MALACHI
(430 B.C.)
18
Mal 2:8 You have made the
many stumble at your rulings…
You disregard My ways…
You have wearied the Lord, with your
talk.
But you ask, "By what have we
wearied Him?"
By saying, "All who do evil are good
in the sight of the Lord,"
And in them He delights, or else,
"Where is the God of Justice?"
God explains through His prophet
exactly what it is that "His people" do that He finds so
displeasing: The lack of justice makes "many stumble at your
rulings" God says to man. "The disregard of His Ways" means
the lack of compassion and love as well as of justice. On
top of it all, the people show no understanding of what they
are doing wrong and "weary" God with incredible statements
such as "all who do evil are good in the sight of the Lord"
and "where is the God of Justice?" In the first instance,
this means that the people mistake evil for good, as
evidenced by the false shepherds, they follow and support.
In the second instance, the people project their own
failings onto God Himself blaming for their own failures,
thus washing their hands clean of all responsibility. And so
it is, we so easily deceive ourselves, preferring fantasy to
reality. Living honestly and sincerely requires effort,
courage, and self-sacrifice. Rather than an escape from
reality, the opiate of the masses, true religion requires
the full engagement of reality with body, mind and spirit.
Malachi continues:
Mal 3:1 Behold, I send forth
my messenger, and he will prepare the way
Septuagint before me: and the Lord you seek, shall
suddenly come into his
temple, even the angel (messenger)
of the covenant; whom you
take pleasure in: Behold, He is
coming, saith the Lord Almighty.
(parenthesis from Amplified Bible)
God is speaking through Malachi:
"Behold, I send my messenger…" The messenger of the first
sentence is either John the Baptist or the "greater" John
the Baptist to come, both of whom are sent to announce the
coming of a Son of God. First Jesus, and then later
Melchizedek in the Messianic period forthcoming. Just as
John the Baptist "prepared the way before" the Lord, Jesus;
the "greater John the Baptist" to come (final prophet) will
"prepare the way before" the Lord, Melchizedek. This verse,
"Behold I send My messenger," can apply equally to both
messengers (prophets). This similarity between the two
prophets is why The Urantia Book refers to the final prophet
as "another and greater John the Baptist" to come.
The next key phrase is "the angel (messenger) of the
covenant" which appears to be an alternate designation for
the "Lord" who comes "suddenly to the temple" in the
previous sentence. The messenger of the covenant is a divine
being as indicated by the alternate translation "angel" for
"messenger," given in the Amplified Bible translation. The
covenant is the agreement between man and God that
Melchizedek brings to Abraham. The divine, messenger (angel)
of the covenant is then Melchizedek and once again, we
independently identify Melchizedek with "the Lord/Messiah."
Remember, Melchizedek was referred to as "the angel of the
Lord" by the writers/editors of Genesis according to The
Urantia Book. The angel (messenger) of the
covenant is Melchizedek and the author of
the covenant is God. Now lets rewrite the passage:
Mal 3:1 Behold I (God) send
forth my messenger (final prophet) and he will
prepare the way before me: and the
Lord you seek, shall suddenly
come into his temple, even the angel
of the covenant (Melchizedek);
who you take pleasure in. Behold, he
(Melchizedek) is coming,
saith the Lord Almighty (God).
(parentheses mine)
Next we have:
Mal 3:5 But first I will step
forward to contend against those who have no
fear of me: who practice sorcery,
who commit adultery, who swear
falsely, who cheat laborers of their
hire, and who subvert the cause
of the widow, orphan, and stranger –
said the Lord of Hosts…
The immediate and direct
confrontation with the enemies of God describes
Melchizedek’s rather than Jesus’ mission. Who are these
enemies? None other than the present power elite of our
world; our political, financial and intellectual controllers
in positions of power; often behind the scene and out of
view.
Mal 3:7 From the very days
of your fathers you have turned away from
My laws and have not observed them.
Turn back to Me and I will
turn back to you…
Mal 3:11 I will surely open the
floodgates of the sky for you and pour down
boundless blessings.
Mal 3:13 You have spoken hard
words against Me – said the Lord.
You have said, "It is useless to
serve God…" "And so we account
the arrogant happy because
they have done evil and endured; they
have dared God and escaped…" But for
you who revere My name, a sun
of victory shall rise to bring
healing.
God tells us that our rebellion
from his laws/ways has been from the ancient times of Israel
to present. He does not want to see anybody suffer or "be
punished." He simply wants us to turn back to Him for our
own good. All who respect and revere God’s name are invited
to be healed, made whole, and welcomed into the kingdom of
God. Malachi ends with the well known:
Mal 3:23 Lo, I will send the
prophet Elijah to you before the coming of
the awesome, fearful day of the
Lord. He shall reconcile fathers
and sons and sons with their
fathers, so that, when I come, I do
not strike the whole land with
destruction.
"Elijah" to Come
God tells us in the final stanza
that He will raise up and send a final prophet "Elijah"
before the coming of the Lord (Melchizedek). Who is this
"Elijah" and why is he called by this prophet’s name? John
the Baptist came before the Lord (Jesus) but he was not "the
Elijah" to come. John the Baptist:
UB 1499 was especially
impressed by Isaiah and by Malachi…He read and
re-read the last five chapters of
Isaiah…Then he would read in Malachi
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet before the coming of…the
Lord."…John’s expectation of the
coming of Elijah held him back (from
proclaiming the kingdom) for more
than two years. He knew he was not
Elijah…He finally
dared to think that the first of the prophets was called
Elijah that the last of the prophets
(himself) would be known by the same
name. Nevertheless, he had doubts,
doubts sufficient to prevent him from
ever calling himself
Elijah. …Also consider:
UB 1754 …the three apostles
perceived that He (Jesus) referred to John the Baptist
as Elijah. Jesus knew that if they
(the apostles) insisted on regarding him
as the Messiah, then must John be
the Elijah of the prophecy.
(My parentheses)
In other words Jesus knew he was
not the Messiah and that John was not the "Elijah" to come
prophesied in Malachi. Jesus agreed to the use of the
reference to Elijah only because he knew the apostles
insisted on viewing himself as the Messiah. Elijah comes
before the Messiah, identified previously as Melchizedek.
Therefore,"Elijah" comes before Melchizedek and is the
messianic final prophet. Also, ends of ages are very
similar. John the Baptist was certainly the Elijah-type
prophet for his end of the age, completed in 70 AD with the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. In fact, The Urantia
Book tells us that:
UB 1866 Sooner or later another
and greater John the Baptist is due to arise
proclaiming the ‘Kingdom of God is
at hand,’…Just as John did.
And so we can see that the
Messianic final prophet will in some ways be like John the
Baptist and also like Elijah in other ways as well.
The Urantia Book calls the final
prophet to come "another and greater John the Baptist"
because this prophet, like John the Baptist, will also
"prepare the way of the Lord," this time the way of the Lord
Melchizedek instead of the Lord Jesus. But why is this final
prophet called "Elijah" in Malachi? First we need to know
more about Elijah himself. The Urantia Book tells us:
UB 1064 In the tenth century
before Christ, the Hebrew nation became
divided into two kingdoms (north and
south)…many truth teachers
endeavored to stem the reactionary
tide of spiritual decadence that
had set in…but these efforts did not
prosper until that fearless
warrior for righteousness,
Elijah, began his teaching…he was
kept busy…overthrowing the altars of
Baal and demolishing the
idols of false gods. He carried
forward his reforms in the face of
the opposition of an idolatrous
monarch; his task was even more
gigantic and difficult than that
which Samuel had faced.
(See same page for more information
on Baal).
UB 1074 Thus Elijah, one of the
greatest prophets, began his teaching as
a defender of the old land mores…
and against the attempt of the
cities to dominate the country… But
by this time there ruled in Samaria a
gangster nobility…State and church
went along hand in hand. The
attempt to suppress freedom
of speech led Elijah, Amos, and Hosea
to begin their secret writing, and
this was the real beginning of The
Jewish and Christian Bibles.
UB 514 Elijah was a
translated soul of brilliant spiritual achievement
during the post-material Son (Adam)
age.
From scripture we have the following
about Elijah:
1Kings17:2-24 he restores a
widow’s dead son to life.
1Kings17:1 he declares a
drought of approximately two years and ends it with
his prayer.
1Kings 17:1-7 he is miraculously
fed by ravens in the wilderness.
1Kings he is
persecuted by the corrupt King Ahab.
1Kings 18 He arranges, on
Mount Carmel, a contest between the priests of
Baal
(450
priests) and the true God. Priests of Baal ask Baal to send
down
fire on their sacrifice. After
hours of trying, no response is obtained.
Elijah is successful and the
sacrifice is burned in a large flame of fire
immediately after Elijah asks
the true God to do this. Elijah and the
people who witness the result,
seize the prophets of Baal and slaughter
them.
1Kings 17:14 he multiplies food
of a widow (flour and oil) miraculously.
1Kings 17:9 he converses with
"the Lord" in a cave on Mount Horeb.
In summary, the main
characteristics of Elijah are courage in the face of
overwhelming odds, miraculous activities, being taken up in
a "chariot of fire," and persecution by the highest leader
in the land, King Ahab. He also stands up against the entire
ancient world singlehandedly. Perhaps these will give us
clues about the characteristics of the "Elijah" to come.
The final prophet is referred to by many different
names. The Urantia Book calls him "another and greater
John the Baptist." Isaiah refers to him as "God’s servant."
Malachi calls him "Elijah." The Dead Sea Scrolls refer to
him as "the interpreter of the law" and "the Priest." 1Enoch
calls him "the dabela" which is a mountain goat with a large
single horn. The names are different but the activities and
the messianic time of his appearance are all the same. We
will return to this topic elsewhere.