A Theology on Names: Biblical Theology from Malachi
Notes
Transcript
So we just spent some time in the book of Malachi.
I hope you enjoyed it.
The Old Testament books are pretty different from the New Testament,
but yet they are very similar.
When we look at a book,
we might forget that it’s connected to a larger book.
Malachi, and Luke, are supposed to be read in the larger narrative.
Remember back to the kingdom series.
I spoke on Biblical theology.
Biblical theology, in a sense, is a response to just looking at one verse or book.
We, especially if you just starting your Christian walk,
We unfortunately look at the Bible and it’s big.
66 books.
That’s a lot.
The book looks impenetrable.
So we just read a text or verse,
trying to find golden nuggets here and there,
but we miss the overarching storyline.
The Bible is theologically unified,
historically, rooted,
progressively unfolding, and ultimately Christ-centered narrative of God’s covenantal work in our world to redeem sinful humanity.
It’s good to find truths from one verse or one book,
but we must also see how the book relates to the overall picture.
Remember the image I gave in the kingdom series.
I depicted the image of say, Yosemite.
When we spoke about the kingdom it’s like we spoke about all the trees and mountains.
When we spoke about the book of Luke it’s like we spoke about one mountain.
When we spoke about Malachi, it’s like we spoke about one tree.
Sometimes, to appreciate the entire picture,
you do need to focus on one tree or mountain.
To appreciate the entire picture we also need to see how the mountains relate to one another.
When we focus on one verse, it’s like we focus on one leaf on a tree.
Good, but there’s an entire picture to appreciate.
Today, we will see how the book of Malachi relates to the entire biblical narrative in 2 ways (I originally had 10 ways but I had to reduce it haha).
The first way is this.
Name
So in Malachi we find this focus on the name of God.
The priests were dishonoring the name of God.
We won’t focus on this too much today because next week I want to spend an entire preaching look at God’s name.
But for now,
let’s see how the book of Malachi relates to the entire Bible through its interaction of God’s name.
The word “name” occurs more than a thousand times in the Bible.
Evidently, the idea of a name was important in the ancient world.
It’s not as important now.
People have names,
and their names have no importance.
But if we think about it, names can have importance.
If someone is famous,
say a singer.
The name of the singer precedes him or her.
That name has gained notoriety.
Just mentioning the name conveys this idea of good music.
In Biblical times,
names were not just a label,
but characterized the person who had the name.
For example, 1 Samuel 25:25
Let’s read it.
Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent.
Abigail is talking to David.
David was a man of honor,
and Abigail didn’t want David to waste his time with Nabal.
The name or hb. word “Nabal” means Fool.
So, Abigail was like,
don’t pay attention to Nabal.
His name shows you who he is...
He’s a fool!
As you could see, the meaning of names was significant back then.
The Greek word for names is
onomata
And the translation for this word is very interesting.
Check out Revelation 3:4
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.
The word for people is onomata
Kinda crazy,
but the word for “name” was connected to people
that the author of revelation used onomata to refer to people.
It’s like I said there are 60,000 names in Lodi.
Like we don’t say that because we don’t use names like that.
But in the ancient world, names were so connected to people
that to refer to people,
they would say names.
Names could also refer to reputation.
We kinda use it like that nowadays.
Like, everyone knows of your name.
That means, your reputation is well known, right?
The Bible uses “name” as reputation.
Check out Mark 6:14.
King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
During the time of Jesus,
King Herod knew about the Messiah and his ministry,
because Jesus’ name had become well known.
By knowing a name very well, does that mean we know how to spell it from heart?
That’s not what is meant in this context.
Jesus’ name had become well known
because his reputation was so vast that the king knew of his ministry.
Name could also refer to authority or power.
Nowadays, we can use name in that way.
Say police arrests somebody.
In what name is the police arresting somebody?
The police is arresting the person in the name of the law,
or in the name of justice.
Sometimes, we do things in the name of love.
A lot of us have done a lot of things in the name of love.
People have said that they do things in the name of Jesus,
that is, they do things under the authority of Jesus.
But look at what Jesus said in Matthew 7:22-23.
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
There are people who say they do things in the name of Jesus,
but just because they say so,
it doesn’t really mean that they’re doing things under the name of Jesus,
in the authority of Jesus.
Working in the name of Jesus requires a godly change within the heart,
not just something we shout or say because of tradition.
The name or authority Jesus comes from knowing him.
Name can also refer to character.
If you’re dishonoring your name,
your dishonoring your character/reputation.
We pray that the character of God would be holy.
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“ ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
We’re not saying that God’s literal name would be hallowed,
but we’re praying that his character would be holy.
So,
we see that “name” is interrelated with the being or person that it is connected to.
Name can refer to people, reputation, authority, power, or character.
And in the Hebrew Bible,
the name and being of God were often synonomous.
If you are talking about the name of God,
you are talking about the person of God.
For example, in Psalm 86:12
The Psalmist said,
I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.
We praise the name of God.
And when we do,
we are praising the being of God.
The name of God was so central to God himself that the Jews began referring to him as hashem.
Hashem means the name.
The name of God is central to who he is.
Now how does Malachi relate to this biblical theology of name.
Well,
let’s go to Malachi 3:16
Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
A scroll of remembrance was written for those who honored his name.
Malachi said that God would remember those who honored his name.
There is importance in honoring the name of God.
The prophet Malachi used God’s name to refer about YHWH’s presence among his people.
We are supposed to honor his presence,
here at church,
and wherever his presence is.
Honor the person of God.
The word for honor conveys this sense of valuing or esteeming the name of God.
We’re keeping his name in mind because we value him.
We’re standing in awe of who he is
And if we do that,
God will remember us on the day that it matters.
Malachi relates the biblical theology of the name by teaching that those who honor God’s name will be remembered.
Those who honor God will be remembered by God.
2. Divine Parenthood
In Genesis 1:1, we read that God created the heavens and the earth.
By saying the heavens and the earth, the author was communicating that God created everything,
and that includes humanity.
The Psalmist speaks about this in detail.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
God created each one of us,
and he created us fearfully and wonderfully.
We are his wonderful works.
We are works that is something to wonder at.
And it’s all because God created us.
Malachi also saw God as our creator.
Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?
Because God created us, that means he is our Father.
Malachi connects creator with father, and consequently, identifies God as father.
Of course, during his time, he was talking to the nation of Israel,
but because God created us, we can identify God as father.
He is our father and we should honor him as such with our lives.
And we should approach him as such.
As Christians, God is also our father in a different way.
The Apostle John recognized that since God is our Father,
we are his children.
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
As children, we have a beautiful picture.
We will be like Christ,
the perfect example of a child of God.
We will see Christ, see his obedience to the father,
and it will move us to be like him,
in serving God.
In the meantime,
it could help to start seeing how God is a father to us.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
Parents are in charge of instructing and teaching their children.
There is a very popular Proverb that speaks about raising children in the way they should go.
Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
Yet here in Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
God is instructing us with the type of instruction that parents are supposed to give.
He is the one training us as a good father would.
He’s instructing us,
through his word.
He’s teaching us,
through his spirit.
He counsels us,
with love.
Malachi talks about the Father’s love in Malachi 3:17
“On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.
God has compassion and will spare you from his wrath because he is your father.
Again this talking to the Israelites, but
if you serve him,
if you believe in Jesus,
if you are born again through his Spirit,
you can experience God’s compassion for you.
He has compassion for you.
And he will show you that you are his treasured possession.
Malachi shows us that God is our father because he created us.
As a father, he doesn’t abandon us,
but instead he shows his compassion for us.
We will be his prized possession.
In the meantime,
we are to live as children of God,
as God’s family.
And we should be faithful and loyal and loving to one another.
I’ll close with the words of Paul.
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
God sent his Son at the best time.
When everything was right,
God sent his Son Jesus.
Jesus was born of a woman, born under the law.
He did everything right.
He followed what God had said.
And he did that so that we might be redeemed.
We were living a life where we tried to do it our way.
Earn things our way.
But through Jesus we could be adopted into a family where things are not transactional.
God loves us just as we are because of the work of Jesus.
By believing in Jesus, we become God’s sons and daughters.
I love this quote from C.S. Lewis:
“The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.”
Jesus came so that we can be God’s sons and daughter through the Spirit.
And we can cry out Abba.
We can cry out to our heavenly father.
And because the creator of heaven and earth,
the king of kings, is our father,
we are no longer a slave.
No longer a slave to the past.
No longer a result of sin,
but we are child and an heir,
an heir of what belongs to God.
I pray that if you have not been adopted by the blood of Jesus,
that you would do so today.
I also pray that if you have been baptized in his love,
that you would hold firm to your identity as a son or daughter,
and approach your heavenly father.