Malachi 2:1-9 | "The Messenger of the LORD" [ Unchanging ]
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· 16 views"For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts." Malachi 2:7 (NASB 95) Sunday, November 05, 2023. Malachi 2:1-9 | "The Messenger of the LORD." Preached to Heritage Bible Chapel in Princeton, MA. This sermon continues an exposition through the book of Malachi in a series of sermons called: "Unchanging." Preaching Manuscript: https://sermons.logos.com/sermons/1204013-malachi-2:1-9-or-%22the-mess
Notes
Transcript
I. The Reading
I. The Reading
1 “And now this commandment is for you, O priests.
2 If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the Lord of hosts, “then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart.
3 Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
4 Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant may continue with Levi,” says the Lord of hosts.
5 “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.
6 True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity.
7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hosts.
9 “So I also have made you despised and abased before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the instruction.
Pray
II. The Exhortation
II. The Exhortation
Verse 7 again —
7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
A priest is a messenger of the LORD of hosts.
A priest is a mouthpiece for God.
Attention is drawn not to his hands, nor to his feet, but to his lips and his mouth.
The priesthood is primarily a ministry of speaking for God.
It is the ministry of the Word of God that is the centerpiece of the priestly service.
And from a right teaching of the Word, would proceed right worship.
A priest does not speak or act what is his own will, but speaks and acts what is God’s will - teaching God’s law to God’s people.
He is a messenger of the LORD of hosts.
A priest cannot give anything that has not first been revealed by God to give.
A priest is not an owner; he is a steward.
A priest is not a content creator; he is a conduit of what God creates.
A priest is a preserver - preserving knowledge of the Holy One through the ministry of the Word and worship.
A priest guards the truth and guides the people to walk in God’s ways.
Such that men should seek instruction from his mouth.
The people of God should seek out the priests, and in their hearing find life, peace, true instruction, righteousness, and reverence for the name of their God as they hear God’s will and see God’s ways through them.
Brothers and sisters, this should be the exhortation of this text —
It should be that the people are exhorted to go to the priests, the messengers of the LORD of hosts, to receive true instruction by them, to know the life and peace and righteousness of God revealed through God’s Word and God’s worship —
that the priests were to know, because they studied it and obeyed it and lived it out in holy reverence for God’s holy name among God’s holy people.
But that is not the exhortation of this text, if you have not yet noticed.
The people are not told to go to the priests, because they will not find God’s blessings with the priests.
Instead, God sends a message for his supposed messengers — to the priests.
The people of Israel, indeed, have sinned, and the people are responsible for their sins.
But God holds the priests even more responsible, for the priests have not honored the name of the Lord.
III. The Teaching
III. The Teaching
A. This Commandment (2:1-4)
A. This Commandment (2:1-4)
Verse 1 —
2.1
2.1
1 “And now this commandment is for you, O priests.
This text, this commandment, continues God’s rebuke of the priests that began in chapter 1:6.
This commandment is addressed to directly to them.
Commandment
Commandment
This word “commandment” is used like an indictment (MSG).
This commandment is more than an instruction; it is a rebuke, it is a warning.
When God works to restore what has been corrupted, to cleanse what has been desecrated, or to correct what has erred, God does not show partiality.
God is not a respect-or of persons.
The priests, as blessed as they were, are not excepted from the Lord’s righteous rebuke.
Let’s take comfort in this, church.
The Word of God is an equal-opportunity corrector. And God does not give His Word to messengers, then leaves it unattended.
God cares deeply for the ministry of His Word.
It is food for His people.
And when God is not honored by what is being served to His people, God Himself intervenes.
God Himself did not turn a blind eye to the words and actions of those who were set apart as messengers of His name.
And you can trust, and we can trust, that God Himself is paying special attention to the ministry of His Word, even now.
Especially to God’s messengers, to those who who teach and preach God’s Word - for you there is a stricter judgment.
For this reason, the Bible says:
1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.
[ … ]
1 “And now this commandment is for you, O priests.
Priests
Priests
(Ross, RHG, 213)
Allan Ross explains that according to Deuteronomy 33:9-10, the priests in Israel were to minister in three primary ways:
Priests were to instruct the people in holy living and spiritual service.
The priests were the teachers of Israel, so they were expected to know the law (or instruction) of God, to teach the law of God, to answer questions about the law of God.
The people would learn God’s law from the priests.
Priests were to instruct the people in holy living and spiritual service.
Priests were to make intercession in the sanctuary.
The priests would burn incense in the sanctuary, which means they would intercede for the people, which makes the ministry of teaching effective.
These are the two pillars of what defines devoted ministry: the ministry of the Word and the ministry of prayer.
When someone is set apart for vocational ministry, they are devoted to ministry, they make their living by the ministry — and this is what that means in God’s eyes: Word and prayer for the people.
All the people could intercede, but the priests were to lead the way.
As Ross explains, “The high priest even had the names of the tribes engraved on the precious gems that he wore on his chest so that as he drew near to the LORD he ‘lifted up’ the people before the LORD…”
Priests were to instruct the people in holy living and spiritual service.
Priests were to make intercession in the sanctuary.
Priests were to make the atoning sacrifices.
Priests were to keep the fire going on the altar for the daily sacrifices, ensuring “that people could get to God at any time through the provision of the sacrifice.”
As Ross says, this is a “true worship leader.”
Their primary task as “messengers” of the LORD was to teach the people the word of the LORD, turning them to righteousness and leading them in proper worship (Ross, RHG, 210).
1 “And now this commandment is for you, O priests.
This warning, this rebuke is for you…which means the priests were not doing what they were supposed to do.
The Word of the Lord explains,
Verse 2 —
2.2
2.2
2 If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the Lord of hosts, “then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart.
The LORD speaking as the LORD of hosts — the LORD of armies.
This is the kind of speech that takes us to our knees.
The LORD of hosts is speaking.
If we will not fear Him in reverence we will fear Him in trembling.
This is a word to cause trembling...
If you do not listen
If you do not listen
This word “listen” means more than to hear what is said.
It means to obey what is said.
When parents say to their children, “You are not listening to me,” what do they mean, children? It means you are not obeying your parents in that you are not listening and doing what they ask.
“If you do not listen” is not a call to hear. It is a call to act.
“If you do not listen” (that is, If you do not obey…) and “if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name...”
This is a heart issue.
Jesus said —
8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.
This is a heart issue.
God sees past the appearances, past the rituals, right to the heart.
And this is why we can’t deceive God, brothers and sisters.
This is why we can put on a good show every Sunday in the name of worship and it be just that - a show.
By the way, to parents, children have a way of seeing our hearts too (in a special way only a child can). Children can tell when we are phony.
As a parent, we are going to mess up. Our children will see us mess up.
May I suggest that the most helpful thing to do is to be honest with your children - don’t cover up you faults, but confess your faults.
Show them what it means to be authentic, show them what it means to forgive and be forgiven, show them the concern of your heart for their heart.
As Bob Kauflin taught us, God is not concerned with the art of our worship (or we could say the art of our parenting) - He is concerned with the heart of our worship (or the heart of our parenting).
2 If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the Lord of hosts, “then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart.
The priests were not taking their messaging ministry seriously.
And God saw right through to their hearts, knowing that they had no intention of obeying Him, or honoring Him.
And so God says “I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings.”
A blessing is a gift from God, an enablement of God (Ross).
The curse is the opposite of blessing - it is a removal by God, a banishment (Ross).
The priests were to pronounce God’s blessing over the people.
The Aaronic blessing was this:
24 The Lord bless you, and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’
This is what we call a “benediction.” (REC).
This was invoking the name of God on the people.
And God says —
and indeed, I have cursed them
and indeed, I have cursed them
The blessings are now cursed.
The people suffer because the priests refuse to obey themselves.
And when the priests fail to obey the Word, the worship of the people is corrupted, and God reverses the effects of that ministry (REC).
What was meant to be a blessing, becomes a curse.
Brothers and sisters, there is no blessing apart from obedience to God’s Word.
If we want to experience the blessings of God, we must obey God. It is that simple!
If we desire to worship God, we must worship in spirit and truth.
We must delight in God in our hearts.
Leviticus 10:3 (NASB 95)
3 … ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’ ” …
That is God’s expectation for the ministry of God’s priests. One way or the other, God will be honored and treated as holy by those who come near to Him.
If not through the blessings of their obedience, it will be through the curse of their disobedience.
2 If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the Lord of hosts, “then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart.
God will not let His name be mistreated. God will not let His messengers get away with misrepresenting Him and the glory of His name.
So God explains what He will do to the priests.
2.3
2.3
3 Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
This is graphic language to say that God will remove the ministry from the priests by removing these priests from the ministry.
God will put a stop to the show.
God will make them unclean, as the unclean parts of the sacrifices they offered, and take the priests outside the sanctuary with the refuse.
God will put them out of the holy place.
What they are offering to God is is not a pleasing aroma, it is refuse.
Verse 4 —
2.4
2.4
4 Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant may continue with Levi,” says the Lord of hosts.
This Commandment — now leads to a focus on:
B. My Covenant (2:5-7)
B. My Covenant (2:5-7)
God provides the standard for ministry, a covenant standard that once was demonstrated by Levi, and a standard that God will restore (see Ross, House).
2.5
2.5
5 “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.
In the midst of this rebuking language that is difficult to hear and uncomfortable, notice the wonderful gift of God for His people.
This is what God desires for his priests, and desires for us! Life — Peace — enjoyment of His gifts as we reverence Him and stand in awe of Him.
God gives us the ability to do this, and to worship Him in this way.
And this is why He takes so seriously what has been made of the worship through these priests.
THIS is what a priest is to do, as a messenger of God —
To show how obedience connects to life and peace with God (REC).
And this hasn’t changed, brothers and sisters.
Even an unbeliever knows that actions have consequences, whether for good or for bad.
Obeying God leads to the fullness of life with God and peace with God and reverence for God — that’s good! And a consequence of obeying, blessing.
And God’s covenant with His people required obedience from them.
If the people obeyed the Lo rd they would experience the blessings of the Lord.
And it is said of Levi that “he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.”
Levi feared God with the correct posture that we all are to have before God, in that we revere Him but we also do so with slight trembling, knowing our place, knowing that He is a righteous and a holy judge of the hearts of men and He is no respect-or of persons.
That we can hide nothing from Him.
And the covenant with Levi, that is the covenant with the priests, was a covenant for the people through their ministry.
Verse 6 —
2.6
2.6
6 True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity.
Covenant blessings came through the ministry of true instruction, through the ministry of the Word (Ross).
And the ministry of the Word was “true instruction.”
What Levi taught was the truth, which means it belonged to God.
The instruction was faithful to what God revealed.
It pointed the people in the right direction (Ross) — “unrighteousness was not found on his lips”.
But notice also that it says of Levi: “he walked with Me...”
Not only did Levi teach the law rightly, but He practiced it himself (REC).
He talked the talk, and walked the walk.
[ … ]
Because of this right teaching, and right living according to that teaching - there was a powerful effect on the people:
“he turned many back from iniquity.”
As the people were confronted with the word and the example of the truth lived out, they responded with repentance.
Hear this church — it is NOT enough that we preach and teach rightly, if we are not living what we preach and teach rightly.
Is this not expounded in the New Testament for believers?
How we are to not only teach the commandments of Jesus, but to teach obedience and observance of those commands?
[ … ]
And by keeping the commandments we show that we love God and belong to God.
If the word does not make it’s way through our ears and down into our hearts, what glory is that bringing to God?
What witness are we to the world?
Verse 7 —
2.7
2.7
7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
The priests should study, memorize, teach, and live out the Word of God and by doing this, they preserve knowledge of God in the hearing and sight of the people. (Ross)
And in no way does the priest ever become the object of worship, for he is but a messenger of the LORD of hosts.
Everything he has is from God, so any honor due to him belongs to God (Calvin).
So This Commandment — (a warning to listen and obey from the heart),
recalls My Covenant (the priestly standard graciously given to Levi and modeled by him, as God’s gift to His people),
now leads to the reality of the priests in Malachi’s day —
C. Your Corruption (2:8-9)
C. Your Corruption (2:8-9)
Here is what the priests have done wrong when compared to the covenant standard (Ross).
Verse 8 —
2.8
2.8
8 But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hosts.
The priests have turned aside from the way — a deliberate action (Ross).
And beginning with the priests, this turning has become trouble for the people in their care —
you have caused many to stumble by the instruction
you have caused many to stumble by the instruction
The priests, in failing to obey themselves, have caused the people to sin.
(This is why there is a stricter judgment upon teachers).
you have corrupted the covenant
you have corrupted the covenant
Instead of causing people to repent, to turn to righteousness, life, peace, and the truth, their ministry was having the opposite effect on the people who were turning instead to sin and living in it.
Verse 9 —
2.9
2.9
9 “So I also have made you despised and abased before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the instruction.
Now the Lord puts a fine point on their sin.
This is specifically what the priests were doing wrong —
They are showing partiality in the instruction.
Allan Ross says — This partiality usually occurs when wealthy and powerful people are given special treatment in the application of the Law.
1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.
2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes,
3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”
4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?
When priests begin to fear people, rather than God, they become partial and can no longer be priests.
Brothers and sisters, there is no room for partiality and all of its forms - favoritism, racism, people pleasing - in the ministry.
[ … ]
There can only be a desire to please-God.
9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
Especially in the instruction of God.
A minister must teach the whole counsel of God to all people without partiality.
He cannot restrict or hold back teaching or correction or rebuke or training in righteousness out of fear of man, or to please man.
Rather, he is a messenger of the LORD of hosts in truth, or he is no messenger of the LORD at all.
God despised the priests, and made them abased before all the people because they were not keeping His ways.
So rather than exhorting the people to seek and GO to the priests for instruction, God would send a priest to them.
Jesus Christ: The Messenger of the LORD
Jesus Christ: The Messenger of the LORD
Malachi is the last of the prophets, before the voice of another would arise over 400 years later, preparing the way of the Lord Himself, Jesus Christ, the Messenger of the Lord who is Himself the Lord (REC? or Ross)!
And Hebrews calls Jesus our Great High Priest.
Priests were to instruct the people in holy living and spiritual service, and were to make the atoning sacrifices.
Jesus instructed the people in holy living and spiritual service, and offered Himself as the atoning sacrifice on the cross.
Jesus allowed Himself to be smeared with our sin, our refuse, and was crucified outside the temple where we belong, so that He might bring us into the heavenly temple before God.
26 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;
27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
Every human priest is flawed, and will err, and have erred. Jesus, our Great High Priest, took on human flesh, and had no sin to offer for Himself. So He took our sin upon Himself, and gave His life for sinners.
Jesus, our Great High Priest, ushers in a New Covenant - with His own blood , shed on the cross for sinners.
And by Jesus’ sacrifice He perfects forever our offerings to God and changes the hearts of all who believe and receive Him by faith.
10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be My people.
11 “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ For all will know Me, From the least to the greatest of them.
12 “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”
This Scripture is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Priests were also to make intercession in the sanctuary.
And because Jesus was raised from the dead, the Scriptures say —
25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Therefore, with Jesus - the need for priests is done away with — we only need one priest, Jesus Christ.
5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
In Jesus, God not only sent a messenger, but HIS MESSAGE — the Word become flesh.
And if we will hear Him, we will live, and experience peace with God and eternal life.
May the Lord help us all to see Jesus as the wonderful, perfect, eternal fulfillment of the priestly ministry, as our Great High Priest.
But wait — there’s more.
Church — in His name, we are now priests too.
And as such, the warnings of Malachi apply to us as well.
Corporate Application (For the Church)
Corporate Application (For the Church)
God said to Israel —
5 ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;
6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
Israel, as a people, were to be like the priests, to the whole world — a kingdom of priests.
Likewise, God says to His Church:
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
We have a priestly responsibility - all believers are a kingdom of priests.
We must know the word of God, and be able to teach it and live it rightly (Ross).
Each of us are responsible for obeying the Word of God as examples in all things.
And this means that we should hold preachers and teachers to a higher standard, to make sure that they are rightly handling the word of truth.
And yet each of us should search the scriptures ourselves, to make sure that what we are taught is true.