"On every page of the God-breathed writings are many thoughts that stretch out like long, clear arms of light across the darkness, discovering things otherwise hidden and illuminating wider areas than those of the immediate context. They are searchlights. I have selected one in each chapter of Scripture, for at least one central thought in every chapter should arrest the mind and affect the life," wrote G. Campbell Morgan, a skilled, wise, warm-hearted Bible teacher who conducted a classic 3-year study called Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible. Here is the fruit of that research—summarized, illustrated, and amplified with useful details—on all 66 books of the Bible.
DEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA, JUDGES, RUTH,
1 JOHN, 2 JOHN, 3 JOHN, JUDE, REVELATION
Malachi 1:2 "'I have loved you,' says the Lord." That is the keynote of this last book in the Old Testament, after which came about 400 years of silence from God until the coming of the messenger prophesied by Malachi in chapters 3-4 and by Isaiah (chapter 40) hundreds of years earlier. Malachi apparently ministered during and after the dynamic reforms of Ezra the priest and Nehemiah the governor. The people were established in Jerusalem, the Temple services were observed, and they were enjoying a good measure of material prosperity. However, they were alienated from God in their affections so their religious observances were merely formal, and their morality superficial at best. They respond to God's declaration of love through Malachi by saying, "In what way have You loved us?" The rest of the book proceeds in a series of questions and answers with the sensitiveness of the divine heart revealed from first to last. It is severe in its denunciation of sin, but it never abandons the loved ones. It argues with them, pleads with them, warns them, and appeals to them despite their coldness, pride, and lack of response. They ask, "In what way have we despised Your name?" God answers, "By saying, 'The table of the Lord is contemptible.'... When you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you?" (verses 7-8). As a sign of what is to come He declares, "From the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles ... among the nations" (verse 11).
Malachi 2:17 "You have wearied the Lord with your words." This speaks to both the priests (1:6—2:9) and the people (2:10-16). The priests were corrupt, degrading their office by profanity, sacrilege, contempt, and greed. Because they had so badly misrepresented God, the people followed them in their wicked ways. One way singled out in this chapter is their profaning the sanctity of marriage, which God takes very seriously. Notice these arresting words: "The Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously—yet she is your companion by holy covenant! Did He not make [husband and wife] one ... and why one? He seeks godly offspring.... The Lord God ... hates divorce, for it does violence.... Therefore take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously" (2:14-16). After this comes the verse highlighted above about wearing God out. The people ask, "In what way have we wearied Him?" Malachi answers, "In that you say, 'Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them,' or 'Where is the God of justice?'" (verse 17). That is like saying God is so soft He doesn't punish wickedness, or God is indifferent so He doesn't bother governing or interfering—what blasphemy! Those are words that weary God because they reveal a false view of His nature, and a failure to understand how His love operates. Think how much modern teaching about God must weary Him, but let us be thankful His weariness has nothing in it of failure or fainting. It necessitates discipline as an expression of His holiness and love.
Malachi 3:6 "I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob." This chapter begins, "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" (verse 1). That Lord will bring a New Covenant, "but who can endure the day of His coming?... For He is like a refiner's fire and ... He will purify the sons of Levi ... that they may offer to the Lord God an offering in righteousness" (verses 2-3). That is God Almighty's strong answer to the people's wearisome complaint, "Where is the God of justice?" (2:17). He then says, "I will be a swift witness against sorcerers ... adulterers ... perjurers ... those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and ... who turn away a foreigner" (verse 5). But then the Lord offers encouragement about His unchanging nature, in which His love and forgiveness work in harmony with His holiness and justice. God makes no terms with sin, but He provides redemption for sinners. At this point, "those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. A book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and meditate on His name." He continues to discern between those who serve Him and those who do not (verses 16-18).
Malachi 4:6 "... Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." So ends the prophecy of Malachi, and so closes the Old Testament. The last word is curse but the last thought is not: Lest suggests a way of escape. That curse is something to be prevented. Notice what precedes it: the promise of an action by God that will change people's hearts. Beyond the Old Testament we have the New, and there we find the fulfillment of that divine promise. John the Baptist, the messenger preparing the way in the spirit and power of Elijah, successfully introduced Jesus the Messiah to the world. The first word in His Sermon on the Mount is, "Blessed." Christ or Messiah, as prophesied in Daniel 9:24-26 and elsewhere, was "cut off" to "make an end of sins," "reconciliation for iniquity," and "bring in everlasting righteousness." The Lord Jesus Christ will return in final triumph. God's final word is never curse, but blessing.
