MALACHI is last of all the Minor Prophets.
• His message is given about 80 years after Haggai and Zechariah, and 400 years before Jesus entered the scene.
• By now the Temple has been rebuilt, the people had their own homes, and most likely, the wall of Jerusalem was being rebuilt or had already been completed by NEHEMIAH’s crew.
Life has become routine. In fact, it has gotten into a rut.
• The people and even the professionals (the priests) have lost the joy of worshipping God and living as the people of God.
• God was not completely out, but neither was He really IN their lives.
• You know what I mean? They have the look of religion but no reality. There isn’t any close relationship with God.
And so God speaks! 1:1 says the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi (my messenger).
• The interesting part about this book is that each time God speaks, the people responded with a rebuttal – a question of defence or denial.
• And it happens EIGHT times. We will run through very quickly these 8 rebuttals and by the time we’re done, you’ll get a picture of the state of their condition.
Q1 - 1:2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. BUT YOU ASK, “How have you loved us?”
• God’s answer: “I have chosen to love you.” I have chosen Jacob, remember? Not because of his deed but by My grace and sovereign will.
Q2 - 1:6 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.
• BUT YOU ASK, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
Q3 - 1:7 "You place defiled food on my altar. BUT YOU ASK, `How have we defiled you?’
• 1:7b-8 - "By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. 8When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty.
Q4 - 2:13 “Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.”
• 2:14 YOU ASK, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
• They were divorcing their wives. Yet they flood the Lord’s altar with tears.
Q5 – 2:17 “You have wearied the LORD with your words.”
• “How have we wearied him?" YOU ASK. By saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them" or "Where is the God of justice?"
• They were condoning evil, and they said it is fine with God, He will not be angry.
Q6 - 3:6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty.
• "BUT YOU ASK, `How are we to return?’
Q7 – 2:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
• "BUT YOU ASK, `How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings.”
Q8 – 3:13 "You have said harsh things against me," says the LORD.
• "YET YOU ASK, `What have we said against you?’
• 3:14 "You have said, `It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? 15But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.’"
Now you get a picture of their true condition?
• The questions aren’t sincere queries. They are denials. “What have I done wrong, tell me.”
• They have turned cold towards God and the things of God. God has lost His place in their heart and lives.
But that’s not the real problem. There will be times we fail God. Our hearts turn cold. We become indifferent about spiritual things, and we fail to honour Him.
• Backsliding does happen, but that’s still not the real issue. Why? Because God speaks.
• God spoke to the people many times, in this book. God spoke many times throughout the period of the prophets.
(1) GOD SPEAKS. God speaks to address your condition, to deal with your need.
2 Tim 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
• God speaks to teach, to warn, to correct, and guide you onto the right path.
God is actively engaging with His people in a personal and loving way. He is communicating, but are His people listening.
• Amos 3:7 “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.”
• Zech 1:3-4 “Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: `Return to me,’ declares the LORD Almighty, `and I will return to you,’ says the LORD Almighty. 4Do not be like your forefathers, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the LORD Almighty says: `Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.”
You know what Jesus did after He rose from death, Acts 1:1-3 tells us:
“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
• The Lord is communicating all the time.
• God will tell us what we need to hear, when we need to hear it.
(2) WE LISTEN.
It is not so much a matter of IF God is speaking, but rather, whether we are listening.
• Our challenge is: “Are we listening and paying attention to me?” the Lord says.
• If God speaks the truth, and nothing but the truth - about you and your situation - then it pays to LISTEN well.
• If God speaks only what is important and not useless, irrelevant, or unnecessary words, then it pays to LISTEN well to what He has to say.
We have everything to gain from being OPEN and RECEPTIVE. We have nothing to lose when we are TEACHABLE before God.
• The problem comes when we are closed up and become dull of hearing.
Ken Jones in his book “When You’re All Out of Noodles” mentioned an interesting gadget that he saw in a counselling centre. It is round, about the size of a dessert plate, plugged into the wall and giving out a constant noise. Not loud, just constant.
It’s an ambient noise generator. If it’s too quiet in the room and they can distinguish the voices in the counselling rooms next door (and we want to protect the privacy), the noise generator will cover the voices.
Ken asked, “Didn’t it have to be much louder to mask the conversations?”
No, actually. The constancy of sound tricks the ear in such a way that what is being said can’t be distinguished.
Interesting, right? You don’t need to have loud noises to drown out God’s voice.
• It is those little sounds, soft and inward, quite imperceptible sometimes, that distracts us from distinguishing God’s Word.
• We are misled by our own prejudices, fears, wrong thoughts and attitudes that trick our spiritual ears and mask the still, small voice of God.
Listening is a CULTIVATED skill, it just don’t come naturally. You can be looking at me right now, but not listening.
• I’m not a good listener. I’m still learning. I’m improving. Ask Siew Yee, she will know. She can be talking and then after 5 minutes, I responded with a “What did you say just now?”
• My mind finally registered that she was talking (5 min ago!). It’s a delayed response. But at least, better than nothing. I remembered that she said something, just that I don’t know what that is.
God speaks through the Word, the promptings of His Spirit in our hearts, through brothers and sisters in Christ, and also through circumstances.
• But He speaks predominantly through His Word. Psalm 1 says blessed are those who mediate on His Word, day and night.
• From my experience, you need to spend, not just quiet time but unrushed time.
• When I’m on a tight and busy schedule, it becomes a challenge to really be still, to reflect and ponder on what He says. Again, not because God is not speaking but because my mind and heart are too cluttered to hear.
That is why Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
• Guard those short spans of time you have when you are alone and not doing anything, like commuting from home to work. Think about God, His Word, and His will for your life.
• Keeps the conversation with the Lord going, and you will not drift.
Even the professional clergymen in Malachi’s time, the priests, could not keep their relationship with God intact.
• They treated Him with contempt, offering to Him the injured, crippled, diseased and blind animals for sacrifices, obviously keeping the best for themselves. They say in 1:13 “What a burden!” it is to offer sacrifices to God.
• This happened because the relationship has degenerated into a religion. Everything they do is just a routine, a duty to perform.
We pray that this will not happen to us. Keep the relationship close, keep the conversation going.
Those who fear Him, those who honour Him, will surely be blessed.
• This is what the Lord said in Malachi 3:16-18.
16Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honoured his name.
17"They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. 18And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
