Malachi 2:10-3:7

1.Intro:

1.Today. we pick back up our study of Malachi. We will cover about a chapter--namely 2:10 through 3:7. Again, I’m not intentionally chopping up these chapters but I do believe the division we’re following makes sense.

2.Previously, the focus was on the priests and their malpractice. Now, the turn comes to some degree to the congregation of Israel. Sadly, both leaders and people were severely rebuked from the Lord.

3.The focus of this rebuke turns to issues in the home. While we may face more than Malachi deals with, we surely do not face less. I hope that the reflections on some of these matters will be practical and helpful. After discussing these issues, we will turn to the prophetic future.

2.Rebuke of Congregation: Marriage (2:10-17)  

1.First Indictment - Inter-faith Marriages (2:10-13)

1.Intro (2:10) - Relationship with God and one another leads to questioning about profaned covenant, the basis of the relationship with God and one another/

2.Profaned holiness with foreign wives (2:11-12)

1.This was a problem before Malachi’s time in the episode in Ezra 10:2-4 “And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. 3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.”

1.It was so serious that there the Israelites were commanded to divorce their foreign wives. See Deu 7:2-4 for some justification as well.

1.In passing, it needs to be stated that there is no need to jump to a conclusion that God had something against people of differing nationalities marrying. Some Christians in America of previous generations did have some faulty beliefs about this. I would caution on any harsh conclusions on such Christians. The theological issues involved in their position while wrong, are complicated. Do not identify such Christians with such people as white-supremacist’s for holding to the idea of inter-racial marriage being wrong.

2.Back to Israel, the issue is a spiritual one, as we shall see.

3.The fact that we have some marriages of foreigners to Israelites in the OT supports this – most notably the marriage of Ruth to Boaz in the book of Ruth.

2.Turning to our context in the church age though, we must note that the New Testament has other instructions to believers -- the Christian who is married to a non-Christian must remain with the unbeliever, seeking to win him or her.

1.1 Cor. 7:12-13 “But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.” NOTE that in Malachi, the issue with these marriages is that holiness is profaned. But here in Corinthians 7:14 actually indicates that unbelievers today are sanctified in some way by the marriage. I am not going to try to explain it, but i note it.

2.1 Pet 3:1-2 “Ye be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.”

3.But a Christian has no place intentionally marrying someone who is not a believer. God’s people have no business marrying a partner who does not have the same relationship with our God. This is a classic application of that text on the NT passage about separation from the world in 2 Cor 6:14ff “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial [an idol]? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; “

4.If you are single today, if you are a teenager, it is crucial to not compromise the standard on this matter. You need to strengthen your own faith, live by God’s Spirit, and trust God to bring two people together. In fact, we as a church can and should encourage people in our midst to marry. What more natural place to meet someone? Are there options outside the church? Yes, and I am a beneficiary of those outside things – I met Deborah from an online dating website. But a church is a natural place and it can be encouraged without reducing to awkward match-making. Notice I didn’t say that match-making might not happen, but people filled by God’s spirit can still encourage. That also applies to parents with their children.

2.v 12 concludes that no one is excluded from this -- the leaders (master and scholar) as well as the average person (the one bringing sacrifices).

2.Second Indictment - Divorce (2:13-17)

1.The failed crying out of the people (2:13-14)

1.We cannot fool ourselves. Sometimes, our prayers are hindered by our sin. Especially the way men treat their wives, according to 1 Pet 3:7 “ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” If you seek to serve the Lord, and I do and many here do, you must keep your marriage healthy in every aspect. That is a foundation for your ministry.

2.The Lord points out the seriousness of how we treat our spouses. There is a finality here. Certain acts are decisive, and in context it seems to be divorce. Under the OT, there were situations where reconciliation is not possible. That would seem to hold true as well – as it has been put, it is impossible to unscramble the egg some times.

3.God’s purpose and design for Marriage (2:15) - Children

1.Now, there are several things here. We should not read more into this text than is there, but there are implications around this Verse.

1a. Yes, it is reasonable especially in the context of Israel that the seed were of special interest. Think of how every Israeli woman hoped that she would give birth to the Messiah.

1b.But, this does not mean that marriages that fail to produce offspring, or those that fail to specifically produce Godly offspring, are failures. I want anyone who hears this who has wayward children to hear that point. Christian parents are to be faithful in training up their children in the Lord, and that is the goal, but it is not a guarantee. Every child must be converted for his or herself and

1c One other matter needs to be discussed. This verse does not intend to give any explicit moral teaching about the use or lack thereof of birth control for married couples, but still one should also pause concerning that matter. Please do not throw stones at me – ultimately husbands and wives are accountable to God in the area – but this past week I heard this quote and I’d like to share it with you (I can share the source if you want, just ask): “I believe that a biblical worldview tells us that the use of birth control or contraception should always be suspect. That doesn't mean it is never legitimate. It does mean it's suspect. It means we have to ask the question about the legitimacy of using it and not just assume that contraception is the norm and a birth by normal processes within marriage is some kind of aberration.” If we don’t take the use of the word “suspect” too strongly, this is a good statement. I think this is a good perspective. Christian couples should pause in decisions about birth control for several reasons. Why do I bring this up? Because it is necessary in light of the assumptions our culture makes about this and how such things impact what we profess to believe about many areas – pro-life, the proper expression of human sexuality, and other areas.

3.To summarize here - the natural result of marriage among God’s people is that Godly offspring would result.

4.God’s feelings toward divorce (2:15b-16)

1.Again, surely the hatred of God in this context is especially for divorce among God’s people. We ought be more concerned about what’s going on in the church than outside the world. We are not doing much better—and we are better at justifying it.

3.Third Indictment - Falsehood about God (2:17)

1.The Indicment

1.Wearied Words (2:17a)

1.Note similar language back in 1:10 where the Lord practically begs them to shut the doors to the temple.

2.“Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? Neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, Neither will I accept an offering at your hand.”

2.The Charges:

1.They speak good about evil and say evil about good. (2:17b)

2.They scoff at the God of Judgment (2:17c)

1.Scoffers are frequently shown in Scripture, and they are surely still with us today.

2.Peter spoke nearly 2 millennia ago with words that predict the kind of words we hear today: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” (2 Pe 3:4-5). What does Malachi say? He pointedly turns to the accusation – they say that the God of judgment is no where to be found? Malachi says, just you wait – and he starts to explain what is going to happen.

2.The eschatological future - The Coming Lord in Judgment (3:1-7)

1.The Coming Lord Preceded by a Messenger 3:1

1.Note the shift here even in a single verse between the first coming and the second coming.

2.It is interesting that his has precedence in Scripture, note Luke 4:17ff and Isaiah 61.

3.You may know the account – Jesus is reading Scripture in his “home church” in Nazareth, and he claims that on the very day he read the passage the scripture was fulfilled, but he stopped reading a verse mid-stream. In the passage he was reading we have the same division between the Lord’s first come and the Lord’s second coming.

4.The messenger is John the Baptist, as the New Testament indicates.

5.But the Lord Jesus is clearly the one who is coming as the messenger of the covenant.

6.The statement “Whom ye delight in” is something of a mocking to the people. They delight in him, but will be sorely disappointed.

2.The Purifying Arrival of the Lord toward the priests (3:2-3)

1.Men cannot stand before the Lord.

3.The Result - Pure Sacrifices (3:4)

1.Now, a note on this. Ezekiel ends his prophecy with 8 chapters that rival Exodus and Leviticus in the level of detail about a future temple.

2.This temple of Ezekiel is not the temple that was standing at the time of Malachi. It is yet future. The people who were present at the “rededication” if you may of the temple in Nehemiah’s time knew it did not compare to the temple of Solomon, and the temple of Ezekiel

3.How does this fit if Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sins?

4.Many BIble teachers will try to allegorize Ezekiel’s temple away.

5.But one idea that has helped me is this -- did the sacrifices in Israel’s past atone for their sins? No. So, if that’s the case, then would these sacrifices intend to atone for sins either? No. At this point, all Israel will know the Lord (as the New Covenant promises). So, these sacrifices can have a purpose. Yes, Jesus is a better priest (as Hebrews says) according to a different priesthood, then Levi. But, as we noted two weeks ago, there is a unique covenant God made with Levi. And thus they still have a priesthood to fulfill in the future.

6.The point of God’s coming in judgement here is to make it possible for these Levitical priests to truly off pure sacrifices.

4.Final Warning and appeal (3:5-7)

1.The Promised Coming for Judgment on all people (3:5)

1.These are not peoples in the world. These are people in Israel.

2.We are fundamentalists. We advocate for the purity of God’s church. We aim to practice. church discipline on those who commit serious error. But, in the end, only God can be the final judge. We have been reminded yet again in the past few weeks as one’s sins have been uncovered even after the end of his life that our sins will find us out. Each individual must live in light of that he will one day stand before God. We are not the final arbitrer, but we must seek to keep our church and our home pure.

3.We must be vigilant. But the solution is not manmade rules and such, but a Spirit-filled life.

2.The Basis - God’s Immutableness. It demands judgment so that He can maintain His life forever. (3:6-7)

1.God’s unchanging nature - His immutableness-- lead to no final destruction of them. (v6)

1.This is interesting. On the one hand, God’s unchanging nature means that He has to come in judgment because He does not change. The promises of blessing and the curse still apply.

2.But still, His immutable

2.Final appeal to repent. (3:7)

1.Israel’s history plays out their unfaithfulness.

2.It is amazing though that God always hold’s out Himself being willing to accept them. But Malachi relates that they will not return. It is a sad point.

3.But in the future, when the New Covenant is ratified (se Jer. 33), God will transform the people of Israel and they will indeed return to the Lord

5.Concluding Application: The home is crucial – so many here know that and believe that. We have so many areas and dangers – finding a mate, living rightly with a mate, having and raising up Godly children. We have the Holy Spirit, and so we have Him to rely on to live as we ought in those areas as we look to the future. Many of us fail to various degrees- that’s what the gospel brings. By faith alone you can receive Christ as your savior if you haven’t. In closing, I would like to read Hebrews 12:28-29 which is speaking to Jews during the church age: “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.” Again, for the believer that fire threatens to burn up our works, but is not the fire of hell (see 1 Corinthians 3). We are to receive God’s grace by walking by God’s spirit. Our motive is to be the future promised kingdom that is yet to be established on this earth. This is to motivate us, surely along with love for God and reverence for God. Let us receive the charge Paul gave in 1 Thessalonians 2:12: “ye would walk worthy of God, who has called us unto his kingdom and glory.” Let’s pray.