Advent #1 (Malachi Chapter 1) His Name Will Be Great Among The Nations

Malachi lived and prophesied between 400 and 500bc. 430bc is a common timestamp for this book, just before the 400 years of prophetic silence before John the Baptist is born.

The name Malachi is not mentioned in the body of the writing. This is actually more of an anonymous author. The word Malachi simply means “The messenger”. This messenger is bringing a word from the Lord to His people, calling them to turn from their sin and rebellion, and return to God.

The opening verse says “The oracle of the Word of the Lord to Israel, by Malachi.” It literally reads, The burden of the Word of the Lord to Israel.

Some time had passed after their salvation from exile in Babylon, and as often can happen, the flame of their genuine worship had gone out, and had been replaced with apathy, sin, unfaithful leaders, polluted offerings, divorce, and robbing God because they did not trust him with their tithe. These are some of the things we will see in this book.

There was a messenger who wrote only a few years prior to Malachi, and his name is Zechariah. He writes of spectacular visions of horsemen, and golden lampstands, and flying scrolls - and all sorts of incredible imagery that God gives to declare warnings, and that the rebuilding of the second temple will happen, and that God will restore peace to Israel. He not only speaks of the rebuilt temple, but of a future King.

Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

righteous and having salvation is he,

humble and mounted on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

And Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

His prophecies of the rebuilt temple came to pass by the time Malachi speaks, but the peace he spoke of, and the King He spoke of, would not come till 400 years later on the first Christmas. And in the waiting, Israel’s heart’s grew cold.

Malachi - a final messenger before the silence- writes when the temple stands once again. But the completion of the temple did not produce the salvation and the Kingdom age that Christ alone would bring at his coming.

So Malachi allows us to put ourselves in the shoes of OT Israel just before the 400 years of silence, so that we might listen to what God has to say, heed the warnings, and rejoice in the anticipated arrival of Christ, both then, and in our future once again.

Consider this a flyover of the book for the purpose of advent.

I’m going to break chapter 1 into three sections for us...

God’s Perfect love

Our Polluted worship

God’s Plan for the nations

Let’s begin with perfect love.

v2. “Israel, I have loved you, But you say, how have you loved us?”

If you’ve ever questioned God’s love for you, then you know what this is like. But the doubts of those whom God loves do not diminish His love and faithfulness.

God is not dependent, like the false God’s are. He is not empowered by praise, or encouraged by worship in the sense that we could ever find God lacking in courage the way we do.

“But how have you loved us?” is answered with an incredible assurance of electing grace. God says “remember that I chose Jacob, not Esau.”

v2. “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”

Do not be alarmed here that God uses the word hate. The hate here is clearly a comparison with the grace of election. When Jacob and Esau were still in Rebecca’s womb, before they had done anything good or evil, God said that the older shall serve the younger. And Jacob became Israel, the people through which God would bless the whole earth - fulfilling the promise to Abraham, so that through that seed - through that line - Salvation would come, not only to Israel, but all nations.

Don’t be so quick to take the word hate out of God’s mouth when Scripture has a place for it. God’s hatred of sin and evil is the only backdrop over which His love makes any sense.

Why was Jacob chosen instead of Esau? Grace. Not good behavior, or because he was better in any way. Grace is the answer, so that we marvel, and cannot boast, and so that we remember in those times in which we have been faithless, and have sinned, and have polluted our worship, and turned to idols - we see the covenant promise of God in Christ’s sacrifice and we remember His perfect love and affection for His children.

1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

4 If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.’ ” 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!”

The people of Edom, Esau’s descendents, were also conquered by the Babylonian empire, and God is saying here…have they rebuilt like you? No, they will be called the wicked country. Do I love them with the same love I have for you? No, because not all are Israel…only those who trust and obey God through faith in Christ.

Hear me when I tell you this, brothers and sisters…God has a special affection that He has set upon those who believe. He has loved you, and will love you, and no matter what happens, or how you doubt, you can look at His Word with confidence and say that you are hidden in Christ, your sins are forgiven, your unrighteousness is cleaned, and your old filthy garments of sin have been replaced with white robes - because in Christ you are no longer His enemies. He does not hate you.

v6. A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’

And so we see that questioning the love of God can lead to a complete unawareness of spiritual drift, so that when confronted about sin, you say “How am I doing this?” It was the priests of Israel who were despising God’s name by the way they worshipped him, led others to worship, and what they were allowing at the altar. There was no honor for Him as Father, not fear for him as master…and when you do not fear God, nor honor him, you can justify pretty much any behavior…even as a professing Christian.

God answers their question in v.7, and it’s followed by another question of ignorance. By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the LORD’s table may be despised.

In what way did they say such things? By the offerings they brought…As Jesus said....you will know them by their fruits. So look at v8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts.

Leviticus 22 and Deuteronomy 15 state clearly the law regarding animal sacrifice, and offering animals in such condition to the Lord.

The leaders in the church today, as well as the Priests of old, are to keep guard over what God has said in His Word, and rightly represent the truth, and particularly, the place of sacrifice…the alter. God set up the altar system for Israel as a place to make sacrifice for sin. What is sacrifice? It’s a costly offering.

A spotless lamb was to be brought, in all it’s innocence and defenselessness, pure and without blemish to represent a contrast to the sins that had been committed, and that lamb’s life was taken. So, what does it say when the priests during this time are going out to the herd, and grabbing a blind and maimed lamb, while keeping the spotless lamb for themselves? v8 says that their earthly governors wouldn’t even accept such a thing, and yet they bring it to God?

Church, we can look at this and say…I am so glad that that was then, and this is now, but that would be foolish. By a similar doubting of His sovereign love, and if we do not honor God as Father, what happens is that the offering of our lives to God can become polluted so that we do not walk worthy of the name of Christ.

Christ is that perfect and spotless lamb, the ultimate statement of sacrifice showing how deeply God loves us, and how seriously holy he is, and how much he hates sin because he would give us His Son to die in our place.

What should we give in return, brothers and sisters? How should we worship? What do we bring him each day in the purity of our faith and our love? Should God get our seconds in anything? Do we bring him polluted and maimed offerings, in the form of complaining, the total disregard for scripture, half-hearted worship, hearts that are uninterested in Christ Monday through Saturday, or justified disobedience that grows over time into now destructive sins.

v9 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts. Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.

in other words, it’ would sometimes be better for entire churches to simply close, than to continue kindling fire on the altar in vain with polluted offerings.

The church is called to be holy as He is holy…and the worship we bring is to be in faith, and to be right, and honorable. At that time, it was pleasing that Israel obey the laws of the temple, and worship him with right sacrifices through the priests. But priests were misrepresenting God to Israel, just as many pastors do today, by shutting the book, or favoring only the nice doctrines while ignoring the difficult, or speaking nothing about repentance from sin and faith alone in Jesus Christ for salvation.

These practices eventually led them to speak contempt over the whole thing, and profane what is holy.

They had gone from not bringing the best, to intentionally bringing the worse, and justifying it.

If we worship God ignorantly, and without understanding, we bring the blind for sacrifice; if we do it carelessly, and without consideration, if we are cold, and dull, and dead, in it, we bring the sick; if we rest in the bodily exercise, and do not make heart-work of it, we bring the lame; and, if we suffer vain thoughts and distractions to lodge within us, we bring the torn. And is not this evil? Is it not a great affront to God and a great wrong and injury to our own souls? Do not our books tell us, nay, do not our own hearts tell us, that this is evil? for God, who is the best, ought to be served with the best we have.

v12. But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. 13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD. 14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.

But there is a bright spot in all of this mess that Israel had brought upon themselves, and it’s the promise of God. God will be worshipped, and though his people turn their backs on Him, he remains faithful.

And so we set out eyes on the promise of the Messiah who was promised to come, who would change everything. Christ who told the woman at the well…in John 4:21 Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Look at three places with me as we close - v5. Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!”

v11. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.

v14 For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

God will keep his promise to the nations.

Zechariah 9:10 his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

The Gospel which was first given to one nation on this earth, is now spreading to all nations and will continue to do so till Christ comes again. All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

And so thus begins this messenger’s call to a broken Israel, doubting his love, profaning the altar, to turn from their sin, and look to the promise of God. Let’s not doubt his grace, nor bring to him a worship that is insincere and faithless. Repent of sin and look by faith to the one who can forgive your sin and give you eternal life.