Sermon Tone Analysis

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.