HOPE (2)

Where is the God of Justice?

Holding on to hope becomes challenging when one examines the evidence.

Economic uncertainty, political instability, wars and rumours of war, natural disasters, eroding trust in our educational system, our news media, our governments ability to address real problems all add to a growing sense of frustration and hopelessness.

This is not the first era to experience this challenge to hold on to hope.

Not long after God’s people ad been allowed to return to their homeland and rebuild God’s people were experiencing a growing dissatisfaction with what they assumed God would do.

In both Nehemiah and Ezra’s writings these men of God address significant failings of the priests and Levites - those charged with maintaining the truth of God and a pure worship, and a lifestyle of faithfulness to God.

Malachi, the last prophet before the birth of Jesus, addresses a people that are struggling economically and spirituall.

They are not a ‘free’ people. The government is located thousands of miles away and represents all that opposes God.

The rich are getting richer, the priests and Levites are abandoning their commitments to follow God’s law by marrying foreign women, by accepting sacrifices that were obviously flawed, and encouraging an atmosphere where families were being broken by divorce.

Into this area, God’s people are asking all the wrong questions:

Where is the God of Justice?

Observing the failures around them, God’s people are assuming that God’s standards have changed:

Malachi 2:17 HCSB

You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in the Lord’s sight, and He is pleased with them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”

Have God’s standards changed?

Our initial answer is NO!

But listen to the prayers and complaints of God’s people and we often hear long lists of physical ailments and personal challenges often the result of poor choices.

According to God’s word through Malachi, the prayer life of His people was ‘wearing’ Him out!

John Calvin, the notable theologian and pastor of the mid 1500’s offered a translation of the first part of vs 17:

Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary (Hill) A. YHWH’S Justice Challenged (2:17)

Calvin’s (1979:563) translation (‘saddened his spirit’) aptly conveys the effect that, more than fatigue, the people have ‘saddened God’s spirit’ by their faulty and insincere religious words and ritual acts devoid of any conviction, loyalty or devotion.

In Malachi 3:5 lists seven different practices occuring in the midst of God’s people:

Malachi 3:5 HCSB

“I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the widow and the fatherless, and cheat the wage earner; and against those who deny justice to the foreigner. They do not fear Me,” says the Lord of Hosts.

Perhaps the failure of God’s people to see accurately the activity of God in their lives is found in the kinds of activities in which they were engaged!

PREPARE THE WAY

God’s response to the flawed prayers of His people involved two ‘sendings.;

First,

Malachi 3:1 (HCSB)

“See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me….

As God’s plan unfolds, He insures that His people are prepared.

During Advent we focus on all God is doing to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Messiah.

John’s gospel describes the activity of John, the Baptizer, as the one God has sent to ‘prepare the way.’

John 1:19–23 HCSB

This is John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?” He did not refuse to answer, but he declared: “I am not the Messiah.” “What then?” they asked him. “Are you Elijah?” “I am not,” he said. “Are you the Prophet?” “No,” he answered. “Who are you, then?” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?” He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord —just as Isaiah the prophet said.”

God will answer the prayer of His people but they need to be ready to hear His answer!

The second ‘sending’ :

Malachi 3:1 (HCSB)

“ Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts.

God Himself who is the ‘messenger of the covenant’ is coming!

The covenant which all God’s people claimed to follow (though the evidence of 3:5 clearly indicates differently) will be fulfilled.

Here we need to make a distinction between what we often ask for and what God promises to bring.

We ask for the God of judgment

John 3:16–17 HCSB

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

God is coming in judgment, He is coming to right all the wrongs.

His judgment, though, is according to His standards, not ours.

His judgment is costly. It is possible because in His righteousness He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf!

Who can endure the day of His coming?

God speaks a word of warning:

His coming will be a ‘fire’ that will consume all that doesn’t belong.

His coming will be like lye, a soap that cleanses deeply.

When we pray as those ancient Israelites did, seeking God to make everything right once again we need to ask ourselves:

Are there attitudes, actions in my life that don’t belong?

Am I willing to submit to God’s judgment on my life?

Are there sins I’m clinging to that need to be cleansed?

Wait? Aren’t those questions only for the ‘unsaved, the sinners out there?’

Remember, to whom is Malachi speaking?

A people with no knowledge of God?

OR

A people who claim to ‘be’ God’s people?

As Advent begins, ask yourself -

Am I seeking God to do what He wants to do

OR

Am I seeking God to do what I want Him to do?