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In our last issue, we saw
that John the Baptist's distinctive clothing identified him as
the new "Elijah," who
would return before God Himself comes to carry out His
Judgment. Through the
prophet Malachi the Lord had said,
"See, I will
send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the
LORD comes." (Mal 4:5, NIV)
"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.
Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his Temple; the
messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD
Almighty.
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he
appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He
will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites
and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who
will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and
Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in
former years.
"So I will come near to you for judgment...." (Mal
3:1-5a)
As "Elijah," what mission did John
complete? What function did he perform? How was Malachi's prophecy fulfilled? Observe how
Matthew answers these questions as
his Gospel unfolds:
First, God describes the new Elijah as someone "who will prepare the
way before me" (Mal 3:1). In other words, Elijah will act as God's herald,
God's forerunner, God's "advance man."
Matthew presents John the Baptist as fulfilling this exact
function:
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching
in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is
near." This is
he who was spoken of through the prophet
Isaiah:
"A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the
Lord, make straight paths for him.'" (Matt 3:1-3, quoting Isa
40:3)
Second, once the forerunner prepares the way,
Malach declares: "Then
suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come" (Mal 3:1b).
Matthew describes how God Himself came among us in the person of Jesus
Christ, whom he identifies as "Immanuel" or "God with us" (Matt 1:22).
Like John, Jesus called for people to "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven
is near" (Matt 4:17). Eventually, Jesus made his way to Jerusalem, where
he publicly declared himself Lord and King:
As
they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of
Olives...The disciples...brought the donkey and the colt, placed their
cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their
cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread
them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that
followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" (Matt 21:1,
6-9)
This took place to
fulfil what was spoken through the prophet: "Say to the Daughter of
Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a
colt, the foal of a donkey.'" (Matt 21:4-5, quoting Zech
9:9)
Third, Malachi identifies the coming Lord as "the messenger
of the covenant" (Mal 3:1).
Matthew recounts how, a few days after his arrival in Jerusalem, King
Jesus gave his disciples a cup of wine and used it to explain the purpose
for his coming:
"Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the
[new] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of
sins." (Matt 26:27b-28; compare Luke 22:20, discussed in Bare
Roots
7.1)
Fourth, Malachi predicts, "Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking
will come to his Temple" (Mal 3:1).
Where did King Jesus, the "messenger of the covenant," go immediately
after he entered Jerusalem? Matthew writes, "Then Jesus entered the Temple
area" (Matt 21:12).
Fifth, Matthew describes how Jesus "cleansed' that Temple:
Jesus entered the Temple area and drove out all who
were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the
benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them,
"My House will be called a House of Prayer, but you are making
it a den of robbers." (Matt 21:12-13, quoting Jer 7:11)
As Malachi said,
But who
can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will
be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. (Mal 3:2)
First comes the forerunner, and then comes the Lord.
Reflect...
In Bare Roots 13.1, we explained that, when the
New Testament writers say that Jesus "fulfils" Scripture (Greek
pleroo -- literally, "to fill full" or "fulfil"), they mean it
in two ways: First, the Scriptures sometimes predict events that come to
pass in Jesus. Second, Jesus' speech and actions sometimes put the words
of Scripture in a new light, "filling" them "full" of new meaning and
significance. | 