Seth: [electronic music] When Jesus steps on the scene, that does signal a change of God's heart. 400 years of divine silence-
David: Oh, sure
Seth: ... has happened after the Book of Malachi.
David: Yeah.
Seth: God is going to escalate his plans to forgive his people's sins by sending himself in the form of his son-
David: Mm
Seth: ... to die on behalf of their sins. There is a sense in which God's heart is changing towards his children. He wants to offer the final sacrifice-
David: Mm
Seth: ... for sins for the whole world, and it's time for it to happen-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... now.
Intro: [electronic music] Welcome to the Spoken Gospel Podcast. Spoken Gospel is a ministry that's dedicated to speaking the gospel out of every corner of scripture. In Luke 24, Jesus told his disciples that every part of the Bible was about him. So each week, hosts David and Seth work through a passage of scripture to see how it's all about Jesus and his good news. Let's jump in.
David: [electronic music] Well, welcome everyone to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. We are continuing our look at the Book of Malachi, and last week we talked about the three arguments that God brings to the people, that they didn't know that he loved them, and-
Seth: Yes
David: ... they weren't honoring him, and they were intermarrying and trusting in false gods. Uh-
Seth: Yep
David: ... what do we need to get in our head to prepare us for today, and-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... what are we gonna cover today, Seth?
Seth: Well, what's really interesting about the back half of the Book of Malachi is it starts with the problem of evil. [laughs]
David: Oh.
Seth: It's-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... yeah, it's like-
David: Here we go.
Seth: Yeah, so I mean, which is kind of connected to what we said before. If God loves us, why doesn't it look like it?
David: Oh, right.
Seth: And-
David: That's all
Seth: ... we have the other side of that argument that says, "Hey, bad people keep getting away with evil events, so doesn't that mean God must approve of evil?"
David: Ah.
Seth: If bad people keep succeeding, then God must not care about morality.
David: Right.
Seth: So why should we follow him or be faithful to him if God's clearly so capricious with who gets his benefits and who doesn't?
David: Wow. Yeah.
Seth: Uh, so they say that, make that argument twice.
David: Okay, so we're talking about the problem of evil today.
Seth: In a way, yes.
David: Little bit. A little bit. Okay.
Seth: And the way that's resolved, interestingly-
David: Uh-huh
Seth: ... is in a coming messenger, which-
David: Yo
Seth: ... we will-
David: Okay. [laughs]
Seth: A coming messenger who will deliver a message, and that messenger will be John the Baptist.
David: What?
Seth: So [laughs]
David: What? Okay, no, uh, uh, let me just say something.
Seth: Yes.
David: No one, uh, no one has ever said to me the problem of evil is solved by John the Baptist.
Seth: [laughs]
David: Can I just, can I just name that? So you've got some work cut out for you. Uh-
Seth: Um-
David: ... especially because most of my master's work was in the problem of evil, so.
Seth: Oh, and you never came across the John the Baptist-
David: I, you know, I never did
Seth: ... as you searched the problem of evil?
David: It was, it was more philosophical I think than, uh, than, yeah, than John the Baptist is.
Seth: Um-
David: So all right, help me out. Reminder, Malachi, we don't know exactly when it was written, but we know it was after the rebuilding of the temple-
Seth: That's right
David: ... after Nehemiah's time.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: Uh, but the temple has once again fallen in disrepair.
Seth: People aren't being faithful.
David: People aren't being faithful. They're offering bad sacrifices on the altar, uh, uh, animals with blemishes, things like that. And therefore, the land has also fallen into disrepair-
Seth: Right
David: ... because God's not blessing it-
Seth: Right
David: ... because the people have broken the covenant.
Seth: And this vicious cycle has become as God continues to be faithful to the covenant and not bless the land when His people are not honoring Him.
David: They're like, "God must not love us-
Seth: God-
David: ... and therefore continue to, to defame the covenant."
Seth: That's right.
David: And then also we talked about the Levites-
Seth: Yes
David: ... being, um, the kind of center of God's argumentative target here, that they are responsible for blemishing the covenant.
Seth: Yeah, they have failed to offer God right sacrifices.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And by doing so, they have taught the nation to dishonor God as well.
David: Okay. And they've been under threat of not being included-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... in the new kingdom-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... and having poop smeared on their face. If you-
Seth: Yes. [laughs]
David: If this is the first podcast you're listening to-
Seth: Yes
David: ... you're gonna have to go back to see what we're talking about there.
Seth: Yeah. Um-
David: Okay. Did that appropriately catch us up for today?
Seth: That, that has caught us up.
David: Okay.
Seth: That has caught us up.
David: All right, then.
Seth: Um-
David: Continue, good sir, with your ridiculous theory.
Seth: Um, well, let me read to you what God says-
David: Oh, okay
Seth: ... in chapter two, verse 17.
David: Okay.
Seth: "You have wearied the Lord with your words."
David: Oh, boy.
Seth: And-
David: I hope that's never said of me. [laughs]
Seth: [laughs] It's like God's really tired of you talking. [laughs]
David: [laughs] Man, that's terrifying. Okay.
Seth: Uh, maybe this is helpful to remind everybody of, the Book of Malachi is set up in a series of six arguments-
David: Right
Seth: ... where God says something-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... the peoples question the legitimacy of God's claim, and then God proves that He's right.
David: Right. So the first one was, "I have loved you."
Seth: Right.
David: And they say, "How have you loved us?" And then He talks about how He chose them. And the second one was, uh, "You have not honored me."
Seth: The second one was, "You have not honored me." And they said, "How have we not honored you? By offering polluted sacrifices."
David: Yeah.
Seth: And now here it's, "You have wearied me with your words."
David: How have we wearied Him?
Seth: And then this is what He says. "Because you say everyone who does evil is good in the eyes of the Lord, and God delights in them. And you keep asking, 'Where is the God of justice?'"
David: Ah.
Seth: So, and it's interesting to think about the priests being the one who say this if the priests are supposed to teach the people how to honor God. But if the priests are also the ones leading the people into skepticism of God's faithfulness and God's justice, this is a pretty serious situation. Like-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... God has let this evil person prosper, this evil person prosper, this evil kingdom come to power, this evil kingdom come to power, and we, the people of God faithfully offering sacrifices this whole time, nothing's happening to us. Isn't it clear that God doesn't love the least of these? Does it-
David: Mm.
Seth: Isn't it clear that God only prefers the powerful and the evil?
David: And that evil is actually good in God's eyes?
Seth: That's right.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So that's, that's the claim, and then-
David: And so God's like, "You're wearying me with those words."
Seth: It's like, that's, that's a, an old argument, and I'm tired of hearing it.
David: Yeah. It's just, I'm tired of hearing lies. It's not true.
Seth: Yes.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And this, this is, and so He's like, "Here. Here's how I'll prove that's wrong. I will send a messenger."And he will prepare the way before me.
David: Whoa.
Seth: So I'm gonna send a messenger, a Malachi. Remember Malachi means my messenger.
David: Right.
Seth: I'm gonna send a Malachi.
David: Another Malachi.
Seth: Another Malachi and he's gonna prepare the way for me to come. I will come after my messenger comes. Me, myself, God myself-
David: Okay
Seth: ... will come to Israel after my messenger comes, okay? And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to the temple.
David: Oh.
Seth: You've been defiling it. You've been doing all these things. The Lord will come to the temple along with the messenger of this covenant. Behold, this day of the Lord is coming. Okay. Here's how you know the problem of evil's gonna be solved. A messenger's gonna come and I'm gonna show up to your temple with that messenger.
David: Yeah.
Seth: That's, that's the start of what he's gonna do. [laughs]
David: Okay. Do you want me to take a stab at what's going on here?
Seth: Yeah, sure. Go, what-
David: In the dark
Seth: ... yeah, two verses in, let's go.
David: All right, here's what I'm thinking-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... is, okay, God doesn't care about us clearly. All the evil people in the world are getting all His blessings, and we who are actually trying to keep His covenant-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... we're getting all the curses.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: He must not care for us. And he's like, "Oh no, I'll show you that I actually do care for you by coming to you."
Seth: Um-
David: Is that it? No? Ah.
Seth: Yes.
David: Maybe.
Seth: That is part of it.
David: Part of it. Okay.
Seth: But I think because they're accusing God of being unjust-
David: Oh
Seth: ... he's saying, "Okay, you want a God of justice?"
David: I'm coming.
Seth: "I'll come to your temple."
David: Oh, so this is scary.
Seth: Yes. [laughs]
David: This is not like a, "Hey, I'll come hang out with you guys."
Seth: He's like, "I'll come to your temple as the God of justice-"
David: Oh, no
Seth: ... "like you requested." And-
David: And this is after he told them that the temple's been polluted
Seth: ... they've polluted it, not honored-
David: Oh, no
Seth: ... like God the King is not honored.
David: [laughs]
Seth: So it's like this, "If you want a God of justice, I will show up as only that for you if that's really what you want."
David: Oof.
Seth: And then he says this, "But who will endure on that day?"
David: Right.
Seth: "Who can stand when I appear?" I, but also he, meaning the messenger-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... 'cause they're both at the same time. The messenger and me will be like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap, which is-
David: Is that a brand of soap?
Seth: Yeah. [laughs]
David: [laughs]
Seth: Ancient Israelite-
David: Try Fuller's Soap
Seth: ... it's the old Hebrew soap.
David: [laughs]
Seth: There's like, there's like ads all over ancient Israel for Fuller's Soap. [laughs] It's the soap-
David: It's like Dove for men.
Seth: [laughs] Yeah, like Dove for men. Yeah. Fuller's Soap was how you bleached clothes back in-
David: Oh, okay
Seth: ... the day. So it made, it made them pure. It made them pure.
David: So he's gonna come, and he's gonna be a refining fire-
Seth: And a purifying soap
David: ... and a purifying soap.
Seth: Yep. Uh, he-
David: Okay. So yeah, not the kind of-
Seth: No
David: ... cushy visit from God I thought he was gonna do. [laughs]
Seth: No, but remember this tracks with what he said before. "I'm gonna come to the House of Levi-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... and cleanse it of all-
David: Uh
Seth: ... of its bad actors."
David: Right.
Seth: He will sit as a refiner and, and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi-
David: Mm
Seth: ... and refine them like gold and silver, and then after I refine them, they will bring offerings in righteousness once again to the Lord.
David: Okay.
Seth: And then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing the Lord in the d- as in the days of old and as in the former years.
David: Mm.
Seth: So there's gonna be a messenger who comes along with God himself, and he's gonna cleanse the priesthood, and once he cleanses the priesthood, they're going to be able to offer a sacrifice just like they did in the past, and God will cleanse his people of their sins.
David: Okay.
Seth: That's what's gonna happen.
David: Okay, so let me, let me try.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Let me give it a try here. So the people of Israel are wearing God out [laughs] in a sense-
Seth: Mm
David: ... if God can be worn out.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like [laughs] I know this is like some metaphor there, but they-
Seth: God says he can be wearied, so
David: So we'll just give it to him. [laughs]
Seth: [laughs] We'll give it to him. God can describe himself however he likes.
David: However he wants. [laughs] Okay, I'll get out of the way. Uh, and but the people are saying that God loves evil-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... and hates them basically.
Seth: Mm-hmm. That God is not a God of true justice.
David: God's not a God of true justice, and he's like, "Okay, I will come as a God of true justice, but that justice is going to come against you-
Seth: Mm
David: ... especially you at the temple-
Seth: Mm
David: ... because you're offering wrong sacrifices."
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: "But I'm not gonna come and just destroy you."
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: "I'm gonna come as a refining fire and as Fuller's brand soap."
Seth: Yep. [laughs]
David: [laughs] And, "I'm gonna cleanse you like the Levites should have done all along."
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: "And once that's done, right and true good offerings will be brought to the temple once again."
Seth: Yes.
David: Okay.
Seth: And in particular here-
David: Uh-huh
Seth: ... the Levites, the priestly order of the Levites will be cleansed. Levites can offer-
David: Ah
Seth: ... a sacrifice on behalf of the people that will cleanse them from sin.
David: Okay. I missed that. Okay.
Seth: That's, that's the im-
David: That's good
Seth: ... that's the really fascinatingly important-
David: Okay
Seth: ... thing for us to keep in mind. God-
David: But why is that so important?
Seth: Well, because of John the Baptist.
David: [laughs] Okay. Okay.
Seth: Um, so let me, let's just skip to the end of this ch- of chapter 3-
David: Okay
Seth: ... verse 13, where the same argument is made again. "Your words have been hard against me," says the Lord. This is the, the sixth argument. And we say, "How have we spoken a-
David: [laughs]
Seth: ... against you?" And you keep saying, "It's vain to serve God." And what's interesting about this is that phrase, "You've been hard against me," it's that same word grumbling that was used-
David: Ah
Seth: ... in the wilderness wanderings.
David: Yep.
Seth: What's happening here is how have we rebelled against you?
David: Yeah.
Seth: God's claiming they've rebelled against his authority. How have we rebelled against you? And he says, "Because you keep saying it's vain to serve me."
David: Mm.
Seth: "You're saying my laws are pointless in following-"
David: Whoa
Seth: ... "because you think that I only reward evil people. So you don't believe my laws are just anymore."
David: Whoa.
Seth: "That is tantamount to rebellion, so have at it."
David: Whoa.
Seth: "B- b- be that way then." [laughs] He like, "I'll refine you" is the, is the point. Like, "I'm gonna refine people who have totally rejected my laws in that way, I will refine."
David: Okay.
Seth: And what's interesting here, he says, the people say, "And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape." The same thing they claimed God was doing in the first argument.
David: Yeah.
Seth: You call evil good. Now they're saying, "So now we call evil good."
David: Oh.
Seth: You haven't done it, so now we will.
David: Mm.
Seth: Evil is good. Do whatever you want. Do whatever's right in your own eyes. God's laws aren't worth following. They don't return on investment the way that we need them to.
David: I see. Okay. Are you saying then that the ceremonial unrighteousness that's occurring in the temple is becoming a moral unrighteousness, like-In lived experience, like people are actually becoming the bad apples [laughs] like in real life. Like, well, I guess if God's not accepting our, what we thought were decent offerings at the temple, we might as well live however we want.
Seth: I think they're all connected.
David: Mm.
Seth: Because they don't believe that God loves them, so they don't see a compelling reason to obey him. Um-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... they look at their life and see as if evil and wicked people are always prospering, therefore, God must not be a God worth following if this is the kind of universe God wants to run.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Therefore, following God's laws are pointless.
David: Right.
Seth: God's not worth, a king worth following, so we'll abandon this covenant.
David: Okay.
Seth: And God says, "My messenger's gonna come in preparation for me, and everybody who thinks this way about me will not be a part of my coming kingdom. You're not, you're not kingdom people. You don't believe in the laws of the king, you don't believe in the lo- the laws that I set, you don't believe in my wisdom. You won't be a part of this kingdom."
David: Mm.
Seth: "I will purify both the priesthood and the people of people like this."
David: But importantly, to go back to what you said-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... is it's the Levite-
Seth: Yes
David: ... that will do this.
Seth: The Levites will.
David: That, that God is going to create a pure L- Levite-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... or Levitical priesthood-
Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
David: ... to do this work.
Seth: Yes, that's right.
David: Okay, that's where I'm still-
Seth: Yes
David: ... scratching my head.
Seth: [clears throat]
David: 'Cause I just, I'm like, "Oh, cool, Jesus does that." Yes, Jesus does do it, but not in the way that you expect. Um, so let me make one more stop before we get to Jesus. Let's go to Malachi 4:6, where he says-
Seth: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet-
David: Mm
Seth: ... before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes." So now we have a name associated with the messenger that was prophesied in chapter three, verse one. His name will be Elijah, or somebody like Elijah.
David: A, a new Elijah.
Seth: A new Elijah. And remember, as we said in the first podcast, Malachi o- acts as a summary-
David: Yes
Seth: ... of the prophetic books of the Bible, and so Elijah is a summary of the message of the prophets in a sense.
David: Right.
Seth: He's the one-
David: He's kind of the father of the prophets.
Seth: That's right.
David: Yeah.
Seth: That's right.
David: Okay.
Seth: So he represents all prophet-like people.
David: Uh-huh.
Seth: So the messenger will be an Elijah-like figure.
David: Okay.
Seth: And he will come before the great and awesome day of the Lord, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with utter destruction. So that's the way the book ends.
David: Okay.
Seth: Now, the next time we hear that verse is in the Book of Luke.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Luke chapter one, when the Angel Gabriel shows up to Zechariah, a Levite-
David: Mm
Seth: ... a priest offering sacrifices in God's house. Many people think Zechariah was, uh, the high priest-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... during that time.
David: Right.
Seth: Church history talks about that. We don't know for sure, but-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... it's possible.
David: Maybe it was, he was in the Holy of Holies when some of this stuff happened.
Seth: Yeah, so-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... it's possible, though, that the high priest-
David: Uh-huh
Seth: ... is communicated to by Gabriel, and this high priest is told that he will have a son, and this son will be this person.
David: Whoa.
Seth: He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. And that son is John the Baptist.
David: Mm.
Seth: So John the Baptist is a Levite.
David: Okay.
Seth: His father might very well be the high priest.
David: Uh-huh.
Seth: And we are told by the angel Gabriel, a messenger, that he is the person Malachi 4 talked about.
David: Okay. [laughs]
Seth: We're also told by Jesus twice that John the Baptist is Elijah.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So what's crazy to me about this l- little l- journey we're going on is that apart from Jesus, I don't know anybody in the Old Testament that's also prophesied. It's like I know the Old Testament prophesies about Jesus. The Messiah will come, the Messiah will come, the Messiah will come.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: But I never hear like, "And then J- John will come."
David: Matthew is gonna come too.
Seth: And Matthew.
David: Yeah. [laughs]
Seth: There's gonna be a, there's gonna be this accountant named Matthew who, who was a tax collector-
David: Right
Seth: ... and he's gonna write the first gospel. We don't have that, but we do have this character-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... and he's the son of a Levite, who dresses just like Elijah, by the way, in camel skin.
David: Oh, right, yeah.
Seth: He wears camel hair jerseys.
David: That's why he does that.
Seth: Uh, yeah, he's-
David: To reembody Elijah.
Seth: He's Elijah.
David: He's trying to trigger that for everybody's memory.
Seth: That's right. Yeah.
David: Oh, okay. That makes sense.
Seth: Do you have questions for me before I keep going? [laughs]
David: I'm just trying to hold onto my seat right now 'cause I'm, I'm tracking with you-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... but I don't know why it all matters yet.
Seth: So God says that He's gonna restore his covenant with Levi.
David: Yeah.
Seth: He's going to make sure that Levi is restored so that it can offer sacrifices to, uh, cleanse the world, and this man will make the hearts of fathers and children come back together again. We can talk about that phrase in a second.
David: Okay, yeah, 'cause I had questions about that.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Okay.
Seth: So we have John the Baptist.
David: Yeah.
Seth: The prophesied messenger of Malachi-
David: Uh-huh
Seth: ... comes on the scene. He's born under kind of pretty unusual circumstances.
David: Yes.
Seth: Oh my gosh, amazing, and then his ministry starts just like Elijah's ministry starts. He's wearing camel hair jerseys-
David: Uh-huh
Seth: ... out in the wilderness. Interesting.
David: What was his jersey number?
Seth: [laughs] 777.
David: [laughs] Yes.
Seth: Um-
David: So the, the, you have a Levite born possibly to the Levite of Levites, the high priest-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... and he's supposed to be this purifying new priest-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... to make a pure priesthood that says, "I'm gonna be a purifying fire to the priesthood, and-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... I'm going to show you guys how to offer real sacrifices."
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: What the real sacrifice is, the unblemished lamb, the non-maimed-
Seth: So-
David: ... animal
Seth: ... you're getting, you're getting so close.
David: Okay.
Seth: I'm so excited. Okay, but think about some of the other incidentals of John the Baptist's story.
David: Okay.
Seth: He calls out Herod's ancestral relationship with his daughter-in-law.
David: Oh, right.
Seth: Just like-
David: Just like Malachi
Seth: ... just like Malachi calls out the adultery among the people, and just like all Levites have always had zeal for God's house and-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... purified it from sexual immorality.
David: Right.
Seth: So interest-
David: That's inter- that's helpful 'cause I was like, man, that's a random bit of information.
Seth: Right.
David: Okay.
Seth: We have that. He, we're also told that he is baptizing peopleSo that they can repent of their sins.
David: Right.
Seth: What is- are the prophets encouraging people to do?
David: To return, to repent.
Seth: To return, to repent to God, right?
David: Yes.
Seth: That's what he's doing.
David: Right.
Seth: So-
David: He's fulfilling the prophets by being the one who's calling people to repentance.
Seth: That's right.
David: Okay.
Seth: That's right. That's right. And then he says, "But there's another one coming who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: What have we been told about the person that comes along with the messenger in the Book of Malachi?
David: It would be like a refiner's fire.
Seth: They'll- they'll, it'll be like a refiner's fire. We didn't read this part, but another way it describes it in chapter four is that he'll be like this burning sun-
David: Mm
Seth: ... that will turn to ash those that do not trust in Yahweh.
David: Mm.
Seth: But be like a spring day sun to those that do. So you have this image of like God will come as a fire alongside this messenger, and then John the Baptist seems to be aware of his own position as the messenger-
David: Mm
Seth: ... and says, "There's somebody coming after me who will be like a fire-
David: Mm
Seth: ... to God's people, who will bring like a spring day sun to them." But also, what does he also say in that same moment? "You brood of vipers." He's calling out the religious leaders of his day for their faithlessness in the temple.
David: He's, he's doing his own purifying.
Seth: He's doing his own purifying. So he's being Malachi.
David: Right.
Seth: He's being a messenger.
David: Yeah.
Seth: He's being the messenger.
David: He's being the true Levite.
Seth: The true Levite.
David: Yeah.
Seth: But here's what's crazy.
David: Uh-huh.
Seth: When Jesus comes to him for the first time, what does John the Baptist say?
David: He says, "Behold the lamb-
Seth: Of God
David: ... of God who takes away the sins-
Seth: Sins of the world
David: ... of the world"
Seth: And then he says, "God, I'm not worthy to untie your sandals."
David: Yeah.
Seth: "I shouldn't even be baptizing you."
David: Yeah.
Seth: And then Jesus says, "No, this is to fulfill all righteousness."
David: All righteousness, yeah.
Seth: Okay.
David: Okay.
Seth: Because John the Baptist is about to end the Levitical priesthood.
David: What?
Seth: He understands that he is the fulfillment of the Levitical priesthood. He is the faithful messenger-
David: Uh-huh
Seth: ... who's critiquing the religious institutions of his day.
David: Right.
Seth: Remain faithful to his own. He's a new Elijah. The sacrifice that will take the sins of the world is right in front of him.
David: Mm.
Seth: And then what does he do with the sacrifice?
David: He-
Seth: Kills it. He puts it into a watery grave-
David: Right
Seth: ... and l- raises it back up for the forgiveness of sins of the whole world. John the Baptist, in that moment, knows he is the final Levite. He is offering himsel- the forgiveness of sins for the entire world. He is doing what all Levites were hoping to have done in their lifetime.
David: To make the final sacrifice.
Seth: To make, to, yeah, to make... I mean, it's a prefigurement-
David: Yeah, yeah, yeah
Seth: ... because Jesus-
David: Isn't on the cross there
Seth: ... isn't, isn't on the cross there, but he is putting a man into death. That's what water symbolizes-
David: Yeah, yeah
Seth: ... putting to death, and then a raising of new life for the forgiveness of sins.
David: Mm.
Seth: Jo- John the Baptist is the fulfillment of Malachi. He says, "I'm doing all this to purify the Levites so that they can fulfill their calling to cleanse the world of its sin."
David: Whoa.
Seth: And then John the Baptist knows that, and he sacrifices Jesus to do so.
David: Okay.
Seth: Does that, it sh-
David: So cool.
Seth: [laughs]
David: So many questions.
Seth: So many questions, okay. [laughs]
David: Number one, how dare you? No.
Seth: How dare you. [laughs]
David: Here we go. Number one, what does it mean when Jesus says, "This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness"?
Seth: Well, I don't know enough to say all of what that means.
David: Uh-huh.
Seth: But I think, at least in part, what he means, it's to fulfill the role of the priest- the Levitical priestly order.
David: Right, 'cause even Malachi says, like, "You will learn how to make offerings in s- uh, in righteousness."
Seth: Yeah.
David: It's like-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... you will learn to make righteous offerings again.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: And so he's like, in order for the righteous offering to be made-
Seth: Mm
David: ... to fulfill all righteous offerings-
Seth: Mm. Levi-
David: Yep
Seth: ... has to offer the sacrifice.
David: Levi has to offer the sacrifice.
Seth: Yes.
David: Okay. Uh, I think I'm following there. Help me understand then, you said that h- John saw himself as the fulfillment or the end-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... of the Levitical priesthood?
Seth: Right.
David: I'm not seeing that clearly.
Seth: So one of the things we're told about Jesus is that He's not a Levite.
David: Right.
Seth: He's from the priestly order of Melchizedek according to the Book of Hebrews, and we're told that, m- we're told a whole bunch about that priestly order-
David: Yes
Seth: ... in the Book of Hebrews. So he's from a different priestly order.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: And that's of a different kind and a higher order who's able to offer a more fulfilling and satisfying offering for sin.
David: Yeah, a forever offering.
Seth: A forever offering for sin. That means one priestly order has to actually give way to the other. If there is a priestly order that's better-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... one priestly order has to stop functioning.
David: Right.
Seth: It should do so in recognition of the superior priestly, priestly order.
David: Yeah, this is a lot of what like Hebrews is arguing.
Seth: Right.
David: Yep.
Seth: So John the Baptist sees that's what's happening. He knows he's a priest-
David: Oh
Seth: ... in the tribe of Levi.
David: Is that why he says-
Seth: "I must decrease-
David: Ah, ah
Seth: ... He must increase." The priestly order is coming to an end. He is the sacrifice that will take away the sins of the world. He is the final priest who will mediate that sacrifice on the cross, but I will fulfill my priestly role, the covenant God made with my ancestor Levi. I will offer this final sacrifice to take away the sins of the world and give Him his ministry-
David: Okay
Seth: ... as the final priest.
David: I think there's two things I'm hearing there-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... that makes me believe you. [laughs]
Seth: [laughs]
David: That, that, that John actually saw himself as the end of the Levitical priesthood. One is this was a forever covenant-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... and had a purpose.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: And in me offering the one sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world, I'm putting myself out of a job.
Seth: Right.
David: Like-
Seth: No, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's exactly right
David: ... like, no more need to do sacrifices.
Seth: That's right
David: Because this is the one lamb that takes away the sins of the world, and we don't need more. We don't need it for different countries. We don't need it for different places, different times. This is it. Levitical job done.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And that's why he says then, which my second point"I must decrease, he must increase" is not, and I'm, I'm not, we don't need to badmouth, like how that's been taken out of context, you know-
Seth: Well, and it's-
David: ... but it's like, but it's not about like, "Oh, I need to make much of God and less of myself."
Seth: He's not simply being humble.
David: Right.
Seth: He is being humble.
David: He's being humble, but the real thing that's happening there-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... is he's saying like, "The priestly line of Levi must decrease-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... and what, whoever this new sacrificial lamb is-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... must increase."
Seth: That's right. This new priest-
David: That there's a changing of the guard.
Seth: That's right. That's right.
David: Okay, third question-
Seth: Okay. [laughs]
David: ... is what on earth does this have to do with the problem of evil?
Seth: Oh. [laughs]
David: [laughs] 'Cause you made a promise to me that John the Baptist solves the problem of evil, and I'm waiting for you to make good on that promise.
Seth: Yes. R- go b- back with me, uh, to chapter three for a second.
David: Okay.
Seth: "I will send a messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And I will come to my temple, and who can stand in that day?"
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: So John the Baptist and Jesus have this moment, and then what does Jesus do? He goes to the temple, not chronologically immediately afterwards-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... but eventually-
David: He does, yes
Seth: ... he does. And what does he do? He cleanses the temple-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... of the p- those people who are taking advantage of God's flock, the corrupt priest, the corrupt priests of Levi, no less. There's only one good priest in Levi. That's John the Baptist.
David: Mm.
Seth: All the other ones right now are taking advantage of God's people.
David: Right.
Seth: And then after that, what does he say? The whole temple's gonna come down.
David: Right, yeah.
Seth: He, he prophesies that the whole thing is over in that moment.
David: And even says, "Who will stand on that day?" He's like, "Woe to, woe to those who are there."
Seth: Right. There's-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... so Jesus is living out the corruption, like the end of the corrupt line of Levi.
David: Okay.
Seth: So the answer, the, the beginnings of an answer-
David: Uh-huh
Seth: ... to the problems of evil is that God has proven himself as a God who comes and judges those-
David: Right
Seth: ... who take advantage of the faithful.
David: Right, because the, the complaint was God doesn't-
Seth: Do these things
David: ... do justice against evil.
Seth: That's right.
David: That was the complaint-
Seth: That was the-
David: ... that was wearing God out-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... is, "God, you don't, you don't care when people do evil. You don't do anything about it."
Seth: That's right.
David: "In fact, you just bless people."
Seth: That's right.
David: And h- so what you're saying is the reason w- John the Baptist, in a sense, solves the problem that they're complaining about is he shows the world-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... the man, God-
Seth: Yes
David: ... who will come into the temple and judge evil.
Seth: Yeah.
David: God does judge evil.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: The, the twist of the knife is it's not out there. The evil's not them.
Seth: Yeah, that's right.
David: It's you.
Seth: By asking these questions, you're proving you're the evil ones-
David: Right
Seth: ... and God, who can stand on that day?
David: Yeah.
Seth: You asked for a God of justice.
David: Right.
Seth: You got him in Jesus. He's flipping over all your tables.
David: And the crazy thing is then that after Jesus does this though, people are able to stand.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: Like-
Seth: Right
David: ... but it's the blind and the lame.
Seth: Mm.
David: That's interesting. It's n- it's the, oh, man.
Seth: Yeah.
David: That's crazy.
Seth: Yeah, isn't that crazy?
David: Like the types of, the types of sacrifices, like you had whole people, healthy people offering blemished, blind sacrifices.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And the people are judged for their bad sacrifices.
Seth: Right.
David: But you had blind people offering the good sacrifice of faith in Jesus.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: And they're actually able to come to him-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... at the temple after he cleanses it.
Seth: Yeah. That's-
David: That's an interesting reversal of Malachi.
Seth: I thought, I thought about that too. I was like, "That's really interesting, like the blind, the lame, and the crippled."
David: Yeah.
Seth: Is that that same category of three people that's mentioned here in Malachi is picked up in the gospel-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... as the types of people Jesus heals.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Like, interesting.
David: Yeah, 'cause it's good news. It's like i- in a sense, God does say that he, he does bring blessings on both the good and the evil.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: You know, he makes it rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous.
Seth: Right.
David: Um, and, and people are slandering him for that.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And he's saying, "You know what? Watch. I'm gonna come. I'll show you that I judge wickedness-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... but it's your religious wickedness. It's the wickedness that doesn't actually trust me." And then he says, "And now let me show you that I also can, you know, bring my-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... provision-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... to those that you think are, like don't deserve it. The people you've been complaining about that I show kindness to-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... let me show kindness to them."
Seth: Yeah.
David: And it's the outcasts, those who wouldn't-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... those, those who weren't purged.
Seth: Right.
David: Yeah.
Seth: This is not a full solution to the problem of evil, but-
David: Right
Seth: ... it's, but it's like it's the Bible's in this moment. Don't worry.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: We have a God who enters into the evil of our world-
David: And judges it
Seth: ... and judges it.
David: Right.
Seth: In human history, that temple no longer stands-
David: Right
Seth: ... because God judged it.
David: Yes.
Seth: And then I think you can escalate this argument, so Jesus not just historically as an incarnate man or God as an incarnate man judged a human institution. He did that. But on the cross as a new priest-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... from the order of Melchizedek, Levi had, Levi's last priest died in John the Baptist. He judges all evil but in himself.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: He offers himself as a sacrifice for the evil of the world.
David: Right.
Seth: And in that moment judges all evil. And if God does not spare his own son or even himself from the judgment of evil, won't he most necessarily judge evil in the end?
David: Yeah.
Seth: Like, if God himself is willing to judge himself in order to prove his commitment to judging evil-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... won't he in the future, in fact, judge evil?
David: Right.
Seth: That's the other way to talk about-
David: Yes
Seth: ... the problem of evil is solved in Jesus-
David: Right
Seth: ... because the death of Jesus proves that God holds even his own son accountable for sins that weren't his fault.
David: Right. He'll definitely hold the world accountable-
Seth: That's right
David: ... for their evil. 'Cause the question that the people of Israel ask that is wearing God out at the end of chapter two [laughs] is, "Where is the God of justice?"
Seth: Yeah.
David: And he says, "He's right here in Jesus-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... and he's judging the wicked."
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: But what does the God of justice do when he judges the wicked? He becomes their judgment for them.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: That's how God deals with the problem of evil. [laughs]
Seth: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [outro music]
David: Okay
Seth: Okay.
David: That is super cool.
Seth: Right?
David: What else is in your head with Malachi?
Seth: Um, well, we forgot the whole section about tithing.
David: Oh.
Seth: We... I mean, we didn't forget about it. We just skipped over it to talk about the John the Baptist stuff.
David: Okay. Yes.
Seth: But there's this fairly long section about how the people of God aren't bringing 10% of their income-
David: Mm
Seth: ... to facilitate the repair of the temple i- in part because the idea is, well, what's God done for us lately?
David: [laughs]
Seth: Why should we be giving him 10% of our income in order to rebuild a temple that's not giving us the return on investment God said it would?
David: Right.
Seth: So that's the logic that's happening there. God just says, "No, no, if you bring your tithe in, if you bring me offerings-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... I will bless you."
David: Right.
Seth: And it's, and it's an invitation to faithfulness, isn't it?
David: Right. And that's again back to the idea that we talked about, was it in Zechariah, where it's like focus on rebuilding the temple-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... and the magic will come back [laughs] like-
Seth: Yeah, yeah, I'll bless you
David: ... I will, I will live in the land and I will bless you.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: So if you actually commit your resources to rebuilding the house of God instead of building up your own houses-
Seth: Right
David: ... I will come and I will bless you-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... and you will flourish in the land.
Seth: Right.
David: 'Cause that's the covenant.
Seth: Right. And think about this as an analog to intermarriage.
David: Mm.
Seth: So the point of marrying a woman who worships a foreign god is to gain the land of that woman-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... to, or that, that woman's ancestral land that's owned by another foreign god, and you would add this woman and her fealty to her god to your own, and you would kinda hedge your bets.
David: Yep.
Seth: You have Yahweh on your side, the Babylonian god on the other, and you would be more successful in the end.
David: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Seth: The logic here is like I could use that 10% better than God can.
David: Oh, right.
Seth: That 10% income means a lot to me actually. I could buy more groceries for my kids-
David: Right
Seth: ... with that 10% income.
David: Hedge, hedge my bets.
Seth: I could hedge my bets in this way.
David: Yep.
Seth: I don't need to trust God when this 10% could provide me for all I know I need right now.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: But the argument here is no, like, that actually brings about diminishing returns. You think by saving 10% you're gaining 10%-
David: Right
Seth: ... but you're losing all-
David: All the blessings I wanna bring you
Seth: ... the 100% I gave you in the first place.
David: Yeah.
Seth: All of the money you have is mine.
David: Yes.
Seth: I'm asking you for 10%, but if you don't give it to me, I can't give you anything, right?
David: Yeah.
Seth: You know, that's the logic that's happening there.
David: That's pretty cool, which, yeah, is consistent with everything else he's saying.
Seth: That's right.
David: Yeah.
Seth: S-
David: Okay. That's cool
Seth: ... fathers' hearts returning to their children.
David: Oh, right. Yeah.
Seth: Um-
David: What is going on there?
Seth: I puzzled over this one for a long time, and I thought it was such a, a strange way to end the Book of Malachi.
David: Mm.
Seth: We've said a few different times that the Book of Malachi functions as a summary of and then conclusion of the Torah-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... which is the first five books of the Bible, and the prophetic literature-
David: Mm
Seth: ... which is 17 books of the Bible.
David: Mm.
Seth: And it summarizes the Torah this way, "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and the rules that I commanded him at Sinai for all of Israel." So what's the Torah? Remember the law. Do what God said.
David: God chose you.
Seth: I ch- I chose you. Do what he said.
David: Yep.
Seth: So that's, that's the summary of the law.
David: Yep.
Seth: The summary of the prophets is that I'm sending an Elijah-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... who will return the hearts of the fathers to their children and the children to their fathers.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And I was surprised by that summary of the prophetic literature, one, probably 'cause I'm not as familiar with the prophetic literature as I am of the Torah, but I'm also surprised by the fact that Luke brings it up when Gabriel-
David: Mm-hmm
Seth: ... speaks to Zechariah and says, "Your son will return the fathers' hearts to their children and the children's hearts to their father." So I've been puzzling over this one-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... and I've got two answers that I want you to explore with me.
David: Okay, go for it.
Seth: One i- idea is that the heart of the father is of God.
David: Yes, right.
Seth: So multiple times throughout this book, God considers himself a father.
David: Right, like in the, uh, second argument.
Seth: Yeah, a son honors his father, and if I am your father, shouldn't you honor me?
David: Right.
Seth: And then he also says, "Are we not all of one father?"
David: Yep.
Seth: "Has not God created all of us?" The problem I have with that is that God's heart hasn't changed towa- towards his people.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: He's loved them this whole time-
David: Right
Seth: ... consistently loved them despite their disobedience, but when Jesus steps on the scene, that does signal a change of God's heart. 400 years of divine silence-
David: Oh, sure
Seth: ... has happened after the Book of Malachi.
David: Yeah.
Seth: God is going to escalate his plans to forgive his people's sins by sending himself in the form of his son-
David: Mm
Seth: ... to die on behalf of their sins. There is a sense in which God's heart is changing towards his children. He wants to offer the final sacrifice-
David: Mm
Seth: ... for sins for the whole world and it's time for it to happen-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... now.
David: And it's not uncommon even for, like, the psalmist to talk about God turning his face from us and turning it-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... back to us.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: Like, God can turn his face from us and be crying.
Seth: Yep.
David: Right? You know?
Seth: Yeah.
David: And then-
Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah
David: ... it's not that he stopped loving, but he did turn off the valve of blessing.
Seth: Yes, that's right.
David: And so it's like, well, now it's back.
Seth: And now it's back.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Right. And then the children's heart to their fathers is kind of obvious.
David: Yes.
Seth: In Jesus, our hearts will, like, go back to him-
David: Yes
Seth: ... and, like, we'll remember that-
David: That he loves us
Seth: ... God's love for, for us-
David: Yeah [laughs]
Seth: ... and we will go to him. So that's one way to understand it.
David: Okay, what's the other one?
Seth: The other way to think about it is the reason why God's covenant failed-
David: Mm
Seth: ... was because of a miscommunication between one generation and the next.
David: Okay.
Seth: What was the Shema?
David: Yeah.
Seth: "Hear, O Israel, Lord is one," and then you're supposed to teach these things to your children, right?
David: Yeah.
Seth: And the failure of the parents' generation to teach the laws faithfully to their children could be summed up, could be a decent summary of the failure of God's people throughout time. David did not teach all of his sons to follow God faithfully.
David: Right.
Seth: Solomon did not do the same either. There seems to always be a generational gap-
David: Mm
Seth: ... in faithfulness between one generation and the next. Think about the wilderness wandering.
David: Right.
Seth: One nation went out of Egypt. The next generation would not go in. So there was another faithful generation, but the next generation got lost in Canaan.
David: Yep.
Seth: So, like, there's a generational gap that happens, and think about just the-Historical situation, if you have a father who doesn't really believe in God anymore-
David: Mm
Seth: ... divorced his wife, got involved, or has an adulterous affair with a Canaanite woman-
David: Right
Seth: ... to, like, hedge his bets, uh, but then he tries to be faithful again-
David: Yeah, imagine what that does for the children
Seth: ... it's like, "I'm not gonna follow my dad's religion-
David: Right
Seth: ... because he was faithless."
David: Yeah.
Seth: "I don't care if he's following the true God anymore. When he followed the true God, he divorced Mom."
David: Right.
Seth: "I'm not..." So it's, there's all, there's, like, this situational thing where there's a resentment on the parts of children to follow the faith of their parents.
David: Mm.
Seth: And there's an inability in parents to pass on that faith to their children.
David: Yeah.
Seth: The messenger will come to resolve that problem. He'll come and make spiritual lineage more possible for the people of God.
David: Right.
Seth: He'll, like, protect covenant families and the spiritual lineage happening between people.
David: Mm.
Seth: And that one's not quite as clear to me as, like, a theological category that I have-
David: Right
Seth: ... but I do think it's correct.
David: I mean, part of who God revealed Himself to be at Mount Sinai was one who showed covenant love to a thousand generations.
Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
David: Yeah, like, part of the blessing at Mount Sinai was that the generations of the people of Israel would be blessed.
Seth: That's right. That's right.
David: And so there is this idea that, cool, you solve it for one generation, but who cares?
Seth: Right.
David: It's got to continue to cascade down.
Seth: And the reason why Christians can have hope that our faith will pass down to the next generation is because God's faithfulness passed to His Son's generation.
David: Oh, the Father to the Son.
Seth: The Father to the Son. There is a faithfulness-
David: Ah
Seth: ... between God's will and His Son's actions-
David: Yes
Seth: ... that w- we never saw in Israel's history.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: And that spirit that made that unity between the God's will and the Son's actions-
David: Mm
Seth: ... that l- spiritual lineage live up, is the same spirit that lives in us.
David: Right. There is a 1,000-year, you know-
Seth: Uh-huh
David: ... which is eternal, pouring out of covenant love from the Father's heart to the Son's heart, right? From Father God-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... to Son Jesus.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: And there's a eternal pouring out of s- the Son Jesus's love to the Father-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... in His heart. So the heart of God to the heart of Jesus are pouring out towards each other, not that they were ever not towards each other, but, like, what, what you're saying is, like-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... there is that pouring out of covenant love from the Father to the Son in God in Jesus-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... that we get to participate in-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... because the same spirit that's communicating that divine covenant love is now in us-
Seth: Yes
David: ... and in our children when we teach them the gospel.
Seth: Yes.
David: And so Jesus is facilitating the continuing of that covenantal blessing through generations-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... instead of-
Seth: And
David: ... just us.
Seth: Yeah, and empowering it.
David: Right, yes.
Seth: Not just facilitating it, but em- His Spirit actually-
David: Make it possible
Seth: ... makes it possible.
David: Right.
Seth: How did, how did Jesus obey? By reliance on the Holy Spirit.
David: Yep.
Seth: That's how He remained faithful to the spiritual lineage legacy of His Father, and that's how we, our spiritual generations, will do the same by the power of the Holy Spirit.
David: Crazy.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Wow.
Seth: Malachi was the dark horse of the minor prophets.
David: [laughs]
Seth: I was not expecting John the Baptist to show up in such a big way.
David: Right.
Seth: But also, how significant Jo- like, John the Baptist's significance in my mind has gone up, like-
David: Oh, totally
Seth: ... a ton.
David: Yeah.
Seth: I did not realize him as the final Levitical priest.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And when I think about the Levitical priesthood, this is gonna be the nerdy conversation for those of you still sticking around.
David: [laughs]
Seth: But, like, when I think about the Levitical priesthood and the order of Melchizedek that happens-
David: Uh-huh
Seth: ... in the Book of Hebrews, the reason why the Levitical priesthood fails is because Jesus is just a better priest.
David: Oh, right.
Seth: He's of a different kind, of a different order, offering better sacrifices-
David: Yes
Seth: ... eternally.
David: Right.
Seth: He's just a better priest. You'd want the Melchizedek priest, right?
David: Right. That's the only way I've ever thought of it.
Seth: And that is a legitimate way to think about it.
David: Sure.
Seth: And that's the way that the author of Hebrews wants you to think about it.
David: One supersedes the other. It's better.
Seth: And, and I think that's because the author of Hebrews is addressing an audience who's tempted to go back to Judaism.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: So it makes sense. It's like you could go back to trusting the Levitical priesthood-
David: But this one's better
Seth: ... but this one's better.
David: Yeah.
Seth: The really interesting thing that's happening on, like, a-
David: The-
Seth: ... covenant level-
David: That Luke and Malachi are doing
Seth: ... is that, no, the Levitical priesthood was created for, for a purpose, to prepare God's people to be cleansed from their sin-
David: Uh-huh
Seth: ... by a final sacrifice offered by the Messiah.
David: Right.
Seth: And so John the Baptist can actually fulfill the Levitical priesthood. It doesn't just get superseded.
David: No, it's fulfilled.
Seth: It, it's, it's completed.
David: At a terminal point, it's completed.
Seth: It's like what it was meant to do happened when John the Baptist walked on the scene.
David: That's right, yeah.
Seth: And that's-
David: Job done
Seth: ... the new thing that I was not expecting.
David: Yeah.
Seth: That was a, a development in my understanding of the Levitical priesthood, and even a fulfillment-
David: Yeah
Seth: ... that I wasn't expecting.
David: There's a cool thing there, too, with the word messenger, right? Like, Malachi means messenger-
Seth: Mm-hmm
David: ... and then another messenger is coming.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: And it's interesting that the final messenger is bringing the fulfillment of, of the Levitical priesthood, and what is the fulfillment of it? It's a message-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... which is, "Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world," which means that if that's what the final Levite did, right, pointing to one final sacrifice-
Seth: Right
David: ... for the sins of the world, that's what all the Levitical priests did.
Seth: That's right.
David: That the very sacrificial system itself, facilitated by the Levites, was always and forever meant to point to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: It's always been about making a message, a malachi, right-
Seth: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm
David: ... to the-
Seth: Yeah
David: ... to the rest of the world, is that these sacrifices that we make of, of unblemished animals is all pointing to this one moment when Jesus is baptized by the final messenger of-
Seth: Mm
David: ... in the line of Levi at the Jordan River.
Seth: Yeah.
David: That's cool.
Seth: That's the Book of Malachi.
David: That's Malachi.
Seth: That's... [laughs] You were waiting-
David: Held out till the very end
Seth: ... two whole episodes. David's been making the joke of just saying Malachi instead of Malachi-
David: Around the office
Seth: ... around the office.
David: The whole time.
Seth: And I've refused to acknowledge it-
David: [laughs] I had to get it in one time
Seth: ... until this moment. [laughs]
David: Well, that is the, the Book of Malachi. Thank you for, for walking through that with us, Seth. That's awesome, and thank you guys for listening. It's been awesome. Thank you for joining us, and we will see you next time.
Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel creates short films, devotionals, and podcasts like this one. Everything we make is free because of generous supporters like you. To see our resources, visit spokengospel.com or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thanks for listening. See you next week. [outro music]
