Throughout the Old Testament, God was preparing the nation for the coming of the Messiah or Christ. Here are a few examples:
● To Eve, God promised the defeat of Satan through her descendant (Genesis 3:15 cf. Galatians 3:16).
● To Judah, God promised future kings from his line (Genesis 49:10).
● Through Moses, God promised the future prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).
● To Judah’s descendant David, God promised the eternal kingdom ruled by the Son (2 Samuel 7; Psalm 2, 89 cf. Isaiah 9; Jeremiah 23; Zechariah 6, 9, 12).
● Through Isaiah, God predicted the Messiah’s suffering and death to forgive our sins (Isaiah 53).
● Through Micah, God promised that the Messiah’s kingdom would bless all peoples (Micah 4:1 cf. Genesis 22:18; Isaiah 2, 11).
● Through Malachi, God promised to come to His people after a special “messenger” had prepared the way (Malachi 3, 4 cf. Isaiah 40).
Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets. The New Testament opened with the very “messenger” Malachi and Isaiah had foreseen (Matthew 3:1-3; 11:7- 14). During the 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament, no new messages from God were recorded (possibly in fulfillment of Amos 8:11). The history of that period was reported in detail by reliable sources.