“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” (Amos 8:11)

In what has been referred to as the “400-year silence” from Malachi until John the Baptist, Israel faced a dearth of the word of the Lord. Malachi, the last of the prophets until John, put the bookend on the Hebrew Bible with the prophecy: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6)

During the gap between Malachi and John, the religious leaders of the Jews taught traditions made by men. By presenting an outward appearance of righteousness, they were able to lead people astray into practicing an institutionalized version of their faith that lacked a real relationship with God.

By going through the motions of the law without understanding, meanings were lost and practices became merely routine—they were a burden of work-based obligations rather than a quest to know God.

Malachi warned Israel of the abandonment of God they were facing for abandoning him. Their sacrifices were unacceptable because they followed their own ways and their hearts were not right, even though they kept their traditions.

Malachi declared the Lord would turn to the Gentiles and would be silent to Israel in his writings: “I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering, for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. But you have profaned it.” (Malachi 1:10-12) And then, the prophets went silent.

Approximately 430 years passed between the time of Malachi’s prophecies and the start of John the Baptist’s ministry. The Gospel of Mark, speaking of John, takes up where Malachi left off with the words, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written in the prophets, behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.” (Mark 1:1-2).

Elijah and John shared the same mission of tearing down false images of worship and restoring Israel back on the right path to God. Elijah destroyed the altars of Baal, and John came in the same spirit of Elijah, rebuking the religious hierarchy, casting down false doctrines, and calling for repentance and a return to the Lord.

Jesus said he was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel. Those who rejected him as the Anointed One sent from God had their branches removed from the olive tree, and the remnant remained preaching Christ to all men.

As Malachi prophesied, the Gentiles believed and were grafted into the olive tree as partakers of the Root along with believing Jews. They were warned upon their adoption not to boast against the original branches, or they too would be cut off if they failed to walk in the ways of the Lord.

As the end of the age approaches, the dispensation of the Gentiles is nearing its culmination. Many Christians have fallen into apostasy, as the Jews had at the time of Christ.

If the Jewish people do not remain in unbelief, they will be grafted back in again, as prophesied, “All Israel shall be saved.”

Speaking through the prophet Joel, the Lord proclaims, “Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.” (Joel 2:12-13)

God values the heart over religion, especially when His word is misused to portray a defamatory image of Him. It is the Lord’s desire that those with a pure heart, Jews and Gentiles alike, be gathered as a holy people in his kingdom. God has not rejected his people Israel, whom he foreknew. Rather, he has expanded his invitation for all to come worship Him. He only rejects those who reject him, Jew and Gentile alike.