The Cast · who is who in Malachi

Keep the players straight

Malachi is the last word of the Old Testament: a covenant God, a bored priesthood, broken marriages, a coming messenger, and a promised Elijah. Then heaven goes quiet for four hundred years. The index tags the book covenant and messenger.
The LORD of hosts
the covenant God
He opens with “I have loved you,” hates faithlessness, keeps a book of the loyal, and sends His messenger.
The LORD
Malachi
“my messenger”
The last prophet of the Old Testament, whose very name means messenger.
The Prophet
The Priests
the careless servants
Ministers who despise God's name, bringing Him the blind and lame animals nobody else wanted.
The Careless
The Faithless
the broken covenant
Those who break faith with the wife of their youth and wonder why God will not hear their tears.
The Unfaithful
The Messenger
of the covenant
The one sent to prepare the way, coming as a refiner's fire to purify before the Lord suddenly appears.
The Refiner
The God-Fearers
the book of remembrance
Those who feared the LORD and spoke of Him, whose quiet loyalty God wrote down as His treasure.
The Remembered
Elijah
the forerunner to come
The prophet promised before the great and awesome day, who turns the hearts of fathers and children back to each other.
The Forerunner
Who is teaching: the colored dot beside each lettered point below shows which IHOPKC teacher it came from. Mike Bickle Corey Russell Allen Hood David Sliker Gary Wiens ESV text
Malachi · The Whole Book in Four MovementsMovement I · 1 of 4
A Forerunner Study of the Minor Prophets

Malachi

The last word of the Old Testament: a love the people cannot feel, a coming messenger, and a sunrise with healing in its wings.
Queried against the Bible Commentary index (127.0.0.1:5578). The whole book is tagged covenant and messenger; verse-level exact matches are marked below. Scripture ESV.
Mike BickleCorey RussellAllen HoodDavid SlikerGary WiensESV text
Movement I · Chapter 1

I Have Loved You

Malachi 1:2, 8, 11
“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?”Malachi 1:2 · ESV
✓ 5578 exact match · 1 exact ref for Malachi 1:2 · David Sliker (Old Testament Survey) · also 1:11 with 14 exact refs · open in studio
Kid mode on · simpler words
A.Malachi opens the last book of the Old Testament with a love the people can no longer feel. I have loved you, God says, and they answer, how have you loved us? Long familiarity has dulled them to the evidence sitting all around them.Malachi opens the last book of the Old Testament with a love the people can no longer feel. I have loved you, God says, and they reply, how have you loved us? Being so used to it has made them numb to the proof sitting all around them.
David Sliker
B.Then He turns to the priests. They bring Him blind and lame animals they would be ashamed to hand their own governor. They are treating the altar of the living God as a place to unload their leftovers.Then He turns to the priests. They bring Him blind and crippled animals they would be embarrassed to give their own governor. They are treating God's altar like a place to dump their leftovers.
Mike Bickle
For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering.Malachi 1:11 · ESV
✓ 5578 exact match · 14 exact refs for Malachi 1:11 · Mike Bickle / IHOPKC (LastThingsScriptures) · Allen Hood (Our Sacred Trust) · open in studio
C.And even here God makes a promise that leaps past Israel. From the rising of the sun to its setting, His name will be great among the nations. The worship the priests are bored with will one day rise from every place on earth.And even here God makes a promise that jumps way past Israel. From sunrise to sunset, His name will be great among the nations. The worship these priests are bored with will one day rise from every place on earth.
Allen Hood
Chapter 1 catches a people who have stopped feeling loved and a priesthood that has stopped bringing its best. The remedy God holds out is a wide horizon: the day His name is great among all nations. He is asking bored worshipers to see how big the thing is that they have grown casual about.Chapter 1 catches a people who have stopped feeling loved and priests who have stopped bringing their best. What God holds out is a wide horizon: the day His name is great among all nations. He is asking bored worshipers to see how big the thing is that they got casual about.
Sources David Sliker (Old Testament Survey), Mike Bickle / IHOPKC, and Allen Hood (Our Sacred Trust) on Malachi 1. Malachi 1:2 returned 1 exact match, 1:11 returned 14.Index tags for Malachi 1: covenant, messenger · ESV
Malachi · The Whole Book in Four MovementsMovement II · 2 of 4
Movement II · Chapters 2–3:1

Faithless to the Covenant

Malachi 2:14; 3:1
The LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.Malachi 2:14 · ESV
✓ 5578 · Malachi 2 is indexed under covenant and messenger · Mike Bickle / IHOPKC. The verse is read from the ESV text under the chapter tags · open in studio
Kid mode on · simpler words
D.The prophet moves from the altar to the home. The men have broken faith with the wives of their youth, and God will not accept the tears they weep at the altar, because their hands are covered with that betrayal. He was a witness at the wedding.The prophet moves from the altar to the home. The men have broken their promises to the wives they married young, and God will not accept the tears they cry at the altar, because their hands are stained with that betrayal. He was a witness at the wedding.
Mike Bickle
Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight; behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.Malachi 3:1 · ESV
✓ 5578 exact match · 5 exact refs for Malachi 3:1 · Corey Russell (two teaching sessions) · open in studio
E.Then comes the promise that opens the New Testament. I send my messenger to prepare the way, and the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the messenger of the covenant you delight in. Four hundred years of silence stand between this verse and the day it comes true.Then comes the promise that opens the New Testament. I send my messenger to get the way ready, and the Lord you are looking for will suddenly come to His temple, the messenger of the covenant you love. Four hundred years of silence sit between this verse and the day it comes true.
Corey Russell
F.But He comes as a refiner's fire. The One they are longing for will first purify the sons of Levi, burning away what is false so the offering can be pure again. In this promise, grace and fire arrive in the same person.But He comes like a refiner's fire. The One they are longing for will first make the priests pure, burning away what is fake so their offering can be clean again. In this promise, grace and fire come in the same person.
Corey Russell
Chapter 2 exposes covenants broken at the altar and in the bedroom, and then chapter 3 opens with the cure. A messenger is coming to clear the road, and behind him the Lord Himself, the refiner who burns away the counterfeit so a real offering can rise. The judgment and the rescue wear the same face.Chapter 2 exposes promises broken at the altar and in the home, and then chapter 3 opens with the cure. A messenger is coming to clear the road, and behind him the Lord Himself, the refiner who burns away the fake so a real offering can rise. The judgment and the rescue wear the same face.
Sources Mike Bickle / IHOPKC on Malachi 2 and Corey Russell on the messenger of the covenant. Malachi 3:1 returned 5 exact matches.Index tags for Malachi 2 and 3:1: covenant, messenger · ESV
Malachi · The Whole Book in Four MovementsMovement III · 3 of 4
Movement III · Chapter 3

Will Man Rob God?

Malachi 3:8, 10, 16
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.Malachi 3:10 · ESV
✓ 5578 exact match · 4 exact refs for Malachi 3:10 · Mike Bickle / IHOPKC (Seven Commitments of a Forerunner; Give Extravagantly) · open in studio
Kid mode on · simpler words
G.God levels a startling charge: you are robbing Me. How, they ask. In your tithes and offerings. What they were holding back from God was never theirs to keep in the first place.God makes a shocking charge: you are robbing Me. How, they ask. In your tithes and offerings. What they were holding back from God was never really theirs to keep.
Mike Bickle
H.So He makes the one open invitation to test Him in all of Scripture. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing you cannot contain. God stakes His own name on His generosity.So He gives the one open invitation in all of Scripture to test Him. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing too big to hold. God stakes His own name on being generous.
Mike Bickle
Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.Malachi 3:16 · ESV
I.And He notices the faithful few. Those who feared the LORD spoke to each other, and a book of remembrance was written before Him. In a book full of complaints, God is quietly keeping a record of the loyalty no one else saw.And He notices the faithful few. Those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and a book of remembrance was written in front of Him. In a book full of complaints, God is quietly keeping a record of the loyalty no one else noticed.
Mike Bickle
Chapter 3 turns money into a mirror. What people keep back from God says what they really trust, and God answers the stingy heart with an outrageous promise: test Me, and watch heaven open. And He ends by writing down the names of the ones who feared Him when it was unfashionable.Chapter 3 turns money into a mirror. What people hold back from God shows what they really trust, and God answers the tight heart with an amazing promise: test Me, and watch heaven open. And He ends by writing down the names of the ones who feared Him when it was unpopular.
Sources Mike Bickle / IHOPKC (Seven Commitments of a Forerunner; Give Extravagantly) on Malachi 3. Malachi 3:10 returned 4 exact matches; 3:8 and 3:16 are read from the ESV text.Index tags for Malachi 3: covenant, messenger · ESV
Malachi · The Whole Book in Four MovementsMovement IV · 4 of 4
Movement IV · Chapter 4

The Sun of Righteousness and Elijah

Malachi 4:2, 5–6
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.Malachi 4:2 · ESV
✓ 5578 exact match · 6 exact refs for Malachi 4:2 · Mike Bickle / IHOPKC (Song of Solomon Course Syllabus; 150 chapters 52) · open in studio
Kid mode on · simpler words
J.The last chapter splits the day of the LORD in two. For the proud it burns like an oven, and for the humble who fear Him the sun of righteousness rises with healing in its wings. The same dawn that scorches the arrogant heals the humble.The last chapter splits the day of the LORD in two. For the proud it burns like an oven, and for the humble who fear Him the sun of righteousness rises with healing in its wings. The same sunrise that burns the proud heals the humble.
Mike Bickle
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.Malachi 4:5–6 · ESV
✓ 5578 exact match · 18 exact refs for Malachi 4:5 and 13 for 4:6, the book's most-cited verses · Gary Wiens · Mike Bickle (150 chapters 67) · open in studio
K.Then the very last words of the Old Testament. I will send you Elijah before the great and awesome day, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and children to their fathers. The first half of the Bible ends looking for a forerunner.Then the very last words of the Old Testament. I will send you Elijah before the great and awesome day, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and children back to their fathers. The first half of the Bible ends waiting for a forerunner.
Gary Wiens
L.And then heaven goes quiet for four hundred years. The next voice to break the silence is a man in the wilderness who comes in the spirit of Elijah, pointing to the messenger of the covenant. Malachi's last word is the hinge the whole New Testament swings on.And then heaven goes quiet for four hundred years. The next voice to break the silence is a man in the wilderness who comes in the spirit of Elijah, pointing to the messenger of the covenant. Malachi's last word is the hinge the whole New Testament swings on.
Mike Bickle
Malachi ends the Twelve and the whole Old Testament on a promise and a name. The God who said “I have loved you” keeps a book of the faithful, sends a messenger to ready the way, and holds out a sunrise with healing in its wings. The Twelve began with a runaway bride in Hosea and end here, waiting on the forerunner who will announce the Bridegroom.Malachi ends the Twelve and the whole Old Testament on a promise and a name. The God who said “I have loved you” keeps a book of the faithful, sends a messenger to get the way ready, and holds out a sunrise with healing in its wings. The Twelve began with a runaway bride in Hosea and end here, waiting for the forerunner who will announce the Bridegroom.
Sources Mike Bickle / IHOPKC (Song of Solomon Course Syllabus; 150 chapters 67) and Gary Wiens on Malachi 4. Malachi 4:2 returned 6 exact matches, 4:5 returned 18, the most in the book, and 4:6 returned 13.Index tags for Malachi 4: covenant, messenger · ESV
Malachi today · modern pictures

What each beat looks like now

Malachi in the language of now, the last word of the Old Testament for anyone who has grown casual about a love they keep being given. Each card carries the verse it grows from.
Malachi 1:2

Numb to the love

Today it looks likeThe heart that cannot feel a love it keeps being handed, so used to the gift that it forgets the giver, asking “how have you loved me?” with the evidence in the room.
Malachi 1:8

Giving the leftovers

Today it looks likeHanding God the tired scraps of time and money nobody else wanted, the last ten minutes and the loose change instead of the first and the best.
Malachi 2:14

The quiet betrayal

Today it looks likeBreaking a covenant slowly and without a scene, treating a lifelong vow as disposable, while God remembers He stood witness at the start.
Malachi 3:10

Test Me in this

Today it looks likeThe one dare God ever offers: give generously off the top and watch what comes back, trusting an open hand more than a clenched one.
Malachi 3:16

The record kept

Today it looks likeThe quiet faithfulness nobody noticed being written down after all, the loyalty done in the dark that Heaven saw and remembered.
Malachi 4:2

Healing in its wings

Today it looks likeThe dawn that heals after a long cold season, warmth on the ones who waited, the day the light finally does you good instead of harm.
These Malachi parallels are the study's own work; the verses are ESV, and the grounding comes from the index's covenant-and-messenger tags and the exact matches marked above.
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