Malachi
2:17-3:6 (Message #5 in Malachi Series)
INTRODUCTION:
Have you ever been around someone who talks nonstop? They hardly ever come up for air, and never
let you get a word in
edgewise. Sometimes little kids are like this. They just have so many
things to say that they become little chatterboxes. With children we have
more patience. In fact, with a little kid it is kind of cute and we joke
about it. However, when an adult does this, we get tired of them very
quickly. We will even try to avoid their company because they make our
ears tired with the sound of their constant blathering about nothing. They weary us with their meaningless words.
TRANSITION:
Our text for this morning begins the second half of Malachi’s
prophecy, which runs through 4:6 and speaks of God’s coming to His people,
Israel. The Israelites had sort of given up on God, and had grown cynical
about His promises and lax in regard to keeping His commandments, including His
laws about the kind of sacrifices they should offer, and about moral purity and
intermarriage with unbelievers. Through His servant, Malachi, God tells
them that His coming will mean judgment and purification as well as redemption.
MAIN BODY:
Verse 17: You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, “How have
we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in
the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of
justice?”
- This
section begins with Malachi speaking on the LORD’S behalf. He makes a
flat-out statement: “You have wearied the LORD with your words.” Isaiah 43:22-24
uses the word “wearied” in the same sense, of making a person feel
drained, exhausted, and weighted down. To be merely “tired” can be a satisfying
feeling, like after a long hike in the mountains, or a hard day cutting
firewood. Despite the physical exhaustion there is that positive
feeling of accomplishment. However, to be “wearied” as it is used
here is never a positive sensation.
- Yet
again, the people have no clue what it is they have done to make God weary
of them. Even though they know very well that their religion is
nothing but empty form, they get all huffy when God questions their
so-called “piety.” “How have we wearied Him?” is their
question. So, Malachi explains it to them: “You say [i.e. keep saying],
‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He
delights in them.” In other words, they were constantly alleging, “God must love the
wicked more than He does the righteous. He delights in them and does
nice things for them and forgets us entirely.” On top of that
they said, “Where is the God of justice?” He will address
that question down in 3:5 but let’s just say that when His justice finally
comes, they will be sorry they asked. You see, essentially they were
saying, “God is not just as He claims. In
fact, He is unjust.” That is an evil
personal affront that God takes seriously because they were maligning His
character.
- And
of course, God heard every word they spoke and every thought that passed
through their heads. The Word says that He knows the thoughts and
intents of our hearts. Their attitude was really a form of practical atheism, because they were
assuming that if God really did exist He would have long since done
something to judge the wicked, but it seemed like the wicked were doing
just fine—thriving, in fact. This is the issue that the LORD
addresses in the next verse.
Verse 1: “Behold, I am going to send My messenger [mal’akí], and he will clear 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.
- In
this verse and beyond God speaks for Himself. He speaks of a day yet
future when He will send His messenger to prepare the way
before the Messiah. This verse is a little confusing unless you pay
close attention because it mentions two different “messengers.” Messenger
#1 will come to prepare the way for the coming of Messenger #2. The
first messenger is a mere human; the second is called “Lord [Adonai].” This
second Messenger is none other than Jesus, the Messiah, called here the
“Messenger of the Covenant.” Indeed, He is the one who will fulfil
the Covenant, to the very last detail.
- The
first “messenger” is, of course, John the Baptist, whose birth is recorded
in Luke chapter 1. According to Mark 1:2-3 it was of him the prophet Isaiah
wrote 700 years previously in Isaiah 40:3, saying: “A voice is calling, ‘Clear the
way for the LORD in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway
for our God.” The
LORD says, “He will clear the way before Me.” John is called “the forerunner,” the one who runs
ahead, announcing that the King is coming and warning that everyone should
make himself ready. Four hundred years or so after Malachi’s
prophecy, John the Baptist showed up on the scene in Israel preaching the
message, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” He preached against
every form of moral decadence, including in the King’s palace, and he
hammered the hypocritical religious leaders for their hollow religious
formality without any real regard for God. He fearlessly proclaimed
the Advent of Messiah, and he unmistakably identified Jesus of Nazareth as
that Promised One.
- “He
[Messiah, the Messenger of the covenant] … will suddenly come to His
Temple.” In
the OT God’s first sanctuary was the Garden of Eden, later the Tabernacle,
and after that the Temple. However, Jesus, the God-Man came to inhabit
His People, the Church (cf. 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:21; 1 Peter 2:5,
etc.). We are the dwelling place that He came to
establish.
- However,
God here is not really speaking about Jesus’ 1st Advent, when He would
come to give His life as the Saviour and Redeemer, but about His 2nd Advent, an event yet future when He will come
back to judge the world. The LORD here is looking ahead to that time,
referred to in the Scriptures as the “Day of the LORD.” We know that
Malachi refers to the Second Coming of Christ
because it is judgment that is in view here.
- Notice, “…whom you seek…in whom you delight.” Many of the Jews
loved the idea of a Messiah. Some had actually been looking for His
arrival. But the thing that got them excited was the idea that when
He showed up, He would destroy all their enemies. In other words,
they were not excited about Him, but about what they thought He would do
for them. The idea that He might come to
judge them as well apparently had never crossed their
minds, so this message must have come as quite a shock.
Verse 2: “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 [i.e. launderer’s soap].
- There
is an old expression that says, “Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.” The Jews were aware that God had
promised to send them a Redeemer, the Messiah of Israel, but they had no
clue that He might be terribly angry when He finally showed up. Here
the LORD lets them in on the fact that wicked-hearted covenant-breaking
Jews, as well as the idolatrous heathens, would find the “Day of the LORD”
to be a terrible day of judgment indeed (cf. Zephaniah 1:17-18).
- The
LORD uses two word-pictures here. First, Messiah’s coming
would be like “a refiner’s fire.” In other words,
all the impurities would be consumed—sin, injustice, iniquity, greed,
impurity, etc. The second word-picture says
that His coming would be like “fuller’s soap.” You may
remember that white clothes in the Bible often symbolize purity (cf. Mark
9:3; Revelation 3:5) but making things white back then was no easy
job. The launderer’s trade involved dying, washing, and whitening
clothes and other kinds of cloth. In ancient times the washing and
whitening process involved some very caustic substances like lye, nitre,
potash, and various types of vegetable and mineral alkali. This
cleansing process required hot water, burning acids, pounding the clothes
on a flat rock, and beating them with a wooden mallet. In verse 2 the
LORD is giving the Jews a preview of coming attractions for when the
Messiah shows up. No wonder He asks the question: “Who can endure the day of His
coming? And who can stand when He appears?”
Verse 3: He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver,
and He will purify the sons of Levi and
refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD
offerings in righteousness.
- The
LORD continues with the metaphor of the refiner’s fire. The LORD will
come quickly, but then He will sit down as a smelter at His workbench, to refine
the sons of Levi meticulously and thoroughly. In other words, the
priesthood would be the first object of the Refiner’s
attention. There is a principle in Scripture that “judgment always begins in the house of God” (cf. 1 Peter
4:17). Notice that Jehovah’s objective is not to destroy them, something He could
easily do with just a word, but rather, to purify them, to purge them of all sin and impurities
so that they might once again be righteous in His sight and offer up holy
sacrifices in His Temple.
Verse 4: Then the offering of
Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing [sweet, pleasant] to the LORD as in the
days of old and as in former years.
- “Then the
offering…will be pleasing to the LORD.” The LORD will
once again take great delight in their sacrifices when the ones offering
them have been cleansed and purified and are offering the sacrifices with
right motives. Transformed, righteous priests will offer up righteous
sacrifices once again, like it was in the beginning, before the rot set
in. He is referring to the times of Moses and Phinehas, right after
the Levites were first honoured and singled out and the priesthood was
first established.
Verse 5: “Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the
sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and
against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the
orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the LORD
of hosts.
- In
this verse the LORD mentions several things that were symptoms of the
spiritual disease that had taken root across the
country. He says that He has been a “witness” to these things:
- Sorcery
and all manner of occult practices and idolatry
- Sexual
impurity, including adultery, intermarrying, and divorce
- Lying,
bearing false witness, dishonesty
- Injustice
against wage-earners, withholding their pay checks
- Not
caring for widows and orphans as God had always commanded
- Mistreatment
of foreigners, which was strictly forbidden
- Having
no fear [awe, respect] for God, His Word, and His laws
- As
a result of these things, Yahweh says that He will be a “swift witness.” That means that
though He might delay His coming, when He comes, He will come suddenly,
unexpectedly, with no warning. He will “draw near to them for judgment.” In other words,
He is going to lower the boom on them for these sins that He has
enumerated. When He comes, He is going to purify the Levites, and judge
the people, and it will not be pretty!
Verse 6: “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O
sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”
- “For I,
[the] LORD, do not change.” This is best
translated by leaving out the definite article before the word,
“LORD.” What He says is, “For I, Yahweh, do not change.” You will
remember that the root of His sacred name is the Hebrew verb “I AM,” which
by its very meaning includes the idea of immutability (i.e.
unchangeableness). Now this can be both positive and negative for us
sinners. On the one hand, His love toward us endures forever. On
the other hand, His unchanging holiness and justice demand that sin be
punished. Because He is a righteous God, He will never change His
attitude toward sin, and thus, although judgment may
be long delayed it will eventually be carried out.
- You
and I change all the time, every day. We are in a constant state of
flux—physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc. Nothing about us
stays the same. We cannot comprehend a God that never changes because
we cannot begin to envision such a thing. However, the Word declares
that “God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
- Hearing
the LORD say this, the Jews should have breathed a big sigh of
relief. In essence God was saying, “If you were not my kids,
I would burn you up and wipe you out in a heartbeat. But because I
love you, I will not destroy you, even though that is what you deserve.” Here we see that the
unchangeableness of Jehovah is also the guarantee of His grace. He
promises that the refining fires will not utterly destroy His
people. He gives them His assurance of His continuing mercy.
CONCLUSION:
So, in the Day of Judgment who will be able to stand before
God? Is anyone good enough to be acceptable to Him? The psalmist asks this
same question in Psalm 24:3-4, “Who may
ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in
His holy place?” Then he answers his own question: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” But wait, that
sounds like David is offering us salvation by works! But David is not
talking in absolute terms here, or else no one would ever be able to be
saved. We certainly cannot clean our own hands or purify our own
heart—only God can do that, when we humbly come to Him and confess our sins and
receive His grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
Notice again that this passage begins with the LORD saying, “You have
wearied Me with your words.” I cannot help but wonder if we
too weary Him sometimes, with our pious sounding
prayers that are more for the sake of
men than for His ears, with our mouthing of
the words to praise songs while our
minds and hearts are miles away, and with our sometimes hypocritical service done out of obligation
rather love for Him. When we are just going through the motions, does that
weary Him? When we show up for church because we do not want people to
think we are backsliding, but really, we would rather be anyplace else, does
that tired Him out? Honestly, are we so different from or better than the
people He is planning to take to the woodshed in this passage?
I think that the church today could use some of that “refiner’s
fire” and that “fuller’s soap.” We need a revival too, just as much as the
folks in Malachi’s day. We need what the songwriter, Bessie Porter Head,
was asking God for in 1914 when she penned these words to the hymn, “O Breath
of Life”:
1. O Breath of life, come sweeping
thru us; revive Thy church with life and power.
O Breath of life, come cleanse, renew
us, and fit Thy church to meet this hour.
2. O Wind of God, come bend us, break
us, till humbly we confess our need.
Then in Thy tenderness remake us,
revive, restore, for this we plead.
3. O Breath of love, come breathe
within us, renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, Love of Christ, afresh to win
us; revive Thy church in every part.
4. O Heart of Christ, once broken for
us, ’tis there we find our strength and rest.
Our broken, contrite hearts now
solace, and let Thy waiting church be blest.
5. Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating, while harvest fields are vast and white?
Revive, us Lord, the world is
waiting. Equip Thy church to spread the light.
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