Great is the Lord

I was going to move onward to Chapter two, but I was struck by something interesting. Now I’m not a biblical scholar. I don’t read/speak any other language but English. However, I have learned that when something is repeated it is probably important. There are four places in the first chapter of Malachi, where the greatness of the Lord is promised to be known outside of Israel. 1:5 “You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel”, twice in 1:11 “My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” and finally 1:14 “I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.”

All of these saying are attached to what else is going on in the chapter, mainly God calling his people back to himself and proper worship. Moreover, they are attached to what is to come after Malachi. That God would be known in all nations is a promise that is promised over and over again throughout the Old Testament. It is a promise of the great work that God will undertake and bring to fruition in Jesus. Malachi is followed by years of silence from God. This is the last word, the last place where God makes the promise that he has already put in place.

There is a progression in the repetition of this chapter. We start with Israel seeing with their own eyes that the Lord is great, even beyond their own boarders. Then there is the promise that the Lord’s name would be great among the nations. Which is followed by a Proclamation: ‘I am a great King, my name is to be feared among the nations.’ This progression tells us a lot of what is going to come in the future. God came first to his people. But God’s plan for salvation is a plan in which the whole world will be redeemed. ‘From where the sun rises to where it sets’.

First God will start with Israel. They are a fallen, wandering people. They are constantly leaving their Lord for lesser gods. Again and again God reminds them of the great works he has done for them and through them. Again and again He reminds them of his great love. God’s promised salvation will come through his people, despite their inability to be prefect as his people. Jesus comes first to the Children of God. He is born from the line of David. He was raised according to the laws set down by Moses. But the promised Messiah is not just for Israel, but rather ‘even beyond the borders of Israel.”

Second God will receive praise from around the world. ‘from where the sun rises to where it sets. Twice it is said that the name of God will be great among the nations. It is not enough that Israel see that God is great among the nations. He wants the nations themselves to know his name. The name of God is a sacred thing. Its actual pronunciation is really no more than a guess, because to even write the full name of God was forbidden. Yet this is the Great I AM, the Lord, the King of Kings. He is the only True God. Creator and sustainer. To know the name of God is to know God.  God isn’t just promising that the nations of the world will see his greatness. He is promising that they will know him, intimately. That they will call him by name. They will praise him.

Finally God claims his dominion over the world. ‘I am a great King; my name is to be feared among the nations.’ God is not just going to let his greatness by seen. God is not content with letting the nations of the world know who he is. No he promises he will bring his kingdom to earth. He claims the title that is already his. He promises that he will and is the King of the world. Jesus, when he taught his disciples how to pray said ‘Thy Kingdom Come’. That God would bring his very Kingdom to earth is exciting and terrifying. No longer is there a separation between man and God. No longer is the need for sacrifices and the law. God promises a kingdom, His kingdom, to not just his chosen people, but to the world.

Great is the Lord.