One Year Bible: Day 349 - Malachi 1:1-2:16; Revelation 6:1-17; Psalm 143:1-12

"Come! ... Come! ... Come! ... Come!" (Revelation 6:1,3,5,7). The invitation is clear. We are to come to the Lord. How are we to come to Him? If we are to learn how we are to come to Him, we should learn also how we are not to come to Him. Malachi 1 stresses that we are not to come to Him with blemished sacrifices. Bringing such sacrifices shows contempt for the Name of the Lord (Malachi 1:6-9). We are not to show contempt for "the Lord's table" (Malachi 1:7). We are not to say of the Lord's table, "It is defiled." We are not to say of the food of the Lord's table, "It is contemptible." We are not come to the Lord's table, saying, "What a burden!" (Malachi 1:12). This is no way to come to the Lord. We are to come with "pure offerings", acknowledging the greatness of the Lord's Name (Malachi 1:11). He is the "great King" whose "Name is to be feared among the nations" (Malachi 1:14). The invitation comes from "the Lamb" (Revelation 6:1,3,5,7). Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. He is the pure Sacrifice. He has been slain for us. He is the foundation of our worship. He is the basis on which we come to God the Father. When we cry to God, "O Lord ... Listen to my cry for mercy" (Psalm 143:1), we come to Him in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we plead His "faithfulness and righteousness" (Psalm 143:1), our attention is fixed on the Cross of Christ. There, God's faithfulness and righteousness are revealed to us. When, in our morning meditation, we pray, "Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You" (Psalm 143:8), we are looking, in faith, to the Christ of Calvary from whom blessing flows to us. When we pray, "In Your unfailing love, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes, for I am your servant" (Psalm 143:12), we are seeking God's forgiveness and new life and are committing ourselves to be His servants.