The season of Advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas, is a time to be honest about everything that’s still broken, all the healing that hasn’t happened yet. When Christmas finally comes, we will praise the God who has come into our midst, but until then, we remain in the language of Advent, in which God’s transforming work in and around us isn’t done yet. While the season of Advent makes room for the sourness of not-yet-healed brokenness, it…

Malachi, the final of our Minor Prophets and the final book of the Old Testament, addresses Jerusalem at a time when the temple has been rebuilt as Haggai initially sought out. The priesthood is back in full swing and the temple has once again become the center of Jerusalem’s religious life. But there’s a problem: the priesthood is doing a pretty bad job. Under the priests’ leadership, the Israelites’ worship is lazy and indifferent, their sacrifices and prayers devoid of…

“On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. On that day, says the LORD of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more, and I will remove from the land the unclean spirit.” (Zechariah 13:1-2) A cleansing is taking place, says the prophet Zechariah on God’s behalf. God’s people will have their sin washed away,…

“Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD.” – Haggai 1:8 With these words the prophet Haggai initiates the building of a new temple in Jerusalem. The original was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC. Those living in or around Jerusalem were then taken as captives to live in Babylon. But now (after Babylon’s fall at the hands of…