Prophecy to Our Present Age
Introduction: This is a five-part study of the last book of the Old Testament. What relevance could a prophet who lived over 2000 years ago have for us as Christians in this present day and age? We will look at the writing of Malachi over the next few weeks and consider the importance of his message as it applies to our lives. I believe there is a reason why God gives this Book as the last words of the Old Testament.
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A. Malachi, “The messenger of Jehovah.”
1. Nothing is known of his nationality or of his ancestry.
2. None of the other prophets of the day; Ezra and Nehemiah, mentioned him by name.
3. The name Malachi has specific meaning.
a. The Septuagent gives his name as Malachius, which means “the messenger of Jehovah”.
b. Malachi could be an abbreviated form of Malachia.
c. The name could be a title because from the name Joel (another prophet we have read), his name means, “the Lord Jehovah”.
4. Malachi is careful to refer to himself only as “a bearer of the burden of the Word of God”.
a. Unlike other prophets, he tells us nothing about himself or where he is from.
b. Throughout the prophecy he excludes all personal data.
c. He simply comes to us as Malachi, consumed with a passion to deliver his message from the Lord Jehovah.
B. Malachi was to deliver a deliberate and profound message to his era and age and pronounced God’s message to His people.
1. This message has direct correlation and application to our present age.
2. Preachers of today need to be messengers of God who relate His message to a fallen world.
3. God’s word has a solid foundation that was true then, as it is true today.
I. Malachi’s Era.
A. We first need to consider the state of the people’s heart.
1. As Malachi delivered his message the people replied each time with the same keyword – “Wherein” (found in the King James edition).
a. Chapter 1, verse 2, “I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, wherein have you loved us?”
b. Chapter 1, verse 6, “A son honors his father, and a servant his master: if then I were a father, where is my honor? And if I were a master, where is my fear? Says the Lord of Hosts unto you, the priests that despise my name. And you say, wherein have we despised your name?”
c. Chapter 1, verse 7, “You offer polluted bread upon my altar. And you say, wherein have we polluted you?”
d. Chapter 2, verse 17, “You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say wherein have we wearied him?"
e. Chapter 3, verse 7, “Return to me and I will return unto you, says the Lord of Hosts. But you say, wherein shall we return?”
f. Chapter 3, verse 8, “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, wherein have we robbed you?”
g. Chapter 3, verse 13, “Your words have been strong against me, says the Lord. Yet you say, wherein have we spoken so much against you?”
2. Seven times did Malachi come to them with specific charges and seven times the people just didn’t get it.
a. First he tells them the Lord loves them and they ask how.
b. Then he tells them they have despised the Lord and they answer how have we despised the Lord.
c. Then the Lord tells them they have desecrated his altar and again they ask how.
d. The Lord then tells them he is wearied by their sin and they answer what sin.
e. The Lord then tells them to repent and they answer repent from what.
f. The Lord then tells them they are negligent to tithing and again they plead ignorance.
g. Finally, he tells them they have profaned the Lord’s name and they answer piously when did we do that.
3. These people just didn’t get it! They are pharisaic, legalistic, self-righteous, pompous, self-centered and blind to their own condition.
a. They are talking the talk but know how are they walking the walk.
b. They are doing the form of Judaism, performing the correct rituals, everything is being done to the very last minute detail.
c. They are absolutely astonished by what the prophet is telling them, “wherein”; “What you talking ‘bout, Malachi?” “What do you mean?”
d. “Why are you accusing us of these terrible things? We don’t see where we have done any of those things you have mentioned.”
4. Let us look at the literal meaning of their answer, “wherein”.
a. They are answering the charges brought against them by stating, “we are doing what we are suppose to be doing, we are doing what is required of us, we are doing things according to the law and we are giving to God our time, our money and our talents.”
b. They are not a people in open rebellion against God and they are doing what is necessary to their faith.
c. If they are observing the strict rules and regulations of their faith, then why has Malachi come to them with his message from the Lord and levied his charges against them?
B. The problem of the people is not their observing of their faith but there is something seriously wrong with their hearts.
1. They are a people with all the knowledge of God, the correct rituals are performed and the required ceremonies are observed but it’s all mechanical and stale.
2. They are surprised by the impertinence of this prophet and astonished by his words, after all they are following the letter of the law.
3. They have failed to understand that the letter of the law is just a guideline for them to follow and at best a facsimile of what God really wants for them.
C. Attempting to follow the letter of the law can not bring one the real spiritual meaning, which God has intended for one to experience.
1. They have yet to obey the message that God has given to them and they haven’t sought the true meaning behind the letters intent.
2. They are the most orthodox Jews of the time, however, their hearts are not being influenced by the religion they are following
3. They are outwardly practicing religion and yet have no direct or personal relationship with the one they say they are following.
4. Their God is not the same God that their forefathers were following.
5. The God they contrived and tried to please was a god of trivialities, a God of mechanical attributes, a god of numerical observations, a god of ceremonial cleansing and a god of unsatisfied sacrifices.
6. They were completely satisfied with their religious ceremonies and observances and were prepared to reiterate, “wherein have we done these things or failed to do what is required.”
II. We will now have to lift the veil of blindness and peak under the cover of the status quo to discover the true reason of their spiritual condition.
A. The second chapter begins with a message and a commandment for the priests from the Lord.
1. “And now this admonition is for you, all you priests.” This commandment is for you.
2. Verse 7, “For the lips of the priests should preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction – because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.”
a. The priest should not only talk the talk of the priesthood but should walk the walk of priesthood.
b. The priest should be obedient in delivering the message of the Lord to the people by daily instruction.
3. Verse 8, “But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi.”
a. The priests failed to deliver to the people a true conception of God, so in turn the people failed to obey God.
b. It is the priests’ fault that the people turned their backs to God because of the corruption of the priesthood.
4. God created the priesthood as guardians of the articles of the covenant of God as well as a band of holy instruments who taught and upheld the laws of God.
a. The reason there was a national decline in the spiritual lives of the people was because of a spiritual decline in the lives of the priests.
b. The teachers of the law had treated the law with contempt who claimed it as rules and regulations but yet denied it for their own lives.
5. This then was the spirit of the age within Malachi.
a. The priesthood was mechanically outwardly observing the letter of the law and reduced it to ritual and ceremonies.
b. Malachi came voicing the complaint of God and the people were astonished and angered by the impertinence of the message.
c. All this happened because the priesthood had corrupted the covenant of God allowing the people to fall to a lukewarm contempt for the law of God.
III. The picture of the spiritual health of the people of Malachi terribly resembles the picture of health of our present age.
A. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 states, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – 5having a form of Godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”
1. Romans 2:20 tells us, “An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth.”
2. Both passages use the same reasoning for the priesthood, a form of Godliness or knowledge.
3. It brings to mind the possibility of the process of ritualism rather than the accomplishment of their duties.
4. Paul is telling us that in the last day’s men will absolutely know the truth and yet will deny the power of the almighty.
B. When we take a close look at Christianity is this not one of the present dangers that obscures our present age.
1. We have thousands of people who claim to be Christians but only observe and maintain an outward observation of the truth.
2. The lives of the people in the last days will not correspond with the truth that they say they possess.
3. There will be men and women of great stature within the confines of the church walls who outwardly picture sanctification and holiness yet when their veil of character is lifted they “deny the power.”
4. And what is at the back of all this forgery? It is the corruption of the leadership from the top of the church, the ministers and the teachers of the covenant of God.
C. What is this covenant that has failed?
1. If you would read Hebrews, chapter 8 from verse 7 and Jeremiah 31 from the 31st verse on, you will find that the covenant of God with the people is for the dispensation of the old covenant.
2. The people were to maintain a marriage relationship between themselves and God by observing His laws and obeying His commandments.
3. Jeremiah 31:33, “I will write my law upon your heart and upon your mind.”
a. The relationship has changed between God and His people from an old covenant to a new covenant.
b. No longer is there a need for only an outward observance of the laws of God but an inward union with the spirit of God, which is written on their minds and hearts.
4. This covenant has been corrupted through and through.
a. Men and women talk about inward cleansing and baptism of the Holy Spirit but fail to live pure and holy lives.
b. People talk of walking in the Spirit of God and at the same time argues vehemently against the doctrine of entire sanctification.
c. As long as we who preach and teach corrupt the covenant of God we lower the supreme requirements of the new birth and spiritual union.
d. We hold a form of truth yet we deny the power from where it came.
5. So here we see a terrible application in Malachi’s day of living holy lives, pleasing to the Father in heaven.
a. The spirit of this age closely resembles the spirit of our present age.
b. There was a lowering of the standards for the priests in their form and function as teachers of the people.
c. The people boasted of their piety yet in actuality they “deny the power” of God.
D. Only when we cease to be content with conventional religion will we find the power of the almighty, a vibrant influential aspect of our being. We should humble ourselves and examine our own spirit asking God to correct and reprove our lives to make us living sanctuaries for Him.
On Christmas Eve of 1822, Clement Moore composed his famous poem A Visit from St. Nicholas.
“Twas the night before Jesus came, and all through the house
Not a creature was praying, not one in the house.
Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without care
In hopes that Jesus wouldn’t come there.
The children were dressing to crawl into bed
Not once ever knelling or bowing a head.
And mom in her rocker with a baby on her lap
Was watching the Late Show while I took a nap.
When out of the East there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But angels proclaiming that Jesus was here.
With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray
I knew in a moment this must be The Day!
The light form his face made me cover my head
It was Jesus returning just like he said.
And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth
I cried when I saw him in spite of myself.
In the Book of Life which he held in his hand
Was written the name of every saved man.
He spoke not a word when he searched for my name
When he said, “It’s not here” my head hung in shame.
The people whose names had been written in love
He gathered to take to his Father above.
With those who were ready he rose without a sound
While all the rest were left standing around.
I fell to my knees, but it was too late
I had waited to long and thus sealed my fate.
I stood and I cried as they rose out of sight
Oh, if only I had been ready tonight.
In the words of this poem the meaning is clear
The coming of Jesus is drawing near.
There’s only one life and when comes the last call
We’ll find that the Bible was true after all.
It’s just not enough to possess the knowledge of the scriptures and God’s law; we need to take responsibility and ownership of that knowledge. We need to live each day like it was the last day of our lives and the first day of eternity.
