Minor Prophets C: Crossbreed or Consecrated to God

In Malachi 2:10-16 are charges leveled against the people.

Here in these verses we see the importance of family life. When I say family I mean the nation as one family. This sermon launches with a set of rhetorical questions. “Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?” As we have seen many times in the past Judah/Israel have been unfaithful and has desecrated the sanctuary “by marrying woman who worship a foreign god” or what appears to be obvious idolatrous worship within the sanctuary itself. The sins and disobedience all the way back in Joshua’s time what they were to completely remove their enemies from the land continues to haunt the Jews. Because they did not remove these peoples their gods remained to continue to decontaminate the Jews all throughout their history. God will remove those that do this even if he “puts on an act” and gives offering to the Lord. Why they will be removed is obvious. They may outwardly profess faith but inside their hearts are corrupted. They are then accused of “flooding the Lord’s altar with tears”. They lament and cry about the fact that God “no longer looks with favor on their offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.” They are clueless to why God gives them and their offspring the “cold shoulder”. There disobedience has locked away from the presence of God. So we see the idea of divorce next.

Malachi 2:14 ~“the LORD is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.”

Then we again see the rhetorical questions to drive the point home like a hammer. “Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.” Here the interpretation of the Hebrew becomes muddled. It seems to allude to the fact that God made two human beings with the specific purpose of producing Godly offspring. Only when both parents remain faithful in their marriage does the child have the chance of having security which provides the basis for Godly living. The family was intended to be the “school” in which Godly learning was learned. God thereby states that this is why he despises divorce. It undermines the very foundation of God’s divine plan for perpetuation of the precepts and mandates of God. It undermines the very tool on which God has chosen to spread the Gospel. Malachi's plea paves the way for the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The question needs to be asked. Are we doing this today? Are we truly worshipping the God of the Bible or are we worshipping a god of our own making. A god that only exists within the confines of our own minds. A god that is a crossbreed of the God of the Bible and some bastardized version of Baal or Molech or some other long forgotten idol lost to history that has now resurfaced in the form of consumerism, materialism, greed or some other nonsense mixed with our Holy God. Do we have an unholy mutation? Have we put these things before God and taught our children to do the same. God have mercy on us and forgive us if we have. God help us fix these twisted concepts and make them right in Your eyes.