Dear Heavenly Father, as we come before
you today and we look into your word,
we pray that we would look into it,
examine it, and see where we don’t match,
see where we need to improve. Father,
and see where we can grow closer to you.
Father, we pray that we would not be hard
hearted,
but that we would be honest and sincere
and seek to conform our will to yours.
And it’s in your son’s name we pray.
Amen. Okay, it’s so the book of Malachi.
Malachi is, of course, one of the last
books in your Old Testament.
It would it’s most likely the very last
book written.
There is two main theories about it.
It was either written during the time of
Ezra,
and that’s the issue of marriages that
Ezra it writes about in Ezra 8,
9, and 10, I believe, or it was written
later on after the time of Ezra,
about a hundred years because that same
problem with false marriages came up
again.
So it’s one of those two areas.
It is primarily written to the priesthood.
It is primarily written to those people
who should have been closest to
God but had drifted away. It says in
Malachi two and verse one,
This commandment is for you, O priests.
This commandment is for you. They were the
ones guilty of these things being listed.
The problem that they were having an issue
with was robbing God.
Not giving God the worship he is due,
not giving God what he deserved.
~ that’s Malachi three in verse eight.
And ultimately they had a solution.
They were under the charge to return to
God,
to turn back to following the law of Moses
purely,
to not to stop stop straying from the law,
stop seeing how much further they can get
away from him,
but instead come back and humbly submit to
his way.
So this is this book is set up much like a
court scene.
It’s set up where they’re on trial.
The accusations are being listed.
The accusations keep on being listed.
They’re say this is the charge against
you.
I’ll give a general charge of what you’ve
done,
and then God will give a specific charge.
They have time to rebut their charge.
But God is, of course, going to r further
that evidence and say,
No, this is exactly how you’ve sinned
against me.
So if you would begin with me in verse
one.
This first chapter details the corrupt
offering,
the corrupt offering. If you begin reading
with me,
we’ll read the first five verses together.
It says there the burden of the word of
the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
I have loved you, saith the Lord,
yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?
Was not Esau Jacob’s brother, saith the
Lord?
Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau,
and laid his mountain and his heritage
waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Whereas Edom saith, we are impoverished,
but we will return and build the desolate
places,
thus saith the Lord of hosts. They shall
build,
but I will throw down, and they shall call
them the border of wickedness,
and the people against whom the Lord hath
indignation forever,
and your eyes shall see, and ye shall say
the Lord shall be magnified from
the border of Israel. So we have from the
very outset the kind
of book this is. It is a burden.
It is something that is hard to be borne.
The word of God at times will be
convicting.
It will at times be something that steps
on your toes.
It will at times be something that is
offensive to you because you’re
not meeting up with it. It is a burden.
This burden has a ~ a tie in to ~ debts,
such as when the debt collector knocks on
your door and your debts are due,
and he’s going to take.
what you need or he is going to take your
possessions and sell them so
he gets what he needs. Your debts are due.
This is a burden. This is something that
they need to give God.
Because if they don’t, they’re going to
keep straying away further from him.
The the word Malachi, the prophet’s name
here,
there it’s not super detailed if that is a
general name or if that
is a specific name for the person.
Malachi just simply means my messenger.
So this is the same word where in what an
angel would be called
in the Old Testament, Malachi,
my messenger. So he is God’s messenger,
no matter who he is. I mean, that’s the
very thought of inspiration.
He can be one who speaks for God because
he has received inspiration from God.
He is just a messenger of God saying what
they need to hear.
They’ve spent so much time in sin,
this burden has come upon them,
and then they lay this charge before God.
They say, God has not loved them.
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
Did ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?
nothing nope,
that’s even with our limited knowledge of
this prophet,
he was God’s messenger, and he lays this
charge before the people,
wherein that I have loved you.
You haven’t loved me. This accusation
before God is their very problem.
They say God hasn’t loved them,
yet they weren’t the ones not loving God.
They were show they were giving to God
what they were guilty of.
They questioned God’s love because their
love failed.
They didn’t want to love him. They didn’t
want to serve him.
They wanted to be free. They and God lists
just exactly how he has loved them.
How he has cared for them. He says,
Esau was Jacob’s brother, yet I love
Jacob,
and I hated Esau. The Calvinists would
come to this verse and he would say,
You see, that’s the idea of election.
The idea that God specifically chose Jacob
to be saved,
but he chose Esau to be lost. That’s,
of course, not the point of this passage.
That’s not what is being said here.
These are talking about two nations.
You think of Esau.
And you think of Esau when they later they
have already received to some
for f in some form destruction.
They received destruction. They came back.
They thought they were going to be fine.
And then they are wiped out and driven out
of their land about a hundred
BC by the Nabateean Arabians. They were
wiped out.
They were destroyed. They were thrown
down.
They thought they’d build again,
but they were thrown down. They returned,
but then they failed.
God is saying, I destroyed them.
I’m going to keep destroying them.
They’re not going to recover, because they
are a people who are against me.
He’s t but then he looks to Israel.
He says, But y’all have been my chosen
people.
Y’all are the people from whom I intend to
send the Savior.
And you’ve rejected me. You’ve been
against me.
You have not served me. You haven’t done
what I’ve called you to do.
They’ve questioned God’s love,
and now he’s answering.
Even though they’ve been against God,
he has preserved him. Edom received their
judgment.
They were laid waste for the dragons.
That’s of course not literal dragons.
That’s referring to the scavengers of the
wilderness,
or jackals, those things which which eat
the weak.
So it shows the weakness of ~ Edom there,
how they were destroyed so much that even
the smallest scavenging animals could come
and take them.
Edom saith, We’re impoverished,
but we’ll return. All of these things.
These were the people against whom the
Lord hath indignation,
but then he shows that contrast in verse
five.
And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say,
the Lord shall be magnified from the
border of Israel.
So you have the people without God,
the pe and then you have the people with
God.
I can say though that verse five is not
talking about Israel.
It is not talking about the Israel of the
Old Testament.
It is talking about the Israel of the new.
Looking at in the prophetic sense,
looking forward, and looking to that time
when Christ shall be magnified from
the border of spiritual Israel,
looking to all nations, when Christ shall
be,
of course, we are called the Israel of
God.
Galatians 6. We’re those people that we
are that Israel of God.
So it’s not strictly talking about here,
but he’s talking about his love being
shown to them,
how they’ve been chosen for his purposes.
So
Then we come to verse six. This is another
general accusation where he’s looking
at the big picture. And he says there,
A son honoreth his father, and a servant
his master.
If I then be a father, where is my honor?
And if I be a master, where is my fear?
saith the Lord of hosts unto you.
O priest that despise my name,
and ye say, Wherein have we despised thy
name?
So the general accusation is that God is
saying,
I have not received any honor.
I have not received any fear.
I have not received anything but a
despised name.
Of course, honor comes in, that’s the
thought of the what the reverence that
is due to a master. The reverence that is
due because of his position.
Because he is God. He is the one who
should be the Lord of their lives.
He is the one that they should be obedient
to.
But then you have the fear. He should
receive the fear that a judge has.
The one who holds the position of power
and is willing to s and can send
it to you either way. He is the Father.
He is the master. He is the one that
should be honored and feared.
Exodus twenty and verse twelve.
It talks about the honor that God is due.
Exodus twenty and verse twelve.
It says there, honor thy father and their
mother,
that thy days may be long in the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Now, of course, I said this is about the
honor God is due.
Well, in this passage it’s saying,
I need to receive the honor like you would
receive,
give your parents. There was no option
under the Old Testament law
to give your parents honor. If you did
not,
if you decided to continue being
rebellious,
you would be taken to the edge of the
community and you’d be stoned.
I mean, you did not have that option.
So he says, honor thy father and thy
mother,
that thy days might be long. You don’t
have an option to honor God.
You don’t have an option to serve him.
You have to do what he has told you to do.
So this is a can’t command, though.
This is ~ contrary to the normal role of
priests.
The priests were supposed to be those who
showed God the most honor,
that would lead others to show honor to
God.
Yet they have not been given in God’s
servants.
They haven’t been giving God reverence.
They haven’t been giving God the fear he
deserved.
They should be those who are holy,
those who treat God as holy, but they have
been none of the same.
If you turn with me to Leviticus ten,
I think Leviticus ten and verse three is
one of the most summarizing verses
to do with worship. And it’s of course the
problem.
We come to Nadab and Abihu, those two sons
of Aaron.
Who offered strange fire before the Lord.
But verse three tells you the reason why
they failed.
Verse three tells you the problem,
the root cause of why they offered that
worship incorrectly.
And it reads there in Ne in ~ Leviticus
ten one.
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron,
took either of them his censer,
and put fire therein, and put incense
thereon,
and offered strange fire before the Lord,
which he commanded them not. And there
went out fire from the Lord
and devoured them, and they died before
the Lord.
Then Moses and Air Moses said unto Aaron,
This is that that the Lord spake,
saying, I will be sanctified in them that
come nigh to me,
and before all the people I will be
glorified.
And Aaron held his peace.
That word sanctified. Many translations
will instead say,
I will be seen as holy, or I will be
treated as holy.
I will be treated with the position due to
my name because I am God and you are not.
Because I have the authority to tell you
how worship sh ought should be conducted,
how it ought to be conducted, and you do
not.
You simply have to obey my position.
If honor in worship is lost, then
everything can follow can follow.
If you don’t revere God’s position,
then you failed and you will go astray
even further.
Anyone who will not obey the will of God,
anybody who does not do what he told he
does shows the contempt
and shows the despisal toward his name
that is seen in chapter one and verse six.
So we have that general accusation where
he’s laid the broad brush and he’s saying,
You have done all these things to me.
But then in verse 7, he’ll get specific.
And he’ll point out in er specific areas
where he’ll where they have done this.
And this happens through the end of the
chapter.
And even into chapter 2. It says there,
ye offer polluted bread on mine altar.
And ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee?
That ye say the table of the Lord is
condemned.
And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice,
is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame
and the sick,
is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy
governor,
will he be pleased with thee or accept thy
person?
And now I pray you, beseech God that he
will be gracious to unto us.
This hath been by your means. Will he
regard your person,
saith the Lord of hosts? Who is there even
among you that would shut
the doors for naught? Neither do ye kindle
fire on mine altar for naught.
I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord
of hosts.
Neither will I accept an offering at your
hand.
For from the rising of the sun,
even unto the going down of the same,
my name shall be great among the Gentiles.
And in every place incense shall be
offered unto my name,
and a pure offering, for my name shall be
great among the heathen,
saith the Lord of hosts. But ye have
profaned it,
in that ye say the table of the Lord is
polluted,
and the fruit thereof, even is meat,
is contemptible. Ye said also,
Behold, what a weariness is it.
And ye snuffed at it, saith the Lord of
hosts,
and ye brought that which was torn and
lame and sick.
Thus ye brought an offering. Should I
accept this of your hand,
saith the Lord? But cursed be the s
deceiver,
which hath in his flock a male,
and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a
corrupt thing.
For I am a great king, saith the Lord of
hosts,
and my name is dreadful among the heathen.
So he’s saying, What have you done before
me?
You have defiled my sacrifices.
You have f defiled those things which I am
do.
They offered polluted bread. This is bread
of this is the grain which has spoiled.
Perhaps the ~ weevils have gotten in and
infested it.
Perhaps the it has gotten some water in it
and it has turned sour and
it has turned bad. It is something that
they did not want for themselves,
so they said, We’re gonna give it to God.
The problem, they’ve given God the scraps.
They’ve just given him the outer bit,
the bit that they don’t want, the bit that
they don’t need,
the bit that they say it’s not worth
anything.
They’ve polluted his offering.
But unauthorized worship shows contempt
for God,
who orders how to worship. It shows
contempt for God because they’ve polluted
this
thing. They’ve said that God is not worth
anything by offering what’s wrong,
the wrong thing. They’ve polluted it.
The table of the Lord’s contemptible.
They didn’t want to sacrifice,
so they scorned God.
Of course, you can think of this problem
and you think it’s not we don’t
d we don’t normally offer we don’t offer
these kind of sacrifices.
We don’t offer these kind of things.
Well, we see across the New Testament that
what the worship we do offer,
if we apply this principle that worship
should be should be worth something,
is that our worship should come as a
actual sacrifice.
It should not come as something which is
contemptible.
Something where we just give the scraps,
but we give God our very best.
Hebrews thirteen and verse fifteen,
let by him therefore Let us offer the
sacrifice of praise unto God,
the sacrifice of praise which is the fruit
of our lips,
giving thanks to his name. That sacrifice
that we’re supposed to give is praise,
and it’s song, it’s something which is
giving thanks to him,
of course.
It’s something that also is identified in
Ephesians five and verse nineteen
as that which teaches and admonishes one
another.
It’s something that he is due and
something that he is worthy of.
And when we sing to him, it’s something
that should come as a sacrifice.
It should be something that we actually
put our energy into,
something that we show that he is worthy
of praise,
so I’m going to give him my very best.
Even if it might not sound good,
I’m giving him my best. I’m giving him
that which takes energy.
I’m giving him that which shows how much I
love him and how much I’m willing
to put forth for him. It reads in verse 8
And if you offer the blind
for a sacrifice, is it not evil?
You offer the lame and the sick,
is it not evil? False worship is called
evil.
It’s not only it’s not only wrong,
it’s not only not following the explicit
commands of God,
but it’s evil. It’s not right in his
sight.
God gave the specific instructions.
He gave the specific s instructions not to
offer these things.
But they have done so anyways.
They’ve he said there in verse A,
Offer it now unto thy governor.
You think he he’s saying,
if you offer these very things to your
physical governor,
and you say, This is my this is my bit for
you,
I’m going to give you my blind cow.
I’m going to give you my cow that just got
eaten by an animal.
I’m going to give you my cow that just had
that was just lame.
It broke its leg and it’s barely
functioning.
I’m going to give you this disgusting
animal and I’m going to say,
eat it. It’s like a ribeye. I mean,
it might taste pretty good, but it’s not
the best.
It’s not what God is saying. He’s saying,
you need to give me what is unblemished,
what is perfect, what is spotless,
that which I have required of you,
that sacrifice which he deserves.
We don’t generally
Eat roadkill. And we normally don’t
especially serve it to others.
I know there probably are some exceptions,
but as a general rule, that’s not
something we do.
Well, this is the very same thing.
I’m going to take roadkill, that which is
worth nothing,
that which costs nothing, and I’m going to
give to God.
That’s of course not what he wants,
and that’s not what he required of them.
So they’ve they’ve contempted sh they’ve
shown contempt for the worship of God.
He’s not going to accept their person,
though.
The the governor wouldn’t and God is not
doing the same.
second Samuel twenty four twenty four.
Of course, David of is offering a
sacrifice there.
And he is offered the threshing floor and
he’s offered the ~ the s the
~ cattle and the sacrifices. But David
makes this declaration How shall
I give to God that which doth cost me
nothing?
We cannot give God what costs us nothing,
and we should not give him what costs us
nothing,
because God is very specific in what he
wants.
He wants a sacrifice.
He wants our best. It’s verse 9.
He says, And I pray you, beseech God that
he will be gracious unto us.
This hath been by your means will he
regard your person,
saith the Lord of hosts. There is a couple
of possible ~ meanings to this verse.
It’s translated a few different ways,
but generally it’s it is this very thought
that happens in the King James.
It’s beseech God that he will be gracious
unto us.
Essentially saying,
You have beseeched God, you want grace,
you want forgiveness, but you’re offering
these things.
But you’ve profaned my offering.
He’s withholding forgiveness because
they’re not coming before him purely,
and they’re not coming before him
correctly.
But there’s also the translations where
you’ve come before him,
if only you would come before me and
offer.
~ if only you would come before me
correctly,
you can have this forgiveness.
There’s a cup so there’s a couple of
different thoughts there.
~ but the main thought the either one of
those it’s the case where they cannot come
before God until they’ve repented of the
sin.
First Timothy two and verse eight says,
I would therefore that men pray
everywhere,
lifting up holy hands without wrath and
doubting.
The hands of the person who offers worship
to God should be those that are holy.
It should be those that are clean.
It should not be hands that are corrupted
by sin,
but it should be those who got that God
can say,
That is a holy man coming before me,
right before me, and I’m going to accept
his worship.
So their worship is not that way.
They have not been holy. God will not hear
the person who worships according
to his own desires. Verse ten
Who is even there among you that would
shut the doors for naught?
Neither do you kindle fire on my altar for
naught.
I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord
of hosts.
Neither will I accept an offering at your
hand.
So he says, Is there even one among you
who would do it for nothing?
They were so driven the King James renders
this in such a way where it’s saying they
are so driven by gain, they are so driven
by the what they can make out of the deal,
that they are unwilling to offer if they
don’t get a cutback.
These priests are not saying, What can I
give God?
They’re saying, What can I take?
They’re self-seeking, they’re
self-um-growing.
They would not shut even shut the doors of
the tabernacle without pay.
~ But the I will say the American standard
and some other versions issue this kind
of a different way. It says there,
that there were one among you who would
shut the doors that ye might
not kindle fire on my altar in vain.
Essentially saying.
It y’all are so corrupt, y’all are so
wrong that I wish you’d wouldn’t even try.
I wish you’d just shut the doors and not
kindle fire on my altar in vain.
Cause he doesn’t have pleasure in them.
There is of course you can take either one
from this.
You can say either one matches the
context.
It’s just a matter of r the rendering in
in the translation.
They wouldn’t do anything for naught.
Any any worship that’s polluted will not
be accepted,
of course.
in this place of sin, God would accept
nothing they would give.
They’re they’re they’re in the wrong.
They can’t do anything to get out because
they have done this wrong.
But, verse eleven, here’s another of the
prophetic turns of
who would be accepted by God in the time
to come.
It says therefore that from the for from
the rising of the sun even
to the going down in the same,
my name shall be great.
Among the Gentiles. And in every place,
incense shall be offered unto my name,
and a pure offering, for my name shall be
great among the heathen,
saith the Lord of hosts. So the
unlikeliest of people would be those
who worship God acceptably. If you think
of the Jews,
they looked at themselves and they saw
themselves as the best.
They saw themselves as the holiness,
and they were in a special covenant
relationship with God.
Yet they were offering corrupt.
things. And God’s saying, I’m not going to
keep with you.
Y’all will not be my special people.
It will be the Gentiles. Of course this
can look be looked forward to into
the ~ into Acts ten, whenever he the
gospel of course comes to the Gentiles,
where they can now offer to God
acceptably.
They can worship God acceptably.
You think of Romans eleven where the
Gentiles have been grafted into the true
vine,
how they have been brought into the
kingdom,
how into Ephesians two, how that ~
The veil has been torn down. There is no
more division between Jew and Gentile,
because we are all one in one body.
That’s of course the mystery where God
would have all people in the same body,
that we are all on equal footing in the
same covenant,
that we can all offer sacrifices before
Him together.
Every place incense shall be offered.
If you look with me at John chapter 4,
John 4. Of course.
This is that chapter John 4, 24,
God is a spirit, and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth.
We’re looking at that universal kingdom.
And it says, I believe it’s verse 21.
me find it. Jesus saith unto him,
Believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall
neither worship in this mountain mountain,
nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father.
You worship you know not what,
for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour
cometh when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth,
for the Father seeketh such to worship
him.
Every place ancient shall be offered.
Every place pure incense shall be offered
in my name.
A pure offering. This is not looking at
the Jewish covenant.
But it’s looking at the universal kingdom,
where everywhere that the people are
worshiping in spirit and in truth,
people are worshiping purely, people are
worshiping right before God,
they have done this, and they shall be
accepted and God will be pleased with
them.
But ye have profaned it. So there’s the
pure offering,
looking forward. He says, But you’ve
profaned it.
You’re not these people. You’re not the
Gentiles who will offer this acceptable
offering. They were supposed to be the
examples to the world,
but instead they allowed themselves to be
influenced by it.
They allowed themselves to be influenced
by the deceitfulness of sin,
the deceitfulness of dishonest game.
They said the table of the Lord’s refuge,
the fruit thereof, even his meat,
referring to grain, is contemptible.
Behold, what a weariness is it.
When worship grows weary,
there’s a problem. When worship becomes an
obligation,
something I just simply have to do beside
and not something that I want to do.
And not something that I see as something
due to God,
not something that I see him as deserving
of,
there’s a problem. If I just had to do it,
if there’s no pleasure in God’s worship,
and it’s just a burden to bear.
And I have a poor me attitude about it,
there’s a problem.
There’s a difference in the attitude of
the Christian who says,
I have to be there. I want to be there.
I can’t not be there. And the Christian
who says,
I just have to do it. I know it’s an
obligation.
I’m going to check it off my list and go
on about my week.
There should be a willingness and there
should be a desire to come and worship
him.
They saw it as a weariness, though.
They were led astray
by accepting when sorry.
They says there, and ye have snuffed at
it,
saith the Lord of hosts. There’s a thought
there where it’s almost referring
to how ~ they’ve accepted what they
shouldn’t have accepted.
They led others astray by accepting what
those false sacrifices that were brought
to him. So they let people bring that
which was torn,
and they let people bring that which was
lame,
and they let people bring that which was
sick.
Thus ye brought an offering.
Should I accept this out of your hand,
saith the Lord? If you were in God’s
place,
would you want it? Would you accept the
torn?
Would you accept that which was the worst?
Would you accept that which didn’t have
any value to it?
Pri priests were supposed to know,
and they were supposed to be those who
corrected and rejected the offerings.
Instead, they accepted it and led others
astray.
Instead they accepted the what was wrong
and said that’s good enough,
we’ll give it to God.
But verse fourteen, this is a of course a
very harsh remind this
is a very harsh ~ statement. But cursed be
the deceiver,
which hath in his flock a male and voweth
and sacrificeth unto the Lord
a corrupt thing. For I am the great king,
saith the Lord of hosts, and my name shall
be dreadful among the heathen.
Cursed be the deceiver. You can’t deceive
God.
God sees everything, God knows everything.
God can s God, of course, knows our
Hearts. ~ Hebrews four and verse thirteen.
He know he knows us. He sees everything.
~ Numbers thirty-two thirty-three.
Be sure your sin will find you out.
God knows where they have gone wrong.
He knows that they are trying to hide what
they have from him and just saying,
I’ll give you this because it’s something.
God’s not going to accept it. He it is not
right before him.
They try to appear holy. They try to
appear that they’re right
in vowing and sacrificing, but instead
they’re unholy.
Because they’ve just done this because
they
have to get rid of an animal, just because
they have to do these things.
Though they had implied it mm,
I don’t know what that note means.
They recognized God’s power.
The heathen recognized God’s power.
And they recognized God’s judgment.
And the people of God didn’t. There’s a
problem there.
So we look at chapter one. We’ve looked at
chapter one,
the corrupt offering, the wrong offering,
that which
They’ve offered God that which was sinful,
that which they didn’t want themselves,
just giving God the worst. So,
of course, we have the obvious application
to us.
Are we giving God our worst? Are we giving
him what he is due?
Are we giving him what he desires and what
he has required of us?
Or are we simply giving him whatever we
have?
Just the scraps. Just the polluted.
Just that which was torn and that which is
worthless.
We need to give him our best.
We need to be sure that when we come
before him,
we’re clean ourselves. And then when we do
that,
we are going to come and we’re going to
sing,
give him our best. And we’re going to come
and we’re going to give to
him and give him the best that we can.
Give to him the best we can. And then
we’re going to come and when we think
of the Lord’s Supper, we’re going to give
him all of our attention.
We’re going to think on the sacrifice of
the Savior,
what he has given to me. I’m going to
examine myself and then I’m going
to look out I’m going to look outward and
I’m going to look at the cross
and I’m going to see the great cost of sin
there.
And then I’m gonna look to my brother,
because there is an outward element to it.
We’re partaking of it together.
He fought all of us. And when I listen to
the sermon,
I’m gonna be attentive. I’m gonna give him
all my attention.
I’m gonna give him what he deserves,
ultimately. Because God is worthy of our
worship.
I forgot one. When we pray, of course we
need to be partaking in that together.
We need to be praying just as the man up
here is praying.
We need to echo that in our minds,
think about those very things.
So chapter two. Chapter one, of course,
talked about the corrupt offering.
Chapter two is about the wicked
priesthood.
They are corrupt. It says there in verse
one,
and now, O priests, this commandment is
for you.
The priests were those who are corrupt.
They were as bad as anyone else.
It says there if you will not hear,
and you will not lay at heart,
to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord
of hosts,
I will even send a curse upon you,
and I will curse your blessings.
I will cur I have cursed them already,
because you did not lay it to heart.
They already knew God’s law. They were
already those who should have known God’s
law, that they were guilty of the very
sins that they should have known.
They have ch exchanged what God has
exchanged what was good and that which
was profitable for them for that which was
bad,
that which they will not enjoy.
It’s like r it’s like switching a feast
for a famine.
I mean it’s the very opposite.
They have they were being blessed and now
they’re being cursed.
You can think of the ~ mountain of
blessing and cursing,
those two things. They were on Ebal and
Garasim.
One said the blessings, one said the
cursings.
Those cursings were of course so much more
plentiful.
I think it was like Deuteronomy twenty
eight,
where that’s being mentioned. How there
was the cursings and there
was the blessings. They had the
opportunity to be blessed.
All they had to do was follow God,
do what he has said to them. And then you
have the cursings.
Where if they walked away from God,
if they decided to not follow his law,
they knew the punishment. They knew they
would stop being blessed
and that they would be cursed by him.
And yet they knew and then they did it
anyway.
This is the time for them to come back.
If they didn’t come back, it would be too
late.
Because you do not lay it to heart.
They weren’t applying the reality that the
judgment was coming.
They didn’t apply the reality that they
were not going to j keep getting away with
it, that it was going to come against
them.
It says there, Behold, I will corrupt your
seed.
Their crops would fail. Ten percent would
not be enough.
~ I don’t know what I meant by that.
~ he says there, I will spread dung on
your faces,
even the dung of your solemn feast.
I’ll spread the trash, I’ll spread that
which is worthless,
and one shall take you away with it.
~ so they are going to be not only that,
but they are going to be removed.
The priesthood will be removed.
This is talking about their humiliation.
They’re going to be upho they’re going to
be taken out,
and they’re going to be replaced with a
priesthood that is better.
So if you think of that happening,
you look at Hebrews 7. Look at that better
priesthood.
How Christ has taken a part in that better
priesthood.
He has taken, he is a priest after the
order of Melchizedek.
That priesthood that gave that priesthood
that was gave a blessing
to Levi in Hebrews 7. That priesthood that
gave that Levi gave tithes through
to through Abraham. That priesthood that
is of more value.
So they were replaced by a better
priesthood.
And that’s being alluded to in verse 3.
One shall take you away with it.
And ye shall know that I have sent this
commandment unto you,
set the covenant, that might be let me try
to read that again.
And ye shall know that I have sent this
commandment unto you,
that my covenant might be with Levi,
saith the Lord of hosts. They he said,
I know what you’re supposed to be.
You’re supposed to be that you’re supposed
to be one who follows my covenant,
just like Levi was. But now you’ve gone
away.
Levi is a picture of the ideal priest.
A picture of the one who is best,
the picture of the one who what the priest
was supposed to be.
verses five through seven, there are
eleven attributes of the priest,
of the correct priest, of God’s ideal
priest.
And I would even say that these are
attributes that the Christian should
be possessing, that we should have
ourselves.
It says there, reading verses five through
seven,
My covenant was with him of life and
peace,
and I gave them to him for the fear
wherewith he feared me,
and was afraid before my name.
The law of truth was in his mouth,
and iniquity was not found in his lips.
He walketh with me in peace, equity,
and to turn many away from the truth,
from or from iniquity. For the priest lips
should seek keep knowledge,
and they should seek the law at his mouth,
for he is a messenger of the Lord of
hosts.
So eleven attributes. You see the first
one he feared God.
He had respect for him. He gave God what
he the reverence that he was due.
He said, There was afraid before my name.
He knew God’s holiness. He knew God’s
position.
Let’s Leviticus ten and verse three.
The law of truth was in his mouth.
He was, of course, that means he would be
knowledgeable in the Word of God,
but he would also be able to speak it to
others.
He would be able to share to others what
was the truth.
And iniquity was not found in his lips.
Not only was the law of truth in his
mouth,
iniquity wasn’t there wasn’t there.
It had changed him and it had molded him
to where he is not one
who spoke against God. He did not speak
against man.
He didn’t curse the men around him,
but instead he blessed them. He was one
who was right in the sight of God.
He walked with me in peace. So first he
walked with God.
He followed his ways. He looked to himself
and saw where he needed to improve,
saw where he needed to change.
He walked with me in peace, meaning he was
pleasant.
He was right. He was he was ~ gentle.
He was one who was you wanted to be
around.
He walked in equity, which means he’s fair
and he’s equal.
He’s not unjust. He’s not going to take
more than he.
that more than he deserves, but he is
simply going to be fair and equal.
Think of business dealings, right?
You y if you’re fair and you’re equal and
you’re right,
you’re not one who does horse trading.
You’re not one who takes and tries to pass
off what’s fake and what’s not real.
Instead you’re gonna give the what exactly
what you promised.
He said he turned many away from iniquity.
He warned others of the judgment coming.
He turned many away from evil of iniquity.
~ there is harm that will take place,
and he knew of that harm if they stop
following God.
But he warned them of it. He warned them
that these are not things you want to
take,
take part in. For the priest should seek
knowledge.
Of course, this is the word of God.
They should seek knowledge, they could
should seek discernment of God’s word,
they should seek what is like right.
And not only should the priest have sought
it,
but people should be able to go to him and
say,
What does this mean?
And they should seek the law at his mouth.
He can explain the law to me. He knows it.
He’s a student of the Word of God.
For he is the messenger of the Lord of
hosts.
He is known for being God’s man and God’s
spokesman.
Think of which of those should not be the
case for us.
Which of those should not be the case.
That we know the Word of God, we’re able
to tell it to others,
we’re able to show people what they need.
We are under an obligation, of course,
to progress, to grow.
In Christ, and to grow in knowledge.
We should do that very thing, where we can
be God’s spokesman,
we can point others to him. It says there,
verse 8, though. It says, But ye are
departed out of my way.
You have caused many to stumble at the
law,
and you have corrupted the covenant of
Levi,
saith the Lord of hosts. These are the
very opposite of all of those things.
They’re supp the priesthood ha he said,
This is my model priest. This is what you
should be.
Compare yourself to it.
You have not followed it. You’re the very
opposite.
You’ve departed out of this way.
They were supposed to be right.
They were supposed to be good,
but instead they’ve been a stumbling
block.
They’ve want they have caused many to not
want to follow the law because they’re
so corrupt. Think of it. You’re not you
when you look at the government
and some things that they’re practicing,
you’re a little less willing to pay taxes,
right? So it’s the very same thing.
If you’re if you of course we do so
anyway,
or at least you should. ~ but
When you see the corruption you’re less
willing to give.
And such is the same way. They have
corrupted the offering and they’ve caused
many
to stumble and not want to come to in
worship.
The ideal priest would be right and they’d
be good.
They have corrupted the covenant.
They’ve done wrong. So to summarize as we
close,
so we’ve seen the corrupt offering.
We’ve seen the very general accusation of
the false priesthood,
the one who is not right before God,
the one who has done wrong, who is
offering a corrupt offering.
How these people have changed their lives,
they are not right in the sight of God,
and because of that, God is not going to
accept them.
And he’s even mentioned that they are
leading others astray when they’re doing
the same.
So learn from the Book of Malachi.
It’s a great book and one I highly
recommend studying.
Thank you for
