Pastor Nate continues our study through the Bible in Malachi.
[00:00:00] You are listening to the through the Bible's studio series with Pastor Nate Holdridge.
[00:00:06] Join us as we continue our study through the Old Testament book of Malachi.
[00:00:12] Here's Nate.
[00:00:13] At the end of Malachi chapter 2, the people of Israel asked the question,
[00:00:20] where is the God of justice?
[00:00:23] The closing line of verse 17 of chapter 2 asks that question.
[00:00:28] And in response, it's very interesting because in verse 1 of chapter 3,
[00:00:35] God says, behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me.
[00:00:41] And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.
[00:00:46] And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
[00:00:53] It's interesting that God's answer to the injustice that the people were complaining about.
[00:01:00] As they asked, where is the God of justice?
[00:01:03] God's response is the gospel because the messenger that he promises,
[00:01:08] we learn in the New Testament, is John the Baptist himself.
[00:01:14] Matthew 11, verse 10, this is he of whom it is written, behold,
[00:01:18] I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you.
[00:01:26] And Isaiah 40, verse 3 and 5, spoke of the voice who was crying in the wilderness
[00:01:32] to prepare the way of the Lord.
[00:01:35] And this was a prophecy concerning John the Baptist.
[00:01:38] And then of course the Lord who will come suddenly to the temple and establish the covenant in whom they delight.
[00:01:47] This is a prophecy concerning Jesus who would come to his temple, come to his people
[00:01:53] and would establish a new covenant and who ultimately will come again to his house in the future.
[00:02:01] And so it's interesting that God's response, before we even look at those phrases and verse 1 and 2 together,
[00:02:08] it's important to notice that God's response to the question of verse 17 is the gospel.
[00:02:15] You know it's so true and it's such an age-old question.
[00:02:20] Why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?
[00:02:24] Why is there such evil in the world where is the God of justice?
[00:02:28] And really in many ways it's a complicated question when people ask it.
[00:02:33] Because you look around and there's obviously the common grace and providence of God,
[00:02:39] the sun shines on the evil and the good, the rain falls on the evil and the good.
[00:02:45] Obviously as well there is none good, no not one.
[00:02:50] There's the universal fallenness of mankind.
[00:02:54] And there's a mix within people of righteousness and wickedness, you know the righteous and the wicked exists together.
[00:03:03] And Satan himself exists and is alive and well.
[00:03:08] And so all of that sort of complicates the question of where is the God of justice?
[00:03:16] But this is a common question.
[00:03:18] So, an ASAP, Solomon, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, all of these men in the Old Testament are struggled with this question.
[00:03:27] It was for all of them a consideration of the future that helped them process this difficulty.
[00:03:34] But it's a dangerous question as well because what the people of Israel were doing was putting God on trial.
[00:03:42] It's always dangerous to put the judge.
[00:03:45] The God of the universe on trial in the court of man.
[00:03:50] Unfortunately, God gets blamed for misfortune and circumstances and hard people all the time.
[00:03:57] Rather than recognizing our own sinful humanity and guilt and God's mercy for allowing us to even live
[00:04:05] and his future judgment in which all of the evil of man will be judged, we basically say that God has sinned.
[00:04:14] But God's response to the question isn't to blast them, but to bless them.
[00:04:20] To give them the gospel. He says, I send my messenger, verse 1, of course an illusion to John the Baptist.
[00:04:28] Then he says, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.
[00:04:33] Now, Zachariah, Ezekiel and now Malachi had all talked about the glory of the Lord coming to his temple.
[00:04:45] And this has made more clear when he says in verse 1, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight is coming says the Lord of hosts.
[00:04:56] The messenger of the covenant is Jesus himself. He sat with his disciples and said, I give to you a new covenant by my blood.
[00:05:05] And so we understand that he is the one who brings the covenant in whom we delight or in which we delight.
[00:05:13] And so Jesus is coming.
[00:05:16] But Malachi writes and says, but who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears?
[00:05:27] For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap.
[00:05:33] And so Malachi basically says, listen, none of the wicked that you're seeing, none of the areas of sin that you're pointing out.
[00:05:43] None of those people or elements of wickedness will stand the ultimate day of the Lord.
[00:05:51] Now, the initial coming of Christ, of course, in his cross was not a coming of judgment.
[00:05:57] So to speak, Jesus said I did not come to judge the world but to say, but at the same time he is the judge of the universe.
[00:06:05] It's just that he has not yet operated in the official office and capacity of judge.
[00:06:11] That is yet future and no one, no evil will be able to stand in that day.
[00:06:17] And he says in verse 3 that when he comes, he will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.
[00:06:27] And he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver.
[00:06:35] And they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
[00:06:39] Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
[00:06:45] And so we're seeing really as we're closing out this study of Malachi.
[00:06:50] We're seeing that the conflict that God was experiencing in those first couple of chapters where he saw the wicked sacrifices, the hypocritical sacrifices being given.
[00:07:02] God really points forward to a day in the future when in the second coming of Christ there will be such a refining purifying work that there will be worship of him that is pure and is righteous.
[00:07:15] And in the new heavens, the new earth, the new Jerusalem, every offering will be pleasing to the Lord and pure and without any defilement whatsoever.
[00:07:27] And so the purifying ministry of Jesus.
[00:07:34] And of course, this is yet future in so many ways.
[00:07:39] Just as in Luke chapter 4 when Jesus came to the tabernacle and asked for the scroll, he read from Isaiah 61 and it's quoted in Luke 4 verse 18 where it says,
[00:07:52] the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointing me to proclaim good news to the poor.
[00:07:58] He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set it liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
[00:08:12] And that's all that he quoted from Isaiah 61 and these are things that Jesus did in his first coming.
[00:08:19] He proclaimed good news, he proclaimed liberty to the captives.
[00:08:23] He gave recovery of sight to the blind, set it liberty those oppressed and proclaimed the Lord's favor.
[00:08:30] But in Isaiah 61 from which he was quoting, it goes on and says,
[00:08:35] the day of vengeance to or of our God to comfort all who mourn.
[00:08:42] And so Jesus is the fulfillment of that prophecy, but in his first coming there's a reason that he stopped reading at that moment.
[00:08:50] He had not yet come for the day of vengeance.
[00:08:53] That day is still future, a day of absolute purity and purification.
[00:09:01] So what he's doing right now is he is purifying.
[00:09:04] A day of judgment is coming, but right now he is purifying.
[00:09:08] He is, you know, as we behold the glory of the Lord, he is transforming us and changing us.
[00:09:14] We are living in an age of grace and purification, but that judgment is coming.
[00:09:21] You know, this kind of answers one of the questions that we might have about the canon of Scripture.
[00:09:26] Why is Scripture complete?
[00:09:28] Why is God silent in that kind of way today?
[00:09:32] And the answer I think to that question is because the only words that are left for God to speak are words of final judgment.
[00:09:39] And those days are yet future and God is mercifully waiting.
[00:09:43] And so he says in verse 5, then I will draw near to you for judgment.
[00:09:48] So after the day's a purification, a time of judgment is coming,
[00:09:52] and that will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers,
[00:09:58] against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker and his wages,
[00:10:05] the widow and the father list, against those who thrust aside the so-journer and do not fear me,
[00:10:13] says the Lord.
[00:10:14] And so you have this long list of people that God is planning on bringing judgment to.
[00:10:20] Now, in verse 6 we move on to one final crime that the people were committing against God.
[00:10:29] God will clarify this crime and then we'll see the response of the people to these prophecies from Malachi.
[00:10:37] In verse 6, for I, the Lord do not change.
[00:10:42] A wonderful statement about God.
[00:10:44] This is the immutability of God that He does not change.
[00:10:49] Now, all change in the world is really for better or for worse.
[00:10:55] You know, as I get older and older, my looks, my appearances, they change.
[00:11:03] And I can't necessarily say that there for the better, my body is getting older and older,
[00:11:09] more and more tired, probably changing for the worse in a lot of ways.
[00:11:13] As my body begins to atrophy.
[00:11:17] But all change is for the better or for the worse.
[00:11:21] And so, the reason that God doesn't change is because He can do neither.
[00:11:26] He cannot by His nature be worse and He cannot be any better.
[00:11:32] He just is and He's perfect in all of His ways and it would be impossible for Him to change.
[00:11:38] And so, as the judge, He's saying, listen, I can't change.
[00:11:43] I'm gracious and I'm merciful but I also will judge.
[00:11:46] These are elements of His character that complement one another perfectly, but must be exercised.
[00:11:53] And so, He says to them in verse 6,
[00:11:57] even though He had not changed and they had changed.
[00:12:01] He says to them, therefore, you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
[00:12:05] In other words, the unchanging nature of God led to great grace.
[00:12:10] Had He changed, they would have been consumed but His unchanging nature meant that they were consistently under His graceful merciful eye.
[00:12:21] From the days verse 7 of your fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them.
[00:12:27] Return to me and I will return to you says the Lord of hosts.
[00:12:32] But you say, how shall we return?
[00:12:36] You know, he says to them, you know, return. Come back to me.
[00:12:40] You know, God is saying, I'm right here. I haven't changed.
[00:12:44] You know, this was the attitude of the people.
[00:12:46] They thought that God had changed.
[00:12:49] Here they were 100 years after the exile living in Jerusalem and times weren't as great as they were in the days of David.
[00:12:56] And so they looked around and said, well, certainly those were days of blessing.
[00:13:01] Now it appears that we're under a curse. God must have changed.
[00:13:05] And really what God is saying is, I've been the same all along.
[00:13:09] And what is required is for you to change and repent.
[00:13:15] You were different back in those days.
[00:13:18] In those days of blessing when I was pouring out my grace, you were a faithful people.
[00:13:23] But now you have turned your back from me and so you need to return.
[00:13:28] And you need to come back to me. He says, and they said in response, how shall we return?
[00:13:35] You know, as if there is if to say, there's no error in our ways.
[00:13:39] What are we doing wrong?
[00:13:41] And so the Lord said to them, in verse 8, will man rob God yet you are robbing me.
[00:13:49] But you say, how have we robbed you?
[00:13:52] In your tithes and your contributions, God said,
[00:13:56] you are cursed with a curse for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.
[00:14:01] Bring the full tide into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and thereby put me to the test
[00:14:08] says the Lord of hosts.
[00:14:10] If I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
[00:14:17] I will rebuk the devour for you so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil in your vine
[00:14:23] in the fields.
[00:14:24] She'll not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.
[00:14:27] Then all nations will call you blessed for you will be a land of delight
[00:14:33] says the Lord of hosts.
[00:14:35] And so God is very clear with them when they ask the question, how have we robbed you?
[00:14:40] And how can we return to you?
[00:14:42] He says this is it.
[00:14:44] You can return to me by giving the full tide once again that the law has required.
[00:14:51] You can return to me by ceasing to rob me.
[00:14:56] And so God directly pronounces upon them the error of their ways and that they had not been
[00:15:03] giving everything to the Lord.
[00:15:05] Now Israel in their time gave a tenth of all their produce and livestock, gave a tenth
[00:15:12] to the Levites, and gave a tenth every third year which was to be stored up in the towns for
[00:15:18] the Levites, strangers, orphans and widows.
[00:15:22] And so you know they were giving some offerings in general and maybe a few things for
[00:15:28] the priests but the full tide, the full offering was not given to the Lord.
[00:15:36] Of course God knew it.
[00:15:38] And so He encourages the people.
[00:15:39] He says this and put me to the test.
[00:15:41] The only time we see God asking His people to test Him.
[00:15:45] Just put me to the test.
[00:15:47] You give the full tide to me and watch the blessing that will be poured out upon your life.
[00:15:54] All the nations will call you blessed.
[00:15:57] Now this is an incredible promise from God.
[00:16:00] Now I want to be careful in applying this in our modern context but basically in that context,
[00:16:08] God was saying listen, you're living in a bit of drought.
[00:16:11] The vine, the field is not blessed.
[00:16:15] The rain has held back from you and the nations around you are not calling you a blessed
[00:16:21] people.
[00:16:22] Give to me again what you are supposed to give to me as the covenant people and watch and see what I will do.
[00:16:29] I will review the devour and all the nations will call you a blessed people.
[00:16:36] Now obviously in modern times the mosaic covenant is no longer in force.
[00:16:42] We are under the new covenant, the grace of God, the blood of Christ.
[00:16:48] However, it is at least worth noting that this giving of attempt to God began in Genesis chapter 14,
[00:17:00] way before the law was given to the nation of Israel.
[00:17:04] When Abraham gave a tenth of his possessions to Melchizedek, and of course in Hebrews we learn that Jesus is a high priest,
[00:17:14] not according to the order of Levi or Aaron that priesthood but he's a high priest,
[00:17:22] according to the order of this character named Melchizedek.
[00:17:27] And so in one sense I think you could say that the principle of tithing is really not dependent upon the old testament law
[00:17:36] at all because it predated the law of God.
[00:17:40] But some would ask the question, well is a Christian obliged to tithe?
[00:17:46] And in the question is a bit of tension because in so many ways a Christian really isn't obliged to do anything.
[00:17:58] In this sense a Christian is someone whose heart has been so radically transformed by the gospel
[00:18:06] that they've become a new creation.
[00:18:09] And as they walk in the spirit there is this desire to be obedient to God and to follow after him.
[00:18:17] And the thing that governs their heart is the law of liberty, the law of love.
[00:18:22] And when that love invades their hearts then it creates many things, patience, a generalness, a self-control but one thing that it creates is a generosity in their lives.
[00:18:36] So I think you could make a case to say that the tithe is a great place for a Christian to start.
[00:18:44] But nowhere in the New Testament are we told to give a tenth or any other percentage.
[00:18:49] And I think even though it is of in the New Testament the tithe is spoken of in a positive light,
[00:18:56] I think the reason we're not given a hard and fast number is because God tells us continually in the New Testament to give generously, freely,
[00:19:07] regularly, with a plan, proportionate to our income, privately without making a big deal of it.
[00:19:16] We are to be a giving generous people.
[00:19:19] We're to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to us.
[00:19:25] And God promises us that He'll take care of our every need according to His riches and glory as we have a financial priority of giving unto him and unto His kingdom.
[00:19:36] And so I would just say that in the New Testament era a tithe is a good place to begin, but not the place that you want to end.
[00:19:45] And so you know I'm saying all of these things because here in this text we see a great blessing from God promised for the people and there's a great blessing from God upon your life when you get the discipline and the practice of giving generously to the Lord down in your life.
[00:20:05] I know for me this manifested self and the form of tithing to my local congregation and then giving offerings from time to time in addition to that and being a generous person to various ministries and people that I see within my life.
[00:20:25] Then he goes on in verse 13 and he gives another crime. He says, Your words have been hard against me says the Lord but you say how have we spoken against you.
[00:20:35] You have said it is vain to serve God. This was a self indictment. There was shallow worship and it led to shallow benefit and in that sense it is vain shallow worship is vain.
[00:20:49] They saw no benefit. They said what is the prophet of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?
[00:20:57] And now we call the arrogant blast verse 15. Evil doers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape.
[00:21:07] And so they had this sense within them that God was unfair with them and the Lord didn't realize that they were, you know really talking about themselves.
[00:21:18] The evil doers were putting God to the test and they were escaping and they themselves were the evil doers.
[00:21:26] Now verse 16, we move on and we see the overall response of the people to the totality of Malikai's prophecies.
[00:21:35] Then those verse 16 who feared the Lord.
[00:21:40] Spoke with one another and the Lord paid attention and heard them a beautiful line and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.
[00:21:51] They shall be mine says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
[00:22:01] Then once more shall you see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
[00:22:10] This was the distinction after all that they were after a difference between the righteous and the wicked.
[00:22:16] And so God announces that he had heard this remnant and there's always a remnant, a faithful remnant.
[00:22:24] God always says a remnant that are fearing the Lord, you know, no matter how bad or bleak you think things might be.
[00:22:32] God has a remnant of people who are devoted to him and their attribute really simply is that they feared the Lord.
[00:22:39] They had a respect for him, a reverence for him.
[00:22:44] And so God makes this promise, he says, listen, I write them down in a book of remembrance.
[00:22:51] They thought that God hadn't seen the suffering of the righteous, but Malachi tells him that God will not forget it is in his book.
[00:22:59] And these books are of God are very common in Scripture.
[00:23:03] The book that he spoke up to Moses, the book of the living in Psalm 69, in Revelation 20 will see the book of life opened and another book with the works of man opened.
[00:23:17] And so this is a record, this is a book that records the faithful and the reverent response to God.
[00:23:23] The Lord sees, the Lord sees your steps of obedience. He sees your walk with him and your decision to consecrate yourself onto him.
[00:23:32] And a day will come when the we will be separated from the tears and as God said in verse 18, there will be a distinction between the righteous and the wicked.
[00:23:40] A chapter 4 is a very short chapter where we see the promised coming day of judgment and healing day that Moses and Elijah will be involved in.
[00:23:53] And so let's read it, it says in verse 1, that for behold the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evil doors will be stubble.
[00:24:03] The day that is coming shall set them ablaze as a Lord of hosts so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. And so this day, five times in this text, this day is referred to.
[00:24:16] And this is a reference to the day of the Lord. We see that in verse 5, the great and awesome day of the Lord.
[00:24:25] And it will be a day that is burning like an oven. It's a day that all wickedness will be fully judged. This is not to purify his people, as we saw earlier in chapter 3, but this is for the destruction of the wicked.
[00:24:39] As a 66 verse 15, behold the Lord will come in fire and his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger in fury and his rebuked with flames of fire.
[00:24:49] Revelation 20 verse 14 and following, then death and hathies were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
[00:24:59] And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.
[00:25:12] Peter says that the day of the Lord will come like a thief. And the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved in the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
[00:25:25] And so God promises that this day is coming. He says, but for you who fear my name verse 2, the son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.
[00:25:35] You should go out leaping like calves from the stall and you shall tread down the wicked for they will be ashes under the souls of your feet on the day when I act as the Lord of hosts.
[00:25:45] And I believe that this son of righteousness rising with healing in its wings is a picture of Jesus Christ himself.
[00:25:55] That as he returns, all that is wrong will be made right and every tear will be wiped away.
[00:26:01] First, for remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horab for all of his real.
[00:26:10] And so he encourages the people of Israel, you know we're about to enter into 400 years of scriptural silence.
[00:26:17] And so God tells him to remember the scripture that they already have, the law of Moses, the statutes and rules that he had commanded them.
[00:26:26] Behold verse 5, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord.
[00:26:33] And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.
[00:26:39] Let's die come and strike the land with a decree of utter desecration.
[00:26:45] Now Elijah is an interesting Bible character.
[00:26:48] We learn that this prophecy of his coming before the day of the Lord is at least in one sense fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist.
[00:26:58] Jesus said, I tell you, Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him.
[00:27:03] Jesus said if you're willing to accept it, John is Elijah who is to come.
[00:27:08] And so John came in the spirit and power of Elijah and fulfilled in one sense this prophecy.
[00:27:14] But I believe a day is coming where Elijah himself will come actually again.
[00:27:21] He'll be one of the two witnesses on Revelation chapter 11, prophesying outside of Jerusalem and gaining the animosity of the entire world.
[00:27:33] But when Elijah comes his ministry will be so sweet, he will turn the hearts of fathers to children and the hearts of children to their fathers.
[00:27:41] Can't wait to see these relationships, men did and repaired.
[00:27:46] Less die come and strike the land with a decree of utter desecration.
[00:27:52] The final word of the Old Testament is a potential curse.
[00:27:57] That's how the Old covenant, the first testament ends.
[00:28:01] But the New Testament ends with the grace of God and the return of Jesus Christ.
[00:28:09] And so we have the Book of Malachi, the promise of God that he will judge the wicked in the world.
[00:28:17] God bless you and amen.
[00:28:20] Thank you for listening.
[00:28:22] For additional resources and teachings or to contact us, please visit us at NateHoldridge.com.