I just wrapped up a 30 day journey reading through the Gospels along with the rest of our church family at Cedarcrest Church. This was a great time of reading some familiar passages from a new perspective and I am grateful for the work that God has done in my heart and mind through that journey. God has used several people, books, podcasts, and conversations recently to show me some new thoughts about Generosity. That is something that Clint and I want to be known for and something that we want to make sure we demonstrate clearly to our almost 2 year old daughter. In order to really focus on that, I have decided to spend the next few days focusing on the book of Malachi. It is the last book of the Old Testament and consists of only 4 chapters.
The theme of Malachi focuses on the fact that God will come not only to judge His people, but also to bless and restore them. I have been doing some reading on the background of the book of Malachi. My student bible actually introduces this book as “When Faith Grows Weary.” Malachi wrote this book to encourage and challenge people that were just going through the motions.
I found a great outline of the book of Malachi on the Biblica website. I am pasting their outline below and looking forward to taking the next few days to really dig into the book of Malachi.
Outline of the Book of Malachi
- Title (1:1)
- Introduction: God’s Faithful Covenant Love for Israel Affirmed (1:2–5)
- Israel’s Unfaithfulness Rebuked (1:6—2:16)
- The Unfaithfulness of the Priests (1:6—2:9)
- They dishonor God in their sacrifices (1:6–14)
- They do not faithfully teach the law (2:1–9)
- The Unfaithfulness of the People (2:10–16)
- The Unfaithfulness of the Priests (1:6—2:9)
- The Lord’s Coming Announced (2:17—4:6)
- The Lord Will Come to Purify the Priests and Judge the People (2:17—3:5)
- A Call to Repentance in View of the Lord’s Coming (3:6–18)
- An exhortation to faithful giving (3:6–12)
- An exhortation to faithful service (3:13–18)
- The Day of the Lord Announced (ch. 4)