Those Who Feared the Lord

When asking the Lord what to speak on today, he brought me to the book of Malachi

Now, Malachi isn’t my go-to when it comes to preaching or when it comes to Bible Study TBH

But he brought me here because I beleive he’s got a word for you in Waldo, Paradise, Natoma… where ever you are meeting KS.

So first some background

Malachi is the last book in the OT

Minor prophet who in my experience, has been mostly quoted on tithing. This is the book where we understand that when it comes to tithing we can put God to the test

Malachi is writing a short time after Zecharaiah and Nehemiah and Ezra… after the rebuilding of the the second temple

Malachi pulls no punches

His primary aim, as it is with most prophets, is to bring the nation back into orthopraxis or right worship

He’s specifically pointed when it comes to the preisthood

So after the temple was built, the Messianic age didn’t just start

There was a viewpoint that once the temple was built then the reign of the messiah would come.

But what we see is that once the goal has been met… there comes the process of maintaining

I don’t know about you but I’ve been in this boat

You think that once you get to a certain level or you experience a certain goal or freedom or deliverance… then all things will be good.

But once you get there, and then tomorrow comes, followed by a series of tomorrows that have a numbing affect on your mountaintop experience

It’s like how we are with salvation. Do you all remember how on fire you were when you first were ignited by the Holy Spirit?

Then the mundane drugery of eveyrday life and thousands of miniature disappointments can lead us to a place where we are dull and lacking in zeal and faithfulness

I digress a bit, but that’s what we are seeing in the nation of Israel

The priesthood went from following the torah and the duetorocanonic laws, purification, passion, zeal… to pretty much living how they want and doing the traditions as a habit or a cultural norm

So Malachi comes on the scene and starts to address the issues.

He starts by reaffirming the truth that God’s love has never left them. And that those who are without the provision and protection of the Lord have wasted away

Then he calls the priesthood to the carpet

v6 If Iam a father, where is my honor? If I am a master, where is my fear?

priests are offering unworthy sacrifices

scraps, leftovers, whatever they wanted to give… not what the lord requires

subverting the Lord’s requirements out of a lack of respect, reverence, and love for the Lord and his Word.

Good thing we don’t see anything like that today? LOL

God even says… I wish someone would close the gates of the church rather than continue to profane my name.

He goes on to say, you weep because you don’t see God move yet you are the ones who have been faithless. Speaking to the priesthood ( us) he says that you have been stepping out on the Lord

The ones who have been given charge with carrying out the sacrafices and the worship and the atonements have mingled the worship of God with the worship of creation.

I mean the Lord hasn’t shown up and hasn’t fulfilled his promise yet… so i guess we can just do what we want

also, we see that the ones who are cheating the Lord and subverting justice and doing all the things wrong… they are actually getting rewarded.

Malachi actually addresses this in v 3:13-15

English Standard Version Chapter 3

13 “Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’ ”

I give all this background to get us to this point