This Christmas, Know the Promise of Christ’s Presence

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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; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. (Mal. 3:1)

Reflect

When I’m baking holiday treats, one of my kids will usually ask for a taste—a lick of frosting, a corner of crumbled cake, a dab of chocolate batter. Inevitably, just as he pops the last bit in his mouth, another child appears in the kitchen, demanding to know why he wasn’t offered a sample. “Well,” I always say, “your brother was in the right place at the right time.”

I love it when my kids hang out where I am, and I make sure they all know spending time with me is the surest route to extra Christmas cookies.

In today’s verse, God’s Old Testament people heard a similar message: to behold the Messiah, you need to be in the right place at the right time.

To behold the Messiah, you need to be in the right place at the right time.

Over the 400 years following Malachi’s prophecy, some of God’s people lost heart and lost focus. But a faithful remnant remained. Luke 2 tells the story of one of them, a woman named Anna. Anna believed Malachi’s words that God would send the Promised One and that he’d show up in the temple. So Anna “did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day” (v. 37). When the Messiah came, however suddenly, Anna wasn’t going to miss it for the world.

And the Lord fulfilled his promise. Anna was likely there on the day Zechariah stumbled, mute, out of the holy place with the seed of the messenger in his body and the promise of the messenger’s mission in his heart (1:5–23). And she was there when Mary and Joseph finally walked through the gates with the newborn Savior in their arms (2:22, 27, 38). After seeking the Lord for a lifetime, Anna was ready with eyes of faith to witness his appearing.

Malachi’s words were the last revelation God’s people received before centuries of prophetic silence, but this verse assured the faithful that preparations for the Messiah’s coming were underway and encouraged them to be ready. In our day we, too, have the promise of Christ’s appearing—if we’re in the right place at the right time.

When the Messiah came, however suddenly, Anna wasn’t going to miss it for the world.

Christ promises to be with us when we gather with his church (Matt. 18:18–20; Heb. 2:11–12). He promises to manifest himself as we love him and one another (John 14:21; 1 John 4:12–13). He promises to indwell us and teach us by his Spirit as we walk in obedience to his Word (John 14:15–24). He promises to accompany us as we take his gospel to the nations (Matt. 28:18–20). If we want to encounter the Messiah, we have only to seek him in the places he says he’ll be found.

We also have a promise that Christ will again appear in the flesh—“Surely I am coming soon”(Rev. 22:20)—not announced by a single messenger but by every member of his worldwide church, not in a man-made temple in Jerusalem but in the heavenly gathering of his people, not as a baby but as a triumphant King.

Are you ready?