Dec 30, 2022
MALACHI 3:
In chapters 1-2 yesterday, we heard how skeptical and sassy the
Israelites had become. This came out in the way Malachi has the
people of Israel talk back to God. The first is like this:
Mal. 1:2 NLT “I have always loved
you,” says the LORD.
But you retort, “Really?
Topics for such exchanges included offering sacrifices that don’t show appropriate honor to God, breaking covenants of marriage through divorce, and not honoring God as the God of justice. Two more sassy exchanges happen in today’s reading.
ISAIAH 66:
I highlight verse 17 from chapter 65, as it foreshadows what we
will read in Revelation today and tomorrow:
Is. 65:17 NLT “Look! I am creating
new heavens and a new earth,
and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
And I believe that these moving verses from that same chapter portray the torment of the lake of fire:
Is. 65:13 GNT And so I tell you that
those who worship and obey me will have plenty to eat and drink,
but you will be hungry and thirsty. They will be happy, but you
will be disgraced.
14 They will sing for joy, but you will cry with a broken
heart.
REVELATION 21:
In chapter 20, we read about the millennium or the thousand year
reign of Christ, the defeat and imprisonment of Satan, his brief
release following the 1,000 years, and his eventual eternal
judgment in the lake of fire. Death and the Grave were also
abolished in the lake of fire.
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.How have you loved us?”