First and
foremost they were treating their obligations and God with utter contempt. This
head and heart attitude formed their precepts and concept for behavior towards
God. It tainted how their duties were performed for Him and towards Him.
Inevitably it led to contemptuous behavior towards God and worthy of God’s
wrath. It showed that they were totally insensitive to their sin and others
which didn’t allow them to realize they were “despising” God.
They were
offering blemished sacrifices. Levitical priests where raised and taught what
was considered defective sacrifice but did so anyway and thereby defiled God’s
name. The priest where then naïve enough (or brazen enough) to ask, "How
have we shown contempt for your name?” and “How have we defiled you?” They just
didn’t get it, they were clueless and shouldn’t have been. It is like saying a
builder doesn’t know how to hammer a nail. They could not plead ignorance. They
had become so hardened in their sins they were behaving as if they had gone
insane.
Then a
stinging and convicting reproach …they say that the Lord’s table is
contemptible by their actions by bringing blind animals, when sacrificing
crippled and diseased animals. He asks them if they think that is wrong and
their answer should’ve been “yes”. We sadly see the depraved condition of their
minds and hearts. These are animals that wouldn’t even have been offered to the
governor in a banquet. So why would God accept them?
Malachi
implies that it would be better to shut the doors to the temple than to
continue such worthless sacrifices. God would no longer accept the offerings
from their hands. He was not pleased with them…at all. If they couldn't serve
Him with their full hearts He didn’t want any of their worship. God is either
worthy of all our praise or none of it. Either put on your big boy/big girl
pants and buck up or go home.
We see a
people lost in their sin that have been exhorted repeatedly to return to the
Lord…to know the Lord and in their sin they refuse to do it in the prescribed
manner that He had given them. The Lord views their actions as contemptible.
This is as He would view the sinner now in this day and age. He loves people but they are to repent
and come under his terms, not theirs. Failure to come before God and in the correct
manner gets rejection. Not because God likes to reject but because it reflects
the heart’s contempt for God by taking His statutes lightly and without
credence.
We then see
the reason for the Lords refusal to accept the sacrifices. At some point in the
future, “His name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the
setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought
to my name, because my name will be great among the nations…" As
designated by the word “will” a time was coming when the message of salvation
would be taken to all nations (gentiles included).What the priests failed to
understand is that it is better to obey completely rather than to sacrifice
negligently. This applies to us today also. We are never to take God lightly.
It is better that we not even approach God rather than come to Him in a blasé manner.
If the
priests are admonished harshly what should we expect if we do the same? If they
did not listen obey, “if you do not set your heart to honor my name” God was
going to send a curse upon them, and even curse their blessings. The Lord then
reminds the priests because it is clear they are either spiritually calloused
or purposely recalcitrant and/or filled with contempt for the Lord. He states
that His covenant was a covenant of life and peace and He gave it to them and
because He did this there was reverence and awe expected in return. They have
obviously failed to live up to the covenant. They took their privileges for
granted. Do we do this in Christ now? Do we take for granted the death on the
cross and abuse grace? I suggest many do when they sin with the presupposition
that is somehow okay because Jesus has "got it covered." This is more of an
Antinomian attitude. Instead of Pharisaical legalism we see irreverence and
arrogant abuse of grace. I fear I see this all too often even in my own church and others I've attended.
We are
called to faithful service. The priests in Malachi are cautioned against the
perversion of their duties and obligations. We as a kingdom of priests to the world
as Christians are well advised to take heed to the same caution. We are
commanded to evangelize the world as disciples and spread the Gospel. By not
doing as commanded (Matthew 28:19-20) we are exactly the same as the negligent
priests in Malachi’s time. What is worse is that by not fulfilling things like
the Great Commission and spreading God’s word we are slipping into apostasy and
turning away thereby leading others behind us into apostasy also.
“It would be
better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck
than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” Luke 17:2
Malachi's
message is to people who should’ve been leaders in righteousness instead they
were only guilty of leading people away from God in apathy and ambivalence. Are
we guilty of the same sin or are we reverent with the Spirit of God within us?
If we are leading people astray in apostasy… the Spirit cannot possibly be what
compels us. If not the Spirit of God, then what spirit compels us?
So who is the "Messenger of the Covenant" in Malachi 3:1? If we refer to the original Hebrew of Malachi 3, the Hebrew tells us the messenger is [Strongs H4397: mal’ak] “messenger-of-me/Me” or literally “a messenger; specifically, of God. Whomever this is, he is coming directly from God himself. This first messenger will also prepare the way for God or in this context/case Jesus Christ and as suddenly as this messenger will come, the Lord they are seeking will come to His temple. This verse is the Old Testament counterpart to Matthew 11:10, Mark 1:2 and Luke 7:27. It is also the Old Testament companion to Isaiah 40:3: “A voice of one calling: In the desert prepare the way for the LORD make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. The Messenger is John the Baptist.
Knowing this
makes the identity of the One that will usher in the New Covenant and the One
who will abrogate the Old Covenant obvious in hindsight. It is Jesus Christ or
the One who will prove He is God by purifying His people like a “refiner’s
fire” and punishing sinners. He will fulfill the ceremonial law once and for
all. He will up the ante on the moral laws as these laws were not abrogated but
further elaborated upon and the true implications are brought to the surface by
Christ in places like the Sermon on the Mount. "You have heard it said...but
I say to you..."
He (Jesus) will
be the abrogator (One who fulfills) of the Old Covenant in that He will fulfill the demands of the
covenant in His life and with His life. When He rises from the dead he will
usher in the new covenant with His marvelous work of redemption.
As for the
reference of Elijah...in Malachi 4:5, it appears to be one final double-entendre
or type of metonymy. The Elijah referred to here is not the Elijah of the past
(but it could) be (and probably is; Matthew 11:13) the Elijah of the future,
John the Baptist. The herald or messenger sent directly by God to prepare the
way for Jesus Christ. In a historical context he is the forerunner of Jesus at
the spiritual level. He comes to pave the way for our Messiah…to level the road
for the King. If Malachi is the last word of the Old Testament then one of the
last things it mentions is one of the first things we will see in the New
Testament Elijah/John and of course our Messiah Jesus Christ. Paradoxical
(chiastic or patterned)…what else would you expect from our mighty God who has
plans since before the foundations of the world?
What we see and hear between Malachi and Matthew is a complete absence of God from His people and a deafening silence of 400 years. Between there is a remarkable link between the two testaments. It is like a divine message in a human vessel/bottle between two shores. A message of salvation and assurance to assure that we would leave this mortal shore and arrive on Heaven's shore intact. A 400 year gap that would separate men from the obligation of the Law given under Moses and a new obligation given to them to repent and accept the message of Jesus Christ. The message would be Jesus and the Gospel and that message would assure safe transit between this life and the next. Jesus would be the bridge between the unattainable perfection/message of the Old Testament Law and sinful humanity. The bridge or message between Holy God and sinful humanity. The message would save both those of the Old Covenant and those of the New Covenant and bridge the two together into a unified whole...just as in the Body of Christ.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit...Ephesians 1:13
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:4-6
Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” Acts 28:28
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. Hebrews 1:1-2
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. Hebrews 1:1-2
The very last Figure on the inspired page of
Malachi, and the first of Matthew, is the forerunner of Christ (John the
Baptist)…and then Jesus Christ Himself tying all of the word of God together. I
guess this exactly what we would expect of the One who would sustain…
“…all things by
his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat
down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:3
The Old Testament closes with the word חֵֽרֶם / doom or curse in Malachi 4:6. But it is expressive of the great desire of God's love to avert it.
He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction. Malachi 4:6
It is interesting that opposed to the curse at the end of the Old Testament, in the end (culmination) of the New Testament we will find a blessing. This is because at the end of the Old Testament, Jesus had not yet come but at the end of the New Testament, He will have come twice and the second time He comes to stay and to reign in full. In His presence we would all be blessed in perpetuity.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen. Revelation 22:21
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