A Covenant Declared

Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare 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. —  Malachi 3:1

While God was wearied with these people, he would still provide a way. He was wearied by their continued unfaithfulness, by their crappy sacrifices, by their complaining, and by their questions of misunderstanding, but God still desired to save them. So he's going to provide a better way, a better messenger, a better priest, and a better sacrifice. He is going to make them spiritually prosperous. He going to make good on his covenant with them. And the way he is going to do it is with his son, Jesus.

That is, who God is talking about here. Two men. The prophet John the Baptist and the great high priest Jesus Christ.

God is going to send them a prophet and priest. This is his covenant with them. It's always been his plan. Yet they failed to understand. So he declares this here. And in December each year, we celebrate that. God's covenant was realized in a son born in a manger at Bethlehem. A living covenant God made with us in his son for all to see.

ASK THIS: Are you celebrating God's covenant to us this season?

DO THIS: Sing to God.

PRAY THIS: God, thank you for the covenant you made with us in your son Jesus.

PLAY THIS: When Hope Was Born.