Category: Malachi

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Malachi

If we fail to listen

Father and son

After all of the rebukes God gives the people, he ends this book with a warning.

He warns them that the day of judgment will come. Those who persist in their evil will be condemned, and at that point, there will be no hope for redemption.

With no “branch” or “root” left to bring any hope of life, they will face eternal death.

But to those who fear the Lord, they will find healing to all the wounds they suffered here on earth. Evil will be a thing of the past, and their joy will never again be taken from them.

So God tells the people,

Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. (Malachi 4:4)

In other words, “Because judgment is coming, remember what I’ve told you. And do what I’ve commanded.”

Of course, we are no longer under the Old Testament law, but there is still one command God has given us that we must follow. What is it? The apostle John tells us,

And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. (1 John 3:23)

Malachi then closes by predicting the coming of Elijah, which was fulfilled when John the Baptist came, preparing the way for Jesus. And God warns the people,

He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse. (Malachi 4:6)

As we saw in chapter 2, there was a breakdown in marriage, with husbands divorcing their wives, and here we see there also was a breakdown between fathers and their children, perhaps related to the former problem, as we see in society today.

As God told the Jews, one reason he joined people in marriage was that they would have godly offspring.

But with the breakdown in marriage and the family, the children were growing up not only with broken relationships with their fathers, but with broken relationships with God.

And with a whole generation growing up like this, with parents and children failing to listen to God, society would soon come under a curse.

That’s exactly what we’re seeing in American society. A nation that started “under God” is very swiftly falling faster and faster away from him. And it will find God’s judgment along with any other society that fails to listen to God and his Word unless they repent.

How about you? What kind of heart do you have?

Do you have a heart turned toward the word of God?

Or do you too ignore what God has said to us?

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Malachi

Futile?

Scroll

Sometimes as we follow God, we become disappointed and discouraged. And if we’re not careful, it’s easy to become cynical as well.

That’s what happened to the Israelites. They were saying to themselves,

It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty?

But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it. (Malachi 3:14–15)

Perhaps they thought they were doing all that God had required of them.

They went to the temple. They made sacrifices. They celebrated the Jewish festivals commanded by the Law of Moses.

But they weren’t seeing blessing in their lives. Instead, they saw those who were not trying to please God prosper.

As a result, they were saying, “What’s the point? It’s futile trying to serve God. Nothing good ever comes out from it.”

Part of the problem, of course, was that though they did the actions, their hearts were not in it.

As we’ve seen, they were offering blemished sacrifices. They were not giving full tithes to God, if they were giving at all.

And while they kept some of God’s commands, they broke others such as marrying people from unbelieving nations.

Despite all this, they had the gall to say that they were doing what God had asked, and to ask why they weren’t being blessed.

How often do we do the same? We claim to be doing what is right, when in reality, we are doing things half-heartedly.

We claim to be obeying God, when in reality, we pick and choose which commands we want to obey.

Then we complain when we don’t see God’s blessing in our lives.

But others of us may be doing all that God asks of us, and we still don’t see his blessing. And we ask why. What does God say?

Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.

A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.

“On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.

And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” (Malachi 3:16–18)

In short, “I do see, and I do remember. And for those who are faithful to me, they will be my treasured possession, and on the day of judgment, they will be able to stand before me without shame.

But those who are not faithful to me will be treated exactly as they deserve.”

What do we do when we feel discouraged? How do we keep from getting cynical?

I think the main thing is to stay in Christian fellowship. Share with your brothers and sisters what you are feeling. Share with them your frustrations. And listen to what they have to say.

They may point out areas in your life where you’re not being as faithful as you think you are. Or they may simply just encourage you to stay the course, reminding you that God is faithful, and that he will reward you.

But let us never let cynicism pull us away from God. Rather, let us keep our eyes on him, following him to the end.

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Malachi

Is tithing Biblical?

Tithing basket

Some people may see this and wonder, “Why are you talking about tithing? That was Old Testament law. The New Testament says nothing about Christians tithing.”

That’s true.

When Malachi was talking to the Israelites, he was talking to people under Mosaic law.

Some people point to Abraham tithing to Melchizedek, who the writer of Hebrews uses as a type of Jesus (Hebrews 7), and say this proves that since tithing was before the law of Moses, it’s applicable to the Christian too.

I’d be more convinced if the point of the passage were that Christians should tithe. It isn’t. It’s merely pointing out the superiority of the Melchizedek priesthood to the Aaronic one.

To take this passage and say therefore “All Christians should tithe” seems to be stretching things beyond the limits of the passage.

That said, I think that there are some things to point out about tithing that are applicable to the Christian today.

First, God does ask us to support our churches, and namely our pastors.

As we saw in Nehemiah, the people were not supporting the Levites and as a result, they had to leave their posts in the temple and work in their fields just to survive.

If we force our pastors to split their time between ministry and supporting their families, who does that hurt? Not just them. It hurts us as well.

Paul wrote (and this is New Testament),

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.” (1 Timothy 5:17–18)

In 1 Corinthians 9:7–12, Paul says that while he and Barnabas did work to support themselves, they had every right to be supported through the ministry they were performing.

That’s why God told the Israelites,

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. (Malachi 3:10)

The food wasn’t for God, who doesn’t eat. It was for the priests and Levites who worked there.

Second, there seems to be an attitude that some Christians take saying, “This is my money. And since I’m not required to tithe, I’m not going to.”

But remember this: As a Christian, your whole life belongs to God. You were bought with a price, the blood of Jesus.

That means that everything that you have really belongs to Christ. You are merely his steward. So it’s not your money at all. It’s God’s. You see this in the parable of the talents. (Matthew 25:14–30)

And while people often think of this story solely in terms of using the spiritual gifts God has given them, remember that another gift (though not a spiritual one) that he has given us is the ability to make money.

As a result, he will hold us responsible for how we use the money we have earned.

God reminded the people of this by sending them poor crops.

And he told them, “You’re taking what is really mine and using it for yourselves alone. That’s why you’re struggling so much. But if you’ll remember who all this really belongs to, I’ll send so much blessing upon you that you can’t contain it.”

How about you? Do you feel your money belongs to you? That it’s yours and yours alone to use for your purposes.

Remember who you belong to. And remember that as a result, your money is his as well.

Not ten percent. But 100 percent.

Are you using it solely for your purposes. Or for his purposes as well?

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Malachi

Where’s the justice?

Malachi

Many times people ask, “If God is good, why is this world so bad? If he’s so just, where’s the justice?”

It’s not a new question. People were asking it in Malachi’s day. God told them,

You have wearied the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?” (Malachi 2:17)

How did God answer this charge?

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.

Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. (Malachi 3:1)

In other words, “You’re asking where I am. You’re wondering why I don’t do anything about the injustice in this world.

Well, I will be coming soon. I will appear in your midst right in your very temple.”

This was fulfilled when Jesus came, while the messenger who prepared the way for him was John the Baptist.

But then, God asks a very piercing question.

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. (Malachi 3:2)

Here he’s saying, “You’re waiting for me to come and bring justice and are complaining that I am long in coming. But when I come, will you be ready?

Because when I come, I will be like the fire that purifies gold and silver. I will be like the soap that washes away all the sin that I see.

Can you stand when I come with this cleansing fire? Can you stand when I come to wash away all the evil in this world?”

For those who belong to him, his priests, he said that he would purify and refine them. (Remember that as Christians, we too are called his priests).

But then he said,

“So I will come to put you on trial.

I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty. (Malachi 3:5)

In short, the time of judgment will come. And all who have done evil will be condemned. So the question again is, will you be able to stand before him when he comes?

When people challenge you on the justice of God, that’s the question you need to put to them.

“Think about what you’re asking. You’re asking him to wipe out all evil now. But that means that if there’s any evil in you at all, you need to be wiped out too (unless you’re going to claim to be perfect). Is that what you really want?”

The only reason God hasn’t come to bring judgment yet is simple. He’s waiting for as many people as possible to repent. And so he closes this passage by saying,

I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. (Malachi 3:6–7)

In other words, “I should have wiped you out a long time ago because you have broken my laws and commands.

It is only because I am unfailingly patient and merciful that you have not been destroyed.

But don’t mistake my patience for injustice. Because the time of judgment is coming.”

The question is, are you ready?

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Malachi

Acting treacherously against your spouse

Broken heart

We come to a pretty painful topic for many people. Around 50% of marriages, even among Christians sadly, end in divorce. The percentage is much lower in Japan, where I live, but even here, the total is rising.

In this passage, God addresses two things. First, he said,

Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?

Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. (Malachi 2:10–11)

We mentioned before in Ezra and Nehemiah that even the leaders and priests in Israel had started to intermarry with the people around them.

Why was this wrong? Basically because these foreigners were leading Israel into idol worship, which was what caused their exile in the first place.

Nehemiah, when he saw this, sharply rebuked the people saying,

Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned?

Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. (Nehemiah 13:26)

What was Nehemiah’s point?

Even the strongest believer in God can be led into becoming unfaithful by an unbelieving spouse.

That’s why it’s very dangerous for a Christian to marry someone who is not.

And it was for that reason that God strictly forbade his people from marrying idol-worshippers.

But there was something even worse about these marriages. Malachi wrote,

Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears.

You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, “Why?”

It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. (Malachi 2:13–14)

The people were wondering why God seemed against them. Why he didn’t seem to accept with pleasure what they offered him. And God makes it very clear.

Not only did they marry these idol-worshippers, but they had broken faith with the women they had married in order to do so.

In doing so, they had broken faith with God since they had made their vows before him. And so God told them that he was standing as a witness against them.

He then reminded them that it was he who had started the institution of marriage and that when they got married, it was he who made them one flesh.

So not only did they belong to each other, they belonged to him. And he made them one so that when they had children, they would grow up in godly families and learn to have a strong relationship with God like their parents.

Divorce has a terrible effect on children. And many times it not only warps a child’s view of marriage, it also warps the child’s view on God as well.

God reveals himself as our loving Father, but so many children of divorced parents can’t relate to that because they rarely see their father. They think God is like their earthly father. Unfaithful to his promises and never there when you need him.

God then makes crystal clear his feelings on divorce.

“I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 2:16)

God hates divorce. He hates adultery. He hates domestic violence. He hates anything that breaks faith with our spouse.

I find it interesting here that he focuses on the men more than the women.

Certainly, part of the reason was that in those days, it was the men who had the power to divorce their spouse, not the women.

But I think there’s another reason. God puts primary responsibility of keeping the marriage strong on the husband. We see this throughout scripture. Peter himself said,

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. (1 Peter 3:7)

Husbands were divorcing and abusing their physically weaker partners in Malachi, and God condemned them for it.

How about you? Are you in any way acting treacherously against your wife? Are you in any way acting treacherously against your husband?

Let us be faithful not only to our partner, but to the God who joined us together.

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Malachi

Your role as God’s priest

Malachi

Some of you may look at today’s title and say, “I’m not a priest. This has no relevance for me.”

But if you are a Christian, you are God’s priest. Peter says of you and me,

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)

And so this passage is very much relevant to you and me as Christians.

Here, God rebukes the priests because they were not doing what he had called them to do.

Their problem was the same as the rest of Israel: they were failing to honor God with their lives. But God particularly rebuked them because of their position.

Because they were priests, they were held to a higher standard than everyone else.

God talked about the covenant he had made with the priests, “a covenant of life and peace” (Numbers 25:12–13). And he told them,

This called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name.

True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.

For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. (Malachi 2:5–7)

What does God expect of us as his priests? And what is our role? Here, it is clearly laid out for us.

First, he expects us to revere and stand in awe of him. In short, to honor him.

Although God calls us his friends, he is much more than that. He is our King and our Lord as I mentioned in my last blog.

Gordon MacDonald once noted that “The most costly sins I have committed came at a time when I briefly suspended my reverence for God.”

As God’s priests, we can’t afford to do that.

Second, he expects us to walk in peace and uprightness before him. This flows from the first expectation. If we honor God, we will walk righteously before him and in peace with him.

Unfortunately, that’s not what these priests did. They had suspended their reverence for God, and as a result had no qualms about offering him sacrifices that were lame and diseased.

What is our role as God’s priests?

We are to be people that instruct others in God’s ways.

People ought to see God in our lives and seek to hear God’s word from us. Obviously, if we are not honoring God with our lives, no one will ever do this.

Our lips should preserve knowledge.

But that will be impossible to do if we don’t know God’s word. So linked with this role is the idea that you study God’s word and know it intimately so that you can share that knowledge with others.

This is not just the role of the pastors in the church. Every Christian should be doing this, because all of us are his priests.

We are to turn people from their sin.

When we see others falling into sin and going down the wrong path, we are not to just ignore it and pretend everything is all right. God calls us to warn them.

They may listen. They may not. But God requires us to warn them. (Ezekiel 33:7–9)

The priests in Malachi’s day failed miserably in these things.

Instead of turning people from their sin, and instructing them in God’s way, they caused the people around them to stumble.

What about you? What kind of priest are you?

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Malachi

What God deserves

Malachi

In this passage, we see one of the main problems that the Jews had, and it filtered down to everything that they did.

What was their problem? They failed to honor God. They treated him as something less than the great God and King that he is.

And so God said,

A son honors his father, and a slave his master.

If I am a father, where is the honor due me?

If I am a master, where is the respect due me? (Malachi 1:6)

And of all people, the priests said, “What are you talking about? How are we not showing you honor? How are we showing contempt for your name?”

They were probably thinking, “Hey we’re doing our job. We’re offering the sacrifices. We’re doing what we’re supposed to. What more do you want?”

But God said,

When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong?

Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you? (Malachi 1:8)

In the laws God gave to Moses, he demanded that the people sacrifice perfect animals. Yet, the people had such little respect for God, that they gave him all the animals they didn’t want, the lame and diseased animals.

So God said, “You show more honor to your governor than you do to me, your King. Your governor wouldn’t accept less than the best. Why do you think I would?”

More than that, the people were saying,

‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible…What a burden!’ (Malachi 1:12–13)

The people weren’t offering these things out of their love for God. Rather, it had become a burden to them. And so instead of honoring God, they showed contempt for him through their actions.

But God told them,

I am a great king…and my name is to be feared among the nations. (Malachi 1:14)

How about you? How do you see God? I think there’s a balance that we need to remember in our relationship with God.

Jesus says that he calls us friends. Many people embrace that, and they should. It’s a rare privilege we have to be friends with the King.

But at the same time, we do need to remember that he is the King. And as King, he deserves our honor. And that means giving him our very best, not our leftovers.

I’m not just talking about money. But also about our time. And our very lives.

What are you giving God? Do you give him the honor he deserves?

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Malachi

Questioning God’s love

God's love

And so we come to the end of Israel’s history in the Old Testament.

As I’ve mentioned before, it’s not entirely certain when Malachi was written, but it was definitely written after the temple was rebuilt in the days of Ezra.

Most likely it was written in his time or in the time of Nehemiah. The issues in Malachi are seen both in Ezra and Nehemiah, but especially in Nehemiah.

And God starts out with a striking statement.

I have loved you. (Malachi 1:2)

So many of us seek love in our lives. Sadly, some people go their entire lives never finding it. But if they had only looked in the right place, they would have found not only love, but unfailing love in the love of God.

I have loved you.

No matter what struggles you may go through, no matter what sins you have committed, no matter how you may have failed, God’s love never changes. He has loved you. He does love you. And he always will love you.

But the Israelites couldn’t see this. Instead, they answered cynically,

How have you loved us? (Malachi 1:2)

Why did they ask this?

Despite the fact that God had returned them to their land, things were still not great. They were still under Persian rule, and were hardly prosperous. Their crops were poor, and they were just struggling to survive.

How often do we question God’s love in our lives?

“If you love me, why am I struggling so much? If you love me, why is my life so bad?”

Yet God points out something to the Israelites and to us as proof of his love. He said to them,

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” (Malachi 1:2–3)

What does God mean by “I have hated Esau”? Did he really hate him? No. In actuality, he blessed Esau. (Genesis 33:9)

But when it came to choosing whose line it was going to be through whom Jesus would come, God had to choose either Jacob or Esau, and he chose Jacob while rejecting Esau.

Why? Because Jacob was better than Esau? Hardly.

Throughout Jacob’s early life, we see that he was a con man who first tried to live doing things his way. (Genesis 25, 27)

When he then got in trouble because of it, he had to flee, and at that point God revealed himself to Jacob.

But instead of fully submitting himself to God, Jacob tried to make bargains with him instead. (Genesis 28:20–22)

That pattern didn’t change for a long time. Yet God still chose him and continued to love and work with him.

He did the same with Israel. Though they were unfaithful to God, doing things their own way, yet he never took his love from them.

Yes, he punished Israel for what they did, but he didn’t give them all that they deserved for their sin which was destruction.

Meanwhile he gave Esau’s descendants exactly what they deserved for their sin, a desolated land.

So what was God saying?

“Do you want proof that I love you? I gave Esau’s descendants what they deserved. But you, I didn’t give you what you deserved. I gave you what you didn’t deserve. In short, I gave you my grace.”

And he says the same to us when we doubt his love.

We don’t deserve God’s love. We don’t deserve God’s forgiveness.

And yet despite our unworthiness, he chose to send Jesus to die for our sins.

Now he looks at you and says, “I have chosen you. I have saved you. And I will never, ever give up on you.”

That’s grace. That’s God’s love for you.

Paul put it this way,

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. (Ephesians 1:4–8)