Malachi 3:1 does not mention a new covenant. "Behold I am sending My messenger, and he will clear a path before Me; suddenly, the L-rd Whom you seek will come to His Sanctuary (Temple). And behold! The messenger of the covenant, for whom you yearn, behold He comes, says HaShem, Master of Legions." Malachi 3:1. It simply mentions "the" covenant. The Hebrew here is הַבְּרִ֜ית / HaBrit. The prefix הַ / ha in Hebrew represents the word "the." The Hebrew word בְּרִ֜ית / brit means an agreement, pact, contract or treaty. The word appears often (nearly 300 times) in the T'nach (bible). Christianity teaches that Jesus came to replace the covenant between G-d and the Jewish people. "By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear." Hebrews 8:13. The T'nach (Jewish bible) tells us time and again that the covenant with the Jews is eternal (the "new" covenant of the T'nach is a renewal of the existing one). It will never be replaced, made obsolete or outdated as Hebrews claims. Shoftim / Judges 2:1: "I will not break my covenant with you FOREVER." T'hillim / Psalms 105:8-10: "He set it up to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an EVERLASTING COVENANT" Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 16:59-60: "I shall remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I shall establish for you an EVERLASTING COVENANT." How do we know that the prophet Malachi is speaking of the eternal covenant G-d made with the Jewish people and not some replacement covenant (Christianity)? Simple. He tells us so. Malachi 3:22 gives the prophecy that the Jewish people will, as a whole, become Torah observant in the messianic age. Christianity will not replace Judaism -- belief in Jesus will not replace the Torah. "Keep in remembrance the teaching / תּוֹרַ֖ת / torah (torot) of Moses, My servant. . . the laws and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb (Mount Sinai) for all Israel." Malachi 3:22. (Malachi 4:4 in Christian versions. There is no "chapter 4" in the T'nach). This is how we know that the claim that Jesus fulfilled Malachi 3 is false. Malachi is speaking of the Sinaic, eternal, covenant. Christianity attempts to hijack the eternal covenant and say that G-d replaced it with Christianity by referencing Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 31:30. The translation “new” at the end of Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 31:30 (the Christian number is 31) really means “renewed” because verse 32 (33 in Christian versions) clearly states that the “new” b'rit (covenant) is going to be G-d’s Torah -- just as the Sinaic covenant is G-d's Torah. "For this is the covenant that I will form with the house of Israel after those days, says the L-rd: I have put (נָתַֽתִּי / “I have put") My Torah (תּֽוֹרָתִי֙ / my Torah / my instructions) among them, and I will inscribe it upon their hearts, and I will be their G-d and they shall be My people." Each covenant builds on the previous -- none "does away" with, vanishes or "grows old" as says Hebrews. In Malachi 3:1 we are told that G-d will come to the Jewish people in the age of the real messiah. Read the entire chapter and it is clear that Jesus did not meet Malachi's criteria: We are told "shall sit refining and purifying silver, and he shall purify the children of Levi. And he shall refine them as gold and as silver, and they shall be offering up an offering to the L-rd with righteousness." Malachi 3:3. The one refining the Levites is the messenger G-d sends. Some Christians may say this was John the Baptist, who they say was Elijah (although John denied being Elijah, and Christianity rejects reincarnation). Ask yourself: did John the Baptist purify the Levites - the priestly tribe? Nope. "And then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasant to the L-rd, as in the days of old and former years." Malachi 3:4. Christians think that Jesus was the "last and final sacrifice" (even though human sacrifice is forbidden). Why then would sacrifices be pleasing to G-d in the time of the messiah? "And I will approach you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely; and also against those who withhold the wages of the day laborers, of the widow and fatherless, and those who pervert [the rights of] the stranger, [and those who] fear Me not, says the L-rd of Hosts." Malachi 3:5. Did G-d do this 2000 years ago in the time of Jesus? Nope. Perhaps most telling of all: "For I, the L-rd, have not changed; and you, the sons of Jacob, have not reached the end." Malachi 3:6. G-d has not changed. He did not become Jesus. G-d has not given up on the Jews (the sons of Jacob). Another claimed prophecy falls apart simply by reading the bible! No Christian covenant replacing Judaism, no "messenger of a NEW covenant" -- just more false claims.
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