Christ in the Scroll of the Twelve

Malachi

Malachi is the last prophet of the Twelve, the last book in our Bible; but as you can see from this picture, he is not the last book in the Hebrew Bible

Nevertheless, he was the last prophetic word from God for some 400 years. This helps us understand the electric current of excitement when the word of God came unto John in the wilderness and he began preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins saying, Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

1:11  For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.
Amen! This is describing the gospel age and the salvation of the Gentiles! Peter tells us that in our worship we offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Paul says, By him let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name continually. Amen!

3:1  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.
2  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
3  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
4  Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Behold I send my messenger – This is a very interesting verse. My messenger; he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. And of whom is he speaking? This is so important it is recorded three times in the New Testament:

Matthew 11:10  For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 

Mark 1:2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 

Luke 7:27 This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

Who is this messenger? John the baptizer, who pointed to Jesus! Which makes Jesus the Lord whom ye seek. John was sent to prepare the way for Christ. This is described further in Isaiah 40:3-5 (LXX)
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and all the crooked ways shall become straight, and the rough places plains. And the glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

4.2  But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
The Sun of righteousness is the Messiah, who came with healing in his wings!

4:5  Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6  And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Malachi has uttered some very powerful Messianic prophecies. Here is another one. The Jews recognized this as Messianic and taught that Christ could not come until Elijah appeared first. Listen, Jesus cannot be the Christ unless Elijah has come. So, has he come?

When the angel Gabriel announced the birth of John the baptizer he said:

Luke 1:13-17  
13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.  
14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.  
15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.  
16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.  
17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. 
he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah. This is really important.

Jesus, after saying John is the messenger of Malachi 3:1, goes on to say:

Matthew 11:11-15 
11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.  
12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.  
13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.  
14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elijah, which was for to come.  
15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 

There, he says it plainly, this is Elijah which was to come.

What does he mean by, and if ye will receive it? Is he saying, "If you don't receive this, if you don't believe John is Elijah, oh well it was a good try, never mind." No. He means, he that ears let him hear. In other words, "I'm telling you John is Elijah, and if John is Elijah then I am Messiah, the Lord whom ye seek, who suddenly comes to his temple.

I have often heard people say Jesus never claimed to be Christ. Yet here he is saying it in all capital letters!

Just in case you are thinking I am reaching here, hear Jesus again

Matthew 17:10-13  
10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come?  
11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things.  
12 But I say unto you, That Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.  
13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. 
The disciples are asking, “If you are Christ, what about Elijah? We believe you are Christ, but why do they say Elijah must come first?"

Jesus says plainly, Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto, Elijah is come already.

Then they understood – he spoke to them of John the Baptist. 

John was the messenger who shall prepare the way before me. John was Elijah who is to come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And John prepared the way by preaching, "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand;" then he pointed to Jesus, “Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”

John said it. Jesus said it. The Apostles said it: Jesus is the promised Christ! I went through Christ in the Scroll of the Twelve so that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.