Malachi 3

Clinton R. Gill Commentary On Malachi 3BEHOLD, I SEND MY Malachi 3:1-6 Malachi 3:1 —Here is God’ s answer to their question, “where is the God of justice.” Suddenly the Lord will appear in the temple heralded by His forerunner. Isaiah had made a similar prediction. (Isaiah 40:3-5). The New Testament applies Malachi’ s prophecy to John the Bap­tist. (eg. Matthew 3:3 Matthew 11:10, Mark 1:2-3, Luke 1:16, Luke 3:4, Luke 7:16-21, John 1:23) The obvious fulfillment of this promise in the baptist’ s ministry would be difficult for any open-minded Bible student to overlook.

The sudden appearance of the Lord mentioned here was inter­preted by the Rabbis as a dramatic explosive visitation by which the Messiah would announce His presence. It was this popular expectation which the devil exploited in tempting Jesus to cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple. (Luke 4:9) To have done so would have won for Him instant acceptance as the Messiah on the basis of popular though erroneous expectation.

Malachi 3:1 —“The messenger of the covenant . . , ” What more apt description could there be of Him Whose coming formed the heart of God’ s cov-, enant promise? How fitting that the writer of Hebrews should introduce his comparison of the Old and New Covenants with the argument for the superiority of the New based on the superiority of the Son over the prophets, angels and Moses, who were the messengers of the Old. (cp. Hebrews 1:1 to Hebrews 2:4) Malachi 3:2-6 —“Who can abide the day of His coming?” The Messiah was coming but not to confirm the racial arrogance or religious ex­clusiveness of these false Israelites. John will speak of Him as one “whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse His thresh­ing-floor; and He will gather His wheat into the garner but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:12). Malachi here makes a like prediction. By a change of metaphors he describes the Messiah’ s judgement first as fuller’ s soap then as refiners fire.

In this sense, soap and fire have one thing in common, both re­move, impurity. The entire ministry of the Messiah, including His first coming, the intervening age and His second coming, will purge the impurities from the people of God. Those whose profession is false, whose hope is based on false ambition and nationalistic exclusiveness will be removed from Israel. The remnant will be saved. This refining process is described by Zechariah as removing all but a third of those who call themselves Israel, (cp. Isaiah 1:25) Malachi 3:3-4 —Since Malachi’ s primary concern is with false priests (see above on Malachi 1:10 -ff), he pictures the Messiah, in verse three, as a re­finer sitting before the crucible in which the sons of Levi are purged of those who are unfaithful so that they will offer to Jehovah offer­ings in righteousness. The offerings to the Christ are not the blemished animals of Malachi’ s day. Rather they are to be “holy and acceptable unto God,” (cf. Romans 12:1, Hebrews 13:5, 1 Peter 2:5) as were those offered in the beginning by Aaron. Malachi 3:5-6 —They have asked “where is the God of justice.” (Malachi 2:17) When Messiah comes they will have their answer. He will testify against the sorcerers (Acts 8:1 Acts 13:6, Galatians 5:20), against adul­terers (Matthew 5:28), against false swearers (Matthew 5:34 Matthew 5:36), against those that “oppress the hireling, the widows, the fatherless, and they that turn .aside the sojourners (Matthew 25:31-46), and that fear not me (Matthew 10:26-28). Special notice should be taken of the inclusion in this list of priest­ly sins of “those that turn aside the sojourner.” ‘ A sojourner was one of another land who was not a Jew. God’ s concern for all men, rather than just for the Jew, as stated in the covenant is apparent throughout His dealings with the people through whom He purposed to bless all men.

Malachi 3:6 — It is a tragic error to assume that, because God has not smitten the wicked, He has changed from a God of justice to one of easy-going tolerance. Malachi points out to his readers that God’ s un­changing nature is the only reason they were not themselves long since wiped out!

Paul points out in Romans 11:29 that God’ s mercy toward even the covenant people finds its source in His unfailing faithfulness to His own covenant. Peter speaks to the same fatal fallacy when he writes, “But for­get not this one thing beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to tepentance.” (2 Peter 3:8-9)IF THE PEOPLE WILL RETURN IN TO GOD HE WILL YET BLESS THEM Malachi 3:7-12FROM THE DAYS OF YOUR FATHERSMal_3:7 Malachi 3:7 —When Stephen stood before the council and accused’ them with, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears … as your fathers did, so do ye,” (Acts 7:51) he was in’good company. Malachi here levels the same charge against his readers. Just as their ancestors had turned aside from God’ s ordinances to worship Baal, these were turning aside in making a mockery’ of the same ordinances. The withholding of tithes, the offering of blemished animals, the indulging’ in sorcery and adultery and false swearing while showing unconcern for human need by oppressing wage-earners, widows, orphans and non-Jews indicated theirs was a religion of form rather than sincerity. The prophet sees no advantage in this over the false religion which had brought on the Babylonian captivity. There is an eternal principle presented here which the modern church member cannot afford to ignore. The observance of outward form and the passive abstention from false religion are a sham if done as these did them. The cheapening of the ordinances of God as they did in offering unacceptable sacrifices, or as is often done in present day‘ churches by penny-wise and niggardly church budgets are no more advantageous than false doctrine. The lack of any real, concern for the poor, the abandoned, the downtrodden, that is frequently hidden under an annual Christmas basket, does not deceive Him Who knows the hearts of His people.

The entreaty of God to such people to return to Him is fre­quently met today as in Malachi’ s time (v. 7) with a blank faced and feigned innocence expressed in “wherein shall we return?”

Malachi 3:8-13 —Malachi’ s answer to this sham is “will a man rob God?” When their response was again an assumed innocence ex­pressed in, “wherein have we robbed thee,” the prophet goes directly to the heart of the matter . . . “in tithes and offerings.’’ That they could answer in such false righteousness after what the prophet has written in the preceding chapters about their unholy sac­rifices, is amazing, It is no more so than the assumed correctness of the “New Testament Christian” today whose sacrifices of himself is an hour or two on Sunday and whose giving of “tithes and offer­ings” consists of less than he spends for soft drinks and tobacco, Malachi 3:9 —“Ye are cursed with a curse because ye rob me” declares Malacbi. Our own consciences may accept a cut-rate allegiance to God, but He will not. The country parson who said, “Salvation is free but it ain’ t cheap,” spoke the truth! There is a significant distinction drawn here between tithes and offerings. The law defined the first tithe as a tenth of all that was left after the first fruits were paid.. This.tenth went directly to the Levites for their support. (Leviticus 27:30-34) A tenth was to be paid in turn to the priests. (Numbers 18:26-28) A second tithe was to be paid for the entertainment of the Levites and their own families at the temple. (Deuteronomy 12:18) A third tithe was to be paid every third year for the welfare of the poor, etc. (Deuteronomy 14:28) It has been estimated that the total, tithes amounted annually to approximately 27% of one’ s gross income. The offerings’ were in addition to the tithes. These consisted of not less than 1/60- of one’ s corn, wine, and oil (Deuteronomy 18:4, Nehemiah 13:10-12).So the Israelite under the Old Covenant gave in three categories. (1) He sacrificed the first fruits of his fields and flocks (2) he tithed three times, first of all remaining after the sacrifices, second for the entertainment (expenses) of the Levites and thirdly for the sake of supporting the poor, and (3) he then gave an offering of at least 1/60 of all his grain, wine and oil. It was common, during the lean years, such as those which pre­vailed at the time of this writing, to neglect the tithes and offerings. Malachi, as we have seen, accuses Ills readers of also bringing much less than the first fruits for sacrifice.

Malachi 3:10 —Jehovah’ s challenge (v. 10) is to bring all the tithes (he whole tithe) into the storehouse and see if times do not change. Jesus would say, “seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (cp. Matthew 6:19-34) Here is the eternal principle of giving which continues from cov­enant to covenant. The support of the Lord’ s work must come first in the economic lives of His covenant people. He who gives only what he can afford has not given at all!

This passage, especially verses nine and ten, are frequently used to prove that one who does not give ten per cent of his income to the church is robbing God. Conversely, on the basis of these same verses, promises are frequently extended that “God will open the windows of Heaven” to those who practice “store-house tithing.”

Before one makes such accusations or promises from these verses it would be wise to keep in mind several pertinent points concerning Mosaic tithing; (1) The tithes spoken of here had to do with the tithes of the fruit of the land, not wages per se. (2) These words are directed specifically to Judah because of the neglect of the ordinances of the law. (3) No money was involved. The tithe was a portion of the produce of an agrarian society. (4) The promise to “open the win­dows of heaven” has to do with rain which would end a drought and cause the land to again become productive when the people met the requirements of giving.

The principle taught, which must be learned by Christians, is stated by Jesus, not as a command to count one dollar of every ten into the offering, but to put the kingdom of God before the material necessi­ties of life. (cf. Matthew 6:33) When this principle is applied to the giving of money, ten per cent seems a frightfully immature and inade­quate amount, especially when those who “ had witness borne to them through their faith, (even though they) received not the promise …” (Hebrews 11:39) were required to give 27% of all they produced on the land.

Malachi 3:11-12 —Upon their return to faithfulness in tithes and of­ferings, God promised to remove the blight from the land. Whatever was organically wrong with the crops would be corrected. They had robbed God (v. 8) from the very first (v. 7). They were now cursed (v. 9) with drought (v. 10). The curse brought about by their dis­honesty had taken two forms, drought and locusts (v. 11). Their re­pentance would be the occasion of unmeasured blessing, blessing so great they would be the envy of surrounding nations, (v. 12) God’ s provisions are always more than adequate to those who are honest in their dealings with Him.WHEN THE DAY COMES, TRUE WILL BE SPAREDMalachi 3:13— 4:3 Mal 3:13-15 —Malachi continues to list Jehovah’ s grievances against the people. They needed to return and they feigned unaware­ness of any such need (Malachi 3:7). They robbed God, yet pretended not to be aware of the robbing (Malachi 3:8), They have spoken against God, and again pretended innocence (v. 13 cp. Malachi 2:17) The prophet continues to speak frankly, as he answers this latest question, “Ye have said, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we keep his charge?” Such complaining is not uncommon among those who cannot un­derstand the spiritual nature, of God’ s covenant. Those who see the covenant as a mercenary bargain, attend to outward observance in the hope of receiving material blessings. When such are not forthcoming, because they are at most incidental to God’ s purpose in His people, such worshippers are always disappointed and prone to despair, God has never promised wealth to the faithful or poverty to the unjust. We manifest a gross ignorance of His nature and His love when we judge the worth of service to Him on such basis. The evidence of this misunderstanding on the part of Malachi’ s readers is seen in the last part of verses fourteen and fifteen. They equate their sacrifice of blemished animals and the withholding of tithes and offerings out of concern for material necessities with “keep­ing His charge.” They equate pietly with walking “mournfully.” They mistake pride for real happiness and complain that the wicked are bet­ter off than the rest. They accuse God, very subtly, of injustice be­cause the wicked “tempt God and escape.” Malachi 3:16-18 —Rather than continuing to rebuke their lack of perception, Malachi turns to words of comfort. He assures them the faithful will not be forgotten. They will be spared who are God- fearers, ‘‘and ultimately made to understand the real difference between the righteous and the wicked.

A book of remembrance is being written he assures them, in which the names of the faithful were being recorded (cp. Esther 6). In the day when Jehovah acts, they will be spared His judgment and beyond this, they will be revealed as Jehovah’ s peculiar treasure, (cp. John 3:18,1 Peter 2:9) Even in dark times there ate those few who fear Him and so “speak,” i,e, converse with one another about Him, THEY THAT FEARED JEHOVAH Malachi 3:16 Malachi foresees the repentance of some, though not all the peo­ple. They would speak with one another, No doubt their speaking would concern the need for repentance, for genuine worship, As always, the fear of Jehovah would prove the beginning of wisdom for Jehovah would hear and remember.

THEY SHALL BE MINEMal_3:17-18 Malachi’ s covenant consciousness is evident here. It is those who fear Jehovah and think on His name who are His people. No refer­ence is made to religious ritual or racial origin.

Peter voiced this same convictioa Following the thrice repeated vis­ion which convinced him to go to a non-Jewish home with the gospel, and the resultant demonstration of God’ s overwhelming approval of his action in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Peter exclaimed, “of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every na­tion he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to Him.” (Acts 10:34-35) Paul confirms this same truth in Romans 2:13, “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”

Malachi would have his readers understand this truth. In the days of Jehovah His people will be those who really serve. Verse 1 Malachi Chapter Three This and the following brief chapter (which is included with this one in the Hebrew Bible) are among the most Messianic passages in the Old Testament. This is appropriate indeed, because of the long, long night of Israel’s new status, not any longer that of the faithful covenant people, yet still preserved and protected through the providence of God until the promised Messiah should arrive - that long, long night of about half a millennium was at this point in Israel’s history about to begin. Indeed it had already begun. Israel is no longer referred to by God’s prophet as “the people of God,” but as “this whole nation” (Malachi 3:9). They would abide many days for God “without king, without prince, without altar, without sacrifice, and without ephod and teraphim” (Hosea 3:4-5). Robinson pointed out that most of these two chapters (Malachi 3-4) regards the Messiah, “The apocalyptic character of Mal 3:13 to Malachi 4:2 is fine."[1] It is simply incredible to us that he failed to include all of Malachi 3 in such an analysis, for the first verse (Malachi 3:1) of this chapter is one of the most brilliant and revealing prophecies of Jesus Christ in the whole Bible. Malachi 3:1“Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant whom ye desire, behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts.“Homer Hailey provided this accurate interpretation of what is actually stated here: “Jehovah’s response to their question, “Where is the God of justice?” (Malachi 2:17), is that He himself will come, and suddenly. But before he comes, he will send his messenger to prepare the way before him. This promise of a messenger rests on Isaiah 40:3-5 : The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain; and the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it (Isaiah 40:3-5).” It is strange that there should be any dispute over who this messenger is.[2]“I send my messenger …” This messenger was none other than John the Baptist, a fact attested by the testimony of Jesus Christ himself and the holy apostles. (See more on this under Malachi 4:5-6, below.) It is a measure of critical arrogance that any man should deny this. “No sure identification of my messenger' is possible ... <a href="/bible/parallel/MAL/4/5" class="green-link">Malachi 4:5-6</a> is a later addition, and consequently is not a reliable index to the thought of our prophet."[3] What if such a remark were the truth? (which of course it isn't); is not the testimony of Jesus Christ the Lord reliable? Jesus said: "But I say unto you that Elijah has come already, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they would ... then understood the disciples that he spake unto them of John the Baptist (<a href="/bible/parallel/MAT/17/11" class="green-link">Matthew 17:11-13</a>)." So much for the question of who the messenger is. Beyond any question of doubt the prophecy referred to John the Baptist. Note also that it is Almighty God who will send the messenger. "He shall prepare the way before me ..." Practically all commentators on this passage have recognized that Malachi's prophecy is supplementary to the promise of <a href="/bible/parallel/ISA/40/3" class="green-link">Isa 40:3-5</a> (quoted above). The metaphor of Isaiah's prophecy means that in a manner comparable to that of ancient monarchs who sent messengers ahead of them to make preparations, smooth the roads, etc., just so, in like manner, before the Lord will come in the person of the Christ, a preparer will go before him, herald his coming and make ready the people to receive him. Isaiah's prophecy actually included what Malachi here said; and the accurate reading of <a href="/bible/parallel/MRK/1/2" class="green-link">Mar 1:2</a> has "As it is written in Isaiah the prophet ... etc." Of course, Mark applied it unequivocally to John the Baptist. "All that Malachi here prophesied, the same had Isaiah more concisely and more clearly prophesied in other words."[4]There are a number of very important implications of the truth revealed here, that God will send a messenger to prepare the way before the Messiah: (1) Israel is not yet ready to receive the Messiah. The moral and religious condition of the whole nation is such that a further period of waiting is necessary. This fact of the nation's being yet unprepared for the reception of the Lord, shows that Israel had, "No grounds for murmuring at the delay of the manifestation of divine glory."[5](2) The work of this messenger would not be a literal smoothing of roads, etc., as in Isaiah's metaphor, but would be worked out in the spiritual sector. John the Baptist would call the people to repentance, and point the way to One greater than himself. (3) The actual work of identifying the Lord when he came would be the mission of this messenger, a mission fulfilled when John the Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world" (<a href="/bible/parallel/JHN/1/29" class="green-link">John 1:29</a>). With regard to the problem inherent in the fact that John the Baptist was not actually Elijah, see under <a href="/bible/parallel/MAL/4/5" class="green-link">Malachi 4:5-6</a>, below. Suffice it here to note that: "The identification does not mean that John is Elijah come back to earth according to some principle of reincarnation. The two were distinct personalities. Rather it does mean that John ministered in the spirit and power of Elijah’ (Luke 1:17)."[6]“And the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple …“Not only, would God send a messenger, the Lord himself would come to save his people (and all mankind). The purpose of the Lord’s coming would not be that of restoring the scandalous old kingdom of the fleshly Israel, but that of the redemption of all men from sin. Note the impact of two clauses: “I will send …” and “The Lord … will come.” This makes it absolutely necessary to differentiate between the messenger who preceded, and the Lord who came afterwards. The proper identification of “the Lord” in this passage makes him one and the same with Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. “Whom ye seek …” The thought of this is synchronous with “whom ye desire” as applied to the messenger of the covenant and shows that “The Lord whom ye seek” is the same as “the messenger of the covenant whom ye desire.” Thus, the Lord himself is also a messenger, but of a far greater and more important dimension. The first messenger identified the Messenger who would reveal the New Covenant. “Will suddenly come to his temple …” Gill relates how: “This was interpreted by the Rabbis as a dramatic explosive visitation by which Messiah would announce his presence. It was this popular expectation which the devil exploited in tempting Jesus to cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple (Luke 4:9). To have done so would have won for him instant acceptance as the Messiah on the basis of popular though erroneous expectation.[7]“And the messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire …” This can be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ: “He is identified with the Lord; and he is the covenant angel who guided the Israelites to the promised land, and who is seen in the various theophanies of the Old Testament. The Divinity of Messiah is thus unequivocally asserted."[8]“Suddenly come to his temple …” This was fulfilled in many ways. When Joseph and Mary presented Christ in the temple as an infant, the event was the occasion of the aged Simeon’s magnificant identification of the Christ child as: “A light for revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:32). This, of course, was an eloquent testimony that here was indeed the Messiah. Jesus cleansed the temple twice, showing his full authority over it in both instances. He did indeed come “suddenly” to his temple. Baldwin was profoundly correct in the observation that: “The promise suggests that there was continuing disappointment with the second Temple, despite the encouragement of Haggai and Zechariah (Haggai 2:7; Zechariah 2:10, etc.)."[9]Of course, Christ would build the true Temple, and would consign the second temple, as he had done with the first, to desecration and destruction. “Behold, he cometh …” There is absolutely nothing in this passage to justify the knee-jerk comment that, “Of course, Malachi thought all of this was going to happen right away.” The very fact of Malachi’s prophecy of John the Baptist (Elijah), who was thus identifiied with the first of the prophets, indicated that a new era was dawning. God’s prophetic message was complete, and the period of waiting would ensue. That the Lord would appear “suddenly” also suggests that his coming would follow a long and indefinite period during which faith would almost disappear, and that his actual appearance would be an occasion of surprise. No Israelite could even begin to believe that the events foretold here would begin to unfold before the appearance of Elijah; and, since Elijah did not appear to that generation at all, no one could have supposed that all of this was in the process of happening right then. “Whom ye seek … whom ye desire …” There is another thought in these words. The question asked by the Jews which had precipitated this prophecy (Malachi 2:17) was, in effect, a plea for the judgment day to come. They were like the people mentioned by Amos 5:18-20, who envisioned God’s judgment as an occasion when God would kill all of their enemies and put them in charge of the whole world. Before Malachi was through with this, he would show that the judgment day is going to be bad news and not good news for a great many. Verse 2 “But who can abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap.“The coming of the “day of the Lord” is not the prophecy of any one-day event, except in the case of that day of the final judgment of all men, when God will judge in righteousness by that man whom he hath appointed … even Jesus Christ; and, despite all the New Testament references to the final judgment being an apparent reference to a single, simultaneous event involving the totality of human kind, Christians should not imagine that they know all about what will occur then. “The day of the Lord …” refers to the Messianic age, from first to last; it referred to the Day of Pentecost; it referred to the destruction of Jerusalem; it referred to the first Advent of Christ; and it refers to the second Advent of Christ. That is why some prophecies must be applied to one event, or situation, and other prophecies to still other events, with some passages, such as the one here, having reference to a mighty principle dominating the whole Messianic age. “Who can abide the day of his coming …?” Israel could not abide the day of the coming of Jesus. They crucified him, incurring as a punishment the destruction of their city, state, and temple. The evil multitudes who did not accept Christ could not abide the day of his coming. But there is yet another application. At the final judgment, the New Testament prophet foretold that mighty men would hide in the caves and rocks of the mountains for terror, giving as the reason, “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand?” (Revelation 6:17). In this connection, one should read again the startling prophecy of Amo 5:18-20. The notion that Malachi here refined and reduced the severity of Amos’ prophecy is wrong. The passages are supplementary, not contradictory. “Refiner’s fire …” The smelter must be applied to all men and all the institutions of men; only the pure shall stand. Only the just shall be saved; and, according to the Bible, the rest shall perish. This was the thing “Elijah” also referred to when John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Matthew 3 has an account of his message: “His fan is in his hand; and he will thoroughly purge his threshing floor; and he will gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12). This is exactly the thought behind the metaphor of the “refiner’s fire.” “Malachi seems to blend, as Joel, the first and second coming of Christ. The first coming too was a time of sifting and severance, according as those, to whom he came, did or did not receive him."[10]Verse 3 “And he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer unto Jehovah offerings in righteousness.“The Messianic thrust of the passage continues here. The covenant with Levi is no more; but there will be a new “priesthood,” namely, the totality of all Christians in Christ, and their offerings “in righteousness” shall be such as were spoken of by Peter, whose language shows that he had this very passage in mind: “The proof of your faith, being more precious than gold … proved by fire … ye are built up a spiritual house … a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God by Jesus Christ, etc. (1 Peter 1:7 1 Peter 2:5). The sacrifices “in righteousness” offered by the Christian include: our faith (Philippians 2:17), the love of God (Mark 12:33), our words, “the calves of our lips” (Hosea 14:2), our confession of Christ (Hebrews 13:15-16), our baptism into Christ (Romans 12:1), our praise (Hebrews 13:15), our contributions (Philippians 4:18), our songs (Colossians 3:16), our prayers (Revelation 5:8), the entire life of a Christian (2 Timothy 4:4), etc. In this dispensation, the bloody sacrifices of the Mosaic law are replaced by spiritual sacrifices. These must be distinguished from the One Great Sacrifice of the blood of Christ for all men, which is the atonement for sin. The fact of the priesthood (Levi) being mentioned first here indicated that God’s judgment would always begin with those of the greatest privilege. It is so even yet, and eternally. “For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel?” (1 Peter 4:17). Peter’s conclusion here fits exactly into this prophecy. Hailey’s deduction is therefore correct: “The Lord will not come simply as a judge of the heathen, but as a judge of His own as well."[11]Verse 4 “Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto Jehovah, as in the days of old, and in ancient years.“Malachi has been criticized by some for glamorizing “the good old days” in this passage, but there is eternal truth in what he said. The days of Abraham, Moses, and David had indeed revealed a better response to the word of God than was evident in the times of Malachi, but it might very well be that the prophet here spoke of the peace and righteousness and tranquility of Eden itself before sin entered. Whatever was meant, the “Judah and Jerusalem” of this verse are not to be understood in any sense as the literal land of Palestine. It is the ideal Jerusalem, the Church of the Living God, which is meant. Not all the scholars have discerned this; but, as Pusey declared: “Judah and Jerusalem then are here the Christian Church."[12] Also, as Keil wrote: “We must not infer from Malachi 3:3-4 that Malachi imagined that Old Testament worship would be continued during Messianic times; but his words are to be explained from the custom of the prophets, using forms of the Old Testament worship to depict the reverence for God which would characterize the new covenant."[13]Before leaving these verses (Malachi 3:3-4), the problem raised by Smith should be noted: “The emphasis upon sacrifice and ritual here is in striking contrast to the depreciation of ritual at the hands of the earlier prophets."[14] Such a view derives from two fundamental errors: (1) the earlier prophets did not depreciate ritual at all, but ritual insincerely practiced. The common critical opinion that God’s prophets care for nothing except social justice is a ridiculous caricature of what they really taught. (2) The “offering” here refers to the “spiritual sacrifices” of the new covenant, which throughout the New Testament receive the most emphatic emphasis. Verse 5 “And I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the sojourner from his right, and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.“This summarizes the social injustices which marked the Israel of Malachi’s day, which were abhorrent to God, not merely at that time, but in all generations; and the fact of Malachi’s mentioning the components of the true worship of God prior to and ahead of these obligations has been an embarrassment to some of the “social gospel” commentators; but the order given here is correct. The reason for this lies in the truth that social justice never was maintained at any place on earth in any time of human history, apart from the knowledge and worship of the true God. The worship of God and social justice stand related to each other as cause and effect. The fool’s proposition that ethical and moral equity can appear apart from and totally dissociated from the worship of God in Christ is disproved by every page of human history. As Durant expressed it: “There is no significant example in history … of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion."[15] All of the holy apostles of the New Testament followed the same order of stressing religious duties to God first, and moral and social obligations afterward. The outline of every one of Paul’s epistles was doctrine first, hortatory second. Jesus himself in giving the “first and great commandment,” made “love of God” first, and “love of neighbor second.” People cannot improve upon this order. The terror of such a judgment as that mentioned here lies in the fact that God is both witness and judge, as well as executioner of the penalty. Regarding the abuses singled out here: sorcery, which the Jews had probably picked up in Babylon, flourished right down to the days of Elymas (Acts 13:8); adultery, a prevalent sin in Israel, was committed in an aggravated sense through their marriage of foreign wives, and by their heartless divorce of their lawful spouses; the significant fact about all these evils was that they continued unabated until the Messiah came. “And fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts …” As Hailey said, “The root of their actions was clear; they did not fear Jehovah."[16] Far more than that, however, is indicated. (See, above, under this verse.) All social evils have the same root and source. If men want a better society, it must begin by a return to God, a revival of his praise and worship. Such things are not secondary; they are primary. Verse 6 “For I, Jehovah, change not; therefore, ye, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.“Some scholars are incredulous at such a statement as this. Smith revised it with the comment that, “Nothing less than a clear threat of punishment will satisfy the context."[17] Accordingly, he read the passage, “Therefore, ye sons of Jacob shall be consumed.” However, Malachi, not Powis Smith, should be followed. Smith did not understand what the passage means. The unchangeableness of God meant that, no matter what Israel did, God would preserve them until the Messiah was delivered to mankind through their flesh. What the passage is saying is, that if it were not for the immutable promises of God, Jacob would have been consumed in an instant, a fate which they fully deserved. If God had destroyed fleshly Israel, the Messiah would not have come; and all men would have been forever lost in sin. It was, therefore, with respect to God’s eternal purpose of redemption, that he could not, and would not destroy Jacob. Adam Clarke properly discerned the import of the passage: “Because of this ancient covenant, ye Jews are not totally consumed; but ye are now, and shall be still, preserved as a distinct people."[18]The continuity of fleshly Israel upon the earth, despite their perpetual and persistent rebellion against the will of God is one of the great mysteries of all time. Paul revealed in Romans 11:25-26 that this continuity of the fleshly Jews will go on until ’the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled,” which many understand to be the end of the world. However, two things should be kept clearly in mind: (1) The continuity of fleshly Israel does not mean their perpetual enjoyment of any status as “God’s chosen people.” That, they are not; nor have they ever been so since the days of the Minor Prophets. The unwillingness of God to destroy Jacob cannot be read as any approval of Jacob. It was only that he was a physical necessity until Messiah should be born. (2) The continuity of fleshly Israel in the times subsequent to their official hardening and destruction by the Romans in 70 A.D. shows that some very good reason attaches to God’s preservation of them until this very day. In the light of what has occurred, it is clear enough that the preservation of fleshly Israel has signally aided and encouraged the growth of Christianity. They stand mid-stream in human history, still hardened, still bitterly opposed to Christ; but the Jews themselves are the proof of everything their Bible says, as well as of everything in the New Testament. This too is a mystery of God. (See full comments on this amazing truth in my commentary on Romans, pp. 411-417. But the corollary with the pre-Christian Jacob is likewise true. This fleshly continuity of Israel does not endow fleshly Jews with any status as “God’s chosen people.” The only “Chosen People” God has ever had since the day of Pentecost is composed of that remnant of mankind (including Jews and Gentiles exactly alike) who are baptized into Christ. It is distressing that many commentators read God’s words about “Not consuming Jacob,” here as a pledge that “God will save us, no matter what we do. Our confidence is in the unchangeableness of God.” This thought is foreign to the passage. The people who will be saved are those who serve God; and the people who will not be saved are the ones who do not serve God, as Malachi himself stated in Malachi 3:18. Verse 7 “From the days of your fathers ye have turned aside from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, Saith Jehovah of hosts. But ye say, Wherein shall we return?“The apostasy of Israel had begun almost from the very first and flourished unabated throughout pre-Christian and Christian history alike. “Wherein shall we return …?” “This is the same old Pharisaical spirit as in Malachi 1:6, etc., throughout the prophecy. They do not acknowledge their offense; they consider that they are righteous and need no repentance."[19] As Smith said, “The question is not bona fide, but a virtual declaration of innocence."[20]Pusey contrasted the unchangeableness of God with the unchangeableness of Jacob! “I am not changed from good; ye are not changed from evil."[21]Verse 8 “Will a man rob God? yet ye rob me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.“A proper appreciation and understanding of what Malachi taught here would prostrate many a Christian upon his knees in repentance. If God considered the non-payment of tithes, or the mere partial payment of them as “robbing God,” what about millions of professed Christians who do not give as much to the work of God as they spend for soft drinks and tobacco? Any candid appraisal of what men are doing today must reach the conclusion that they have certainly not stopped robbing God! THE TITHEThe tithe means “a tenth,” that part of the year’s harvest which was due to be paid for the support of the worship of God. It was holy unto the Lord (Leviticus 27:30-33). God had commanded it to be given, not because God needed to receive it, but because men needed to pay it. As for the question of whether or not a Christian is obligated to tithe his income, it appears to this writer that nothing less than this should be expected of every true child of God. Yes, there are liberties in Christ that did not apply in the Law of Moses; yes, it’s true that no specific regulation regarding the tithe is to be found in the New Testament; yes, it’s true that many Christians boldly affirm that the old laws on tithing do not apply in the church. However, we are commanded to give “freely,” and to give “liberally,” and to give “as God has prospered us,” etc. Therefore, we emphatically deny that giving less than a tenth can, by any stretch of imagination, be designated as giving freely and liberally, or as God has prospered us. The arrogant selfishness of God’s redeemed people, as demonstrated by what they give, must be put alongside the example of those ancient Jews, and must be classified by the same words of Malachi. It is robbing God! (See further discussion of this subject in my commentary on Hebrews, pp. 144-146.) It has already been noted that ethical and social morality flow downward and receive their motivation from a proper relation to God. Malachi had just enumerated some of the gross immoralities of the people; but in this passage he blasted the pinnacle of their sins. They were robbing God! When one deliberately robs his God and Creator, will he then be faithful to his wife? When one has already violated the highest obligation that the soul knows, will he then avoid swearing a lie, defrauding a neighbor, or swindling a sojourner out of his rights? Let a man honor his duties to God first, for only God is able to convince him of the sanctity of any lesser duty. An illustration: This writer once performed the wedding ceremony for a lovely couple. The groom was a devoted Christian, faithful in every way. His bride was not religious, and she deliberately set out to change his religious life. Seven years afterward, and a number of years after her husband had drifted completely away from the church, that worldly little woman came desperately seeking help for the preservation of her marriage. Her husband had taken up with one of the girls at the office! She was patiently listened to and then told as tenderly as possible: “Look, dear, when you took him away from his God and Saviour, you cut the bud out of his moral and spiritual life. Why should he be faithful to you, when he is not faithful to his God? Bring him back to Jesus; and then, but not before then, something might be done to save your home.” It is not a light thing when one of the Christian partners stops attending church. The wreck of the top of the structure of man’s moral life will, in the process of time, usually be communicated downward, ultimately destroying all honor, virtue, and morality. Verse 9 “Ye are cursed with the curse; for ye rob me, even this whole nation.““The curse …” Again, note the definite article. It is indicative of the end of relationship with God. It is that which followed the final and judicial hardening visited by God upon incorrigible sinners. (See under Malachi 2:2, above.) “Even this whole nation …” Israel is not here designated as my people,” or “the people of God”; the status of Israel from this time forward in human history was simply that of any other people on earth. “The word here, nation,' is normally used only of the heathen; and so it reminds them that their conduct was unworthy of a covenant people."[22]Verse 10 "Bring ye the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.""The whole tithe ..." As Smith said, "The form ... suggests not that the tithe had been allowed to go wholly by default, but that it had not been paid in full."[23]"There shall not be room enough to receive it ..." This carries the meaning that, "God's gifts will overflow the capacity of his children to receive them."[24] It will be remembered that in <a href="/bible/parallel/2KI/4/1" class="green-link">2 Kings 4:1-7</a>, Elisha aided the widow in preventing her sons from being sold as bondmen. The oil flowed as long as there was a vessel in which to place it; but when no other vessel remained, the oil ceased. How limited indeed are the capacities of men to receive the blessings of God! Verse 11 "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before the time in the field, saith Jehovah of hosts.""The notable thing about this entire description of the manifestation of God's favor is that the only blessings mentioned are of a material character."[25] It would seem that God decided to meet the people on their own level. Since they do not appreciate anything except material prosperity, that also would be revealed to them as a blessing from God and from God only. Let them return to God, and he would bestow upon them material prosperity. The question of God's giving material blessings to Christians in the present times is also related to what is revealed here. Although, the blessings of the New Testament include primarily the spiritual and holy blessings of a renewed fellowship with God, material blessings are also positively included. Note: "There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's sake, but he shall receive a hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands with persecutions; and in the world to come, eternal life!" (<a href="/bible/parallel/MRK/10/29" class="green-link">Mark 10:29-30</a>). "God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound unto you; that ye, having always all sufficiency in all things, may abound unto every good work" (<a href="/bible/parallel/2CO/9/7" class="green-link">2 Corinthians 9:7-8</a>). Verse 12 "And all nations shall call you happy; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith Jehovah of hosts."This is a summary of promises of blessing, showing that God's blessing would include everything necessary for a wholesome and happy environment of the people of God, provided only, that they would respond to his love by obeying his commandments, honoring his name, and giving to him their praise, thanksgiving and offerings as he had commanded them. <a href="/bible/parallel/ISA/62/1" class="green-link">Isaiah 62:1-4</a> has a description of such times: "The nations shall see thy righteousness ... thou shalt be a crown of beauty in the land of Jehovah ... thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken ... nor Desolate: but thou shalt be called My-delight-is-in-her,[26] and thy land, Beulah." By no imaginative accommodation may such promises be applied to fleshly Israel in the land of Palestine. What is surely in view here is the righteousness and peace of the new covenant people who will come to the foreground in the New Testament. The certainty of this lies in this very passage from Isaiah which also contains the prophecy of the "new name," which can be none other than the name Christian (<a href="/bible/parallel/ISA/62/2" class="green-link">Isaiah 62:2</a>). Verse 13 "Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, What have we spoken against thee?"In response to the charge of speaking against God, the people make their usual denial, professing an innocence which they are too wicked to merit, but their wickedness is not apparent to those whose minds have been darkened and whose hearts have been hardened. Very well, Malachi will spell it out for them in the next line of the prophecy. Verse 14 "Ye have said, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked mournfully before Jehovah of hosts?"This is the age-old problem of the prosperity of the wicked contrasted with the struggles and tribulations of the righteous. Psalms 73 addresses the same problem. The saints of all ages have confronted it and have been perplexed by it. There is only one answer; and it is the same in the Psalm, or in Malachi, or always. "It was too painful for me, Until I went into the sanctuary of God, And considered their latter end" (<a href="/bible/parallel/PSA/73/16" class="green-link">Psalms 73:16-17</a>). "Their latter end ..." If this life alone constituted the sum and total of all being, then it would have to be allowed that there are many situations in which the wicked clearly have an advantage. However, the Word of God teaches that there is a judgment of Almighty God, upon which occasion the wicked will be punished and the righteous rewarded. The child of faith should therefore be established and grounded in the conviction that the Father will surely see to it that he receives all, and far more, than he could deserve, and that, "Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink, because ye are Christ's, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward" (<a href="/bible/parallel/MRK/9/41" class="green-link">Mark 9:41</a>). The reason many today fall into the same evil attitude as that here rebuked by Malachi lies in the fact that the New Testament doctrine of the eternal judgment has been soft pedaled, or even eliminated from the perverted theology of our times. The doctrine of the judgment is one of the fundamentals of Christianity (<a href="/bible/parallel/HEB/6/2" class="green-link">Hebrews 6:2</a>); and, without it, there is no answer at all to such problems as this one. There is also another phase of the problem, as cited by Jamieson: "The Jews mistook utterly the nature of God's service, converting it into a mercenary bargain. They attended to outward observances, not from love of God, but in the hope of being well paid for it in outward prosperity."[27]"We have walked mournfully ..." Like Hailey, we identify the mourning here with those self-originated fasts of Zechariah (Zechariah 7-8). Whether or not the Jews were sincere in observing such unauthorized fasts, is immaterial. The point is, they were trusting in their own devices, instead of returning to God. Verse 15 "And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are built up; yea, they tempt God and escape."The "proud" mentioned here, or "arrogant," are not the heathen but the godless Israelites who have cast off all restraints of holy religion and were living like the pagans which they in heart had become. Malachi will answer their objections. In the next three verses (<a href="/bible/parallel/MAL/3/16" class="green-link">Malachi 3:16-18</a>): "He assures the plus that Yahweh has not forgotten them, but intends to treat them with a Father's love in the great day of judgment that is coming. They will then realize fully the distinction that God makes between the godly and the ungodly. In that day, the wicked will be wholly consumed, like stubble in the flames, whereas the righteous will rejoice exceedingly and will triumph gloriously over their enemies.[28]Verse 16 "Then they that feared Jehovah spake one with another; and Jehovah hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name."Christians should not trouble themselves about the justice of God. God Himself is keeping the records; he knows them that are his; their eternal felicity is assured; God hears their prayers; God will reward them gloriously. "They that feared Jehovah spake often with one another ..." The need of the community of fellowship is basic and necessary for meeting the trials and temptations of life. It was true of ancient Israel, and it is true today. Men who forsake the fellowship of the church are unquestionably on the way to eternal shame. The human soul needs the support, fellowship, and encouragement of "the communion of the saints," all of which are abundantly available to the Christian in the weekly observance of the Lord's Supper, ordained of God to supply these basic pre-conditions of fidelity. "A book of remembrance ..." This is a metaphor, of course. God does not need a literal book, or anyone to write in it. The thought here is quite similar to that in passages which mention the "book of Life." The thought of God's keeping his records in a book occurs in several Old Testament passages (<a href="/bible/parallel/EXO/32/32" class="green-link">Exodus 32:32-33</a>; <a href="/bible/parallel/PSA/69/28" class="green-link">Psalms 69:28</a> <a href="/bible/parallel/PSA/86/6" class="green-link">Psalms 86:6</a>; and <a href="/bible/parallel/DAN/12/1" class="green-link">Daniel 12:1</a>). "But only Malachi calls it a book of remembrance."[29] Keil thought the metaphor here is founded, "On the custom of the Persians, of having the names of those who deserved the king's favor written in a book with a notice of their merits."[30]; <a href="/bible/parallel/EST/6/1" class="green-link">Esther 6:1</a> refers to such a custom as it affected Mordecai. (Compare <a href="/bible/parallel/PHP/4/3" class="green-link">Philippians 4:3</a>; <a href="/bible/parallel/REV/20/12" class="green-link">Revelation 20:12</a>). Of the very greatest importance is the glimpse afforded in this passage of that "righteous remnant," so often mentioned in the Old Testament. "There is never a time when Jehovah does not have his seven thousand in Israel’ whose knees have not bowed unto Baal (1 Kings 19:18; Romans 11:4)."[31] The great and final apostasy had already descended upon the nation once called “the chosen people”; but God’s purpose of redemption was not at all frustrated. In the midst of the wicked nation, there were those who “waited for the kingdom of God” (Mark 15:43). “were looking for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 1:25), and who also, “departed not from the temple, worshipping with fastings and supplications night and day” (Luke 1:37). There were a few Israelites indeed, true sons of Abraham, who were without guile (John 1:47), and a few whom Jesus Christ himself identified as “sons of Abraham” (Luke 19:9). No one knows how large this minority was at any given time; but the truth of its existence is clearly given. This priceless verse in Malachi gives the secret of maintaining faith and confidence in a time of widespread wickedness: “When the fire of religion burns low, true believers should draw the nearer together, to keep the holy flame alive. Coals separated soon go out."[32]Verse 17 “And they shall be mine, saith Jehovah of hosts, even mine own possession, and in the day that I make; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.“In the background of such a prophecy as this, and in many other such promises in the Old Testament, there is the haunting fear of that “day,” that terrible day that shall conclude the course of men on earth. A proper understanding of God’s promise to “spare them” must be read against the universal consciousness of Doomsday that flies like a banner over both the Old Testament and the New Testament. “The end of the world” was mentioned in the giving of the Great Commission; and that ultimate catastrophe which, like the sword of Damocles, hangs over the heads of all mankind, is a definite part of holy revelation; and the concept of it is inseparably joined to all of the sacred promises of the entire Bible. In this connection, it is interesting to note that the prognosis for man’s future upon earth, as provided by the philosophies of infidels and unbelievers, invariably carries this pathetic threat. Bertrand Russell, for example, stated that the future of man on earth was no more promising than that of the pterodactyl or the brontosaurus. The world around us indeed seems to be rushing headlong forward on a collision course with disaster. Particularly, the last great prophecy delivered to mankind, the Book of Revelation, is a sevenfold description of the end of the present order and the founding of a new one. The assignment of the true follower of God in Christ is exactly that of the saints of old who waited patiently for the kingdom. True, the kingdom for us has come; but the ultimate execution of the wrath and judgment of God upon human wickedness has not yet occurred. And amid the howls and shrieks of unregenerated men who scoff at such things, let the true Christian remember that “In your patience ye shall possess your souls” (Luke 21:19). Verse 18 “Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.““Him that serveth God … serveth not …” Again, in the Bible there appears here the grand cleavage of human kind into two, and only two classes, a division that appears repeatedly throughout the Bible. The wheat and the chaff, the good and the bad, the right hand and the left, the keepers and the rejects, the wheat and the tares, the wise and the foolish there are many examples. Gasque gave the meaning here as: “Therefore, it does make sense to serve God even in a day when it seems that the majority have forsaken him."[33]“The parallelism here identifies the righteous as one who served God, and the wicked with one who does not serve him."[34] The relationship of the soul to God is determinative; and that relationship is either proved or disproved by whether or not one does or does not serve God. Jesus strictly advocated the same principle: “The people who hear Jesus’ words and do them will be saved; the people who hear his words and do them not will be lost” (Matthew 7:24-27). “Not everyone that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of God; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Charles Box Commentary On Malachi 3Will A Man Rob God?- Malachi Three -God"s prophets had powerful messages for the people of their days. They also gave information concerning the coming of the Messiah and His work. Malachi does exactly that in this chapter. He tells of the forerunner who prepared the way for the coming of Christ and then he wrote of the Christ, Himself. God"s terrible judgment will come against sinners that were not purified by the cleansing blood of Jesus. Strong rebukes were given against the Jews for their unfaithfulness in giving.

They had robbed God. If they would repent and do right God would bless them abundantly. Malachi rebuked the people for their hard speech against God. There will one day be a final judgment of separation between the righteous and wicked. Let us prepare now for eternity with Christ. Malachi 3:1-5 The messenger and the Messiah – Malachi 3:1-5 : Messiah would come. However, before His coming there would be one to prepare His way. Malachi wrote, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1) In Matthew 11:10 Jesus made it clear that this was a reference to John the Baptist. Isaiah also prophesied of John as “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3) John"s work was to prepare the people to receive the Messiah. John preached that the people should repent and prepare for the coming of the Savior. He announced that the Messiah would appear in a surprising manner and He would come to His Temple.

He would give a New Covenant for the people through His death on the cross. No one will be able to stand God"s final judgment. When Jesus came He came as Redeemer. His second coming will be with fire and judgment. When Jesus read Isaiah"s prophecy in the Temple He stopped reading before the announcement of God judgment. (Luke 4:17-20, Isaiah 61) He was then speaking of the beginning of His ministry, not the end of the world. Malachi spoke of both the beginning and the end of Jesus” work.

There was first the purifying and then the judgment. The Jews had many sins either to be forgiven in Jesus or to face in judgment. They had (1) Practiced sorcerers, (2) Committed adulterers, (3) Been false sweaters, (4) Taken advantage of people that they hired to work, (5) Abused the widow, and the fatherless, (6) Refused to help strangers, and (7) Failed to fear God. Malachi 3:6-12 The sin of ingratitude – Malachi 3:6-12 : The people did not see that they had any need to repent. Malachi moved to discuss in more details two specific sins of the Jews. The first was that they were robbing God with their giving. The people denied this, yet they were very guilty of this sin. When the people held back part of their giving or gave inferior products they were robbing God. Many are guilty of the same sin today.

Ingratitude is an ugly sin that shows itself in our giving. The Jews had not given as they should so the entire land was under a curse. Christians today struggle with giving 10 % and the Jews likely gave from 20 to 25 % when you consider all their tithes and offerings. Let us remember that everything belongs to God and give as if we believed that! If we refuse to show our loyalty and faithfulness to God in our giving we will miss many blessings! Malachi even called upon the people to put God to the test and give and observe how blessed they would be. Malachi 3:13-15 The sin of speaking against God – Malachi 3:13-15 : The Jews denied that they were doing anything wrong. This amounted to saying that God was making false charges against them. The attitude of these Jews was terrible. They felt that God was wrong in His dealings with them. They said very disrespectful things to God. They even denied that it is worthwhile to obey the will of God. God said,“Your words have been (insolent) harsh against Me,” Says the LORD.” These people thought that God owed them something for living under His law. They even said the arrogant were blessed by the Lord and that the wicked prospered. We do well to remember that God always looks at the hearts of those who come before Him. Malachi 3:16-18 The Book of remembrance – Malachi 3:16-18 : The message of this chapter ends with God reminding the people that He would remember those who serve him in righteousness. This book of remembrance contains deeds of the Christian age. Christians are people that “Fear the Lord” and honor Him. Christians reverence the Lord, love Him and are devoted to His service. Those who fear the Lord and serve Him are set in contrast with the insolate and rebellious. Words of the righteous were words of faith and reverence. God remembers! Let us fear the Lord and think on His name. There are major differences between those who are saved and those who are not and God has a book of remembrance. Malachi 3:1 Behold, I will send (I send) my messenger. God answers that he is coming to show himself the God of judgment and justice. Are they ready to meet him and to bear his sentence? Who this “messenger” is is disputed. That no angel or heavenly visitant is meant is clear from historical considerations, as no such event took place immediately before the Lord came to his temple. Nor can Malachi himself be intended, as his message was delivered nearly four, hundred years before Messiah came. The announcement is doubtless founded upon Isaiah 40:3, and refers to the same person as the older prophet mentions, who is generally allowed to be John the Baptist, the herald of Christ’s advent (Matthew 11:10; John 1:6). Prepare the way before me.

The expression is borrowed from Isaiah, loc. cit. (comp. also Isaiah 57:14; Isaiah 62:10). He prepares the way by preaching repentance, and thus removing the obstacle of sin which stood between God and his people. Whom ye seek. When ye ask, “Where is the God of judgment?” Shall suddenly come to his temple. The Lord (ha-Adon) is Jehovah, as in Exodus 23:17; Isaiah 1:24; Isaiah 3:1, etc. There is a change of persons here, as frequently. Jehovah shall unexpectedly come to his temple ( τὸνναὸνἑαυτοῦ) as King and God of Israel (comp. Ezekiel 43:7).

There was a literal fulfilment of this prophecy when Christ was presented in the temple as an infant (Luke 2:22, etc.). Even the messenger of the covenant. He is identified with the Lord; and he is the covenant angel who guided the Israelites to the promised land, and who is seen in the various theophanies of the Old Testament. The Divinity of Messiah is thus unequivocally asserted. In him are fulfilled all the promises made under the old covenant, and he is called (Hebrews 9:15) “the Mediator of the new covenant.” Some render,” and the Messenger,” etc; thus distinguishing the Angel of the covenant from the forerunner who prepares the way. But this is already done by the expressions, “My Messenger,” and “the Lord.” Whom ye delight in. Whose advent ye expect with eager desire. Malachi 3:1 Preparation work.“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.” It is fully recognized that the allusion here is to the ministry of John the Baptist. In him was realized the fulfilment of the promise that Elijah should come again. Our Lord declared that Elijah had come, in his time, and had not been recognized. And the disciples understood him to speak of John the Baptist. The more familiar figure of a “preparer of ways” is that given in Isaiah 40:3, Isaiah 40:4. In vision the prophet sees the march of a triumphant king and army.

The heralds pass on before, ordering the removal of every obstacle, making level and safe the roadway, and proclaiming with sound of trumpet the speedy coming of the great king. If John was the Lord’s herald or messenger, he certainly was a very strange one. There was nothing whatever about him that suggested the herald; no gay clothing, no bannered trumpet. He did not hurry through the land, proclaiming his message in every market place. He tarried by the banks of the Jordan, a quiet man, dressed only in cheap camel’s hair garments, and satisfied with a leather thong for a girdle. The mission entrusted to him was distinctly and only a mission of preparation.

But that work was complete in itself, and of the utmost importance in relation to the after work of the Redeemer. The subject suggested is the mission of those who effect no results, but only prepare the way for those who achieve results. I. WORK IS . The secret of the failure of many enterprises that looked hopeful is found in the fact that they were not efficiently prepared for. The Reformers before the Reformation were preparers of the Reformation. A building depends upon the skill with which the lines for its walls are dug, and the concrete foundations laid. David did an invaluable work when he gathered the material for the temple which he might not build. Two things may be, opened out.

1. The man prepared for can never do the preparer’s work. He is not fitted for it. And yet he is wholly dependent on that preparer’s faithfulness. With reverence we may say that our Lord could not do John’s work, yet John’s work must come before his.
2. Material preparations often precede spiritual missions. There is a removing of obstructions, a mastering of difficulties, and a smoothing of roads, which must precede the free exertion of moral and spiritual influences. II. WORK IS REALLY WORK. It always is relative to the man who does the preparations. It does not seem to be when we are judging the whole work. A man does his life work well who just completes the preparations entrusted to him. But there is no encouragement of manifest results; and men entrusted with preparation work have to be men of faith.— R.T. Malachi 3:1 The unexpectedness of the advent.“Shall suddenly come” Two messengers are spoken of in this verse. John, the messenger, prepares the way for Jesus; and Jesus, the Messenger, prepares the way for God. Each was a sent and commissioned one. The coming to the temple is a figure of speech, and means coming to the people, not our Lord’s actually entering into the temple. The people of Israel were the temple of the Lord, and of that true temple the material building was a sign. The point indicated in the expression of the text is that Messiah came with surprising suddenness upon the preparing work of John the Baptist. Only some six months of heralding when the King came. The suddenness may be illustrated along three lines. I. THERE WAS GENERAL OF MESSIAH. But it was general and vague, and in no way definite and precise. It anticipated the coming of some great One, but when he was coming, or for what he was coming, none seemed quite to know. So when he did come everybody was surprised. They did not think of his coming then, or in that particular way. Stapfer says that “the expectation of Messiah was visionary indeed. It was confused, capricious, fantastic, and at the same time precise and minute in detail, just like a dream. The very name he was to bear was doubtful.” II. THERE WAS GENERAL MESSIAH. We are familiar with the idea of his delivering Israel from the Roman yoke, and restoring the kingdom of David, but this was quite the most sober form of the delusion of the age. Extravagant ideas so occupied men’s minds that they could give no room to the idea of a spiritual Saviour from sin. Misconceiving the images under which Christ’s coming had been foreshadowed, the people were expecting an earthly deliverer, a champion who would free them from foreign bondage, and they would gladly have spread their garments, waved their palm branches, and shouted their hosannas, if he had come to them as a conquering King. John broke into their delusions by his demand of repentance.

Jesus broke into them still further by his ministry to sufferers and sinners. Suddenness and surprise characterized his going to and fro among the people, healing the sufferers and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Suddenness was needed to awaken them out of their delusions. The world had to be startled into thought. III. THERE WAS GENERAL FOR MESSIAH. The servants had not put the house ready for the Master. The priests had not. The scribes had not. Those who had prepared themselves were private persons who had very little influence on society. The unpreparedness is typified in this, “There was no room for him in the inn.” His coming was not sudden to Simeon and Anna, because they were prepared through the revealed Word.— R.T. Malachi 3:2 Who may abide the day of his comings? They had expected him to come and judge the heathen; the prophet warns them that they themselves shall be first judged (comp. Amos 5:18). “Malachi, like John the Baptist, sees the future Judge in the present Saviour” (Wordsworth); Joe 2:11. Who shall stand! Who can stand up under the burden of this judgment? The Vulgate Version, Quis stabit ad videndum eum? points to the brightness of his presence, which eye of man cannot endure.

Like a refiner’s fire, which separates the precious metal from the refuse. So the Lord at his coming shall sever the good among men from the evil (Isaiah 1:25; Jeremiah 6:29; Zechariah 13:9). Like fullers’ soap; Septuagint, ὡςποιὰπλυνόντων, “as the grass of washers;” Vulgate, quasi herba fullonum, What is to be understood exactly by the “soap” (borith), washing herb, is not known. Probably the ashes of some plant yielding a lye, like carbonate of soda, are meant. Such plants are met with on the shores of the Mediterranean and Dead Seas, and at this day large quantities of alkalies are extracted from them and exported in different directions. The Lord shall wash away all that is filthy (comp.

Matthew 3:10, Matthew 3:12). Malachi 3:2 The manifestation of Christ a testing time to all.We may apply this truth— I. TO CHRIST’S FIRST TO THE WORLD. This truth was foreseen by Simeon (Luke 2:34, Luke 2:35). And when Jesus entered on his public ministry, his preaching and his very presence served as a testing time to all.

1. His teaching was a process of sifting (Matthew 3:12). Socrates used to go about Athens testing and refining men’s ideas, and in his own unrivalled method extracting the few grains of gold from the mass of rubbish in young men’s minds. Our Lord did a more valuable service, testing men’s hearts rather than their heads, their characters rather than their opinions. Illust.: Nicodemus, tested, convicted of ignorance, but ultimately refined. Others when convicted were offended and repelled; e.g.Matthew 15:12-14; John 6:25-66; John 8:33-59.

So severe was this testing process that Christ pronounced a special blessing on all who stood it (Luke 7:23). Yet Christ’s teaching held out the door of mercy to all. He showed to the world that in the midst of the dross of some of the foulest lives there were grains of gold, gems of Divinity, which his purifying power could disengage. Sinful men and women “loved much,” because through his words they learned that they had been much forgiven. 2. The purity of his life made his very presence like the flame of a refiner’s fire. Men could not be much with him without being either attracted and purified or repelled and made worse; e.g. the Gadarenes, the chief priests, Judas. On the other hand we note Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman, file “sinner” (Luke 7:37), the eleven apostles. This testing process took effect especially among the religious people of that day (John 8:3). Judgment began at the house of God. Some priests believed in him; few, if any, confessed him. Of most he had to say Matthew 21:31; and see Matthew 21:44, Matthew 21:45. II. TO THE OF CHRIST TO THE SOUL OF A MAN. It was not the mere fact of Christ having come to the world and being seen that made him like a refiner’s fire; it was when he came home to men’s hearts and was manifested to their consciences that the real testing began. In this sense Christ still comes to our homes and appears to our hearts. Of this manifestation we remark:

1. We naturally dread it. John 1:26 is too often true. Many shun that manifestation. They put up the shutters and close every chink, “lest the light,” etc. (2 Corinthians 4:4). Thus they can tolerate secret sins of which they would be ashamed “in the light of his countenance.” Imagine that we were living in the same house as Jesus Christ, that he noticed every act and word, and that we knew he was acquainted with our thoughts as well. How could we bear it? Should we not at times be constrained to cry out, in distress, if not in defiance, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord”? But alas! we often do not realize “the real presence” of the invisible Christ. When we do, our feelings will be those of guilty Adam or at least of righteous Job.
2. Yet we ought to desire it. Foreverything depends on our knowing ourselves as sinners, and Christ as our Saviour. This should make us very anxious that when Christ reveals himself it may be not simply as the light of God, but as the fire of God. Light merely reveals. Illust.: morning light dawning on the horrors of yesterday’s battlefield. But fire may purify, and Christ is like a refiner’s fire. The two figures of the text are suggestive. “Two sorts of material for cleansing are mentioned: the one severe, where the baser materials are in worked with the rich ore; the other mild, where the defilement is easily separable.” III. TO THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. In this prophecy, as Augustine says, “the first and second advents of Christ are brought together.” Malachi sees the great white throne in the background (Malachi 4:1). The result of that coming to us will depend on his treatment of us and our treatment of him now (2 Timothy 1:18). Malachi 3:2 The severe side of Messiah’s mission.“Like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap.” It is usually shown that the triumphant side of Messiah’s mission wholly occupied the mind of the Jews, and that consequently the stern, judgment side needed to be presented vigorously. But some recent accounts of the actual condition of Jewish thought in the first century suggest that the fears of Messiah’s time were so extravagant that they needed to be corrected and qualified. The stern things of the Gospels are mild and reasonable when compared with the extravagant fears of the people. “The people looked forward with dread to the coming of the Messianic era. They were afraid of seeing the war of Gog and Magog, which the scribes predicted as its precursor. They looked for fearful calamities. Rabbi Eliezar ben Abena said, ‘When ye shall see nations rising up one against the other, then look for Messiah to follow.

In the weeks of years in which the Son of David shall come, there will be in the first year abundance of rain upon one city, and drought upon another. In the second year the arrows of famine will go abroad. In the third there will be a great famine, and men, women, and children will die, as well as the saints and the rich; and there will be a judgment of forgetfulness upon those that study the Law. In the fourth there will be abundance for some and barrenness for others. In the fifth a great abundance; and they shall eat, drink, and rejoice, and the Law shall he again held in honour, among those who teach it. In the sixth year voices will be heard.

In the seventh wars will break out, and at the end of the seventh the Son of David will appear’” It was as necessary to correct these delusions as those which pictured a triumphant earthly conqueror. The severity must be fully recognized as a moral, not material, severity. I. MESSIAH WORKS TO REVEAL EVIL. This his very presence does. Put a foul thing beside a pure thing, and the pure thing shows and intensifies the foulness. Let God show, in a man’s human life among men, what he requires and what he can accept, and wherever that man goes he is sure to bring evil to light. Christ is doing that work still. II. MESSIAH WORKS TO PUNISH EVIL. “All judgment is committed unto the Son” But the sphere of the punishment is moral and spiritual. Christ never asked the secular arm to carry out his condemnations. III. MESSIAH WORKS TO DELIVER FROM EVIL. This is indicated in his work as Refiner. He is getting the metal freed from the dross. Much of our evil is not us, only attached to us, blended with us, a bondage of us. IV. MESSIAH WORKS TO CLEANSE FROM EVIL. This +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++is indicated in the soap figure. The evil is conceived of as in us, and as having to be got out by the severe processes of the fuller, or washer, by pounding.— R.T. Malachi 3:3 He shall sit. As a judge. The prophet confines himself to the first of the two images presented in the preceding verse. The sons of Levi. Especially the priests, who ought to set an example, and teach holiness and obedience. Thus judgment should begin at the house of God (Ezekiel 9:6; 1 Peter 4:17).

The purifying consists not only in exterminating the evil, but also in correcting and improving all who are not wholly incorrigible. We may call to mind Christ’s purging of the temple, and his denunciations of the teaching body among the Jews, and see herein his way of trying his ministers in all ages, that they may shine like lights in the world, and adorn the doctrine of God in all things. That they may offer (and they shall be offering) unto the Lord an offering (minchah) in righteousness. The pure sacrifice shall then be offered with a pure heart. As firstfruits of this improved condition, we read in Acts 6:7, “A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Malachi 3:4 The offering of Judah and Jerusalem. When the purification has taken place, and the priests offer pure worship, then the sacrifices of the whole nation will be acceptable. Judah and Jerusalem represent the kingdom of the Messiah; for salvation is of the Jews, and the gospel was first preached at Jerusalem. As in former(ancient) years. As in the days of Moses, David, and Solomon, or still earlier in the case of Abel, noah, Abraham, and the patriarchs. (See the account of the ideal priesthood, Malachi 2:5, etc.) The prophet does not necessarily expect that the Mosaic ritual is to last forever and to be maintained throughout the world, but he employs the terms with which the Jewish people were conversant to express the worship of the new covenant (comp. Malachi 1:11, and note there). Malachi 3:3 Messiah as a Refiner.Moses gives Messiah the Leader, who should permanently take his place. Isaiah gives us Messiah the Sufferer, Conqueror, and Comforter, matching the condition of Israel as suffering and exiled. Daniel gives us Messiah the Prince, matching the condition of the people as anticipating the restoration of their kingdom. Malachi gives Messiah the Refiner, matching the condition of the people as in a state of moral and religious degradation. It is important to note the many sidedness of Christ’s adaptation to human needs. This aspect of Christ as the Refiner is one that is suited to every age.

Men make grave objections to the doctrine of human depravity, and yet all history declares, as with one united voice, that man has never yet been able to keep anything clean. Let him touch anything, and he brings in the stain.

1. Take the sphere of man’s thinking. It is constantly observed that the followers of all great philosophers and teachers and thought leaders always complicate and deteriorate their systems. They bring in the dirt and the dross.
2. Take the sphere of man’s religion. All the world over, and all the ages through, you may see man recalled to pure principles, and soon losing them again under the accumulating and debasing dross of ceremonies and superstitions.
3. Take the sphere of man’s social relations. Self-interest has always proved to be the dross that gathers on and spoils the most perfect social schemes man has ever devised.
4. Take the sphere of man’s personal life. The noblest ideals are unattained, for the dross of self-indulgence soon gathers, and in middle life men are content with low attainments. Getting the dross away is the great Refiner’s work in every age and sphere. I. GOOD SILVER MIXED WITH DROSS. There is a compliment in speaking of God’s people as “silver,” for silver is worth refining. It is a genuine and valuable metal. For mixture with dross see how lead, silver, and gold are found in the ore, surrounded with that which is comparatively worthless. Humanity is thus represented. It is not as God made it; it has become mixed. There is dross of heresy, vice, crime, etc. II. GOOD SILVER FREED FROM DROSS. The result of renewed processes; always involving suffering for the refined, and anxiety for the Refiner. Silver has to go through the process seven times. The issue is the purity of the metal, by getting the dross perfectly away. Nothing can be usefully done with the metal while the dross still clings to it. Conclude by showing that Messiah did He did his own work as Refiner then; he does God’s refining work now.— R.T. Malachi 3:4 The pleasantness of religious offerings.The idea of offerings being pleasant to God reminds one of Noah’s sacrifice on the cleansed and restored earth: “And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour.” The opposite sentiment, God finding man’s offerings unpleasant, and even offensive, reminds of Isaiah’s opening reproaches, uttered in God’s name: “Incense is an abomination unto me …. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them” The carelessness of the Levites in the time of Malachi had been making the offerings an offence to God. It was evident enough that they were routine and formality. One sign, and the first sign, of spiritual purification would be that the public sacrifices and services would take a new and acceptable tone. I. THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH FINDS IN MAN’S . It might have been that God only required offerings, and felt no personal concern in the offerings, as expressing the feelings of the offerers. It is the marvel of God’s grace that he puts personal feeling into men’s acts and relations; and by his personal feeling calls upon us to put our personal feeling into those acts. Then the value of an offering lies not in what is, but in the pleasure which it gives to God; and that pleasure depends not on its mere value, but on the feeling of the offerer which it carries. The test of every offering is this— Can God be pleased with it? Of the supreme offering of the obedient Son, God said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Of some offerings the apostle could say, “With such sacrifices God is well pleased.” II. THE DUTY OF MAN TO FIND GOD THROUGH HIS . A duty resting on If we realize what God claims, we must seek to please him. If we realize what he has done for us, we must seek to please him. And the impulses of love will surely lead us to seek to please him. What man asks by his gifts and sacrifices is, “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant.” “The essence of all sacrifice is the same in every age. No sacrifice is pleasing to God, if not accompanied with the sacrifice of the heart and will, and of all the faculties, intellectual, spiritual, bodily, of the offerer; and no sacrifice is pleasing to God, except by virtue of its reference to the one sacrifice of the dearly beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased” (Bishop Wordsworth). Still, to God, formality is an offence; routine a weariness; hypocrisy the supreme offence; and still, to God, humility, thankfulness, trust, and love are a holy joy.— R.T. Malachi 3:5I will come near to you to judgment. They had asked, “Where is the God of judgment?” (Malachi 2:17). He tells them that his judgment shall extend beyond the Levites even unto all the people; they will then see whether, as they supposed, the evil went unpunished. The announcement applies especially to the circumstances of Malachi’s time, though, of course, it has an extended reference. Swift witness. God’s judgments fall swiftly and unexpectedly; and when they fall the sinner is at once convicted, and no con-comment, excuse, or subterfuge is possible. “How terrible is that judgment,” says St.

Jerome, “where God is at once Witness and Judge!” Sorcerers; τὰςφαρμακούς; maleficis (Vulgate); see Exodus 7:11; Exodus 22:18; Deuteronomy 18:10. The Jews had grown familiar with magical arts during the Captivity; that they practised them later we learn from Acts 8:9; Acts 13:6. Adulterers. They who were ready to marry heathen wives would not be likely to be restrained by any law from gratifying their passions, False swearers; Septuagint, “those who swear falsely by my name,” which is from Zechariah 5:4 (comp. Leviticus 19:12; and see note on Zechariah 5:3). Oppress the hireling.

Defraud him of his just wages (see Deuteronomy 24:14, Deuteronomy 24:15; James 5:4). The widow, and the fatherless (Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 24:17). Turn aside (bow down) the stranger; Septuagint, “pervert the judgment of the stranger;” Vulgate, opprimunt peregrinum (Exodus 22:21; Deuteronomy 27:19; Amos 5:12). And fear not me. This was the root of all the evil. Malachi 3:5 Messiah’s relation to society sins.It is important to see that God both considers and deals with society sins as well as individual sins. Not sufficiently is it pressed on attention, that he deals with the evils which are characteristic of aggregates of men— with sins of classes and of nations. It is in the necessary judgment of classes and nations as such that the innocent are wont to suffer with the guilty; and then the interest of the class must be seen to override the interests of the single individual. Society sins are much the same in every age. They are classed in this verse. They run riot when the religious restraint is weakened.

1. Religious deceptions.
2. Immoralities specially bearing on family life.
3. Untrustfulness in everyday relations. “False swearers.”
4. Sweating the workman, and forcing down the wage of the labourer.
5. Taking advantage of the distressed to secure selfish advantage; the “widow, fatherless, and stranger.” How these sins corrupt society today may be unfolded according to the skill of the preacher. The prophets teach that whenever God manifests himself, he puts forth his power against society sins, and Malachi declares this to be one of the most marked characteristics of Messiah. I. MESSIAH CUTS DOWN SOCIETY SINS AS BEING FALSE GROWTHS. The farmer will go into his meadows and cut down the coarse grass, which the cattle would not eat, and whose rank growth is crushing out the useful white clover. When a field is left uncultivated, and the good plants are left unnourished, there soon springs up a plentiful crop of weeds, groundsel, rag wort, and thistles, and if there is to be any reviving of profitable vegetation in that field, these rank growths must be cut down. Illustrate from our Lord’s dealing with the society sentiment concerning rabbinism. With some society sins the same must be done now. II. MESSIAH SEEKS TO CLEAR THE ROOTS OF SOCIETY SINS OUT OF THE SOIL. Cutting off is only a preliminary to rooting out. Presently the farmer ploughs up and harrows the soil, carefully gathering the roots for the burning. Malachi, in God’s name, tried to get at the roots of the society evils of his day. He found them in the self-indulgence of the priesthood, and the self-seeking of the people. He prophesied that Messiah’ would do the same work. III. MESSIAH THE SOIL TO BEAR GOOD GROWTHS. We should never see Christ’s work only on the negative side. It has two sides. To remove society sins is to give a chance for the nourishment of Christly-toned society virtues.— R.T. Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord, I change not; or, Jehovah, I change not. This is to show that God performs his promises, and effectually disposes of the allegation in Malachi 2:17, that he put no difference between the evil and the good. The great principles of right and wrong never alter; they are as everlasting as he who gave them. God here speaks of himself by his covenant name, which expresses his eternal independent being, “the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Because God’s eternal purpose stands good, and his “gifts and calling are without repentance” (Romans 11:29), therefore the Israelites are indeed chastised and corrected, but not wholly consumed; they have a place and a nation, and the great promises made to their foregathers will all be fulfilled in due time (Jeremiah 30:11; Micah 7:20).

He calls them “sons of Jacob,” to remind them of the covenant made with their great ancestor, which was the portion of all true Israelites (comp. Jeremiah 33:20, Jeremiah 33:21). Orelli would read, “Ye have not made an end,” i.e. of your sins; so virtually the Septuagint, which joins this clause to the following verse. But the present text is most probably correct. Malachi 3:5, Malachi 3:6 The world of sinners.“And I will come near to you to judgment.” From this passage we are reminded— I. THAT SINNERS EXIST IN THIS WORLD IN GREAT VARIETY. Here are “sorcerers,” “adulterers,” “false swearers,” and heartless oppressors. The first were very general in Judaea. “There was,” says Lightfoot, “hardly any people in the whole world that more used or were more fond of amulets, charms, mutterings, exorcisms, and all kinds of enchantments. The elder who was chosen to sit in the Sauhedrin was obliged to be skilled in the arts of astrologers, jugglers, and sorcerers, that he might be able to judge these who were accused of practising such arts.” Perhaps we have few, if any, professional sorcerers in England; but what is as bad, if not worse, practical deceivers abound. Adulterers, too, and liars, and ruthless oppressors, where are they not? Sinners exist, alas! in a great variety of type and in a great variety of degree. “There is not a just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth not.” II. THAT SINNERS OF EVERY VARIETY ARE EXPOSED TO A DIVINE . “I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift Witness.” I “whom ye challenged, saying, ‘Where is the God of judgment?’ ‘I will be a swift Witness.’ I whom ye think far off, and to be slow in judgment, am near, and will Come as a ‘swift Witness,’ not only as a Judge, but as an Eyewitness; for mine eyes see every sin, though ye think I take no heed. Earthly judges need witnesses to enable them to decide aright. I alone need none. Sinners will be awfully undeceived who flatter themselves, ‘God will never see it. How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High?’ (Psalms 10:11; Psalms 73:11; Psalms 94:7)” (Fausset). III. THAT SINNERS ARE ON ACCOUNT OF THE OF GOD. “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Ewald translates this verse,” For I, Jehovah, have not changed; but ye sons of Jacob, have not ye altered?’ I have not altered towards you, but you have altered towards me. Because I have not changed you are preserved. I determined to Continue you a distinct people on the earth, and therefore, notwithstanding all your murmurings and transgressions, you are not “consumed.” God’s immutability explains the continuation of sinners on the earth. He is essentially Love, and a change in him would be a change from love, and a change from love would be the ruin of sinners. When he says, “I change not,” it means, “I am as full of love as ever.” “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner."— D.T. Malachi 3:6 The twofold aspect of the unchangeableness of God.Three truths are taught here. I. THAT GOD IS .

1. His nature is a pledge of it. Being absolutely perfect, any change of nature must be for the worse. The “light” (1 John 1:5) would be dimmed; any “variation” would cause “a shadow that is cast by turning” (James 1:17, Revised Version). He is “Alpha and Omega,” and not an intervening letter can be displaced; not a “jot or tittle” can pass away.
2. His Name declares it. Whether we interpret the Divine Name, “I am that I am,” or “I will be that I will be,” unchangeableness is implied. He “is, and was, and is to come, the Almighty.” He has emotions, but these are not the capricious feelings of a changeable creature; e.g. contrast the wrath of God and that of King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2:1-49. and 3. He revokes promises or reverses threats; but he “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2; cf. Numbers 23:19). The strongest assurance of this truth is found in the revelation of the Divine Name in Jesus Christ, who through successive ages is proving himself to be “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” II. THAT THIS OF GOD IS THE GROUND OF HOPE FOR THE GUILTY. For God hath an “eternal purpose, which he hath purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And he says, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” That eternal purpose included his dealings with the elect race of the old covenant. In spite of their many sins, he wrought out his gracious purposes respecting them (cf. Leviticus 26:42-45; Deuteronomy 7:7, Deuteronomy 7:8). And still God remembers the land and the people (Zechariah 14:10, Zechariah 14:11; Romans 11:25-29).

The same unchangeableness brings hope to all of us who have been invited and have been led to trust in our Saviour-God, “who hath saved us,” etc. (2 Timothy 1:9). Those unalterable purposes include our purification (cf. Daniel 2:3, Daniel 2:4). For that end Christ gave himself for us (Ephesians 5:26; Titus 2:14), and towards that end God is ever working. Well may we marvel at the everlasting mercy and the unchanging faithfulness of God (Lamentations 3:22, Lamentations 3:23). The immutability of God is the sheet anchor of our souls when the storm of guilt and fear threatens our destruction.

It was a high eulogy on a Roman commander in a time of national peril that he had not despaired of the republic. It is to the glory of God that he does not despair of us sinners, in spite of our inherited and inveterate sinfulness (Daniel 2:7), but “waits, that he may be gracious,” etc. (Isaiah 30:18), and seeks to overcome our evil by his unchangeable good. III. THAT THIS HOPE FOR THE GUILTY IS A PLEDGE OF THE OF THE . This is seen by the connection of Dan 2:5 and Daniel 2:6. The unchangeableness of God requires that “the transgressors shall be destroyed together” (Psalms 37:38-40). “There needs no scire facias - a writ calling one to show cause, to revive God’s judgment; for it is never antiquated or out of date; but against those that go on in their trespasses, the curse of his Law still remains in full force, power, and virtue” (M. Henry); cf. Ecclesiastes 8:11. But judgment deferred is not forgotten (2 Peter 3:8, 2 Peter 3:9). If judgment is to be escaped, men must change, for God cannot (see the argument in Ezekiel 18:1-30; and cf. John 3:7). Learn:

1. The blessedness of being in unalterable unity with the unchangeable God. For this a reconciliation and a regeneration are provided by God himself (2 Corinthians 5:17-21; James 1:18). And then “if God be for us, who can be against us?” Changes in our circumstances need little affect us. Eden was no Paradise to Adam without God; the fiery furnace was no terror to Shadrach with God.
2. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” For the unchangeable holiness of God is a consuming fire, which must destroy us in our sins if it does not separate us from them. Malachi 3:6 Man’s hope lies in God’s unchangeableness.“I am the Lord, I change not.” Man had changed toward God, not in mere relations, but in spirit and purpose. God had been therefore compelled to alter his relations towards men; and his ways of dealing with them; but this must never be assumed to involve any change on the part of God’s feeling towards them. These whom he loves he loves with an everlasting love. In the motive of his dealings he is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Reference here is directly to the purpose to save Israel. No matter what the appearances of things might be, that purpose had never been changed, and never would be. “Because it is the Eternal’s unchangeable will that the sons of Jacob, his chosen ones, should not perish as a nation, he will purify them by the eradication of the wicked among them, that the remnant may return to their allegiance.” I. MAN’S HOPE IN THE OF GOD’S . Changeableness is not altogether the appropriate term, but it is required for the sake of contrast. If God’s ways with us were ordered by fast and unvariable rules, we should lose all sense of personal feeling, personal relations, and personal adaptations. Adjustment to individuals upon exact knowledge of individuals, and adjustment to circumstances upon exact knowledge of circumstances, are the very glory of God. It is because of this Divine characteristic that we would rather fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men.

If set rules had been worked without qualification or exception, then many a time Israel must have been abandoned or destroyed. Men make so much of being under the “reign of law;” but that is precisely what we had better not be. It is a truly awful regime. There is no considerateness, no pity, no adaptation, in it. Far better that we are in the personal rule of a Divine and infinitely loving Lawgiver. II. MAN’S HOPE IN THE OF GOD’S . The Divine adaptations are always within the limitations of the Divine principles. We can never be sure that our fellow man does not change through weakness, and risk principles in making change. We may have perfect confidence that God never does. “Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” True to his word; but only speaking words that express eternal principles. The point of the text is, that God’s unchangeableness guarantees Israel’s security, and God’s changeableness guarantees Israel’s disciplining and refining.— R.T. Malachi 3:7 Ye are gone away (have turned aside) from mine ordinances. Disobedience was no new offence; they had always from early days been persistent in wickedness; and if the performance of God’s sure promise was delayed, this was because they had not fulfilled the conditions on which rested its accomplishment. Return: unto me, and I will return unto you (Zechariah 1:3, where see note). Man must cooperate with God’s preventing grace, and then God gives him further grace unto repentance and amendment. Here, if the people followed the preaching of the prophets and obeyed the promptings of the Holy Spirit, God promises to bless and save them. Wherein shall we return?

Here is the Pharisaical spirit, as in Malachi 1:6, etc. They do not acknowledge their offence; they consider that they are righteous and need no repentance. Malachi 3:7A twofold return.“Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.” And Zechariah has a similar expression (Zechariah 1:3), “Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.” The direction to turn from the evil way is very familiar in the books of the prophets, and should be read in the light of their work as social and moral reformers. Some evil custom is indicated, which the people were turned to, and this the prophets anxiously endeavoured to get them turned from. This turning is the root idea of the terra “conversion,” which should always be associated with conviction, or the sense of sin, and contrition, or sorrow for sin. Then properly comes conversion, or turning from sin. This is met by the remission of sin, and acceptance as free from sin. The word “conversion” is generally used for the whole process, but this use is apt to produce confusion of ideas.

Special significance may properly attach to the turning from sin, because it is the recognized sign and expression of sincerity and earnestness. If a man gives up things he loves that are evil, there is good evidence that he is sincere. Reference in this passage is to the national loyalty to the Mosaic ordinances. By it the national piety could be tested. But they were manifestly turned from anything like a loving, hearty, spiritual obedience of those ordinances, such as God could approve and accept. Consequently his favour and blessing were manifestly turned from them. I. MAN CANNOT RETURN TO GOD UNTIL GOD RETURNS TO HIM. While God holds aloof from the sinner, that sinner may feel remorse and misery. “His bones may wax old through his roaring all the day long;” but he will feel no penitence, no element of hope can enter into his distress. The first move always comes from God. Zacchaeus does not know that he is really seeking Jesus, until he discovers that Jesus is seeking him. Our Lord put this truth into his familiar expression, “No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” It is the testimony of universal experience that God is always beforehand with us. And, rightly viewed, this shows us to be without excuse if we keep on in sin. II. GOD CANNOT RETURN TO MAN UNTIL MAN RETURNS TO HIM. This puts the truth in paradoxical form; and yet it is precisely the statement of the text. God speaks. But he says he will not turn till man does. God is first in opening negotiation, and yet he says he must come second. Explain that God cannot do his gracious work in the man until the man is in that right moral state represented by penitence and turning to God.— R.T. Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? The prophet shows the people how they have departed from God, in not keeping even the outward observances of religion. The word translated “rob,” defraud, found also in Proverbs 22:23, etc; is rendered in the Septuagint, πτερνιεῖ, “trip up,” “supplant;” Vulgate, si affliget homo Deum, or, as St. Jerome first translated, “si affiget homo Deum,” and referred the words to the crucifixion of our Lord. In tithes and offerings. These were due to the Lord, and therefore in withholding them they were defrauding not man but God. (For tithe, see Leviticus 27:30, etc.; Numbers 18:21.

See the complaint of Nehemiah, Nehemiah 13:10-12.) The “offering” meant is the heave offering, the breast and shoulder of the peace offering, which were the priests’ portion (Exodus 29:27; Le Exodus 7:14, 32-34; comp. Nehemiah 10:37-39). Malachi 3:8 Defrauding God.The people of Malachi’s days met his reproof in a quibbling and self-justifying spirit. Men who are self-satisfied can resist all appeal. Religious formalities have this as their supreme peril— they satisfy men, and prevent them from feeling moral and spiritual anxieties, and from responding to moral and spiritual demands. These men could not see that there was any sense in which they were depriving God of his rights. The prophet puts his finger on one thing. That suffices to prove his accusation.

They were withholding and limiting the tithes and offerings due to God’s house. How could citizens be loyal who neglected to pay in those taxes of the king which were the very sign of loyalty? “One might reasonably think such a presumption could not enter into any man’s thoughts, as to rob God of those things which are dedicated to his service; when he considers that he hath received all things from him, and therefore ought in gratitude to set apart some share of his substance for the maintaining of his worship and the public exercises of religion” (Louth). Consider— I. WHAT GOD’S CLAIMS ON MEN ARE.

1. His natural claims, as the Author, Designer, Creator, practical Arranger of man’s body, life, relations, and associations. See the rights of a man in the house he builds, the garden he lays out, the machine he makes, the child he rears. Of everything that a man does he expects some appropriate form of return.
2. His revelational claims. Israel was under special obligation because it had received special revelation.
3. His experimental claims. He had gained rights, and reasonably formed expectations, out of his pitiful and gracious dealings through long years. II. ON WHAT BASIS DO GOD’S CLAIMS REST. Not merely the supreme rights of Deity; but here especially man’s own acceptance of his claims. Claims are sterner things when they are both made and accepted.III. HOW GOD’S CLAIMS MAY BE OR REFUSED.
4. By the delusion that those claims have been relaxed.
5. By the hope that something can be put in place of obedience to them.
6. By sheer listlessness.
7. By persistent wiifulness.
8. But it is more subtle and searching to say— God’s claims are now chiefly missed through man’s over occupation. The world and self fill men up. IV. HOW IS SUCH NEGLECT OF GOD’S CLAIMS TO BE DEALT WITH?
9. Call it by its right name— robbing God.
10. Bring discipline to bear upon the neglecters, etc.— R.T. Malachi 3:9 Ye are cursed with a (the) curse. The effect of the curse was scarcity and barrenness, as we see from Malachi 3:10-12 (comp. Malachi 2:2; Haggai 1:6). The Vulgate assumes the result: In penuria vos maledicti estis. The next clause given the reason of the curse. This whole nation. Not individuals only, but the whole nation (he does not any longer call them God’s people) were implicated in this sin. The LXX; reading differently, has, “The year is ended, and ye have brought,” etc. Malachi 3:10 All the tithes; the whole tithe—not merely a portion of it. God is not served with partial service. The storehouse. The tithes were brought to the temple, and laid up in the chambers built to receive them (see Nehemiah 10:38, Nehemiah 10:39; Nehemiah 13:5, Nehemiah 13:12, Nehemiah 13:13; 2 Chronicles 31:11, 2 Chronicles 31:12).That there may be meat in mine house. That they who minister about holy things may live of the things of the temple (1 Corinthians 9:13; Numbers 18:21). Prove me now herewith.

Do your part, perform your duties, and then see if I will not reward your obedience. Open you the windows of heaven. The expression implies net only the removal of drought by copious showers of rain, but the diffusion of heavenly blessing in large abundance. That there shall not be room enough to receive it; or, unto superabundance; Vulgate, usque ad abundantiam; Septuagint, ἕωςτοῦἱκανωθῆναι, “until it suffice;” Syriac, “until ye say, It is enough.” The Authorized Version retains the negation in the sentence, and perhaps comes nearest to the meaning of the original (comp. Luke 12:17, Luke 12:18). Malachi 3:7-10 The sin of robbing God.The special form of sin which is hare denounced (robbing God of tithes and offerings) is only one manifestation of a sin which is older than the law of tithes, and which survives in all nations to the present day. Observe— I. THE NATURE OF THIS SIN. It is an ancient and an inveterate sin. The secret of it is alienation of heart from God (Malachi 3:7). It is due to God, our Creator, Benefactor, Redeemer, that we make his will the law of our life, and therefore that we present ourselves a living sacrifice, according to the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. If we fail to do so, it must be either because we do not acknowledge the claims which God makes on us, or, acknowledging them, we yet deliberately withhold them.

In the first case, we give the lie to God; in the second, we rob God. (Terrible alternative for every neglecter of God and Christ.) If it is robbery to withhold our hearts, ourselves, from God, it must be also to withhold anything from him. For what is there of which we can say, “This is not God’s property; it is no part of his estate; we can do what we like with this”? It required no law of tithes to assert God’s proprietorship and our stewardship. Cain robbed God when he withheld the offering which God would have accepted, or the spirit of dependence and faith without which even the right offering could not have been received. The withholding of a right spirit from God paves the way for other acts of robbery. The principle of tithes precedes and survives the law of tithes (Proverbs 3:9, Proverbs 3:10; Proverbs 11:24, Proverbs 11:25; 2 Corinthians 8:12; 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, etc.).

The precept, “Render unto God the things that are God’s,” applies to things as spiritual as souls and as material as silver. If we are not proprietors but stewards, our one duty in regard to every talent we are entrusted with should be, “How will the Divine Proprietor wish me to use it?” If through selfishness or criminal carelessness we use it in a way which does not bring to God the honour that be has a right to expect, we are guilty of robbing God. “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his Name.” II. IT IS A SIN WINCH MEN ARE HARD TO BE OF.

1. In Malachi 3:7 we find a reproof and an appeal which should awaken great searchings of heart: “Lord, is it I?” (Lamentations 3:40, Lamentations 3:41). But we may be so self-righteous or ignorant as to evade such general appeals as quite irrelevant. So the net must be drawn tighter; the indictment must be made more definite.
2. So the charge of robbing God is suggested. “Will a man rob God?” The very aversion we feel at the thought of being robbed (for we would rather give away or throw away our property than be cheated of it) should prompt the inquiry, “Is it possible that I may be robbing God?” e.g. of the reverence and godly fear due to the Almighty, as though we could disregard him and dare him to do his worst. Or of the gratitude and dependence he deserves as our Father, our Redeemer, as though we could to a considerable extent dispense with him during life, and then “make it up” at the last. Whose conscience could not convince him that in these or other ways he had been often guilty of robbing God? Yet so hard are men to be convinced of the sin, that to God’s question and his direct charge there comes the glib reply, “Wherein have we robbed thee?”
3. Thus God is compelled to lay his finger on one most glaring act of robbery: “In tithes and offerings.” Some of the offerings were less rigidly regulated by law than tithes, as is the case with the offerings of Christians for the kingdom of Christ and the claims of benevolence. But we may be guilty of robbing God “in offerings.” III. IT IS A SIN WHICH SHUTS THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN. The excuse which is generally urged for that parsimonious giving which is a robbery of God is, “I can’t afford it.” This may arise from a criminal ignorance of the claims of God and our relations to him, or from a feeble faith on the part of those who yet acknowledge themselves to be his stewards. The guilt of the former has been exposed; the fear of the latter is here met by God’s own challenge, “Prove me now herewith;” “Have faith in God;” “Honour the Lord with thy substance;” “Seek first the kingdom of God;” and then see if God is not faithful to all his promises in regard to both temporal and spiritual blessings. Men may complain of hard times, and may want prosperity to precede liberality. “No,” says God to these suffering Jews and to scanty Christian givers who may be in adversity, “honour me first by obedience and cheerful trust, and see if prosperous times will not come then.” Illust.: widow (1 Kings 17:13); poor Macedonians (2 Corinthians 8:1-4). Bad times may be the result of past unfaithfulness on the part of God’s servants.

You may be reaping sparingly because you have sown sparingly. Try the opposite plan. Now the windows of heaven are closed against ourselves by our own sins. God will open those windows as soon as we honour, obey, and trust. He can surpass our hopes and thoughts (Ephesians 3:20). His spiritual blessings will only be limited by our capacity for receiving them.

Illust.: 2 Kings 4:6; 2 Kings 13:18, 2 Kings 13:19. And with these best of blessings all temporal blessings that will be good for us will be added (2 Kings 13:11; Matthew 6:33), and showers of blessing on our hearts and homes will descend through the windows of heaven once closed on God’s dishonest servants, now opened to his faithful stewards. Malachi 3:10 Recognition of practical penitence.“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse” All must include those which ought to have been brought and had not. It was the paying up of old debts which would show the practical and sincere character of the penitence. Sin brings its own punishment. God will treat us relatively to our treatment of him. He recompensed this restored nation of Israel according to their doings. He blighted their fields and blemished their flocks, so that the]and groaned beneath the curse. The only way to remove the evil was for the people to turn from the evil of their way. The sign of such return would be an earnest effort to fulfil their religious obligations. Of such fulfilment the offering of tithes might be a represntative instance. I. THE MORAL OF . Remorse is the caricature of penitence on the one side, and sentimentality on the other. And sentimentality may be the more subtle evil. A man may be distressed about the consequences of sin, who has no estimate of the evil of the sin. A man may be carried away by a surrounding excitement of penitence without having any real humiliation of heart.

This may be illustrated from the excitement produced by Savonarola’s preaching at Florence, and by the bad sides of modern revivals and missions. Convictions which reach no further than a man’s sentiments are not merely helpless to influence conduct, but they are morally mischievous, because they delude, persuading the man that he is right, when his motive and heart are untouched. Some men who persist in living in sin nevertheless have seasons of gushing penitence; but it is only surface feeling, they have no root in themselves. The test of repentance is found in this question— What does it make the man do?II. THE MORAL VALUE OF . The Apostle Paul calls it “godly sorrow,” and reminds of its practical working. “Ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge!” If a man steals from another, all his protestations of sorrow are without moral value unless he restores what he has stolen.

God looks for moral value in everything relating to his people; and finds it only when they bring in the tithes which they had been withholding. Restoring, dealing resolutely with cherished sins, “cutting off right hands, and plucking out right eyes,” are the revelation of sincerity, depth, and moral value, in all professions of penitence. It is only when God can approve of and accept the penitence thus revealed that he can respond by opening the windows of heaven to pour out blessing.— R.T. Malachi 3:11 The devourer. The locust (see Introduction to Joel, § 1.). God would not only give a fruitful season, so that the crops sprang up well, but would guard them from everything that could injure them before they were gathered in. Septuagint, διαστελῶὑμῖνεἰςβρῶσιν, which perhaps means, as Schleusner thinks, “I will give a charge unto consumption for your good,” though Jerome renders, “dividam vobis cibos.” Malachi 3:12 Shall call you blessed; or, happy, as Malachi 3:15 (comp. Deuteronomy 33:29; Zechariah 8:13, Zechariah 8:23). A delightsome land; γῆθελητή; literally, a land of good pleasure—a land in which God is well pleased (comp. Isaiah 62:4; Jeremiah 3:19). Malachi 3:7-12A Divine complaint and a Divine invitation.“Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances,” etc. In these words we have two things— a Divine complaint and a Divine invitation; and both are addressed to sinners. Notice— I. A DIVINE AGAINST SINNERS. The complaint involves three charges.

1. The charge of apostasy. “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances.” Your fathers who brought on themselves the Babylonian captivity departed from my ordinances, and you are doing what they did. All sin is an apostasy, a departure from God’s “ordinances” both moral and positive. “My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the Fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13). Like the prodigal son, we have all gone away from our Father into the “far country” of practical atheism and sin.
2. The charge of dishonesty. “Will a man rob God? Yet he have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.” Their dishonesty consisted in withholding from him his claims. Thus they robbed or defrauded him. “Ye have robbed me.” “Ye have done so to me in respect to the tithes due to me; viz. the tenth of all the remainder after the firstfruits were paid, which tenth was paid to the Levites for their support (Leviticus 27:30-33), a tenth paid by the Levites to the priests (Numbers 18:26-28), a second tenth paid by the people for the entertainment of the Levites and their own families at the tabernacle (Deuteronomy 12:18); another tithe every third year for the poor, etc. (Deuteronomy 14:28, Deuteronomy 14:29). ‘Offerings.’ Not less than one-sixth part of corn, wine, and oil (Deuteronomy 18:4).

The priests had this perquisite; also the tenth of the tithes which were the Levites’ perquisite. But they appropriated all the tithes, robbing the Levites of their due nine-tenths; as they did also, according to Josephus, before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Thus doubtless was God defrauded— the priests not discharging aright their sacrificial duties, and robbing God of the services of the Levites who were driven away by destitution” (Fausset). Thus men rob God now; they keep back what belongs to him. They cannot take anything from him, and thus make him poorer, as in the case of man robbing man, but they can rob him by appropriating to their own use that which he demands, by acting like Ananias and Sapphira. 3. The charge of insensibility. “Ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?” They had lost all sense of their obligation in relation to these tithes, and become utterly indifferent to the Divine claims. “Wherein have we robbed thee?” As if they did not know their fraud on God. Thus men go on keeping from God what is his due without any sense of wrong. Sinful habits blind and deaden a man’s conscience to his momentous duties. II. A DIVINE TO SINNERS. Here is an invitation to return:

1. To Divine friendship. “Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.” Return to me by rendering to me my dues, and working lovingly and loyally in my service. “Return to me”— this has been God’s voice to sinners in all ages; this was the invitation of Christ: “Come unto me,” etc. The return is in a sense mutual. God says, “I will return unto you.” This does not, of course, mean that God compromises, changes; but it expresses his readiness to receive them, as the father of the prodigal was ready to receive his lost son. He waits to be gracious.
2. To honest service. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house; Nehemiah calls the “storehouse” (Nehemiah 13:5) a great chamber where they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels. To put this to its proper use is what Jehovah would have them to do, and he promises, if they accede: . Learn:
3. That a man is a bad man who withholds from God his due. What are God’s dues? All we have and are. “All souls are his.” And if we render not up to him our souls— our all— we are bad.
4. A bad man becomes good by surrendering his all to God. By bringing his all into the storehouse of God, devoting all to the Divine service.
5. The more good a man has in himself, the more good he has from the universe. If his whole soul is filled with supreme love and reverence for right and God, all the heavens outside of him will “open their windows” and rain blessings on him. Religious liberality is of all profitable investments the most profitable. And the converse. The niggard is “cursed with a curse.” The man who robs and defrauds God robs and defrauds himself. As the fabled eagle who robbed the altar set fire to her nest with the burning coals that adhered to the stolen flesh she bore away, so the soul that defrauds God of his claims will set itself in flames.— D.T. Malachi 3:13 Your words have been stout against me. Ye have spoken hard words of me (comp. Jude 1:15, where we read of “the hard speeches ( σκληρῶν) which ungodly sinners have spoken against” God). Some specimens of these speeches are given in answer to the usual sceptical inquiry. They are of the same character as those in Malachi 2:17, and imply that the course of this world is not directed by a moral Governor. What have we spoken so much (together) against thee! What have we said against thee in our conversations with one another? Malachi 3:14 It is vain. It brings no acknowledgment or reward. The Latin and Greek Versions have, “He is vain who serveth God.” Have kept his ordinance (charge). Have done what he ordered. They are either wilfully deceiving themselves and others by pretending an obedience which they never really paid; or they think that the outward observance of certain legal requirements is all that is required. Some think that an interval of time separates this from the last section, and that meanwhile they had made some efforts at improvement, expecting, how. ever, immediate results in added blessings; and as these did not come as quickly as they hoped, they relapsed into their old distrust.

Have walked mournfully; i.e. in mourning apparel, as if fasting and mourning for sin (Psalms 35:13, Psalms 35:14; Job 30:28). Septuagint, “Why went we as suppliants ( ἱκέται)?” Before the Lord. Out of reverence and awe of Jehovah. They attributed a certain virtue to voluntary fasts, without any consideration of the spirit in which they were observed (see the reproof of such formal observances in Isaiah 58:4, etc.). Malachi 3:13, Malachi 3:14 Religion delineated and depreciated.“Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord,” etc. In these words we have religion delineated and depreciated.I. . Three expressions are here used to represent it.

1. To serve God. “Ye have said, It is vain to serve God.” There is a great difference between serving God and serving man.
2. To keep God’s ordinances. “We have kept his ordinance.” This is only a branch of the service, or perhaps the method of doing it. God has ordinances or institutes, some of which are moral, some are ceremonial; the latter may cease to bind, the former are everlastingly in force.
3. To walk mournfully before the Lord. “We have walked mournfully before the Lord.” To “walk” before the Lord is religion in perfection, religion in heaven. It implies an abiding consciousness of the Divine presence, and continual progress in the Divine will. Walking “mournfully” characterizes the religion of earth; it is associated with penitence, contrition, etc. The walk of religion is only mournful here. II. . “Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance?” Men say this:
4. When religion does not answer their secular expectations. Many take up with religion in these days because of the secular good they expect will accrue from their profession of it; if the good comes not, they think it vain.
5. When they see the truly religious in poverty and affliction. Asaph saw this, and he said, “I have cleansed my heart in vain” (Psalms 73:13).
6. When they have taken up religion from selfish motives. A man who takes up with religion for the sake of good will get no good out of it: he will get disappointment and damnation; for “he that seeketh his life shall lose it.” No truly religious man has said religion is vain; he feels it to be its own reward— the highest reward. For in truth, it is the only service on earth that will not prove vain. Whatever other labour fails, the success of this is ensured— ensured by the Word of God, the constitution of mind, and the arrangements of the universe. “Therefore be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding,” etc. (1 Corinthians 15:1-58; 1 Corinthians 15:58).— D.T. Malachi 3:15 We call the proud happy. This is still the speech of the murmurers. We, they say, do not reckon the humble and meek blessed; we consider that the only blessed ones are the arrogant heathen, or free thinkers, who meet with prosperity and happiness in this world. For the “proud,” the LXX. has, ἀλλοτρίους, “strangers,” which, doubtless, gives the meaning (comp. Isaiah 13:11). Are set up; literally, are built up—have wealth and families, and leave a name behind them (Psalms 17:14; see in the original, Genesis 16:2; Genesis 30:3; and comp.

Exodus 1:21; Jeremiah 12:16, where the phrase, “being built,” includes all temporal prosperity). They that tempt God are even delivered; they tempt God, and are delivered (Malachi 3:10). They try and provoke God by their impiety, and yet escape punishment. Septuagint,ἀντέστησαντῷθεῷκαὶἐσώθησαν, “They resist God, and yet are safe.” Malachi 3:14, Malachi 3:15 Doubt of profit in serving God.“It is vain to serve God.’” The Prophet Zephaniah is more severe. “It shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil” (Zephaniah 1:12). “The prophet condescends to identify himself with those whom he reproves. ‘We call the proud happy; yea, we say, they that work wickedness are set up. Therefore it is vain to serve God.’ But he suddenly quits the seat of the scorners. He retires aside from the crowd, who proudly rely on their own popular verdicts, vaunting their own intelligence, and setting at naught the decrees of God; and, standing aloft from them, he joins the smaller company of the faithful few who wait and fear the Lord, and think upon his Name.” I. THE SIN OF SERVING GOD FOR THE SAKE OF PROFIT. This is seen in the case of Ananias and of Simon Magus. It is illustrated by Bunyan, in his character of Pliable, the man who was going on pilgrimage for the sake of what he could get. God asks for the service of love. Such service as alone can please him is the service rendered under the impulse of love. It is not possible to serve God acceptably in the spirit of the hireling. It is equally true that God cannot be rightly served under the expectation of pay or reward in the next life. II. THE SIN OF WHETHER GOD REWARDS SERVICE. It is the sin of unbelief. “He who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” But it really is a deeper and a more subtle sin than that; it is the sin of self-centredness. Only the man who thinks overmuch about himself questions whether his work will be fittingly recognized. This is a constant secret sin, even of good people. They never master it until they can learn of Christ to work for love, and let rewards come or not as they may.

A man never conceives of Divine indifference, or hardness, or unreasonableness, until he gets into a bad frame of mind himself, and then he makes God the shadow of his own badness. It was thus with the persons whom Malachi reproves. Only because they wanted to serve themselves did they think it was vain to serve God. The man who loves God and wants to serve him is sure never to think that. III. THE SIN OF THOSE ARE WHO SERVE OTHERS AND NOT GOD. (Verse 15.) The proud, who serve themselves. Good people, like the poet Asaph, are often tempted to think that the wicked have the best of it in this life. To think so is to “offend against the generation of the upright,” and to dishonour God,— R.T. Malachi 3:16 With these impious murmurers the prophet contrasts those who fear God, as above (Malachi 2:5-7) he set the picture of the true priest in opposition to his delineation of the evil ministers. Then. When the impious made the above infidel remarks, the pious spake often, conversed together. What they said is not repeated, but it was language well pleasing unto God, who deigned to listen to their words, and to console them by announcing the future destiny of the good and the evil. They may have argued with these impious talkers, and warned others against them; or they may have expostulated as Jeremiah 12:1, but yet with full faith that what God does is always good; and this sentiment was all the harder to cherish because they lived under a system of temporal rewards and punishments. The Septuagint and Syriac have, “These things spake they that feared the Lord,” as if the two preceding verses reported the words of the pious.

Some Fathers and commentators have taken the same view. But it is difficult to conceive such words coming from the mouth of those who fear God; unless they are so called ironically.

But this is inadmissible, as we see that in the present verse they are represented in their true character, and such a sudden change from irony to actuality is unnatural and quite opposed to the prophet’s usual manner. A book of remembrance was written before him. The hook represents God’s providence and omniscience, his ever-wakeful care, his unfailing knowledge. “Are not these things noted in thy book?” says the psalmist (Psalms 56:8); and when the dead were judged, Daniel saw that the books were opened (Daniel 7:10). The idea is taken from the national records wherein were noted events of importance, such as we find in the cuneiform inscriptions. This book was to lie, as it were, always before the eyes of the Lord, to remind him of the pious. Rosenmuller compares the proverbial saying, εγράφηἐνδιὸςδέλτοις, “It is written on the tablets of Zeus” on which Erasmus comments in his ‘Adagia,’ under the title “Fides et Gravitas.” For them that feared the Lord.

For their benefit, to preserve their name forever. Thought upon his Name.

Prized his Name, regarded it with awe. Septuagint, ἐυλαβουμένοιςτὸὅνομααὐτοῦ, " who reverenced his Name.” Malachi 3:16 Christian converse.“Then,” etc. When? When ungodliness was rampant (Malachi 3:13-15). As an excess of carbonic acid in the air makes the lamps in a mine burn dimly, so the atmosphere of prevailing ungodliness makes it hard to maintain a brightly burning piety. Christian converse is one means of sustaining a bright and vigorous godliness “in this present evil world,” especially when the evil is more than usually “present” and pressing upon us. I. THE OF GOD . The description of them, “They that feared the Lord,” reminds us of the godly jealousy they cherished for the honour of God, like Noah, Nehemiah, and other servants of God in a corrupt age. Such fear is a source of purity (Psalms 19:9; Proverbs 14:27), and a safeguard in the most ungodly days (Isaiah 8:13, Isaiah 8:14). Fearing God, they think much on his Name so deeply dishonoured in their midst; and they do so because (as the term implies) “they highly esteemed his Name.” They feel the danger of spiritual contagion and disease (Matthew 24:12). Lest their love should cool or their faith should fail, they conversed one with another. While the ungodly were uttering “stout” words against God (verse 13), they were speaking warm words on his behalf. Learn:

1. Charting circumstances may call for new means of grace. E.g. the meetings of the sons of the prophets and traces of public religious services (2 Kings 4:23) in the dark days of Elijah and Elisha. The institution of synagogue worship in the Captivity. The secret services of the catacombs. The gatherings in woods or on moors of Covenanters, Nonconformists, and the martyr Church of Madagascar. “The word of the Lord was precious in those days,”
2. Private Christian communion may do much to supplement or to supply more public means of grace. From public Church fellowship the godly could gain little in the days of Malachi. There was neither purity nor unity (Malachi 2:10, Malachi 2:11). In such circumstances all the more need for godly converse. “When the fire bums low, the coals that are alive should be brought together, that they may be blown into a flame.” Illust.: Jonathan and David (1 Samuel 23:16-18); Jeremiah and Baruch (Jeremiah 45:1-5); Paul in prison and his friends “which have been a comfort unto me” (Colossians 4:11; cf. Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:24, Hebrews 10:25). Such. converse is enjoined in the family (Deuteronomy 6:6-8) and among believers (Ephesians 5:19). But to be a means of grace, it needs to be natural and spontaneous. “But conversation, choose what theme we may, And chiefly when religion leads the way, Should flow, like water after summer showers, Not as if raised by mere mechanic powers.” The spirit of it may be seen in Psalms 34:1-3, Psalms 34:11; Psalms 66:16. II. GOD AND .
3. “The Lord hearkened, and heard.” It is a solemn truth that God listens to everything we say (Numbers 12:2; Jeremiah 8:6; Psalms 139:4). Here this truth wears a cheerful face. As illustrations: Two Christians encouraging one another in God; Christ in their midst (Matthew 18:20; Luke 24:13-31). A Christian man on a lonely walk, courteously conversing with a stranger, and seeking to commend Christ to him. The stranger may go away to pray or to scoff. But that is not all. God hearkened and heard and noted the good deed done in his name. God listens with pleasure to all we say for him as well as to him.
4. “And a book of remembrance,” etc. Older than the chronicles of the kings of Persia (Esther 6:1) or of Israel is the book of remembrance of the Divine King (Psalms 56:8). “Never was any good word spoken of God or for God from an honest heart, but it was registered, that it might be recompensed in the resurrection of the just, and in no wise lose its reward.” That reward is referred to in Psalms 66:17. LESSON. (Colossians 4:6.) Supposing a Christian’s talk for one day were taken down verbatim, what proportion of it could be entered in God’s book of remembrance as “good to the use of edifying” (Ephesians 4:29), and of any service in the great day of account (Matthew 12:37)? Malachi 3:17 They shall be mine, etc. This is better rendered, in accordance with the Septuagint and Vulgate, “They shall be to me, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day which I am preparing, a peculiar treasure.” This day of the Lord is the day of judgment, which God is always preparing by his visitation of nations and individuals. Then shall the righteous be to God a peculiar treasure (segullah), that which he prizes as his special possession (see Exodus 19:5, whence the expression is derived; and comp. Deuteronomy 7:6 : Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:18; Psalms 135:4). I will spare them; i.e. when I punish sinners. They are spared on two grounds, because they are his sons, and because they serve him like obedient children (Psalms 103:13). Septuagint, αἱρετιῶαὐτούς, “I will choose them.” Malachi 3:17 The Divine Proprietor and his peculiar treasure.We adopt, as a more accurate translation, the rendering, “And they shall be to me, saith Jehovah, in the day that I am preparing, a peculiar treasure,” etc; and thus learn— I. THAT THE OF GOD ARE HIS . It is a joy to know that in such a world as this there is anything which God can regard as his own peculiar treasure. For sin is here. The serpent’s trail is found in every earthly paradise. “The works of the devil” have done much to dim the glory and mar the beauty of the works of God. True, his material works are as attractive as ever (Psalms 104:31).

But a moral Being cannot find his peculiar treasure in material works. Of what value are the precious metals and the rare gems of earth to God? If they cannot satisfy the hunger of the created spirit, how can they be a special treasure to the Spirit that created all (Job 36:19)? It was a man who was first called “the friend of God” (James 2:23). It was to a nation that the promise was first given, “ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine” (Exodus 19:5). Though the heavens are not pure in his sight, and he charges the angels with folly, yet he can find a peculiar treasure in sinful souls that fear and love him, that think upon his Name, and nurture in one another’s hearts the elements of, Divine life.

While the whole Church of God is his treasure, every individual is an object of special regard and value. God says, “I know thee by name, and thou hast found grace in my sight.” Every believer may appropriate the love and sacrifice of Christ, “who loved me, and gave himself for me.” So that each individual in the universal Church may be regarded as a jewel in the Divine treasury. They are God’s “hidden ones,” but not overlooked; scattered, but not lost; the world knoweth them not, but “the Lord knoweth them that are his.” Apply to different classes; e.g. godly children; the obscure poor; uneducated saints (“rough diamonds”); the donors of widow’s mites to the Master’s service; an Abijah in the house of Jeroboam;— all are jewels in God’s treasury of redeemed souls. II. THAT THEY SHALL BE TREATED WITH CARE. “The day” which Jehovah was preparing may represent all the various troubles and dangers which may await both the righteous and the ungodly. We may apply the term:

1. To days of trial in this life. We do not expect exemption from all trials. But we may expect two things.
2. To the day of death. But “death is yours;” and cannot “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The day of death is the day of promotion, when, in an especial sense, we become a peculiar treasure because redeemed from all iniquity and purified for all eternity unto all good works (Titus 2:14).
3. The day of judgment. (Matthew 13:41-43; Matthew 25:34.) Who will not claim his offered place among the peculiar treasures of God? Who can bear the thought of hearing from the Judge in that day, “I never knew you; that is no part of my treasure; take it away”?Malachi 3:17 God’s dealings with his servants and with his own beloved Son.“I win spare them,” etc. These words suggest a comparison and a contrast, and lessons therefrom. I. GOD’S PROMISE TO HIS . These words are one of the “exceeding great and precious promises” on which we, the children of the kingdom, may rest. Loving protection is promised us by the great Father on the ground of our filial relationship (“his own son”), and as a reward of filial duty (“that serveth him”). Such is the assurance given to the adopted children of God. But now notice— II. GOD’S WITH HIS OWN BELOVED SON. Contrast Malachi 3:17 with Romans 8:32. There is one in the universe who is God’s Son, not by adoption, but by nature and likeness. He is “his own Son;” his “only begotten Son” (where we lay the emphasis on “only” not on “begotten”). He stands in a relation to God which none other could occupy.

None other is “the Brightness of his glory,” etc. The universe knows only one incarnate God. And he was a Son “who served him.” (John 6:38; John 8:29). How well beloved he was a voice from heaven twice declared (see John 3:35, etc.). The love of Mordecai to his adopted Esther, of David to his worthless Absalom, and of Jacob to his dutiful Joseph, are conspicuous examples of earthly paternal love. But who can measure or imagine the love of God to his own sinless Son Jesus Christ?

Surely such a Father will not permit such a Son to suffer. Surely he shall be anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. A cloud shall never sit on his brow; sorrow and sighing shall flee away. But no. He “spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.” His love to his sinful children made him willing to sacrifice his sinless Son (Hebrews 2:10). The Father’s sacrifice in allowing Christ to suffer and die must be remembered if we would interpret the words, “God so loved the world,” etc. (John 3:16).

In reading the parable of the wicked husbandmen (Mark 12:1-9), we may have felt some surprise that the father should expose his beloved son to the treachery and cruelty of such wicked men. The reason is explained: “They will reverence my son.” But the Divine Father knew what treatment his Son would receive among “his own;” yet “he spared him not.” He knew what “travail of soul” would come on him when “the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all;” yet “he spared him not.” This contrast between what we might have expected and what we have seen in the experience of Jesus Christ, God’s sinless Son, teaches us:

1. The reality of the atonement (Romans 3:25, Romans 3:26; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
2. The intensity of God’s love to sinners (1 John 4:9, 1 John 4:10).
3. The fuller blessings of salvation which God will give to reconciled sinners (Romans 5:10; Romans 8:32).
4. The discipline and self-sacrifice which the saved children of God may be called to pass through if, like their Master, they seek “by all means” to “save some.” The promise of protection (verse 17) will not debar us from the privilege of self-denial (Matthew 10:24, Matthew 10:25). Malachi 3:16, Malachi 3:17 The list of the loyal ones.“A book of remembrance was written before him …. They shall be mine … in that day when I make up my jewels.” Reference is to those persons who “by their pious discourse confirmed each other in goodness, and armed themselves against the impressions which wicked and doubting suggestions might make upon their minds.” “God took special notice of what these pious persons did and said: it was as safely laid up in his memory as if it had been catered into a register, in order to be produced at the day of judgment, to their praise and honour.” It is possible that the reference of these verses may be to “the growth of something like a brotherhood or order, not claiming or professing the inspiration of the older schools of the prophets, not entering, as they had done, on any vigorous effort at correcting the corruptions that were eating into the nation’s life, but bearing a silent witness by lives of holiness and devotion, associated by the bonds of prayer and mutual love, handing down from generation to generation the tradition of higher truths and better hopes.” Illustration may be taken from the Chasidim, or Brothers of Mercy, in the time of Judas Maccabaeus, or the Essenes of the New Testament period. I. GOD’S LOYAL ONES ARE THEY WHO KEEP HIS HONOUR IN TIMES. Compare the seven thousand in Elijah’s day who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
5. The loyal ones may have no public spheres. But the truest work for God is done in the private spheres of home and social intercourse.
6. The loyal ones may have no voice with which to testify. But the mightiest of all arguments is a godly life; the strongest of all persuasions is the winsomeness of a sanctified character. Our witness may have to be rendered in our simply standing aloof, and that may be the very holiest reproach. It may be ours thus simply, but persistently, to keep the honor of God’s II. GOD’S HAND IS EVER UPON HIS LOYAL AND ONES. He is even represented as keeping a list of them before him, so that by no possibility shall the interests of any one of them he forgotten. And his personal concern is intimated by his speaking of them as his “jewels.” The term suggests:
7. Their value in his sight.
8. Their variety; they are of different colours and qualities and tints.
9. Their safety. They are all there in that day. Jesus said of his disciples, “None of them is lost."— R.T. Malachi 3:18 Then shall ye return, and discern; or, ye shall again discern. They had already had many opportunities, both in the history of the nation and the life of individuals, of observing the different treatment of the godly and of sinners; but in the day of the Lord they should have a more plain and convincing proof of God’s moral government (comp. Exodus 11:7; Wis 5:1-5); “So that men shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth” (Psalms 58:11). Malachi 3:13-18 Hard speeches against God.Once more God has to bring a charge against his people (Malachi 3:13). Their words were “stout,” bold, loud, defiant. Reverence and reticence were both wanting. Once more the plea is entered, “Not guilty.” They will not admit that God is justified when he speaketh and clear when he judgeth. So once more God has to unfold the evidence, that their mouths may be stopped and they may be found guilty before God. I. HARD AGAINST GOD.
10. God’s service is unprofitable. They charge God with being an ungenerous Master, who allows them to work hard in order to keep his ordinances and to deny themselves (“walk mournfully”), and yet suffers them to enjoy little or no advantage therefrom. Even the service of God is “vanity and vexation of spirit.” This is an old complaint (Job 22:15-17) often repeated (Psalms 73:1-28.; Isaiah 58:3, etc.). It reflects on God’s equity as well as generosity, This is seen more clearly in the second charge.
11. The wicked are better off than we are. They seem to be “happy;” they are evidently “set up,” established by God’s providence in much prosperity. And though, instead of “proving” God (Malachi 3:10), they “tempt God,” they go unpunished, and are delivered from trials which still oppress us. The facts noted form part of the world wide and perplexing problem which has often caused atheists openly to blaspheme and Christians to weep in secret. But if ever the problem tries us, let us learn a lesson from the contrast between the conduct of the ungodly professors here and the godly Asaph. These speak openly to others against God, and thus encourage one another in unbelief. But Asaph (Psalms 73:15-17) speaks in secret to God about the question, and God guides him into truth and peace. II. REPLIES TO THEM. Answers to all these hard speeches may be found:
12. In the hollowness of the pretences of these stout speakers against God. They did not really “serve God” or “keep his ordinances.” If they walked “mournfully,” it was a sign that love, gratitude, gladness, were absent, or the joy of the Lord would have been their strength. Since their heart was far from God, so that he says, “In vain do they worship me” (Matthew 15:8, Matthew 15:9), no wonder they have to confess, “It is vain to serve God.” And whenever we find Christian worship or work bringing little profit to our souls, we may well institute great searchings of heart lest the radical difficulty should be found altogether in our own spiritual state in regard to God. If, however, our hearts condemn us not on this charge, we may see a further answer.
13. In the opposite experiences of those “who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” While the murmurers have been talking to one another against God, another company has conversed together” (Malachi 3:16). (Contrast the two gatherings— their spirit, their subjects, their tones.) They can tell a very different tale. They can speak words which God delights to hear and to record. Their experience of the faithfulness of God and the profitableness of his service even in dark days should neutralize the influence of distrustful complainers. Their characters attest their testimony. The confession of a Paul (2 Timothy 1:12) more than compensates for the desertion of a Demas.
14. In the fact that we have not yet “seen the end of the Lord.” God speaks of a future, and bids us wait for that (Malachi 3:17, Malachi 3:18). We have seen the end of the Lord in the case of Job (James 5:11) and other tried but triumphant servants of God. We have not yet seen the end of the Lord in that drama of life (sometimes tragical) in which we are taking part. 6, Therefore judge nothing before the time” (1 Corinthians 4:5). In our present state of education and probation, “all thing are ours” by possession or by promise. In verses 16 and 17 we are reminded of a few of our privileges. We have the ear of God, a record with God, communion with God, protection by God, and a high estimate in his sight The ultimate issue (verse 18) will vindicate the confidence of his servants and silence the murmurs of his foes (Romans 8:31-39; Jud Romans 1:14, Romans 1:15). Malachi 3:16-18 Genuine religion.Then they that feared the Lord stake often one to another,” etc. We shall use these words to illustrate genuine religion, and three things are noteworthy— I. THE ESSENCE OF GENUINE . “They that feared the Lord.” The men who fear God may be divided into two classes.
15. Those who fear him with a slavish fear. The unrenewed millions when they think of him at all dread him; their guilty consciences invest him with attributes of such horror that they shudder at the idea of him, they flee from his presence. “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid.” All that is superstitious in the world, all that is barbaric in the religion of Christendom, spring from this dread of God.
16. Those who fear him with a filial fear. The fear which a loving child has for a worthy and noble sire. There is, perhaps, always a kind of fear in connection with true love. We fear, not that the object will harm us, but that we may harm or displease the object. Our fear is that we shall not please the object up to the measure of our intense desire. The fear of genuine religion is not the fear of suffering, but the fear of sin, not for the consequences of wrong, but for the fact of wrong. This filial fear with all is the beginning of wisdom. II. THE OF GENUINE . “Spake often one to another.” We are social beings, and what interests us most has the chief power in bringing us together. Nothing interests a religious man so much as religion. Hence the few good people living in this corrupt age of Malachi met and “spake often one to another.” Spoke, no doubt, in language of mutual instruction, mutual comfort, mutual exhortation. There is no force in the world so socializing as religion; it brings souls together, and centres them in a common object of love, in a common current of sympathy, in a common course of life. III. THE WORTH OF GENUINE . See what God does with the genuinely religious.
17. He specially attends to them. “The Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them.” This does not, of course, mean literally that God keeps a book, or that he has any difficulty in remembering what takes place. It is an anthropomorphism, a symbolizing .of the special interest of God.
18. He claims them as his own. “And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts.” My friends, my children, mine to love and serve me.
19. He appreciates them as precious. “In that day when I make up my jewels.” The word here rendered “jewels” in Exodus (Exodus 19:5) rendered “peculiar treasure.” “They are peculiarly precious to me.” He knows the worth of their existence, the cost of their restoration, the greatness of their capabilities.
20. He distinguishes them from all others. Here they are so mixed with worldly and worthless men that they are mostly undiscerned and undistinguished. One day he will separate them, the sheep from the goats. . To attain religion should be the supreme aim of our life. It is not a means to an end; it is the grand end of being; it is the Paradise of soul.— D.T.

Malachi 3:1

Malachi 3:1. The book of Malachi is the last of the inspired writings until we come to the New Testament, and there is a space of about 4 centuries to intervene. The prophets have frequently gone from fleshly to spiritual Israel in their predictions and exhortations, either drawing parallels or showing contrasts as the nature of the occasion suggested. This book so far has consisted mostly of condemnation and admonition for fleshly Israel because of the worldiness and selfish· ness of their officials especially. It was appropriate, therefore, to jump across the chasm of four hundred years to the time when the Lord expected to give the world a new religious system that would be far superior and more exacting than the old one. This and the following chapter is taken up between fleshly and spiritual Israel, speaking first of one and then the other, going back and forth from one of them to the other.

Our present verse goes to the time of spiritual Israel and predicts that the importance of that system is so great that a preparatory work will need to be done before the Author of that system begins His work. Hence God said he would send his ‘messenger ahead, and according to Matthew 11:10-11; Marli: 1: 2·4 he was John the Baptist. Come to his tentple means his kingdom or church, for that institution is so called in 2 Corinthians 6:16. Messenger of the covenant. The most important covenant that God made with Abraham is recorded in Genesis 12:3 Genesis 22:18, which is a promise of Christ. That would identify Christ as “the messenger of the covenant.”

Malachi 3:2

Malachi 3:2. Abide the day of his coming means to face it or feel equal to the awfulness of that day. It is because it will be very thorough in its treatment of sinners in the process of cleansing or purifying them.

Malachi 3:3

Malachi 3:3. A refiner’s fire ·is used to separate the dross from precious metal, and the fact has been used throughout the Bible to illustrate the work of purifying men tram their sins. Sons of Levi is said figuratively because they were the ones who were the priests under the Mosaic system. They had become corrupt in their office and the prediction means that the priests of this new covenant will be purified by the refining influence of the Gospel.

Malachi 3:4

Malachi 3:4. Judah and Jerusalem are used spiritually to refer to the services under Christ, in about the same sense that Levi is mentioned in the preceding verse to signify the spiritual priesthood in the system under Christ.

Malachi 3:5

Malachi 3:5, The evils named In this verse bad been commttted by the Jews in Malachi’s time. and the words of condemnation were meant as a severe r ebuke ot them. And they were also a prediction of the exacting regulations regarding such practices to be instituted in the time of Christ.

Malachi 3:6

Malachi 3:6. God bas never dealt with man as his conduct deserved or he would bave been long since consumed. It has always been thus with God for he changes not; that is why the sons of Jacob had not been consumed.

Malachi 3:7

Malachi 3:7. As proof that God has always been the same lenient One he is at the present time, they are reminded of the wayward conduct of the fathers in spite of the pleadings which He made with them, in which they were urged to Return unto me, ana I ‘will return unto you,

Malachi 3:8

Malachi 3:8. Will a man rob God’ was doubtless answered with an emphatic “no” by these people. But they recognized the question actually to be an accusation that they had robbed Him, and then they asked in what way they had done SO. The Lord’s reply was that it was done in tilhes and offerings. When the Jews held back a part of their tithes, or brought some inferior products to the service, they were thereby robbing God.

Malachi 3:9

Malachi 3:9. The whole nation could justly be charged with the evils com- plained of because all the people upheld the corrupt priests and prophets (Jeremiah 5:31).

Malachi 3:10

Malachi 3:10. There never was or will be a time when it pays to defraud the Lord out ot His deserts. On the other hand, it is always profitable in the end to be liberal and cheerful in the service to God. Hence these people are challenged to cast their trust on the Lord and cease holding back what they were obligated to give into the service of Him because it will be to their advantage to do so in reality.

Malachi 3:11

Malachi 3:11. The Lord even promised to protect their increasing products from the ravages of those who would devour them. The plants for fruit and other articles of food were guaranteed to bring their yield to maturity.

Malachi 3:12

Malachi 3:12. Besides the general favors Indicated in this verse that fleshly Israel could have acquired, the greater one pertained to them as spiritual Israel. The words all nations were fulfilled when the Gospel was offered to Jew and Gentile alike.

Malachi 3:13

Malachi 3:13. The Lord again takes up his complaint against fleshly Israel. One ot their chief taults was to deny that what they were doing was wrong. In so speaking they virtually charged God with making a talse accusation against them.

Malachi 3:14

Malachi 3:14. The Lord specifies some of the things they were saying unjustly. Perhaps the most serious was to deny that it was worth wbile to obey the law.

Malachi 3:15

Malachi 3:15. Here Is another serious charge that reflects against the justice of God. They said that the proud and wicked persons were the ones who were accorded the most happiness by the Lord, which was the very opposite of the truth. It is no wonder that theLord said he was “wearied” with them.

Malachi 3:16

Malachi 3:16. Going back to the subject in verse 12 and others, the prophet looks forward to some of the glorious features of the Gospel age. .Then is an adverb of time, referring to things that were to be done in the Gospel system under Christ. The past tense is a grammatical form often used in prophetic writings, but it was several centuries in the future when Malachi wrote it. Space often are from one word which is DABAR and Strong defines it, “A primitive root; perhaps properly to arrange; but used figuratively (of Words) to speak.” Young defines it. “To speak (consult) together.” Among the many words by which it has been rendered in the King James Version are answer, communication, counsel, language, message, promise. question, r eason, r eport, re- quest, saying, speech, talk, aud word: the last one is used 770 times. With all this critical intormation at hand it would indicate that the wording in our common version is justified. It undoubtedly means that the citizens in the kingdom of Christ were to be in close touch with each other, which would require that they assemble whenever they can.

This all agrees with the admonition at Paul in Hebrews that the disciples of Christ should not forsake the assembling together of tbemselves (Hebrews 10:25). Book of remembrance does not mean that God needs any mechanical plan to keep Him from forgetting anything. The expression is used figuratively and means that the names of God’s Children are carefully inscribed in the heavenly record, and the fact is spoken of as being recorded in a book. (See Luke 10:20; Hebrews 12:23; Revelation 3:5 Revelation 21:27.)’

Malachi 3:17

Malachi 3:17. They shall be mine. If I were to buy and pay for something it certainly would be mine. Jesus purchased the church with his own blood and it is said to be His. (See Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 1:19 1 Peter 2:9.) Jewels is from which Strong defines, “wealth,” It is the word for “veculiar treasure” in Psalms 135:4. The Lord regards the members of bis chUrch as jewels since t hey are so valuable, He having said such a great price (his blood) for them. That day means the Gospel dispensation in which time He was to make up or gather these jewels into the fold or church. I will spare them, etc., is equivalent In thought to that in Hebrews 8:11.

Malachi 3:18

Malachi 3:18. The gist of this verse is that the members or the new kingdom will have superior knowledge of what is right and wrong. That is because they will have the “perfect law of liberty” for their guidance. But this is not all, for the leaders of. the Jewish kingdom, especially In the days of Malachi’s writing. had mixed together the good and the evil and bad refused to make any difference between them. (See chapter 2: 17,) The Gosvel was to be clear and exacting and those who believe it will be trained to “have no fe llowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).