Malachi 4:2-3 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

She sat hi-lighting passages from Malachi. She was so engrossed in her effort the words of the table passed by her ears without stopping. She had bent her will to know what the Lord had to say in these passages.

I said to her, “Think of Malachi as being the last chapter in the first book of a two books. The last chapter is meant to inspire you to read the next book.”

Here in the last chapter of Malachi is a promise sent of God by Malachi. There is in the previous chapters a list of grievances for all the wrong done by Israel. Then God promises to send one who will make things right again. In chapter 3 He says He will send a messenger before His arrival. In Malachi 4:5 He identifies that messenger as Elijah, the most revered prophet in all of the Old Testament.

Then the books of the prophets are shut for four hundred and ninety years. Seventy festivals of weeks that are held every seven years pass before the first chapter of the next chapter is written in the hearts and minds of those who waited on that promise. I cannot imagine what it must have been like passing down from generation to generation the promise of that hope. I cannot imagine because you and I live in a time when all we had to do was turn the page.

Matthew 1:1 introduces the main actor in this epic thriller. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ. We didn’t have to wait. But wait!

We have been waiting over two thousand years on His promise to return. Maybe I do understand how Israel felt after all.

Faith makes it possible to endure the waiting.