2. Hebrew word ‘Malachi’ simply means “My [that is, God’s] messenger;”
Last Prophet;
Last book in the Old Testament;
Key Message – “Return to me, and I will return to you” says the Lord Almighty. Malachi 3:7

6. So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him,
This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says:
“How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?
Let my people go, so that they may worship me.”
Exodus 10:3

8. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11

9. The People and God were going in different directions

10. Malachi 3: 1-5
“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.

11. Malachi 3: 1-5
He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud labourers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.

13. Malachi 4: 4-6
“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
”See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

14. ….
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi…
400+ Years
…Matthew
Mark
Luke
John

15. The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way’ –  a voice of one calling in the wilderness, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him Mark 1: 1-3

16. This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch (the Messiah - Jesus), and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne
Zechariah 6: 12-13

17. God’s Perfect Plan
1 Peter 2: 9-10
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

18. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out— plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
Jeremiah 29:11 (The Message Bible)

19. and I will return to you’ says the Lord Almighty
Return to me,
and I will return to you’
says the Lord Almighty
Malachi 3:7