Malachi 3:1-4 The Promise of the Messenger (Shane Mosby)

In ancient kingdoms there was a position known as a forerunner, which was a person responsible for clearing the path before traveling royalty to “pave the way” for those who were to come. This is the kind of person described in this passage, both the forerunner and the royal person who was to come. We know today that thisperson was John the Baptist, who was preparing the way for Jesus to come and proclaim truth to the world. As Christians today, we are also called to be forerunners for Christ.

Malachi lived 450 years before Jesus’ birth, and the people of this day had a particular idea of what/who they thought the Messiah should be like, namely a political and authoritarian leader. The first messenger that Malachi describes will make a way for the second, who is more significant. This description is also used in
Isaiah 40 as one who would “make straight” the paths for he who was to come. In Luke 7 Jesus identifies this messenger as John the Baptist. The second messenger was described as coming suddenly into the temple, which drives home the significance of his personhood as arriving in the religious center of the day. John the
Baptist identifies this coming Messiah as Jesus in John 3. John came to wake up the people spiritually, and Jesus delivered the message to those who were awake.

John’s work sought to complete two purposes: awakening the people to the reality of their sin and the need for salvation, and to point them to the one who would bring that salvation and in fact was the salvation. People of that day felt protected by their lineage to Abraham, though the account of Abraham describes that he was
only counted as righteous for his faithfulness. He urged the people to be generous, honest and full of content. In John 3 he describes clearly that he understands his role in relevance to Christ as the Messiah, priming the people to hear his words and receive them.

Just as John was a forerunner for Christ and his ministry, we are all forerunners today. With the same zeal we should lovingly level the path for the arrival of Jesus and highlight the importance of who he is. Jesus spoke clearly of his return, such as in Matthew 24 with the parable of the fig tree. Not only did Jesus give the
commandment to proclaim the gospel to the entire world, but he enabled us to do so with the gift of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22). In the days of the Old Testament there was a select class of priests, but now we are all priests under the authority of Jesus (1 Peter 2:9).

Enabled with the Holy Spirit and equipped with love, we should act as John the Baptist did in his day. We should lovingly warn people of the many false senses of salvation that are prevalent in our culture. We should alert people of the need for repentance in the face of eternal judgement. We should express in our own lives
and in our words to others the need for faith in actions, not just words. In all that we do, we should point others to Jesus. How have you lived up to the calling to be a forerunner for Christ? Are you known more what you stand for than what you stand against? Do you complicate the message of Christ to sound morally superior or
intellectual? Do you use what God has given you for his glory above your personal gain? Is Jesus a part of your life, or is he the core of your life? As Christians serving as the forerunners for Christ’s second coming, we have a responsibility to live out the call as best we can. The world is watching, and our actions will be correlated with Christ for better or worse. This should not overwhelm us, as we ought to remind ourselves that we are equipped with the Holy Spirit to carry out every good work. We should strive to be like Christ in all that we do, with the humility to understand that we are imperfect, but that we serve a God who does not fail. If
there is any stumbling block to accepting the message of Christ, may it be the cross and not us. Let us take up the call to live as forerunners in our families, neighborhoods, places of work and anywhere that God places us.