G39   MALACHI

The name Malachi means "My Messenger". Whoever the prophet may have been, his little book, ending the Old Testament in traditional Bibles, makes a fitting transition to the New Testament.

Several of the oracles of Malachi point forward to the New Testament both in Christian piety and also in the thoughts and words of Jesus Christ, His contemporaries and the Gospel Writers (Mark 1.v.2).

The first of these predictions is the coming of "My Messenger" to "prepare the way of the Lord".
Malachi 3.vv.1-7

After many admonitions to preserve the statutes and ordinances of the Lord, the prophet declares that Elijah will appear before the "Day of the Lord" arrives. Jesus himself (in Matthew 11.v24) appears to equate Elijah with John the Baptist and the Christian Church sees in the latter not a "reincarnation", but one who comes in the spirit and power of the great prophet.
Malachi 4.vv.1-5

The most significant link, however, contained in this book which so aptly links the Old and the New Testament is paradoxically the last word "CURSE". For Christian people God's "curse" is not simply averted, but transcended by the blessings of the Gospel the "Good News" of the New Testament.