Reflections on Malachi 3

Malachi 03 (Contemporary English Version)


1. I, the LORD All-Powerful, will send my messenger to prepare the way for me. Then suddenly the Lord you are looking for will appear in his temple. The messenger you desire is coming with my promise, and he is on his way.
   
2. On the day the Lord comes, he will be like a furnace that purifies silver or like strong soap in a washbasin. No one will be able to stand up to him.
   
3. The LORD will purify the descendants of Levi, as though they were gold or silver. Then they will bring the proper offerings to the LORD,
   
4. and the offerings of the people of Judah and Jerusalem will please him, just as they did in the past.
   
5. The LORD All-Powerful said: I'm now on my way to judge you. And I will quickly condemn all who practice witchcraft or cheat in marriage or tell lies in court or rob workers of their pay or mistreat widows and orphans or steal the property of foreigners or refuse to respect me.
   
6. Descendants of Jacob, I am the LORD All-Powerful, and I never change. That's why you haven't been wiped out,
   
7. even though you have ignored and disobeyed my laws ever since the time of your ancestors. But if you return to me, I will return to you. And yet you ask, "How can we return?"
   
8. You people are robbing me, your God. And, here you are, asking, "How are we robbing you?" You are robbing me of the offerings and of the ten percent that belongs to me.
   
9. That's why your whole nation is under a curse.
   
10. I am the LORD All-Powerful, and I challenge you to put me to the test. Bring the entire ten percent into the storehouse, so there will be food in my house. Then I will open the windows of heaven and flood you with blessing after blessing.
    
11. I will also stop locusts from destroying your crops and keeping your vineyards from producing.
    
12. Everyone of every nation will talk about how I have blessed you and about your wonderful land. I, the LORD All-Powerful, have spoken!
    
13. You have said horrible things about me, and yet you ask, "What have we said?"
    
14. Here is what you have said: "It's foolish to serve the LORD God All-Powerful. What do we get for obeying him and from going around looking sad?
    
15. See how happy those arrogant people are. Everyone who does wrong is successful, and when they put God to the test, they always get away with it."
    
16. All those who truly respected the LORD and honored his name started discussing these things, and when God saw what was happening, he had their names written as a reminder in his book.
    
17. Then the LORD All-Powerful said: You people are precious to me, and when I come to bring justice, I will protect you, just as parents protect an obedient child.
    
18. Then everyone will once again see the difference between those who obey me by doing right and those who reject me by doing wrong.
    

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The first five verses of this 3rd chapter move rapidly across time. Verse one speaks of God's messenger who will be sent to "clear the way before Me." Following the messenger will come the "the Lord you seek." This is all thought to be a reference to John the Baptist who cleared or prepared the way for Jesus who is the "Lord you seek" who "will suddenly come to His temple." Thus we have here a reference to Christ's First Advent. The following verses, however, jump to Christ's Second Advent when He will come in judgment like a "refiner's fire." Verse 5 gives a whole litany of those against whom He will bring judgment.

God made a covenant with Israel and to their good fortune He had not changed from it, otherwise He would have already destroyed them. He had withdrawn His blessings and had sent enemies against them to punish them and sent them into exile, but He had not destroyed them. Now, in verse 7, God tells Israel that if she will but return to Him He will also return to her. But the question is, how can Israel return to God? God's answer to that question is for them to stop robbing Him. And, of course, the next question is, "How do we rob You?" They were robbing Him by withholding the tithe and the offerings from Him. God challenged them to test Him on this. He challenged them to bring to the temple the full tithe and see if He wouldn't pour out on them a blessing without measure. He would bless them so abundantly that other nations would notice and consider them fortunate.

The chapter concludes with another charge against Israel - they were speaking harshly against God. What were they saying against Him? That it was useless to serve Him. They asked what they had gained by keeping God's requirements and being mournful over their sins. Had they truly kept God's requirements and repented of their sin they might be justified in these charges, but as with any of us who play at religion hoping to receive God's special favor but who don't genuinely seek God, they were trying to make the rules. They were expecting God to play by their rules instead of the other way around. And though they claimed to be keeping God's requirements, they were only keeping those that this wished to keep.

Because of this attitude that they hadn't gained anything by keeping God's requirements, they concluded the wicked were better off. The wicked seemed to test God and escape. If that was what they thought, then God was going to show them "the difference between the righteous and the wicked." He was going to keep a "book of remembrance" of those who truly feared Him and had high regard for His name. He would remember them and bless them and then the people would "see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him."