN and he’s partially disabled and your raising your 9 year old grand-daughter. I know you need a lot of favor and so, we’re praying for your situation. Jessica Rosenbloom, you’re going back to work, you’re nervous and panicky. I’m praying that you’ll stay sober, I’m praying for your children Nova and Loki. Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, from Rochester, Virgina, you’re sisters having severe attacks from the enemy. And then also, your husband is sick, so just praying for peace and rest and submission to the Lord. Eyes of a Dove, as a safety officer you’re gonna be gruelled by a CI agent Tom and then, it’s gonna be scary and overwhelming and stressful so we should just praying for this situation. His Leaning in Illinois, your brother was attacked by a guy named Nathan. We’re praying that he’ll be able to overcome this attack. And that Nathan will submit his life to the Lord. Christy from Ohio, you called about a job situation. You were let go from the 13th and you need a job, so we’re praying for God’s favor there. Hilla from California, your step-mom took, had her house taken away from her from a scammer. So, we’re praying that God will rectify that situation. And then God’s Trinkit, your seven year old granddaughter is in a bad place and you can’t get her out of the household that she’s in and they’re keeping her from you. So, we’re praying for this situation. Lord, we know that You are a good God to those who follow You. Please, Lord, may each of these people experience your blessings and favor. May you heal them so that they can mount up with wings like eagles and be strong as You renew their strength, Lord. And Lord, for those who need salvation, or need to turn their lives over to the Lord, just humble themselves before you. We ask that You would draw them in, encourage them, soften their hardness of hearts. Be a blessing to them. Help them to know their need for You. We ask all these things in the beautiful name of Jesus. Amen.
Oh dear Father, You know who this is, Manita. My DAB, this is Manita. My sweet siblings. This prayer is for Andrea. Father God, I come with thanksgiving in my heart, I come to thank You for You are a living God, You are our Heavenly Father who cares for us. You are the one who tells us cast your cares onto me and I will, because I care for you. Yes, Your word is just so faithful and so sweet, and so beautiful and it’s just so powerful in our lives, Father. So, I come before Your presence, Father, asking You for Your daughter, dear God, I’m before Your presence at this moment, Father. I just heard her prayer request, Lord. She’s not claiming anything in her life, Father, in her health. Father, in the name of Jesus, I come before You and to thank You for her victory, to thank You for her healing, dear God. Whatever it is, whatever it is that she’s going through, dear God, she is not claiming it. And praise God for that, I love that. When we say, I have this, I have that, you know, I feel like we are claiming it, you know. We should say, they found this in me, or the doctor said this and this and that, whatever. You know, but in the name of Jesus, we will say that we are not claiming whatever it is. She’s not claiming whatever it is that she’s going through. I love you Father, and I know that in the name of Your son Jesus, she’s going to hear a good report from the doctor. And I thank You for listening to us. In Jesus name. Amen. I love you my sister Andrea. Big hug. Love you, bye.