Bible Story of the Day: Forerunner
The Bible Story of the Day series identifies Jesus in scripture through prophecies and representations, and how these verses impact our lives today.
https://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/Bible-Story-of-the-Day-Forerunner
Scripture is the story of Jesus, from Genesis to Revelation. There are over 400 prophecies and representations of Jesus in the Old Testament alone. The Old Testament pointed forward to the coming Christ, and the New Testament points back to Jesus. The Bible is a record of redemption through Jesus Christ who conquered sin and death when He died on the cross and resurrected three days later. The New Testament was written almost 2000 years ago. Some of the Old Testament was written over 4000 years ago. The Bible Story of the Day not only shows Jesus throughout scripture but shows how scripture is relevant to our lives today. Seeing Jesus in scripture is a major step into understanding who our God is, and how He impacts and affects our lives in every moment. I pray that the Holy Spirit opens your mind to understanding the verses and how they affect your life and gives you a better understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ. I will post a link to the chapter that each passage is from, so that you can read further on your own.
Malachi 4:5-6
5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. 6 He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.” (NASB).
Malachi 3:1
“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts.
The prophecy of a messenger in chapter 3 parallels the prophecy of the forerunner in chapter 4. Malachi speaks about a messenger in chapter 3 referring to Jesus and John the Baptist. Jesus is the messenger that brought the Good News of the New Covenant, and John was the messenger that brought the Good News of the coming Christ. Malachi was the last profit of the Old Testament. There was a period of 400 years of silence between the New Testament and the Old Testament. The period of silence is the period of time that God did not use anyone to prophecy to the Israelites. The coming messenger or forerunner was so important that Malachi repeated it in two different chapters. Additionally, Isaiah made the same prophecy. The message was important because the prophets knew there was going to be a long wait before the next prophet, John the Baptist, and they were attempting to embed the vision into the people’s heads so when they saw the signs of the prophecy unfolding they would know God has come among them.
The forerunner aspect of this prophecy is specifically referring to John the Baptist who was called to make way for the coming of Jesus. We can easily get bent around the axle in the wording of Malachi 4:5. The perspective that this author as well as most published commentaries take is that John the Baptist was not physically Elijah the Prophet. John the Baptist had the spirit that was bestowed on Elijah. Remember, at this point in the timeline, the Holy Spirit has not been given to all believers. That did not happen until after Jesus ascended into Heaven after His resurrection. The Spirit of God (Holy Spirit) was only given to a select few men and women and was given for a certain amount of time to accomplish God’s work. The concept of John the Baptist having the spirit of Elijah breaks down to the idea that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit and his actions and words would be similar to that of Elijah. If you knew Elijah, then you would recognize John. It was a sign of recognition given the Jews, so they would know what to look for.
Luke 1:16-17, “16 And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.17 It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Matthew 17:11-13, “11 And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; 12 but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also, the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.
Why does any of this matter to us? God has an amazingly detailed and well-thought-out plan. He had a plan thousands of years ago and He has a plan now. God did not create this world and then kick back in His Heavenly recliner and watch us fumble around trying to make something of this life until we die. He has an active role in everything that goes on, good and bad. Yes, that is right. Good and bad. God is in control. It may be a hard pill to swallow to know that wars happen, people get sick, and people die, and God allows it to happen. I know your thoughts, because I have had them before: “if He is the God of everything, then why does He let people die?” Simply, because we brought it on ourselves. He has given us freewill, and we have made the wrong choices. If God controlled everything in your life then there would be no sadness or sorrow, but you also wouldn’t get to choose anything. Surely, at some point in your life you wanted something and got it then realized you made a mistake. Maybe you wanted to start dating someone and they turned out to be a completely different person and hurt you. Maybe you got a job that after a week or, so you hated. You wanted it. You got it, and then you suffered from the decision you made.
We have all been there. We cannot question God’s actions because we do not and cannot know every aspect of what is going on. We make assumptions about what we think is best and condemn anyone that follows a different path. God has followed the same path for thousands of years and fulfilled every promise He has ever made up to this point. He has promised a life after this life that will be much better than what we know now. The plan has already been put in place. Are you going to listen to the forerunner and messenger proclaiming the Good News? Or are you going to remain bitter because of something that you don’t understand? This world can be cruel and unkind, but God has promised a different world to those that believe in Him.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mal+4&version=NASB
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mal+3&version=NASB