Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Your Eyes Shall See Malachi 1:5

Malachi the prophet began his prophecy by telling the people of Israel the Lord loved them, and even though Israel doubted His love, God reminded them that He chose Jacob over Esau who was called Edom. Edom was to be destroyed, and although the Edomites believed they could rebuild anything that was torn down, the Lord would wipe out any efforts they made. In chapter one and verse five of Malachi's prophecy, the Lord told the Israelites they would see these things come to pass and would magnify Him because of it. We read:

And your eyes shall see, and you shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.

The verse begins, “And your eyes shall see,...” There is something special about being able to “see” something come to pass that has been promised. As a continuum to the Lord's promise that Edom would be destroyed, God assures the people of Israel their “eyes shall see” what He was going to do to them. Once again, the Lord uses this example to demonstrate how much He loved Israel.

The verse goes on to say, “and you shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.” When the people of Israel saw the promises of the Lord fulfilled, their reaction would be, “The LORD will be magnified” or “to grow, become great or important, promote, make powerful, praise, magnify, do great things”. This expansion of the Lord within the minds of the people of Israel would be “from the border of Israel” which means “throughout all the land or to the boarders of Israel”. The seeing of the destruction of Edom would cause magnification of the Lord and belief in His love throughout all the land of Israel.

There are times in our lives when the Lord will allow us to see the manifestation of His love just as He did Israel. Other times it seems that His demonstrations are limited. In those times of “darkness” we may rely upon the Holy Spirit of God to give us the strength to live through them. The Israelites were going to magnify the Lord throughout all their land when their “eyes” would see the destruction of Edom. As we ponder these words, perhaps the Lord will allow us to see some demonstrations of His love for us and we will magnify His name for them, however, the greater question may be, “will we be able to give Him praise and adoration and believe that He loves us even when our eyes do not see”?

Next time we will see further proof of God's love for Israel, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow...there is more...

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.




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