Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus Yeshua the Messiah and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God’s Word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: Shabbat Shalom. I would like you all to turn in your Bibles to the book of Malachi for this ministry meeting. Today we’re going to begin with the introduction to the prophecy of a man by the name of Malachi in Hebrew, Malachi in English. Amazing prophecy that God had given our people of all the people of Israel about 400 years, 450 years before Yeshua the Messiah was born. In fact, Malachi is the last prophet that have spoken to Israel before there was 400 years of silence and God did not say a word to Israel until a man by the name of Yochanan Hamatbil, John the Baptizer, came with the proclamation.

"Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," and he presented before Israel, Yeshua our Messiah, Jesus the Messiah. Malachi, I would like just to begin with an introduction today. And I like you to be patient with me because to introduce a book is very important if we are going to understand what Malachi was speaking about and what he was seeking to convey to our people Israel. Now, let me just read by way of introduction the first verse. One verse, Malachi chapter one and verse one, and notice how the whole book begins. It begins by a statement. We read, "The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi" or by Malachi.

The burden, in Hebrew the word is massa. It is something that you carry, something very heavy. The burden that the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. Now, to remind you, brothers and sisters, we just recently finished the book of Lamentations, the book of Eicha. Eicha is a book that was written by Yirmeyahu, Jeremiah the prophet, at about 586 BC when the Jewish people were carried away to Bavel. If you remember when Daniel gave his prophecy in the book of Daniel, Daniel presented before Israel and asked about the fact that there will be four kingdoms that will take over the world before Israel the nation will be restored back to the Lord. And you remember we have in Daniel chapter two and in Daniel chapter seven an illustration of those four kingdoms: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.

The Babylonian in 586 carried the Jewish people away to Bavel, and from that time on, the times of the Gentiles have begun. 586 BC up until today, nearly 2,600 years passed by from our vantage point of time, and still the times of the Gentiles is going on. The Jewish people are not yet restored. Israel as a nation has not yet been established. The Messiah hasn't been accepted by Israel, our nation. Yeshua is still actually being not acknowledged that he is truly the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world.

When we arrive to the book of Malachi, I would like us to realize that this was really the time that after Israel was for a while away from the land under the Babylonian. And then after the Babylonian period of time have ended, the Medo-Persians have begun to rule over this world. And then God have allowed a remnant from among the Jewish people to be restored and to come back to the land of Israel. It was when the remnant rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem during this time where Ezra and Nehemiah, others have come back to the land of Israel to rebuild the temple. Even that time passed by and it didn't take too long that even the returned remnant in the land of Israel, in the temple in Jerusalem, have already once again departed from the will of the Lord.

It doesn't take too long, and you find the Jewish people once again, the people of Israel departing again from the will of the Lord. And Malachi was raised by God to proclaim the final message that God had for Israel before the Messiah was going to come. He's really saying here in this book of Malachi, "Israel, this is the final message for you. The Messiah is going to come. Prepare yourselves for the coming of the Messiah." It is very interesting because the man Malachi, we have very little information about this man. In fact, we don't find who is his father, who is his mother, where was he born, or how old he was. Very little bit of knowledge of even how long did he preach.

But Malachi was called to be a messenger of God to speak the word of the Lord to our people of all the people of Israel. I want you to notice again by way of introduction that the word Malachi or Malach, or as we say it in English, Malachi, is mentioned more than one time in the book of Malachi. In fact, the word messenger or my messenger or Malachi is mentioned four times here in the book of Malachi. One time it's applied to the man himself, the prophet himself. Another time it is applied to the priests of Israel who were messengers of God for the people of Israel.

A third time it's mentioned and at that time it's mentioned about the one who will announce the coming of the Messiah at his first coming, namely John, Yochanan Hamatbil, John the Baptizer. And the fourth time it's mentioned here in the book of Malachi and it's applied to the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel, who is also the messenger, Malach Adonai, the messenger of the Lord. Look at those verses with me for a moment. In chapter one and verse one, that's where we are now by way of introduction, "The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi." The word Malachi again mean "my messenger". It can also be said "my angel". The word for angel in Hebrew is Malach, but when you have Malachi, it means "my messenger".

Look at the second time it's mentioned in chapter two and verse seven. There it says, notice that in verse seven, "For the priest's lips," this is the Kohanim, the priest, "should keep knowledge." They should seek the law of his mouth because for he is the messenger of the Lord of host. The priest is Malach Adonai Tzevaot, the messenger of the Lord of host. This is the second time that the word Malach or Malachi is mentioned here in the book of Malachi.

The third and the fourth time that we have the word Malachi, and this time it's not applied to the prophet himself, it is not applied to the priest among our people of all the people of Israel, but it's applied to the announcer, to the one that will come to announce the coming of the Messiah. In chapter three and verse one, "Behold, I will send my messenger," in Hebrew again, "hineni sholeach malachi," my messenger, and this time it's applied to the one that announces the coming of the Messiah, John, Yochanan the Baptizer. We’re going to quote it in a moment in the New Testament, in the Brit Hadashah, and you can see that it applies to him. He is also a messenger of the Lord, a Malach Elohim, Malach Adonai. He was sent by God to pronounce to Israel the coming of the Mashiach, the coming of the Messiah.

Finally, the fourth time it's applied to Yeshua the Messiah himself, while his name is not mentioned here, but in Malachi 3:1b, we can see another messenger to be distinguished from the one before, and this time is the Messiah himself. Let me read chapter three and verse one once again. "Behold, I will send my messenger," this is Yochanan Hamatbil, John the Baptizer, "and he shall prepare the way before me." That "me" is God himself. And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come into his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, Malach Habrit, the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of host.

Notice it said he will suddenly come to his temple. And you remember what happened, we read in the New Covenant in the Brit Hadashah when Yeshua came suddenly into the temple. You remember he had to cleanse the temple and he said, "You have made my Father’s house a den of thieves," as he said to our forefathers years ago. He is the fourth person that the word Malach Adonai or Malachi is applied in the book of Malachi. So what we really find out here that this man who is the servant of the Lord here, somehow by divine design, received the name "my messenger," Malachi.

The Holy Spirit of God continues on and he speaks to the people of Israel saying to them, "Israel, your priests, any priest, any servant of the Lord, he's actually a messenger of mine, Malach, he’s a Malachi, he's a servant of mine, he is speaking God's word to the people of Israel." And he continues on in chapter three and he says, "Wait a minute, it's not only my name Malachi, not only the priest is Malach Elohim, the messenger of the Lord, but even a certain man who will come in a certain time in Israel's history and his name will be John the Baptizer, Yochanan Hamatbil, he also will be a messenger, Malachi, Malach Adonai, the messenger of the Lord."

Finally, the Messiah himself, who will suddenly come into the temple, he will be the one who is called the messenger of the covenant, the one that will come to establish the covenant, the new covenant, and finish the work of redemption. It is very interesting that the book of Malachi was the book that was given to Israel before as an announcing of the coming of the Messiah. "Prepare, the Messiah is going to come." Now let's look at the date. When was the book of Malachi written?

If you remember once again to remind you, when our people Israel went to captivity by the Babylonian, it was 586 BC. In other words, they were already the third group. In 605 BC, some were already carried away to Babylon. In 596 BC, a second group was carried to Babylon. In 586 BC, a third group was carried to Babylon, the temple was destroyed and Jerusalem was set on fire. They stayed 70 years in Babylon. After that, at about 515 BC, the Jewish exile who came already at 536 BC, they finished to build the temple in the city of Jerusalem.

During that time when they were building the temple in Jerusalem, a man by the name of Zerubbabel, another man by the name of Ezra, and others came. About 50,000 Jews came in 536 BC, they built the temple, and if you remember they finished it at about 515 BC, and from that time there was preaching of two other prophets. It was Haggai the prophet who preached to them, and Zechariah the prophet. Both of these men preached to the people who were there in the city of Jerusalem at the time when Ezra came and Zerubbabel came.

By the time that Nehemiah came, 445 BC, and I'm sorry to give you all these dates, just wanted to get your mind thinking about some of these dates, then we find out that about that time, a few years later, this man by the name of Malachi began to speak and to preach to the people of Israel. Between 433 to about 400 BC, this man by the name of Malachi was preaching. He was speaking to the people of Israel who were wondering whether God really loved them. Sometimes like you and I, we wonder. We have problems at home, problems at work, problem with our health, problems in every area of our life, and we sometimes wonder whether God really love us and care for us.

The whole book, it is really a response from God to show them, "Israel, I really, really love you, but you have departed from my will." And so Malachi was raised to challenge Israel to be restored back to the Lord at about 400 BC. Can you imagine, brothers and sisters, from the year 400 BC about up until the time when Yeshua was born in the land of Israel in Bethlehem and up until the time that John the Baptist was saying, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of this world," 400 years passed by and there was no message from God.

God did not give Israel a direct message by a prophet. There was no longer Isaiah. There was no longer Jeremiah. There was no longer all the Ezekiel and Daniel, all these men of all the passed by. In fact, Haggai, Zechariah, and even Malachi, the last prophet of Israel, was speaking, but for 400 years, no direct message from the Lord. The Jewish people have developed what we know today, the rabbinical teachings and systems of ways of how to approach God. There was all the time where there was a development of the rabbinical views, how to keep the law, how to get closer to the Lord, how do we develop our ways in which we are to approach the living God.

400 years, no one was giving a message from God on behalf of God to the nation of Israel. When Malachi was preaching, he was just sharing there in the city of Jerusalem. I want you for a moment to turn to chapter one one more time and you notice that in chapter one in verse eight and then verse ten, you will notice that the temple was existing. "And if ye offer a blind for sacrifice, is it not evil?" Well, the sacrificial system was continuing on. "Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught? Neither do ye kindle fire in mine altar."

The altar was existing at that time in the city of Jerusalem. Turn to chapter two and notice in verse eleven, here he is mentioning even the city of Yerushalayim when he was preaching, Malachi, to our nation of old. Look at the place. It says here, "Judah hath dealt treacherously and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved." Now you see what happened: the city was in existence, the temple was in existence, the altar was in existence, the sacrifices were offered, but God was not pleased with that because the spiritual condition of our people of old was a very, very sad spiritual condition in the land of Israel during those days.

I'm saying this because it is also applied to the condition that the church is living in today. We read today the book of Second Timothy, and we read of the condition that Paul warned Timothy about those sad condition that will happen in the assembly age, in the church age. Very, very similar. The last days of Israel's history, the last days of the church history. Malachi and Second Timothy are very much going along together as we learn from the word of God. Talking about condition, what kind of condition do you think existed in the days that Malachi was speaking to our forefathers?

Let me give you a little list that is mentioned here in Malachi chapter three. Look at the condition that existed then and there in the city of Jerusalem. He says in verse five, Malachi 3:5, "I will come near to you to judgment. I will be a swift witness against..." and notice the list here, brothers and sisters. Number one, against the sorcerers, in Hebrew mechashephim. Secondly, and against the adulterers, in Hebrew menaaphim. Thirdly, against the false swearers, these are in Hebrew nishba'im lasheker. They were swearing and making oaths and promises and they were not saying the truth.

Number four, and against the oppressors, in Hebrew oshkim. They were oppressing one another during these days when Malachi was speaking the word of the Lord to the people of the remnant, the people of Israel. Notice finally in verse five, "The hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and they turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of host." There was no longer the fear of the Lord. In Hebrew we say it yirat Adonai, yirat Elohim. The fear of the Lord was no longer in them. Dear brothers and sisters, like today we might say in the ecclesia in which we live today, there's very little fear of the Lord.

Condition, oppression, there is false swearers, adulterers, and sorcerers that we have here mentioned, a list of five things that Malachi is speaking to Israel by the word of the Lord. Can you imagine to have a religion without reality? Religion a system, but there was no heart. A form without really substance. That's why the Lord was speaking so strongly to the people of Israel by Malachi in this last messenger that was sent to Israel. Now for a moment turn with me once again to First Timothy. I want to read just a verse or two to show you that we are not only to speak about Israel the nation.

But these things were predicted by the Apostle Paul that it will happen in these last days in which you and I live today. We cannot always look at Israel and find out all the failure that Israel have had without applying this to us as we read the Brit Hadashah, the New Testament. Notice First Timothy chapter four, the first three verses: "Now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, doctrine of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from food which God has created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."

Then he continues and he gives us a list of things that were going on that were predicted by the Apostle Paul that it would happen in the last days of the church age. Look at Second Timothy chapter three. Very similar to what Malachi was speaking against the condition in Israel, what we can see that it's existing in our days. Second Timothy 3:1-5. Look at this: "This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful and unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, from such turn away."