Malachi

RECORD

Today we are going to take a look at the not only the final book in our Major messages from the Minor Prophets series, but it is actually the final book in the Old Testament

Although it is a short book, consisting of only 4 chapters and a total of only 55 verses, Malachi is an extremely important book because of its place in the timeline of God’s history

The book of Malachi was written 1000 years after the children of Israel were freed from bondage and slavery in Egypt and began their journey towards the promised land where God would establish them for all of eternity (except for a few disciplinary captivities)

And as the final book of the Old Testament, Malachi is also the beginning of a 400 year period of silence between the Testaments

God would not have a voice before the people again until John the Baptist shows up on the scene to prepare the way for the Messiah

Actually Malachi tells them about this,

Malachi 3:1 NIV

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

Although it is such a short book, containing only 4 chapters and a total of 55 verses, The book of Malachi is an extremely important book because of it

So you can see that because of this spot that Malachi, whose name by the way means “Messenger” finds himself in gives him a unique opportunity never seen by any other prophet

A chance to summarize the ups and downs of Israel’s relationship with God and at the same time prepare them for coming Messiah

Perhaps that’s why God chose to use Malachi to confront some of the biggest issues, not only of his day, but of our day as well

In this short book Malachi deals with things such as, blemished sacrifices, showing contempt for the Lord and the Lord’s table (which I would really love to spend some time comparing to our usual communion passage in if I only had the time)

Malachi also deals with the profaning of God’s name, the failure to follow through on promises to God, a priesthood that is corrupt and lazy, inter-religious marrying, husbands that are not fulfilling their role and responsibilities, divorce

That’s right Malachi is where we get that famous verse that some people love to quote, “‘I hate divorce,’ says the Lord God of Israel”

Malachi continues by talking about Israel’s failure to act justly and that God was fed up with their behaviour

Malachi 3:

Malachi 3:5 NIV

“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.

And then of course there is the one topic that we evangelicals visit Malachi for more than any other topic

Malachi 3:8 NIV

“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.

Malachi

In fact I bet that, knowing that I was preaching on Malachi today, some of you probably came expecting a sermon on tithing because that may be the only thing that you have ever heard from this book

And I could do that, I could give you a great message about bringing “the whole tithe into the storehouse” or I could go on a tirade about the evils of divorce and the damage that it has caused to modern family and to society as a whole

But if I were to do that I think that I would be doing a great injustice to Malachi and the purpose of his book

Because although Malachi covers all of those topics, and a few more as well, they were not the purpose of his writing, they were not the theme of the book but merely examples to demonstrate his purpose and theme

I think that the point that Malachi was trying to make with this book can probably be summed up in verse 17 of chapter 2

Malachi 2:17 NIV

You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

Malachi 2:17

Or in chapter 3 verses 13 to 15

Malachi 3:13–15 NIV

“You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’ ”

The problem was that after the people heeded the cry of Haggai and Zechariah to finish the temple and to once again establish the systematic worship to take place there it wasn’t long before the became indifferent to the things of God

Their interests laid elsewhere and there became an apathy where the fire to serve and worship God once ruled

In fact if you will read this book carefully without the prejudices of thinking you know what’s coming you will begin to see that Malachi has more to say about God than it does about the sin of His people

Allow me to show you what I mean

Malachi 3:6–12 NIV

“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

Malachi 3:6-

The vast majority of the time you will here this passage preached as an admonition to make sure that you tithe

But look at it again, this is about God and His desire to pour out His blessings on His people

“I do not change” just like I blessed your ancestors I want to bless you

“‘Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty” - NOT I want to test YOU in this!

And look at God’s response when we are obedient in this, “Throw open the floodgates and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it”

This, and every other passage in the book has far less to do with me than it does teaching me about God to wake me out of my apathy and stir me back into a close relationship with Him who wants to have that relationship with me

Am I really so arrogant to believe that the God of the universe needs my money and can’t operate without it?

He wants my heart and this same scenario plays out in each of the topic s that Malachi mentions

Malachi wakes the people up from their spiritual slumber and points out that they need to get going with God because the day of His Messiah is only a short time away

I mean look at how the book begins

Malachi 1:1-

Malachi 1:1–2 NIV

A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,

God wants to remind you this morning that He loves you, that He loves you so much that He sent His one and only Son to die on the cross to redeem you, that He loves you so much that on the third day He raised His Son, the firstfruit of many so that we could have eternal life with Him

He wants to shake us out of apathy, out of just going through the motions like it doesn’t matter anyway and He wants to give us a reminder of who it is that we serve

You see as much as Malachi speaks about who the people were, it says volumes more about who God is

Allow me to give you a picture of the God that we serve as presented by the prophet Micha

In 1:2 He is the God who loves us

In 1:5 He is the Lord is great

In 1:6 He is our Father

In 1:6 He is the master

In 1:9 He is gracious

Also in 1:9 He is almighty

In 1:11 His is the great name

In 1:14 He is the great King

In 2:10 He is our creator

In 2:14 He is the “witness” to the mistreated

In 3:1 He is the one who purifies us

In 3:2 He is the one who refines us

In 3:6 He is unchanging

In 3:10 He is the source of blessing

In 4:1 He is the judge

In 4:2 He is the healer

In 4:4 He is the law giver

In closing allow me to read for you from a song by Keith Green, an artist that I truly believe was a prophet to his generation and that I was blessed enough to catch the coattails of

In His song Asleep in the Light Keith writes,

Oh Can’t you see it’s such sin

The world is sleeping in the dark

That the church just can’t fight

‘cause it’s asleep in the light!

How can you be so dead?

When you’ve been so well fed!

There’s a whole lot more to it than that but I will stop there because I believe that at this point Malachi would be heard above the rest of the crowd yelling “Amen”

Malachi’s letter should not be picked apart to serve our doctrinal preferences but instead should be looked at as an entirety

When we do that this final book of the Old Testament becomes a reminder to the people of the God whom they serve, the God who loves them and desires to see them blessed and living in His fulness

We also see that it is a clear warning that the coming of the Messiah was near and so the people had better pay heed and get their act together before it was too late.

As we approach another Christmas season it is clear to us that the Messiah has already come in the person of Jesus Christ but the warning still stands that He is coming again and lest we want to get caught off guard at His appearance we too had better take note of Malachi’s message and return to God with a love and a passion worthy of the love that He has for us

1 John 4:9-

1 John 4:9–12 NIV

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

let’s pray