Malachi 2

[00:00:00] You were listening to the through the Bible's studio series with Pastor Nate Holdridge.

[00:00:06] Join us as we continue our study through the Old Testament book of Malachi.

[00:00:12] Here's Nate.

[00:00:13] Well, in Malachi chapter 2, God continues the theme that he'd started in the first chapter,

[00:00:21] really where he is speaking directly into the lives of the priesthood.

[00:00:27] And for that reason, Malachi chapter 2 is really a wonderful chapter sort of concerning God's school of ministry.

[00:00:36] What God is expecting of his spiritual leadership and what he was expecting of the priesthood

[00:00:44] as they oversaw the nation of Israel and taught them and ministered to them.

[00:00:50] And as I stated in chapter 1, the time now in Israel is very dark time.

[00:00:57] Jesus will come in the future as the light of the Gentiles, but we're still, you know, four to five hundred years away from that moment.

[00:01:08] And so here in Malachi, you're four or five hundred years away from the coming of Christ and his first coming in the gospels.

[00:01:17] And so this is a dark time in Israel awaiting the light of the Gentiles to come.

[00:01:23] And so we saw in chapter 1, God addressing the people, then the priesthood and then the people and the priesthood together.

[00:01:31] And now we see the priests being addressed once again.

[00:01:36] And he's going to talk of some of the brokenness found in the spiritual leadership.

[00:01:41] And I think in many ways, this chapter is very applicable in our modern era because in the modern visible church, we have great issues.

[00:01:50] You know, any time that you have homosexual, church, leadership, clergy, molesting children, sexual immorality in the pastoral.

[00:02:02] And so, in the past, this time that these elements are rampant and common or at least are reported commonly amongst us, you know that there are issues.

[00:02:13] And so God is looking for men and women of character.

[00:02:17] And in leadership of his church, the eldership, he's looking for men who are willing to walk with God.

[00:02:25] In 1 Timothy 3, 1 through 7, God gives his requirements for the pastorate.

[00:02:31] Interesting because there's one ability that is needed. He must be able to communicate, to teach the word of God.

[00:02:39] He must have that ability.

[00:02:41] But everything else is character driven, not a drunkard, not violent, gentle, not coralsome, not a lover of money, a good manager of his household, above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober minded, self-control, respectable, hospitable.

[00:03:00] But these are the things that an elder is supposed to have in his life. He's supposed to be a good man.

[00:03:07] And so, if I said to say that in Malachi chapter 2, we discover that the priesthood was far from that kind of requirement from God.

[00:03:15] They were a carnal group who were corrupting the worship of God. And here's the deal.

[00:03:22] The priests and the people at that time were wondering, where is the blessing of God?

[00:03:29] Where is the favor of God? Where are 100 years now removed from the Babylonian captivity?

[00:03:37] And it seems as if God has forgotten about us.

[00:03:41] In the middle of breaking his covenant and making a mess of things and giving themselves to all forms of immorality,

[00:03:49] it's an astonishing thing that they're actually wondering at the blessing of God and wondering where it is.

[00:03:58] Of course, it's not with them. They were operating in disobedience.

[00:04:02] And so here in chapter 2 we start out with God pronouncing the reason for his curses upon them. He says, now, oh priests, this command is for you.

[00:04:15] And so he's addressing the priests once again. And he gives them this command, which is obviously stemming from the love of God.

[00:04:26] Like a parent yelling at their child to stop when they're running towards a busy intersection.

[00:04:33] So God gives this command to his religious leaders, his spiritual leaders because of his deep love for them and the people.

[00:04:41] He says, verse 2, if you will not listen. If you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings.

[00:04:56] And so the Lord tells them to give honor to his name, less a curse should fall upon them.

[00:05:03] And any describes that curse in verse 2 through 4. Now, to us perhaps in our modern era, the phrase curse or the word curse coming from the lips of God is a mysterious idea to us.

[00:05:18] But the mosaic covenant that God had made with the people of Israel, it had included curses for those who disobeyed the law.

[00:05:28] There were blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. And the thing that seems obvious is that God had been so faithful to be quick to bring the blessings and slow to bring the curses.

[00:05:45] I mean, even the 70 year captivity in Babylon. The reason that it was a 70 year captivity is that every 7 years the people were supposed to give the land a rest. They weren't supposed to harvest plant crops. They were supposed to allow the land a rest every 7 years.

[00:06:05] For 490 years, they refused to give the land that covenantal rest. And so after 490 years God said, okay, that's for every 7 years that's 70 years.

[00:06:21] Now that you should have been letting the land rest during those 490 years. And so now I'm going to force you out of the Promised Land so that this land can rest for a period of 70 years.

[00:06:37] But notice that it took God 490 years to bring that judgment upon them. In other words, when it came to the curse portion of the covenant, God was always slower than in the blessing portion of the covenant.

[00:06:53] And so God says to them, He says, listen, if you're going to continue to do this and continue to dison or my name, then I will send that curse.

[00:07:03] And I will curse your blessings. Now what he means by that is a little ambiguous. I'm not sure that I know entirely what he means when he says that I will curse your blessings, perhaps he's referring to their income, the tides and the offerings, or perhaps the blessings that they would pronounce on the people when the people would come to worship.

[00:07:24] But somehow this curse would affect this thing called their blessings. Many goes on and says, in verse 2, indeed I have already cursed them because you do not lay it to heart.

[00:07:36] Behold, I will rebuk your offspring. And so the second part of this curse is a rebuk on their seed, on their physical descendants, God was going to judge them.

[00:07:51] And then he says, and spread done on your faces, the done of your offerings and you shall be taken away with it. And so here this is a drastic and graphic rebuk from God.

[00:08:06] He's saying, listen, you're going to offer these offerings to me and it will be like done that I will spread on your faces. This is wasteful stuff and it will not be received by me. It will be taken away.

[00:08:19] So verse 4, shall you know that I have sent this command to you that my covenant would leave by may stand, says the Lord of hosts. In other words, to keep his covenant that he had promised God had to eventually bring this curse upon them.

[00:08:39] Now obviously God is saying all of this in order to promote an attitude and atmosphere of repentance in the nation. But backtrack with me if you will, to verse 2, because there is where we see the actual root problem within the nation and it was simply an honor problem. He says on verse 2, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name.

[00:09:07] They had a lot of other things happening. We saw in chapter 1 that they had hypocrisy looming they weren't reciprocating the love of God.

[00:09:18] We'll see continually in this chapter that they had inner marriage taking place and forbidden marriage happening empty sacrifices we've already seen.

[00:09:29] They were teaching a very loose moralism and lifestyle. These were the evidences so to speak of a greater problem.

[00:09:39] They were the branches so to speak, but the root was very simple. They had not honored God.

[00:09:47] And so the root of the problem for them was a lack of honor towards God. They asked Jesus, what is the greatest of all the commandments?

[00:09:57] And he said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul with all your mind.

[00:10:04] And so the most important thing is an honor within the heart of God's people. The real just love and devotion and fascination with who he is and what he's done.

[00:10:16] It's one reason that I loved to perpetually preach the cross of Christ.

[00:10:21] Because I want that heroic work to be so embedded within the hearts of the people that I teach, that there would be this response with honor or of honor to the Lord.

[00:10:32] A real reverence and respect and gladness and fear of Him.

[00:10:38] And so the Lord rebukes the root problem inside of them. They had not honored the Lord and the curse God says is coming.

[00:10:50] My covenant verse 5 was, my covenant with Him was one of life and peace. And I gave it to them. It was a covenant of fear and he feared me.

[00:11:02] He stood in awe of my name.

[00:11:06] And so God now here is going to describe the covenant that he had made. He'd already spoken to them of the curse that was coming,

[00:11:15] but here he talked of the covenant and sort of the original relationship that he had with Levi and with the priesthood.

[00:11:23] And he says, you know, my covenant with him was one of life and was one of peace. You know the covenant was a hopeful covenant where the grace of God was available to man.

[00:11:36] And so God then describes what Levi used to look like with the priesthood used to look like when they were walking in the blessings of the covenant, not the curses.

[00:11:51] And the first thing that he mentions is, he stood in awe of my name, the end of verse 5. He stood in awe of my name.

[00:12:01] Like I said, this chapter really is a great school of ministry from God and just his requirements for his spiritual leadership.

[00:12:11] First thing that you see here is just a real reverence for God. He stood in awe of my name.

[00:12:17] And so I think this indicates to us that spiritual leadership within the body of Christ, we are to be the model worshippers for and in the church.

[00:12:29] Not that we are faking it, not that we're hypocritical in our worship but that there is a real true devotion and love for God deep inside of our hearts. You know one of the things that kills ministry so quickly.

[00:12:45] And in some cases so slowly but surely is an attitude or an air of professionalism.

[00:12:53] You know when you forget the reality that you're serving the living God, when you forget that God is worthy of your honor and your devotion.

[00:13:04] Just begin to go through the motions and a very professional kind of way. Here what we see is that a servant of God must revered God. He says in verse 5 that he stood in awe of my name.

[00:13:19] And this really is what it's all about. You know I spend a lot of time teaching young men and and discipling young men in ministry areas, you know trying to help those that are wanting to plant churches or our planting churches.

[00:13:37] I try to spend as much time as I can with young men like that and you know you can teach all of these different practical things and take a look at the nuts and bolts and the how-to's.

[00:13:50] But at the end of the day if there is no fear or reverence or awe of God, then it's all for not. He says in Psalm 111 verse 10 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

[00:14:06] And so this reverence for God within the spiritual leadership and if you desire to lead anything for the cause of Christ, your family, your friendships, your marriage.

[00:14:18] If you desire to serve the Lord in ministry, ministering within the context of the body of Christ or reaching out to the world and awe of God, fear of the Lord must be deep within your heart.

[00:14:31] And he says verse 6, he says, true instruction was in his mouth. True instruction was in his mouth. And so we see here also that a servant of God must commit to the truth of God's word.

[00:14:48] In other words, he believes the Bible to be the inspired and infallible word of God. He doesn't communicate his personal preference. No true instruction was in his mouth.

[00:15:05] It's so important for us to be men, you know, spiritual leaders and women who are willing to communicate the truth of God's word. He says in verse 6, and no wrong was found on his lips.

[00:15:21] You know, it's so fascinating to me how rare just the simple teaching of God's word is. It's one of the reasons that I'm so zealous towards teaching in this format through the entirety of God's word.

[00:15:37] It's valuable, it's lovely, it must be communicated through instruction was in his mouth. God says of Levi, you know, just the beauty of the word of God.

[00:15:50] I get so sad when I hear messages that are so human-centered and where the Bible is being used, but it's not a Bible message. I just prefer the simple proclamation of God's word.

[00:16:08] He says of Levi, says he walks with me in peace and up-rightness. Peace and up-rightness. He had a godly character in practice.

[00:16:20] So the servant of God, you know, must reveregod, must commit to the truth of God's word. But he must have godly character and practice inside of his life. It's amazing to me how quickly this is dismissed by so many.

[00:16:35] You know, no real glance or look into the personal life of a minister or a ministry team. I know here in the church that I'm serving in, this is a big part of what we do. We're not here to police each other or to constantly look over each other's backs, but we are constantly trying to do things to encourage amongst the eldership,

[00:17:02] a strong walk with God, godly character and godly practice. And, you know, just checking in on each other, checking in on our wives and our marriages and our home and making sure that things are healthy and things are right.

[00:17:19] And so a servant of God must have godly character and practice. Paul told Timothy, he said, command and teach these things. First Timothy 411 and 12, let no one despise you. He says for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct and love and faith impurity.

[00:17:40] And so the godly man or woman, the spiritual leader must be an exemplary godly character and have strong character and strong practice for in the Lord.

[00:17:55] And so I think it's important for God's leaders and leadership to take a good look at their personal walks with him and are they walking in peace and uprightness as Levi had.

[00:18:08] Number 7, he says for the lips of a priest should guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

[00:18:22] So as much as the servant of God must commit to the truth of God's word and he must have instruction in his mouth. He also has this real deep sense within him that he is communicating on behalf of God. Notice that in verse 7, he says for the lips of a priest should guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth.

[00:18:45] He has got to be a pure vessel because he is communicating on behalf of God. And so this is more than just simple conveyance of a message. This is the preaching of God's word, the communicating on behalf of God himself as Paul said to Timothy, he says,

[00:19:06] to devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have which was given you by prophecy when the Council of Elders laid their hands on you practice these things immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress.

[00:19:24] I live in this information age, but even in this information age preaching the word of God is still popular. Martin Luther said it like this, he said certainly, God could with his spirit instruct and justify those whom he would.

[00:19:42] But it has pleased his wisdom more to instruct and justify those who believe through the foolishness of preaching. The word is the channel through which the Holy Spirit is given.

[00:19:55] This is a passage against those who hold spoken word and contempt. The lips are the public reservoirs of the church, and them alone is kept the word of God.

[00:20:06] Unless the word is preached publicly, it slips away. The more it is preached, the more firmly it is retained. Reading it is not as profitable as hearing it.

[00:20:17] For the live voice teaches, exhorts, defends and resists the spirit of error. Satan does not care a hoot for the written word of God, but he flees at the speaking of the word. This penetrates hearts and leads back those who stray.

[00:20:35] I don't know that I would fully agree. Satan does give a hoot concerning the written word of God, but I understand the point that Luther is trying to make. He's just simply saying, listen there is power in the spoken word of God and Satan hates it.

[00:20:50] God loves it and we must be proclaimers of his truth. People should seek instruction from the mouth of the spiritual leadership that God has set in place.

[00:21:02] God clarifies his covenant and describes what a healthy spiritual leadership looks like.

[00:21:09] But, verse 8, he says, you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many distumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi's as the Lord of hosts.

[00:21:20] And so I make you despise and abased before all the people. And as much as you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your instruction.

[00:21:32] And so God announces to these leaders he says, listen, you are not doing what I've asked you to do. You're not as the spiritual leaders of old.

[00:21:42] You have actually caused people to stumble. And we know that in the last days, we're going to see this more and more because Paul told Timothy and second Timothy for three, the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching years they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

[00:22:07] And so it's so important for us, as he said in verse 5 of that chapter, to always be sober-minded and do our suffering, do the work of an evangelist and fulfill your ministry.

[00:22:19] And so faithfulness to the Word of God, faithfulness to the gospel message, the work of an evangelist.

[00:22:26] Now he turns his attention in verse 10 once again to the people. And deals with them, especially regarding the sin of intermarriage. He says, have not all one father.

[00:22:39] Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithfulist to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

[00:22:48] Judah has been faithfulist and a bombination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profained the sanctuary of the Lord which he loves.

[00:22:59] And has married the daughter of a foreign God. And so the intermarriage here that's being spoken of is an idolatrous worship of foreign gods.

[00:23:09] May the Lord cut off from the tense of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts.

[00:23:17] And so this had been a common problem in Israel, the intermarriage with pagan women but also the intermarriage with pagan gods. A major problem for God's people.

[00:23:31] And in verse 12, God announces the part of the consequence when he says, may the Lord cut off from the tense of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this.

[00:23:41] And so who tries to bring an offering to the Lord of hosts? You know, if you're going to act hypocritically worship a false God and still offer God a sacrifice, then God will cut you off.

[00:23:54] And the second thing you do, he says verse 13, you cover the Lord's alters with tears with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.

[00:24:06] They are weeping and mowning over the lack of God's acceptance of their sacrifice. And God says, listen, this is just the consequence of your sin. Stop crying.

[00:24:19] Be faithful in your marriage to me. Stop begging me to bless you. Just go and fulfill the covenant that you are required to fulfill. Put away the false worship.

[00:24:32] These are crocodiles here, so to speak. This is the sorrow of the world. They weren't receiving the blessing of God any longer. And so they wept over it rather than weeping over their sin.

[00:24:43] But you say verse 14, why does he not? Why does he not receive our offering? Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth to whom you have been faithless.

[00:24:57] Though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. So there was a faithfulness here in them. And again, I think that this faithfulness to the wife of their covenant was both a faithlessness to God in abandoning him and worshiping pagan gods and marrying themselves to pagan gods. But also a disregard for the wife of their youth that their actual wives. They were divorcing them left and right.

[00:25:26] Did verse 15, he not make them one with a portion of the spirit in their union. And what was the one God seeking godly offspring?

[00:25:39] And so the Lord declares he says, listen, in that marriage you were made one and I was seeking godly offspring. You were one flesh. This was a covenant that had been made.

[00:25:53] There was a oneness with god and a oneness with your spouse. But you broke it off. So guard yourselves verse 15, so guard yourselves in your spirit and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

[00:26:08] For the man who does not love his wife but divorce his her says the Lord, the God of Israel covers his garment with violence says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not be faithless.

[00:26:23] Now in verse 15 and 16, there are a few different translation issues and problems is just a difficult little section to understand perhaps even you as you read it in your Bible. You see all of these little notes and footnotes and asterists or whatever indicating alternate translations.

[00:26:46] It says in Malachi 216 in the NASB, for I hate divorce says the Lord and the NIV says the man who hates and divorces his wife says the Lord the God of Israel.

[00:26:59] There's a question of exactly what is being said but it's very clear from this text that God does hate divorce. It's breaking a covenant. It is harmful to the family and therefore to society.

[00:27:13] And it breaks the type that God has set between Christ and the church. And it covers verse 16, his garment with violence.

[00:27:23] The church in the Old Testament was pictured as a garment, a covering, protective kind of thing. And so when you take a marriage and break it apart you have taken the thing that is supposed to be protective from violence and you have made it a violent thing. The very place where you're supposed to find protection you actually find hurt.

[00:27:45] So although God allows divorce in particular circumstances, he never commands it. Although he allows it in the realm of adultery and desertion by an unbelieving spouse.

[00:28:00] God does not require it and to him unhappiness differences in compatibility are never a reason to be divorced. And so God is announcing his deep heart that these people would remain committed to their covenants to one another and they're covenant to him as their God whom they've married.

[00:28:22] For verse 17, you have weary the Lord with your words. But you say how have we wearyed him by saying everyone who does evil is good and the side of the Lord and he delights in them or by asking where is the God of justice.

[00:28:37] This was insulting to God. They were calling evil good and they were wondering where God even was in the first place when he was there all the time. And so the faithfulness of God and the standards of God let us walk with him right justly. God bless you and amen.