Reality Check (The Coming Messenger)

We have been exploring the book of Malachi and have reached the second division in the text. The first half of the book focused on the sins of Isreal as a lifestyle that have turned from the teaching of their Lord. They have turned so far that they do not even recognise that they are doing anything wrong. The text focused on the leaders of Isreal first. Namely the priests who were responsible for leading the people in prayer, worship and teaching of the Word of God. Malachi rebuked them for their treatment of the holy alter of God, the glory of God, and the Word of God. The people were not free from accusation either. Last week we looked at their unfaithfulness in marriage and the damage done by profaning the institution of marriage for selfish reasons. Today the book will transition from rebuke of the iniquity of Israel to prophecy of the Judgment and Blessing that will be coming from God.

Today we will start at the last verse of chapter 2 and go through the 6th verse of chapter 3. Let us stand as we read God’s Holy Word.

Malachi 2:17–3:6 (CSB)

17 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 delighted with them, or else where is the God of justice?”

1 “See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in—see, he is coming,” says the Lord of Armies. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach. 3 He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord as in days of old and years gone by.

5 “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 hired worker, the widow, and the fatherless; and against those who deny justice to the resident alien. They do not fear me,” says the Lord of Armies. 6 “Because I, the Lord, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.

Malachi 2:17

This section starts out with another one of the disputes that Malachi brings. The people are challenging God on who he is and what he has commanded.

Malachi 2:17 (CSB)

17 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 delighted with them, or else where is the God of justice?”

Malachi states that they have wearied the Lord. Wearied can mean to be tired and worn out but God does not get tired or worn out so in this case God is using terms they would understand to get them to understand their hypocritical acts of worship and obedience were.

How many of have been a teacher or babysitter and had that kid that would look at you while you were giving him instruction and nod like he understood what you said and then would immediately go and do the exact opposite of what you had asked them to do? And then when you confronted them they acted like they had no idea what you are talking about.

Malachi was giving them a picture of what they were doing to God. All of the acts that Malachi charged them with in chapter 1 and 2 were this way. They had no excuse for the way they were treating the alter of God or their wives in marriage. The scriptures had defined very clearly how they were to live. They nodded to the scriptures and then went out and did the opposite. They made wedding vows before God and then divorced their wives to marry foreign women who worshiped other gods. They knew they were supposed to give the unblemished as offerings of worship to God and they were giving the blind, weak, and lame.

But then, they were complaining to God that he was delighted in evil doers and had forsaken his justice.

How many of you have a child or been around a child that every time you correct them for something the first words out of their mouth is something like, well you never get after so and so, this is unfair they get away with it. They question your justice as a parent.

This is the statement that Israel was making, “God why don’t you go take care of the evil that is out their, they are blessed and we are cursed. You must love and delight in them because they don’t have to follow the rules but we do. We do not get what they have and they do not have to do all of the things we do. Where is your justice? Why won’t you deal with them the way we think they should be dealt with?”

Habakkuk said it his way:

Habakkuk 1:13 (CSB)

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do you tolerate those who are treacherous?

Why are you silent while one who is wicked swallows up one who is more righteous than himself?

They are basically accusing God of not being who he said he was. That he was breaking his promises to them and that they were accusing God of letting the wicked get away with evil. So they were asking for God to judge the wicked and so God responds with See, Look!, Behold. God is trying to get their attention. Wake up listen, sit up in your chair.

Malachi 3:1-5

Malachi 3:1 (CSB)

1 “See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in—see, he is coming,” says the Lord of Armies.

The word messenger is used in many different ways in the bible. In its simplest form it means someone who carries a message. The bible uses human messengers and supernatural messengers such as angles. The meaning of the name Malachi means my messenger. So depending on who the interpreted messenger is in this verse, will lead to correct or incorrect doctrine. We will walk through this step by step starting with “I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me.”

All of the gospels point back to this verse and its fulfillment in John the Baptist.

Matthew 11:10–11 (CSB)

10 This is the one about whom it is written:

See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;

he will prepare your way before you.

11 “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has appeared, but the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

We can also see this in Zechariah's Prophecy

Luke 1:76–77 (CSB)

76 And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.

You can also look a Isiah 40:3 and Matthew 3:3 that also point to this conclusion. Over 400 years before birth of John the baptist, he was predicted to do exactly what he did. Clear the way or prepare the way before Jesus. To prepare the hearts of the people to the coming messiah.

Matthew 3:11 (CSB)

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. He himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John was baptizing people with water for repentance. To turn away from their sin and once again look to the coming anointed one the coming king. Then prepare the way before God. We know in the NT that John prepared the way for Jesus and in Malachi, God says his messenger will prepare the way before himself, before God.

Malachi continues with Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in - see he is coming.

Malachi speaks of a messenger again but this cannot be the same messenger as before since John is not the Lord they seek and the temple is not his. The temple was the house of God so this messenger would have to be divine for this scripture to be fulfilled. This messenger will come suddenly and he will come to his temple. Who is this Lord?

The people of Israel are seeking their Lord the Messiah that would usher in the new kingdom. They were longing for this kingdom, they have returned from exile to rebuild but it wasn’t easy. There were hardships the whole way and they just wanted the King of prophecy to appear. So God tells them that this messenger will come and bear the covenant they delight in. This messenger is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The covenant may points back to the covenant Abraham but there is strong evidence that it point to the covenant that the Lord’s servant will bring.

Isaiah 42:1–7 (CSB)

1 “This is my servant; I strengthen him, this is my chosen one; I delight in him. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the nations.

2 He will not cry out or shout or make his voice heard in the streets. 3 He will not break a bruised reed, and he will not put out a smoldering wick;

he will faithfully bring justice. 4 He will not grow weak or be discouraged until he has established justice on earth. The coasts and islands will wait for his instruction.”

5 This is what God, the Lord, says—who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it—6 “I am the Lord. I have called you for a righteous purpose,

and I will hold you by your hand. I will watch over you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a light to the nations,

7 in order to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those sitting in darkness from the prison house.

The Lord’s servant will bring the covenant. He will bring justice.

Malachi 3:2–4 (CSB)

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach. 3 He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord as in days of old and years gone by.

These verses tied to verse 5 reveal that at this time Jesus will come to judge the people. This is the second advent of Jesus. This is when every knee will bow. When Jesus returns who will be able to endure that day. Who will be able to stand? The answer is no one on their own merit. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Only those that have recieved the Gospel and believe the good news of Jesus will endure this purification. Jesus is compared to a refiner’s fire and a launderer’s bleach. Jesus will come and melt away and wash away the iniquity and dross of man and those that the father has given to the son will be purified. Jesus will be like the refiner and purifier of silver, he will not be working with metal but with man. He will purify the sons of Levi or the priesthood.

This is the correction to the challenges that God gave to the priests in the 1st half of this book. The priests were profaning the worship and word of God so here he corrects that by putting them through the purifying fire of Jesus. The end of this process will be a pure and clean priesthood that will once again present pleasing offerings to the Lord. Through the work of God will the priest be able to present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.

And those who are not saved by the Messiah,

Malachi 3:5–6 (CSB)

5 “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 hired worker, the widow, and the fatherless; and against those who deny justice to the resident alien. They do not fear me,” says the Lord of Armies. 6 “Because I, the Lord, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.

In the end, it will not be men who witness against us it will be the witness of God. He has seen all and knows all and will testify to the iniquity that we have built up in our lives. His just sentence will be given. That sentence will be carried out on the savior for all those that believe but for those that do not fear the Lord, they will bear the delayed punishment of their sins.

Here he lists a list of oppressors, people who take advantage of the helpless for their own gain. Sorcerers, adulterers, liars, those that oppress the worker, the widow, orphan, and the resident alien. “They do not fear me says the Lord”. This list is not inclusive but once again shows that the actions of people reveal what is in their hearts. These people manipulate the world around them to gain as much in this world as possible at the expense of others.

They should fear the Lord but they are foolish and have denied that he exists.

God will come in judgement, he has not changed and because of this the descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed. If God changed then he would have gotten rid of these people long ago but he does not change and because of this, his covenants to Isreal remain in place till the end.

He is just and loving and all will be fulfilled. His wrath will be poured out for the sin of man and the Righteous, those who abide in Jesus, will be saved.

Conclusion

Israel’s history was a cycle of falling away from God in rebellion, Israel crying out to God for the deliverance from the consequences of that rebellion, a time of walking with God and then the cycle would start over. The hope for Israel and for all mankind came in Jesus. We, like these people are just as rebellious as they were. Our hearts are just as dark and our sin manifests itself much the same way.

Do we weary God with our empty worship and hypocritical requests?

Have you every asked:

Why do we try so hard to do the right thing? Everyone else is having a ball and I am here with nothing. I pray and pray and the rich politicians get richer and richer. We follow restrictions that deprive us of the full life that we see in the people around us. Why must we wait till marriage to enjoy the person I love? Why do I have to give up my evenings or weekends to go be at church with other people? I have better things to do with my time. God, why won’t you punish the father that abused me, or the man who took advantage of my daughter, or the teen who killed my wife in a drunk driving collision? Why does my boss get all of the recognition for everything I do? I feel like all I do is obey and obey and they get away with everything.

Why? Because we do not fear the second coming of Christ. We do not see what is in our own hearts. We condemn the world around us and neglect our own hearts. John the baptist cleared the way for the first coming of Jesus and we are charged with making disciples and baptizing them and training them to obey the commands of Jesus in the preparation for the second coming of Jesus. The day of judgement.

Why? Because we are focused on the things of this world and not the things of the next. Each and everyone of us will stand before God on the day of Judgement as God testifies to the iniquity of our lives, and those that stand secure in the redeeming blood of Christ will be saved from the wrath of God. We will be covered in his love and saved by his sacrifice on the cross.

Should a christian fear this day? I think not, we should crave this day. This is the day we are purified and cleansed of this life of sin. A purification that we cannot do ourselves. This is our hope of salvation.

Romans 8:1–11 (CSB)

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. 6 Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. 10 Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.

In the end it is all about the messenger of the covenant and we Worship and follow Christ. Jesus came as a sin offering to set us free from sin and death. We should walk according to the Spirit not according to the flesh. We need to keep our eyes focused on Jesus and look away from the world around us. God’s justice will come. We need to continue to grow and lead, and teach others about the gospel, about the good news of Jesus Christ.

Let us pray.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 CSB

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Benediction

Romans 16:25–27 CSB

25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation about Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles—27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ—to him be the glory forever! Amen.