Day #256
Scripture Reading: Malachi 1 - 4 ...
In the days of Malachi, the people of Judah, who
had returned from captivity in Babylon and rebuilt the temple, were once again
revealing their true hearts. Their worship of God was half-hearted at
best, and disgraceful at worst. These were the people of God, but when
confronted with their sin they questioned God, even argued with Him!
Malachi's words are scattered with episodes of God confronting them, and
then saying, "But you ask ...” Instead of humbly accepting the
Lord's rebuke, they tried to defend themselves, to make excuses for their
sinful behavior. God wanted confession and repentance and obedience!!
Malachi begins by reminding them of God's sovereign
and gracious love: "'I have loved you,' says the Lord!" (Malachi
1:2). And here's their first question: "But you ask, 'How have
You loved us?'" (1:2). Can you imagine the people of Judah
asking that question? Obviously, they were either ignorant of their
history or they were like so many today who take all of God's blessings for
granted and then demand more, without giving thanks for what they have already
received!
Reminding them of His sovereign choice of Jacob
(whose name was changed to "Israel") over his brother, Esau, God reveals
Himself once again as the God who made His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. God's love demands a response, but the people were bringing their
sick and diseased animals as sacrifices and thinking God didn't know it.
This is the LIVING God! God asks, "Where is the respect due
me?"... And they asked, "How have we shown contempt for
Your Name?" (1:6). When you offer God your leftovers He
notices and says, "I am not pleased with you" (1:10).
God declares, "My name will be great among
the nations!" (1:11). These people were coming to worship and
saying (thinking), "What a burden!”
(1:13). God uses Malachi to
speak to the priests and tells them a curse is coming "because you have
not set your heart to honor me" (2:2). God had entered into
covenant with them and He says, "this called for reverence
..." (2:5). "The lips of a priest ought to preserve
knowledge ... because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty. But you
have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble
..." (2:7-8).
Judah had "broken faith" with
God. They had abandoned the covenant God had made with them by worshiping
idols and intermarrying with the nations around them. They were
responsible to raise the next generation of "godly offspring" (2:15).
But instead, they "wearied the LORD with their words" (2:17).
They talked about God and they went through the motions of worship, but
God saw their hearts! And God "heard" their thoughts.
From their perspective, "all who do evil are good in the eyes of
the LORD, and He is pleased with them" (2:17). How much like
today, as people condone sinful behavior and call it "love" and
"tolerance." Isaiah wrote, "Woe to those who
call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for
darkness" (Isaiah 5:20).
Malachi now shifts to the future as he predicts
that "the Lord you are seeking will come to His temple; the messenger
of the covenant, whom you desire, will come" (3:1). From the
Garden of Eden forward God has always pointed His people to the future, when He
would overcome sin and its consequences. God made it clear that it would not be
a "good" day for all people. "Who can endure the day of
His coming? Who can stand when He appears?" (3:2). But
there was no fear of God, no reverence, no awe in Judah.
God chooses a symptom of their disobedience and
rejection of Him in their tithes and offerings. Yet here, too, they
refused to listen and asked another question. God said, "Return
to me, and I will return to you"
(3:7). But they asked, "How
are we to return?" God said, " Will a man rob God? Yet
you rob me?" And they asked, "How do we rob you?"
And God answered, "In tithes and offerings" (3:7-8).
God said, "You have said harsh things against Me." But
they said, "It is futile to serve God" (3:14). All the
things the Jews were saying and doing, people do today ... and God sees and
knows!!
BUT, there was a remnant!!! God always has a
remnant, a small number of people, known to God, who know God and who put their
faith in Him and live to obey Him. "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” (3:16). God's response? "They
will be mine in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will
spare them, just as in compassion a man 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" (3:17-18).
There is a day coming when God's justice will roll
like a river. "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a
furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that
day that is coming will set them on fire ... BUT for you who revere my Name,
the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its wings!" (4:1-2).
The remnant will be saved ... those who honor the Lord, their God and who
humble themselves and come to Him through faith in Jesus. "Return
to Me, and I will return to YOU" (3:7).
Malachi predicts the coming of John the Baptist in
the closing verses of the Old Testament Scriptures: "See, I will
send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD
comes. 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" (4:5-6).
Don’t question God.
Confess your sin and turn from it.
Praise Him for sending His Son, Jesus, to be the sacrifice for our sin
and for His promise that through faith in Him you and I can know that WE are
part of the remnant who will escape His coming judgment and experience His
healing!
"Lord God Almighty, You are the covenant God,
who has established Your covenant of love with those whom You have chosen to be
Yours. In humility I confess my sin before You and lift up Your Name, for
You alone are holy! Show me, O God,
where my life is out of line with Your will and where my disobedience dishonors
Your Name. I turn to You, O Lord, for healing and righteousness, trusting
in the blood of Jesus for my redemption. Point me to the future with the
sure and certain hope that I am part of Your remnant and destined to live in
Your presence forever. I love You, O Lord my God, in Jesus' Name,
Amen"
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