Where Jesus is in this book
Jesus in Malachi
Malachi closes the Old Testament, addressing a jaded people whose worship has gone through the motions and whose hearts have grown cynical. In a series of disputes, God answers their complaints and calls them back to reverence and faithfulness. The book ends looking forward, to a messenger who will prepare the way and a sun of righteousness to rise.
The book in brief
Malachi is structured as a dispute, God making a charge, the people answering back, and God responding. He confronts priests who offer blemished sacrifices, husbands who betray their wives, and people who weary God by calling evil good and by robbing him in tithes. Yet grace runs underneath the rebuke: God still loves Jacob, still promises to open the windows of heaven to a returning people, and keeps a book of remembrance for those who fear him. The book anticipates a day of judgment that burns like a furnace for the arrogant but rises with healing for those who fear God's name. It ends with a promise to send a messenger to prepare the way, and Elijah before the great day of the Lord. Malachi leaves the Old Testament waiting, expectant, its last word pointed toward the one to come.
A moment that points to Him
Malachi 3:1 promises, behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me, and the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The Gospels identify the messenger as John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus (Mark 1:2; Matthew 11:10), and the Lord coming to his temple as Christ himself. Malachi 4:2 adds that the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, a phrase Christians read as the dawning of Christ upon a waiting world.
Where Jesus is in this book
Malachi points to Christ clearly at its close. It promises a messenger to prepare the way (3:1), whom the Gospels identify as John the Baptist announcing Jesus, and it names the Lord who will suddenly come to his temple, fulfilled when Christ entered it. The sun of righteousness rising with healing (4:2) is read as Christ's coming light and salvation. Malachi 3:1 to 4 also presents this coming Lord as a refiner who purifies his people, which the New Testament sees in Christ's cleansing work. And the final promise of Elijah before the day of the Lord (4:5 to 6) is applied by Jesus to John the Baptist (Matthew 11:14). Fittingly, the Old Testament's last book ends pointing straight toward the herald and the coming of Christ.
Questions people ask
Who is the messenger in Malachi 3:1?
Malachi 3:1 promises a messenger to prepare the way before the Lord, who will then come to his temple. The Gospels identify this messenger as John the Baptist, who called people to repent and pointed to Jesus (Mark 1:2, Matthew 11:10). The Lord coming to his temple is understood as Christ. Malachi thus sets up the herald and the arrival that open the Gospels.
What is the sun of righteousness in Malachi 4:2?
Malachi 4:2 promises that for those who fear God's name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. It pictures God's salvation dawning like sunrise after a long night. Christians read this as the coming of Christ, whose light and healing rise upon a waiting world. The hymn line, hail the Sun of Righteousness, draws directly on this verse.
Why is Malachi the last book of the Old Testament?
Malachi closes the Hebrew prophets and, in Christian Bibles, ends the Old Testament, leaving God's people waiting and expectant. Its final promises, a coming messenger and Elijah before the day of the Lord, point forward to John the Baptist and to Christ. So the Old Testament ends on a note of anticipation, and the New Testament opens with the very herald Malachi foretold preparing the way.