Malachi and Titus

Malachi and Titus

When my sister first requested me to approach both these books together I was reluctant in the fear that I may manufacture a connection that simply is not there. After a refreshing read through the both of them, the answer was clear; And after a deeper dive still, the answer was sublime. 

Malachi is a translation of “My Messenger” in Hebrew as the author remains to be unknown. A rather ominous way of presenting the core message of Malachi. No background to whoever wrote the words physically leads us to think that whatever is being conveyed is something that transcends an individual. We have no time for dealing with a prologue of a coward prophet, a reluctant king, or a tragic maiden. Israel instead simply requires a direct message. If I were to paraphrase the 4 chapters it would be like so: There is a great debt and The Lord will collect. 

Following the destruction of the temple Israel has once again fallen out of love with God. They have once again corrupted what God set out to be good; their sacrifices have been inadequate (Mal 1:7-8, 1:12-14), the priests have warped God’s word causing their flock to stumble (Mal 2:8-9), and their hearts have turned away from the blessings God has showed them in favour of ideologies and religions from other cultures ( Mal 1:2-5, 2:13-16). That last point is important. The people are starting to think that God is just like any of the other gods with a lowercase g. The messenger is here to tell the people of Israel that He will make stubble of the unrighteous who think and act in a way as if God is not king of all things. Of course as dark and dreary as the book of Malachi is, it does end on a hopeful note. He promises to send “Elijah” to set things right (Mal 4:5). Now at this point of the book it seems like we will find another human vessel through whom God will provide deliverance. A story we have seen many times in Israel’s history. God delivers, Israel turns away, God allows Israel to be overthrown, Israel turns back to God, God delivers.  With Elijah’s name being  invoked, one can’t help but  think also about the deliverance from the pagan god of Baal. When he was outnumbered by prophets of Baal 450 to 1, he stayed true and faithful to the Lord and showed all around him that there is only One true God. By having wet wood and stone set aflame by falling fire from the sky, God showed who truly was the one in charge of the heavens and of the earth. The book of Malachi ends on a note that harkens back to a better time of deliverance and looks forward to a day where the new Elijah will arrive and “prepare the way before [The Lord]” (Mal 3:1)

But you turn the page and something much sweeter arrives. 

When I first read Malachi it was on the bible app. I didn’t know what the next page was going to be. I just clicked the arrow after reading chapter 4 asking myself what will follow the heralding of a new Elijah. After I clicked there it was – the genealogy of Jesus Matthew chapter 1.

Now Jesus of course was not the Elijah who was to come. In Matthew, Jesus addresses Malachi 3:1 and outright says that John the Baptist was the Elijah preparing the way for Jesus himself to set things right and settle the debt (Matt 11;10-14). While Israel’s sacrifices were inadequate, Jesus became the perfect sacrifice; While the priests warped God’s word and caused others to stumble, Jesus WAS The Word and led people to the saving truth; And while Israelites claimed “great is the God beyond the border of Israel”, Jesus tore down the borders for people beyond the border to look in and claim Jesus to be king (Phillipians 2:9-10). And that last point is what brings us to Titus. 

The death and resurrection changed everything. Without Jesus, the intense throng that was Malachi cannot have the serene resolution of Titus. In Malachi I said there was a great debt. Insufficiencies in the physical sacrifices to God and the spiritual sacrifice. More specifically, the sacrifices of the priests. The ones who were given the privilege to pass on and teach God’s word had become corrupted. But through Titus (and similarly 1Timothy and 2Timothy) we are given new instructions on how to conduct ourselves better as teachers of the word. Titus is the happy ending to the despair of Malachi. How is it that these things have been made right? And how is it that we are now able to be going in the right direction again? I think Titus 2:11-15 explains it far better than I ever could.

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you”

I think that’s what my sister was pointing me towards. The focus now for Titus and for us is to rescue. While the book of Malchi harkened back to the time of Elijah, where he slaughtered the prophets of Baal after displaying God’s might (1Kings 18:40), we have been given a much different task. Titus was not sent to kill the people who thought differently to them as was Paul’s previous occupation. Through Christ we have become more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). The love and grace of Jesus Christ was so great that it doesn’t (or perhaps I need to write “shouldn’t”) inspire us to set out in wrath but of peace and love. So that our service and relationship with God is far deeper and better than the ones outlined in Malachi. 

That’s all I have to write about the matter at this point in time. I’m sure there are other ways this can be expanded. By either myself or someone better equipped than I. But for now while Christmas is almost upon us, I write in the hope that you can use this to find a sweeter celebration of the coming of Christ. For we are no longer or should no longer be in a state where we cry out saying the god beyond the border is greater. Our God has breached His own borders, he became flesh, and saved us all from the darkness. He arrived as a meek baby and lived a perfect life for us.

Originally written in December 2020 by Denzel Arevalo