This is the last book of the OT and also the last prophetic word that God gave to His people prior to the coming of Jesus.
• After Malachi, there is silence for about 400 years when God did not speak again through any prophet.
• Malachi came about 80 years after Haggai and Zechariah. The Temple had been rebuilt (clearly from what Malachi said) and the city walls of Jerusalem restored.
Life hasn’t been easy. The promises that God has spoken through Haggai and Zechariah more than a generation ago were far from being fulfilled.
• The Jews were still living under the Persian rule. Life was tough and the people were facing insect plagues and poor harvests.
• We see that in Mal 3:11 when the Lord mentioned about pests devouring their crops and the vines in their fields dropping off.
• In their hardship, the people doubted God’s love and what He has said. The glorious future was too far away to be real.
Distrust sets in and we see the people questioning what God said. Malachi highlighted this many times in his book:
1:2 "I have loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask, `How have you loved us?'
1:6b "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. "But you ask, `How have we shown contempt for your name?'
1:7 "You place defiled food on my altar. "But you ask, `How have we defiled you?'
2:13-14 Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14You ask, "Why?"
2:17 You’ve wearied the LORD with your words. "How have we wearied him?" you ask.
3:7 Ever since the time of your forefathers 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?'
3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, `How do we rob you?'
3:13 "You have said harsh things against me," says the LORD. "Yet you ask, `What have we said against you?'
These were all REBUTTALS to the Word of God. God said and they challenged it. They doubted the truth of God’s Word.
• There was a distrust of God. And the first question we had was, “How have you loved us?” when God said, “I have loved you.”
• This was the root cause of the rest of the problems we see in this book. The people doubted God’s love and questioned His Word.
The Lord directed them to look at the lives and descendants of Jacob and Esau, and see the plight of the one who was not loved. Are you not loved?
• Look at Israel now and look at Edom, historically. Look at my dealings with you and my dealings with Edom. Are you not loved?
• Compare what happened to them and what happened to you? Are you not loved?
God assures them that He loved them and it is a CHOICE that He has made.
• It’s an election. It is God’s sovereign choice to bless the one He loved.
• We read last week from Romans 9. Rom 9:11-13 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad - in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12not by works but by him who calls-she was told, "The older will serve the younger." 13Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
• If we look at the lives and try to understand from their deeds why one is more loved, we are wrong. God made that choice before they were born.
• Both nations Israel and Edom sinned; both were punished; but Israel by God’s grace was led to repent and forgiven and restored, while Edom was left in the misery which it had brought upon itself by its own sin.
It is not about our good works that God loves us. It is His sovereign choice.
• This understanding is very important, because it affects how you live.
• Which is what we are going to see in the following passage - the people and the priests failed to honour God.
• How can you respect someone you distrust? How can you trust someone who, you think, is lying to you? Or love your spouse when, you think, he/she is being unfaithful to you?
What we believe about God affects our attitude and behaviour toward Him.
• What we believe WRONG about God will be reflected in our attitudes and behaviours before God. Let’s read Malachi 1:6-10.
Children honour parents, servants respect their masters. This we understand, no one would disagree. But where is the honour and respect due me, the Lord asked.
• The contempt of God in their heart was shown in their actions.
• Look at the way they bring their offerings to God – the first part on actions, and the second part about their attitude.
(1) ACTIONS - sacrifice defiled animals (blind, lame/crippled, sick/diseased) (1:8-10)
This was not just the fault of the priests but the people. They were the ones bringing these “defective” animals to the Temple, and the priests condone it.
• Is that not wrong/evil (ESV)? God said it twice. The people, and certainly the priests, ought to have known better.
• The unspoken answer is YES. It contravenes the Law, the instructions that God gave them (Lev 22/Deut 15), and it’s not even the right “tradition” (practice).
And the Lord lowered the bar and illustrated: “Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?”
• These offerings cannot even pass as proper gifts to a man (like the governor) and you are giving them to me!
• They tried give to God things that even a governor cannot accept.
• How absurd then to expect God’s favour in this? The Lord concluded, might as well shut down the Temple service (1:10), if you come with such worthless offerings.
Read Malachi 1:11-14.
(2) ATTITUDE - profaned God’s Name, treating God with contempt (1:12-13)
1:11 My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty.
• My name, my name, my name, 3 times the Lord talks about His great Name.
• That’s WHO God is. He is the Lord of hosts ESV, Lord Almighty, the great God whom the nations, the world, will ultimately recognise and worship.
• My name is not just great in Israel but among the nations throughout the world. But you are treating it with disdain.
In his writing, we can sense Malachi emphasizing the greatness of God. He kept saying, “…says the Lord Almighty” (the Lord of hosts ESV) - 7 times in these nine verses (today’s passage), and 23 times in the whole book.
• 1:6 “If I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the LORD Almighty.”
• 1:8 “Would he (governor) accept you? says the LORD Almighty.”
• 1:9 “Will he accept you? says the LORD Almighty.”
• 1:10 “I am not pleased with you, says the LORD Almighty.”
• 1:11 “My name will be great among the nations, says the LORD Almighty.”
• 1:13 “You sniff at it contemptuously, says the LORD Almighty.”
• 1:14 “For I am a great king, says the LORD Almighty.”
“And you profane My name!” Listen to God’s final word:
• 1:14 "Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations."
• They lied to God. They vowed to give Him an acceptable sacrifice and then bring a blemished animal.
• Just like Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. They sold their land and wanted to impress the church that they were giving the total proceeds from the sale of their land, when in fact they kept back part of it for themselves.
• Peter said, “You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:4)
Martyn Lloyd-Jones has this interesting story about trying to cheat God.
A farmer went into his house and tells the family a good news: “The cow just gave birth to twin calves, one brown and one white. Let’s give thanks to God. We shall dedicate one of these calves to the Lord. We raise them up and when the time comes, we will sell one and give the proceeds to the Lord’s work and sell the other and keep the proceeds for our needs.”
His wife asked him which he was going to dedicate to the Lord.
"There's no need to bother about that now," he replied, "We raise them for a time and when the time comes, we'll do as I say."
A few weeks later, the farmer came back looking unhappy. "What happened?" his wife asked. "I have bad news, the Lord’s calf just died.”
"Wait," said his wife, "how do you know that’s the Lord’s calf?"
"Yes," he said," I just decided it when I saw that the white one is dead, that’s the Lord’s calf."
The people and priests treated God with contempt, and the Lord emphasized, they were doing it to me, the great King, whose name is to be feared among the nations.
• We saw the emphasis in 1:11 and 14, and the repeated “says the Lord Almighty”.
• 1:14b For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations.
By now we know the focus is not on the offerings per se but what the offerings portray – their contempt of God. They have no respect for God and showed no honour for Him.
• And all of these behaviours stemmed from a root cause, they doubted God’s love and questioned His Word.
• If this was in their hearts, then it showed in their actions. God was “nothing” to them.
WHO IS GOD TO YOU?
Are we assured that God loves us? Are we worried that He doesn’t care? Do we doubt that He is always good? Do we understand the nature of His love?
Do we see Him as the Lord Almighty? Do we see Him as the great King, whose Name is the Name above all other names? Do we see the greatness of God.
• If yes, then our attitude and behaviour will show. If no, then our actions will show.
• We will hoard Maggie noodles and tissue papers. We will shun nurses and healthcare workers. We will turn inward, like the priests in Malachi’s time.
• We will become self-centred, self-seeking and looking only for self-gain.
William Carey shared this incident about his friend, Pastor Andrew Fuller.
Instead of getting volunteers to solicit funds for foreign missions, the pastor was going the rounds doing it. A good friend saw him and said, “Very well, Pastor, seeing it is you, I’ll give $500.”
Pastor Fuller responded, “No, I cannot take the money since you give it seeing me.”
His parishioner got the point. He went in and came out again saying, “You are right, Pastor. Here is $1,000, seeing it is for the Lord Jesus Christ.”
That changes everything. We see Him as He is. He is our great King. We have no doubt that He loves us and His Word is true.
• We trust Him and we honour Him supremely!
