Minor Prophets, Major Lessons: Malachi

Malachi: Honor and Pure Worship

When I tell my children to go clean their rooms, they know the standard. I have told them many times what it should look like when it’s done. One Saturday my daughter came downstairs and said her room was clean and asked me to check it so she could go. I asked, are you sure? She said yes. It was not clean. Things were thrown on her bed and stuffed under it. We argued about what was not clean. That sounds a lot like our conversations with God. He has given us clear instructions on how to live and worship, and we argue about how he wants it done, and then try to convince him we did it his way.

We started Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, and I told the church it would take four weeks, with Pastor Dan, Eric, and me. Malachi gives a final judgment before the prophets go silent for about 400 years. It records six disputes between God and Israel, each with the same pattern: God charges his people, they respond with “who, me? How?”, and God answers. Israel had a thousand years of history to learn from, with the Red Sea, the exodus, wandering, and exile, and it still was not enough. They returned from Babylon, and about 460 BC, the fervor of the early returnees had given way to apathy, and corruption among the priests. Malachi simply means messenger.

Dispute One: Does God Love Us? (1:1-5)

Verse 2: “I have loved you, says the Lord.” “How have you loved us?” They had come home, rebuilt the temple, and Haggai and Zechariah had promised peace and prosperity. Instead they had drought, failing crops, and Persian rule with no Davidic king. They began to doubt that God loved them. They huffed, yeah, right, are you seeing what we are seeing?

God answers with a question: “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” The firstborn had priority and a double inheritance, yet God gave the blessing to the second born. John Gill said that before the twins were born and had done good or evil, God had decided, “which shows that the love of God to his people is free, sovereign, and distinguishing.” God says, your own eyes shall see what I do to Edom, and you will say, great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel. When our circumstances are not what we want, we also question his love. The hymn says, “when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see him there who made an end of all my sin.” Look to Christ and his promise.

Dispute Two: Where Is My Honor? (1:6-2:9)

Verse 6: “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor?” God wants to know why Israel despises him. “God demands to be honored,” and Deuteronomy 4:24 calls him a jealous God. The priests asked, how have we despised your name? By offering polluted food on my altar, and by saying the Lord’s table may be despised. They were bringing blind, lame, and sick animals to the altar. Leviticus 22 commands a male without blemish. Why was that such a big deal? The sacrificial system foreshadowed the Messiah, who would be the unblemished substitute for our sin, whose blood alone takes away the sins of the world. Offering blemished animals made a mockery of God’s holiness and the seriousness of sin.

God points out the hypocrisy: present it to your governor. Would the Persian governor accept a blind or lame animal? So why do you think it is okay for me? They took what God had given by grace and used it as an act of evil against him. In verse 10 God longs for someone to shut the doors so they would not kindle fire on his altar in vain. It is more dishonorable to offer insincere worship than none at all. In verse 14, cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it and sacrifices a blemished one. For I am a great king, and my name will be feared among the nations.

Chapter 2 turns to the priests, who were appointed to inspect the sacrifices and defend God’s honor, and who had become complicit. God says the curse is already on their blessings, and he will spread dung on their faces. The covenant with Levi was one of life and peace, and he feared me, and true instruction was in his mouth. But you have turned aside and caused many to stumble. We who lead others are responsible to protect them with true instruction.

Christ Reorients Our Worship

After Malachi the prophets went silent for 400 years. By the time Jesus came, the leaders were blind guides, and he called them whitewashed tombs. Then one came who would shut the doors, who out of zeal for his Father’s glory overturned tables in the temple. “Proper worship begins with a new heart.” God’s love for us in Christ reorients our worship from ourselves and our circumstances to him. We do not worship with a shell of formalism but with heartfelt gratitude, since Jesus finished the work of the priesthood and continually intercedes for us. Instead of profaning his name as sinners, we can exalt it as saints.