Malachi: The Smack Down
Part 3 of a 4 part message on Gods Justice and Redeeming Grace
Yesterday we looked at Malachi
chapter two and how God dealt out judgment upon judgment on Israel and her
priest. We looked at the injustices that we covered on Wednesday and sought the
reasons as to why God did what He did to Israel. The priest if you recall
decided it was better to barely scrape by and give God the second, third and
fourth best as an offering rather than give the first fruits, the choice lamb
upon the altar of God. As you recall God did not take too kindly to this
offering and He threw it back into their faces as it tells us in chapter one
““I have no pleasure in you”, says the LORD of host, “and I will not accept an
offering from your hand””. God does not accept an offering from the Israelites
because of their disobedience, and today we will look into the further
injustices Israel has and is committing against God. Let us begin.
Malachi chapter three opens up
with this dialogue from God concerning the messenger from God ““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. But who can endure the
day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a
refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.
He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the
sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring
offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against
the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against
those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless,
against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord
of hosts.” Two things I can immediately point out to you here are A. The
messenger of the covenant is referring to John the Baptist, B. The message is
that of the coming of the Messiah, the Christ. Compare this text to words
spoken by Jesus in Matthew chapter ten verse eleven “This is he of whom it is
written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your
way before you.’” We find that Jesus is in fact saying that John the Baptist
fulfilled Malachi’s prophecy about the coming of the messenger and his message
you ask? The message is that of Christ making himself known, coming into the
world. The message is that of the new covenant replacing the old covenant,
because obviously it wasn’t working for the Jews of Israel. The man who “will
sit as a refiner and purifier” is Jesus, He is the only person qualified to
cleanse men and women of their sins. Christ will purify “the sons of Levi….and
they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offerings of
Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord”. Malachi is telling us that
God is sending Jesus to heal the affliction of sin and disobedience and that He
is coming soon. The messenger has been chosen and the message is at hand. John
the Baptist is coming soon to bring about the good news of redemption in Christ
and Jesus is coming soon to fulfill the prophecy of the Messiah, the new covenant.
God then goes on to tell us through Malachi that the offerings will again be
pleasing to Him once Christ comes to redeem Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem. God
is promising the redemption to Israel even though they continue to disobey His
commands. How amazing is our God? He is loving and just in His will and ways.
He is constantly giving man the chance to pursue Him, seek Him out, and draw
ever close to His side. The term God is love gets tossed around too often these
days I think, but here it is explicitly applicable because God in His infinite
wisdom, grace, mercy, and love defies
all kings, emperors, conquers probably responses to disobedience and disloyalty
by offering His children a way of redemption. That is just incredible to ponder
and talk about with anyone. So for today only I will cave and say God is love.
Later on in the chapter we see
God communicate through Malachi this discourse on how He is being “robbed” by
the Israelites and how they can once again receive blessings from Heaven. Verse
six goes as follows “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of
Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside
from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to
you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob
God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your
tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me,
the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there
may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of
hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a
blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so
that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field
shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you
blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.” Okay now
this passage is actually pretty easy to understand once you break down one key
indictment against Israel that God imposing Israel with. God is telling Israel
that I am being robbed by you, and Israel has no idea what God is talking
about(as usual). God is referring to the fact that Israel is not giving Him
their best, and this is in fact robbery. I look at it this way, if I were to
say to God “Father you’ve commanded me to bring tithes and offerings to you,
well I’ve earned $100,000 this year and I know you demand 10% but I’m going to
give you 1% and use the rest for me”, now God would have every right to say
that I am robbing Him of what is owed to Him. In fact everything I earn belongs
to God because it is His to begin with, and this is the point He is making with
Israel and their lack of adhering to the Law. They owe everything to God and
all He asks in return is obedience, faith, loyalty, and a pure
offering(honestly not a whole lot considering God is the Maker of the Universe)
God then tells the Israelites that if you do bring me what I deserve than you
will be blessed, I will remove the curse, I will keep the “devourer” at bay and
I will not “destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall
not fail to bear”. God clearly wants to provide for Israel and all they have to
do is trust and obey in His command. You think that it would seem clear to
Israel by now that if they only just obeyed the covenant set forth by God to
Abraham than they would be blessed and overflowing with bountiful gifts from
God. What can you take away from this passage? Well do what Jesus tells us to
do in Matthew chapter twenty-two verse twenty-one “Therefore render to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” We must
give to God which is already His and for ourselves rely solely on His
provision. Israel just couldn’t quite grasp that and even in the New Testament
where Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees in the context of the scripture
above they still didn’t have it figured out. Hopefully we can learn from their
mistakes.
Wrapping up chapter three we
come across a small passage where God talks about remembering those who serve
him in reverent fear and love. Starting in verse sixteen “Then those who feared
the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a
book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and
esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when
I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his
son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the
righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve
him.” God knows who honors Him, God knows who loves Him, and God knows who
fears Him. Is it that hard to understand that God will only admit those into
Heaven who believe in Him and faithfully follow Him? Here God is reminding
Israel that those who are “wicked” will not receive His blessing. They will
only inherit death and destruction. They will never venture into Paradise in
fellowship with their Father. That’s a scary indictment and something we all as
Christ followers need to keep in mind. Several people who call themselves
Christians because of the church they go to or the Christian things they say
and do will never enter Heaven because they truly never admitted their sin and
truly never followed Christ commands. We as followers of Christ must constantly
witness to our own because we never know what words of Truth we speak will
affect someone’s eternal soul. God is calling on us all to step up to the plate
and change our lives to pattern them more like Christ (ergo His own life). I
leave you with this question for the day, and it’s one I’ve asked before. What
are you doing to follow and serve God, and do you know where you stand with
your Father in Heaven?
God Bless,
James
All
scripture is taken from the English Standard Version (ESV)
published by
Crossway
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