Malachi 1

How many of you have had expectations that have been shattered, a husband has let you down, a wife has let you down, your children have let you down, you have lost your job and things have gone sour , and you don’t have any hope for the future, and you think that no one loves you, things have not gone your way, or the way you think that they should so you have gone your own way and said forget God, He doesn’t love me, I will do my own thing. Nothing is going right, the economy is bad, my family is disappointing or rotten, I have no security.

This happens to many people in the 21th century, our new government is causing all kinds of problems for the family, business are closing, little or nothing is turning out like we all would like, it was no different in 430 bc, at the time that the prophet Malachi was writing to the people in Jerusalem.

The twelve tribes of Israel had been divided, 10 to the northern, and two to the south, the ten was Israel and the two was Judah the north Israel was taken captive and Jerusalem fell in 722, then the Judah taken in 586, they had been taken out of their land and moved to another, time had changed things and new world power Persia, let them go in shifts back to Jerusalem, Zerubbabel brought a group back in 536, EZRA a group in 458, and Nehemiah a group in 455, and now a century later Malachi speaks to these who have returned.

THE EXILE HAD CHANGED ISRAEL, it and other events changed her identity. Political changes had taken place, Persia had weakened, those who had been brought in Jerusalem in their absence were giving them problems, and all this had an effect on them.

Things were not happening the way they thought it should, they thought the land would be fruitful, growth, in population, land was barren, leaders were weak, they felt like all that they hoped for was vanishing before their face. It had caused the Jews to question who they were and mainly who God was and what was He doing.

Did God care anyone?

Have you ever had an identity crisis?

Israel complained that their position as God’s chosen, had not gotten them any special privileges, things had not turned out like they wanted, they had been in exile, all those years, they had come home, tried to build the temple, the economy was still bad they had opposition. All that had caused them to join the secular culture and they complained that God did not love them,

Malachi 1:5 deal with that problem. All through the book God speaks to them and they respond in a cynical way and then God proves them wrong.

God Declares his love, He says I love you!

Israel disputes God’s Love

Mal 1:1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved;

He said, I chose you, all knew the twin brothers story, Jacob & Esau. The way Hebrews taught, it meant that Jacob was higher in my purpose, the man of the covenant, Genesis 25;

While Genesis mentions no divine hatred toward Esau, Obadiah’s prophecy over a 1,000 years later ( Obad. 1–21) indicated that the Lord’s hatred was against Esau’s idolatrous descendants. In the same way, the Lord’s love for Jacob refers to his descendants who were His sovereignly elected people through whom the world’s Redeemer would come. Nor does the love/hate language signify a comparative love in which He loved Jacob more and Esau less. Rather, the context here speaks of love as “choosing for intimate fellowship” and hate as “not choosing for intimate fellowship” in the realm of redemption.

The interest here is not just genealogical but international, it is the historical relationship of the two brother nations, rather than the twins. The rejection of Edom and election of Israel, started in the two brothers,

Genesis 25:23 There has always been a war between the two nations,

Numbers 20:21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel turned away from him.

This is about a national election not personal salvation, the concept here of love and hate has to do with alliance or enmity among nations.

The real problem here is why God would say that He loved this people. But let’s understand one thing: God never said this until Jacob and Esau had become two great nations which had long histories. Therefore, God said that He loved Jacob because of the fact that He knew what was in Jacob’s heart. He knew that here was a man who had a desire for Him and that Esau did not have a desire for Him at all. But it had to be worked out in fifteen hundred years of history before God was prepared to make the kind of statement He makes here in Malachi.

All this reveals something that we need to face up to today. We have majored so much on the love of God. Do you know that if God loves, God also hates—because you cannot love without hating? Love and hate are very close together. If God loves the good, He has to hate the evil—it couldn’t be otherwise—and that is exactly what we find here.

God Demonstrates his love by his protection.

Genesis 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: Genesis 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

I preserved you, Edom had been mighty, Nabateans invaded Edom and made them move, they disappeared. God reminds them that you disappeared in Babylon, I brought you back, you have a new start, Edom is gone, There was prophecies against Edom in, Jeremiah 49, Isaiah34, Ezekiel25, Joel, Amos, Obadiah. With the fall of Jerusalem in 70 ad. the Edomites disappear from the stage of history as a separate people.

Genesis 25:23 And the LORD said to her: “Two nations [are] in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; [One] people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.” Genesis 25:33 Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

There has always been a war between the two nations.

Numbers 20:21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel turned away from him.
They were still general to God’s plan, even though it might not look like it, defeated and weak, hated or forgotten among the nations, they would doubt if God’s promise to them as a nation could ever be fulfilled, a blessing to the nations.

God’s universal purpose is revealed.

V5 Your eyes shall see, And you shall say, ‘The LORD is magnified beyond the border of Israel.
They will say great is the lord, in the ruins of Jerusalem they say he has forgotten us, but one day they will say he is a universal God, his scope is larger than Israel. After 400 yrs, people looked for it, and Simon, when they brought baby Jesus, said, here is a light to the gentiles, Christ is come.

They Bring God the Leftovers

1;6 “A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the LORD of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’
7 “You offer defiled food on My altar. But say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the LORD is contemptible.’ 8 And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the LORD of hosts. 9 “But now entreat God’s favor, That He may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, Will He accept you favorably?” Says the LORD of hosts.
10 “Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, So that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you,” Says the LORD of hosts, “Nor will I accept an offering from your hands. 11 For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the LORD of hosts.

Malachi is speaking to the priest, the religious professionals, the preachers, and then to all.
God declares the sins of the Priest and the people. v6-7

The problem is, why do you despise my name, why have you have polluted my altar, v6-7
It was customary, a lifestyle, a habit for the people then to honor their father and a slave his master, they all would agree to that.

Exodus 4:22 “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel [is] My son, My firstborn.

Isaiah 42:1 “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One [in whom] My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.

God said you are my son, my servant, why is it you despise me and do not honor me,

The people dispute the accusation, they said who us,they act like they don’t know what God is talking about v6-7

God demonstrates how they have sinned against Him.7-8

You offer worthless worship

Lev 22;19 ‘you shall offer of your own free will a male without blemish from the cattle, from the sheep, or from the goats. 20 ‘Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf

7 “You offer defiled food on My altar. But say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the LORD is contemptible.’

It was like a white elephant party, just offer the worst you have, it doesn’t matter.

They said the table of the Lord is contemptible. They despised God’s name in what they did. If we worship God ignorantly, and without understanding, we bring the blind for sacrifice; if we do it carelessly, if we are cold, dull, and dead in it, we bring the sick; if we rest in the bodily exercise, and do not make heart-work of it, we bring the lame; and if we suffer vain thoughts and distractions to lodge within us, we bring the torn.

God makes some suggestions concerning their sins.

Offer to your governor what you offer me and watch his reaction.

1;8 And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the LORD of hosts.

God was extremely insulted, for the Jews dared to offer him what every mortal would reject. He thus reasons from the less to the greater, that this was not a sacrilege that could be borne, as the Jews had so presumptuously abused his kindness.

They were paying another king to live in Jerusalem, God said try to pay him off with what you offer me and see how far you get with that, just give him a tip.

Zerubbabel, who was governor of Judea at this time, Hag 1:1” for they had no king. The meaning is, offer a lamb or any other creature that is blind, sick, and lame; make a present of it to him that had the government of them; make trial this way, and see how acceptable it would be to him:

9“But now entreat God’s favor, That He may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, Will He accept you favorably?” Says the LORD of hosts.

Seek Gods pleasure while you give him a pitiful tip and see where it gets you,

Get right in gods face and ask him to do something good while you cheat him,

God said, Just Close the Temple, close the Church

Just close the door of the temple if you are going to give me leftovers. God said just close the temple stop the offerings if this is the way it is going to be, I will not except this, I don’t want left overs, from the preachers or the people.

The priests, we know were set over the temple for this reason, that nothing polluted might be admitted; for there were of the Levites some doorkeepers, and others stood at the entrance; in short, all had their stations: and then when they had brought in the victim it was the office of the priests to examine it and to see that it was such as the law of God required. As then it was their special office to see that nothing polluted should be received into the temple of God, he justly complains here that they indiscriminately received what was faulty and profane:

God says He can accomplish His task on this earth without our worthless worship.

He said what I will do in the world does not depend on you, they thought they were the center of the world, and the most important, that God can’t do without them.

Here God shows that he would build altars for him everywhere and through all parts of the world, that he might be purely worshipped by all nations. It is indeed a remarkable prophecy as to the calling of the Gentiles; but we must especially remember this, that whenever the Prophets speak of this calling, they promise the spread of God’s worship as a favor to the Jews, or as a punishment and reproach. Sounds like Jesus and the woman at the well.

Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

They were inflated with so much pride, they thought that God would be no God except he had them as his holy Church. The Prophet here answers them, and anticipates their objection by saying, that God’s name would be celebrated through the whole world:

In A.D. 70 God closed down the temple and offerings for good.

1Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Heb 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. 16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Rom 12: 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Do we offer God our leftovers as offerings?

We consist in three areas, if you want to know who a person is and what is important to them you can find it out by looking in these three areas;

Time, Money, and Talent.

Do we give God the leftovers, of our time, is it polluted?

Jesus I love you, I m on my way to heaven, I give my all to you, that is what
salvation is, How do we give God our leftovers?

Where do you spend your prime time in the week and how is God given the leftovers?

What about our talent, is our best on the altar, is our best talent offered to GOD? Will we go sing, play, or teach for something else, but never use it for God?

What about our money? If a person brought a lame animal instead of the best, guess what he could do with the good one, sell it, or keep it to raise more by it, that is money in the pocket, a choice animal is always worth more.

Do we give a part of what is left after we play all our games and buy all the stuff we want?

How do we hold back the best and give God the leftovers?

God does not receive worthless worship.
He loves us, has prepared for us all things,
He seeks right worship because He is Worthy.