This week we are looking at a letter
that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of
Malachi, which is the last letter that was written by a prophet chronologically
and is the last letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the
Bible. Yesterday we began to look at the
first section of this letter that serves as a bookend of the letter and that
reveal the timeless truth about the nature and character of God and His
activity in history.
In Malachi 1:6-9, we looked on as
the Lord made an accusation against the Jewish people: “How could you honor and
show respect to your earthly fathers and lords and not show honor and respect
to your Heavenly Father and Lord?” The Jewish people’s response was one of
denial: “How have we despised Your name”. But not only did the Jewish people
deny the accusation; the Jewish people also demanded proof of the truth of the accusation:
“How have we despised Your name”.
Malachi responded to the denial
and demand by providing evidence to support his accusation in that the Jewish
people were presenting offerings of worship to God that were contaminated,
polluted, or desecrated in some way. Malachi
also revealed the reality that the Lord was accusing the Jewish people of
viewing the worship of Him as being something that was to be loathed and viewed
with contempt. The Jewish people were
being accused of being so unimpressed with the Lord and thinking so lightly of Him
that they failed to give any honor or respect to Him.
Malachi then provided the
evidence of this lack of honor and respect in that, as far as the Jewish people
were concerned, worship was a duty that needed to be done. There was no
excitement about worship; there was no sense of expectancy when it came to
worship; and there was no delight in worship. Instead, worship was done out of
duty with loathing; worship was viewed with contempt as something to be
endured.
Today, we see Malachi provide the
Lord’s response to their attitude toward the Lord in Malachi 1:10-11:
"Oh that
there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly
kindle fire on My altar! I am
not pleased with you," says the LORD of hosts, "nor will I accept an
offering from you. "For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My
name will be great among the
nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a
grain offering that is pure;
for My name will be great among
the nations," says the LORD of hosts.
The Lord’s response was straightforward and to the point:
“Oh, I just wish that one of you would close the doors and lock them tight. If
that is how you are going to approach worship, I just wish one of you would
cancel church. I just wish you would cancel your worship services, because you
acts of worship are useless to Me. I do not find any pleasure or delight in
your worship. And I will not accept your worship of Me favorably.”
The Lord made it abundantly clear that He would rather
that we not worship at all than receive worship that makes light of Him. The
Lord would rather that we not worship at all than receive worship that is out
of duty and that gives Him less than our best. The Lord would rather that we
not worship at all than receive worship that is driven by duty instead of
delight.
Instead Malachi predicted and proclaimed that in the
future all of the nations would honor and make much of God. From as far as the
east is to the west, individuals across continents and cultures would respond
to who God is, what God has done, and what God has promised to do by
worshipping Him. After predicting and proclaiming, the future, Malachi
transitioned to reveal the present problem that plagued the Jewish people in
verse 12-14:
"But you
are profaning it, in that you say, 'The table of the Lord is defiled, and as
for its fruit, its food is to be despised.'
"You also say, 'My, how tiresome it is!' And you disdainfully sniff
at it," says the LORD of hosts, "and you bring what was taken by
robbery and what is lame or
sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand?"
says the LORD. "But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and
vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great
King," says the LORD of hosts, "and My name is feared among the
nations."
Unlike the future, Malachi confronted the Jewish people
with the reality that they were profaning the name of the
Lord. In other words, the Jewish people were dishonoring and despising the
Lord. The Jewish people were dishonoring the Lord by readily acknowledging that
their worship was polluted and contaminated as the result of their failure to
follow the very clear and detailed instructions of the Jewish sacrificial
system.
Yet, in spite of that acknowledgment, the Jewish people
still viewed the idea of even having to worship God with loathing and contempt.
Their complaint, if communicated in the language we use today, would have
sounded something like this: “What a nuisance it is to have to go to church
this morning. There are so many things that I could and would rather be doing
then going to church. I could be on the lake, I could be camping, in the fall I
could watch football; I could be shopping, I could sleep in; this whole church
thing is just so wearisome. Church just gets old, you know. What a drag.”
But not only were the Jewish people dishonoring and
despising God through their words; they were also dishonoring and despising God
through their actions. The Jewish people were stealing from one another, and
then were giving to the Lord what they had stolen in worship. In our day, it
would be similar to someone robbing a Circle K and then bringing that money to
church and putting it into the offering as an act of worship. In addition, the
Jewish people decided that the Lord was only worthy of their leftovers and had
come to the conclusion that the Lord could be deceived into thinking that they
were offering the best when in fact they were offering the worst.
Malachi then proclaimed that the person who attempted to
deceive the Lord into thinking that they were giving Him their best when in
fact they were giving Him their worst in worship would receive a curse from the
Lord. And throughout the book of Malachi, the prophet continued to confront the
Jewish people with their rebellion against the Lord and warn the Jewish people
of the response that awaited them as a result of their rebellion.
We see this reality revealed by Malachi in the conclusion
of his letter, which serves as the second bookend of this letter, which we will
look at on Friday…
No comments:
Post a Comment