Malachi 3
COMMENTARY:
: 1 Behold, I will send MY messenger, and he shall prepare the way before ME: and the Lord, WHOM you seek, shall suddenly come to HIS temple, even the MESSENGER of the covenant, WHOM you delight in, behold, HE shall come, says the LORD of hosts. (4397 “messenger” [mal’ak] means ambassador, representative, theophanic angel, or one sent.)
DEVOTION: Once we study the New Testament we find this verse used to refer to John the Baptist who prepared the way before the LORD Jesus Christ. When the LORD turned thirty years old HE started HIS public ministry. Remember that HE had a cousin named John who was born to Elizabeth six months before Jesus.
John who was known as John the Baptist started preaching repentance six months before Jesus started HIS public ministry. So John the Baptist was known to the people of the area as a man who preached repentance and lived in the wilderness.
Once Jesus started HIS public ministry HE went to John to be baptized. It was a sign of the start of HIS ministry. It was also done before HE faced Satan who tried to tempt HIM to sin.
The children of Israel were looking for a Messiah but they thought HE was coming as a KING first but HE was coming as a SUFFERING SERVANT first. HE will come as a king in our future if we are still alive when HE comes.
CHALLENGE: Are we ready for HIS second coming? It could be any day!
: 5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, says the LORD of hosts. (4941 “judgment” [mishpat] means case, decision, dispute, claim, assessing a person, situation or event, or legal specifications.)
DEVOTION: The Bible is full of lists of people that will not be in heaven if they don’t repent and change. The LORD doesn’t leave any doubt as to who will be in heaven and who will be in the lake of fire for eternity.
Psalm 15 gives us a list of people who will be allowed to be in heaven. It ends with the statement that one who is faithful to the LORD “will never be move.” Nothing will stand in his way to his path to heaven.
A person has to change in order to show a genuine commitment to the LORD. The LORD accepts everyone who comes to HIM as they are but expects that while they are still alive they will show a difference in the way the act. They will not be selfish and lazy. They will be workers for the LORD. They will treat people the way the LORD treated people. They will not live in sin as some who chose to be sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers, those who exploit those who work for them, exploit widows and orphans. They will not treat strangers poorly. Remember that some strangers could be angels.
The ultimate way the LORD knows who is genuine and who is faking is that they don’t manifest a true fear or reverence for the LORD. They are more concerned about what people think of them than what the LORD thinks of them. They will be people pleasers and not obedient to the LORD.
CHALLENGE: Judgment is coming. Our hearts will reveal to us if we are genuinely obedient to the LORD.
: 10 Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, says the LORD 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. (214 “storehouse” [owtsar] means treasury, cellars, magazine, treasure house, or to store up.)
DEVOTION: Most people, who call themselves Christians, ROB God of HIS part of their salary each week instead of putting in the offering plate at church. They say that God doesn’t expect ten percent of their salary each time they get paid. They say that it is an Old Testament principle. The problem is that the Israelites paid thirty- three percent of their income each year to the LORD.
On top of the tithe there was a teaching that the LORD desired an offering on top of the tithe. If the LORD had blessed someone abundantly they would bring HIM an offering to say thank you for the blessings.
Here we find that the Israelites were robbing God of HIS tithe on a regular basis. It was because they were not paying their tithe that the priests had to find income other places. Some of them chose to start doing it in the wrong manner.
God is stating in this verse that if they want to test the LORD with their money HE would show them that HE rewards those who give sacrificially to HIM. If they brought their tithe into the Temple regularly HE would bless them with abundant rain so that their crops would grow in abundance and they would grow rich. HE challenged them to test HIM to see if HE blessed obedience.
Today I believe the same challenge is given to those who claim to be followers of the LORD. If they give faithfully, regularly and sacrificially to HIM of their tithes and offering HE will bless them. Now we have to remember that blessings are not always financial. There are other blessings that we would like to see happen in our life. One of the blessings is health and children that become followers of the LORD. The blessings don’t come in the same form to all those who are followers of the LORD but the promise is still given to those who honor the LORD.
Jesus states in Matthew 23:23 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisee, hypocrites? for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” He wanted them to realize that just giving their tithe wasn’t fulfilling all their responsibility to the LORD. They also had to consider the law, judgment, mercy and faith. People can give of their money without giving of themselves. God is looking at the attitude of our giving. HE wants us to treat others well. HE wants us to honor HIM with our giving in every area of our life.
CHALLENGE: What is your attitude when the offering plate is passed in church or when you get a letter in the mail to support a ministry for the LORD? Do you get angry or prayerfully consider what you should do with your tithe and offerings for the LORD?
: 16 Then they that feared the LORD spoke often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. (5612 “book” [cipher] means missive, document, writing, letter or scroll.)
DEVOTION: The LORD is confronting the children of Israel through the prophet Malachi. HE gives some of the accusations against them that they think are false.
He accuses them of robbing HIM. They don’t understand. HE says that they are withholding their tithes and offerings from HIS servants. They are not bring their money and goods to the temple to feed the priests as HE had ordered in the Law. HE promises that if they will bring their tithes and offerings to HIS temple to feed the priests that HE will bless them beyond their ability to contain it all.
Secondly, HE accuses them of saying that it is vain to serve HIM. They tell each other that service to the LORD is not profitable. They are getting nothing out of it. So they act wickedly and tell others that they are OK to act that way too because there is no judgment coming from the LORD. The LORD tells them that HE has a document of remembrance that records their deeds. HE knows those who fear HIM and those who do not. HE is journaling their deeds. There is coming a day when the scroll will be opened and their deeds will be measured.
Only those who feared HIM will be honored as Jewels. Those who act wickedly will have a different outcome. Their outcome is eternity in the lake of fire with the devil and his angels.
Today we have people who think that they can rob God and still expect HIM to bless their life. We are not those who preach the prosperity gospel. It is a false teaching. The LORD is not always saying that if you give HIM an hundred dollars, HE will give you a thousand in return. There are spiritual blessings, as well as, physical blessings. Too often there are people who give expecting to get more in return. Our motive to give is to bring GLORY to the LORD. If our giving puts meat on the table of the servants of the LORD, that is a blessing. HE will take care of us, if we give. We have to trust HIM. There is still a scroll of remembrance that HE is writing in on a daily basis. What did HE write regarding our relationship with HIM yesterday? What will HE write tomorrow?
We are to fear the LORD and honor HIM with our giving and service and watch what HE will do in our lives. Trust HIM to bless in a way that will advance HIS kingdom!!!
CHALLENGE: When you give are you looking to receive only or to say thank you to the LORD for all HIS blessings on your life? Our giving is recorded in heaven more accurately than in the treasurer’s book. God looks that the attitude to see if there should be any reward.
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