Some of My Favorite Passages
Malachi 3 contains some of my absolute favorite verses. We will begin with verse 2. “Who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears?”
These questions should not bring us comfort. In other prophetic books, the prophets often
spoke about the day of the Lord’s judgment with respect to other nations. However, by the time that Malachi is on the
scene all of the nations have fallen and been judged underneath the growing
Persian Empire. The only people who
still have yet to be judged and refined are His own people – His own rebellious
people.
This passage leads us straight into looking for Christ. You see, Jesus Himself identifies John the
Baptizer as the messenger who would come before. Who did John the Baptizer point us
towards? Jesus! And what did Jesus do during His
ministry? He sifted through the Hebrew
people looking for those who were willing to follow and be discipled. In short, Jesus refined them. He took them and purified them as one
purifies silver or gold. He found and
removed the impurities and focused upon the faithful. Most of the Hebrew people rejected Him, but
there was some silver and gold among the slag that was worth keeping.
However, this point is also a personal point. Look at what Jesus did within His
disciples. He took fishermen, tax
collectors, and regular flawed human beings and refined them. He reached within them, challenged them,
shaped them, molded them, and pushed them.
He refined them personally, not just as a group from out of the midst of
the Hebrew people.
Perhaps the most meaningful interpretation within this passage
goes back to the original question. Who
can endure His coming? In other words,
an encounter with Jesus is going to inherently hurt. Yes, salvation is blessed. But Christ seeks to shape us, mold us, change
us, and transform us. He looks to create
something within us that only He can see.
That is inherently going to be a challenging and painful process – even if
the end is absolutely and completely worthwhile. As silver and gold heats up and changes
matter states, so we too will undergo the difficult process of change when we
encounter Christ.
Robbing God
Malachi then turns to challenge the people. He reminds the people that they have always
been rebellious. For the record, has
anything changed in the following two millennia?
God accuses the people of robbing Him. You see, God asks for a tithe. Literally, the tithe was a tenth of the
harvest. That meant grain, livestock,
etc. The tithe was to be used in order
to support the religious institution as well as to provide a surplus that could
be used to care for widows, orphans, foreigners, and other people who might not
have the means to care for themselves.
However, the people have stopped contributing to the tithe. Or perhaps they have reduced the amount they
are giving. Or as we saw earlier in the
book, perhaps they have started to give the portions of the harvest that are
easy to give up – the surplus, the damaged, the sick, or the blind.
Whatever the reason, we can see that God isn’t pleased. He doesn’t want our surplus. He doesn’t want our excess. He doesn’t want that which is easy to
give. He doesn’t want that which we also
don’t want. God wants us to trust
Him. He wants us to rely upon Him. He wants us to give out of what He has
already given to us knowing that we are merely stewards of all that is already
His. He also wants us to remember to
give so that those who cannot support themselves can find comfort.
Therefore, God calls His people to repent. He calls us to repent. He calls us to turn to Him and to truly rely
upon Him. Then we will be blessed. Then we will know His true generosity and
compassion. When we truly release
control, turn to God, and trust in Him we will indeed delight in Him and know
His blessing.
The people hear Malachi’s rebuke and they do indeed repent. Here at the end of the Old Testament we see
the people once more agree to remember the covenant. Once more the people are interested in being
God’s people and following His ways. In
a sense, Malachi brings us full circle in the Old Testament. We began in Genesis with creation and
rebellion. We then heard a long story of
rebellion and more rebellion overshadowing the occasional story of
righteousness. Then we’ve heard about
judgment. Now, finally, we see the
people to respond. The curse of judgment
of sin is confronted by the promise of grace.
They will be spared and treasured if they but remember to follow God and
obey His ways.
The Final Message
The last chapter of the Old Testament reminds the people of God’s
promise. The Day of the Lord will
come. Elijah – a prophet – will come
before the day to announce its coming.
It will be a great and incredible day.
Those who are evil will be judged and burned. But those who are faithful – fearing the name
of God and being obedient to God’s command – will know righteousness and
healing. God will turn their hearts of
stone into hearts of relationship. In
the beginning of the Old Testament we heard about the breaking of
relationship. Here we hear about how
relationship can be reforged through Him.
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