Study Notes

Malachi 3:1-4:6

3:1-6 I Am Going To Send My Messenger

God now promises Israel that he will send a messenger to clear the way before Him. A messenger to turn the people's hearts back toward God. It must have been discouraging to Malachi to hear from the Lord that it wasn't him. That this great work wouldn't be accomplished by the mouth of Malachi. That the people of Israel wouldn't receive what Malachi had to say.

No, it would be another 400 years before the people of Israel received the message and repented of sin. This messenger was also prophesied in Isaiah 40...

Isa. 40:3-5 A voice is calling, clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Who is this messenger? All four gospels quote this passage from Isaiah and Malachi 3 and attribute it to John The Baptist.

Luke 7:24-27 And when the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the multitudes about John, "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are {found} in royal palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.'

John's ministry and message was focused on repentance. His preaching was "turn from your sin". His actions were focused on baptizing people in the baptism of repentance.

Mark 1:4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

The crowds flocked to him out in the desert at the Jordan river, and many of their hearts were pricked. Many turned from their sin. And thus the path was prepared to receive Jesus Christ when He came on the scene.

The Lord Will Come To His Temple

There would be the messenger preparing the way, and then the messenger of the covenant - Jesus Christ. Remember at the last supper,

Luke 22:20 ...He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood."

The Lord, speaking through Malachi, says that after John's ministry of preparation, He Himself will come back to His temple. Although Jesus did come to the temple while He was on earth, that is not what is being prophesied here. The Lord is speaking here of His second coming.

As we learned in our study of the book of Revelation, at the end of the tribulation period, Jesus will return to earth and establish His kingdom for 1,000 years. The temple in Jerusalem will be his throne room, His base of operations.

Micah 4:7 "I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcasts a strong nation, and the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion From now on and forever.

Ps. 2:6 "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain."

Isa. 2:2-4 Now it will come about that In the last days, The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways, and that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.

So Malachi has seen to the end of the Tribulation, when Jesus comes to His temple and rules and reigns on the earth.

Refining & Cleansing His People

At that time that He will be a refiner's fire to His people. The process of refining is to purify a precious metal. This was accomplished by heating the metal to a liquid state, then separating the impurities from the ore.

Zech. 13:9 "And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' And they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"

He will also be like a fuller's soap. A fuller was a launderer hired by people to make clothes clean and white. The Lord Himself must cleanse us, for, try as we might, we can't clean ourselves.

Jer. 2:22 "Although you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your iniquity is before Me," declares the Lord GOD.

Isa. 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

God will cleanse and purify His people. Remember that John wrote,

1John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.

Judging The Wicked

However, not all will be cleansed and purified. Many will be judged. God will judge the wicked by their own deeds.

3:7-12 Return To Me, And I Will Return To You

From the very beginning, God's chosen people chose not to follow Him. They were constantly turning aside to idolatry and immorality. But God is merciful, and constantly called out for them to come back to Him. The Lord is still saying that today:

James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Robbing God

The law dictated that the first tenth belonged to God.

Lev. 27:30 Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD'S; it is holy to the LORD.

This was how God provided for His priesthood.

Num. 18:21 And to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting.

But during Malachi's day, after the people had come back from the Babylonian captivity, they were not obeying many of God's laws, including the Law of the Tithe. When Nehemiah was overseeing the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem, he wrote,

Neh. 13:10-11 I also discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, each to his own field. So I reprimanded the officials and said, "Why is the house of God forsaken?"...

The people had not been giving their tithes and offerings to support their ministers. So to survive, the priests got jobs and worked in the fields. Nehemiah rebuked the people for this, as does God through Malachi.

The same principle applies today, as we read recently in 1Corinthians 9,

1Cor. 9:14 So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.

But many Christians get bent out of shape about tithing. They claim that tithing isn't mentioned as a rule in the new testament. And to that, I wholeheartedly agree... to a point. No, we are no longer under the Old Testament Law. But grace supercedes the Law. As you go through the New Testament, you will find that the Christians were not only obeying the Jewish law of tithing, but the Christian law of love in giving.

Luke 8:3 ...And many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means.

Those who were following Jesus were contributing to the ministry. The Jews that followed Him were already tithing to the temple - this was above and beyond their tithes. People were supporting the work of the ministry out of the abundance that Christ had worked in their hearts. It was one way that they demonstrated worship to Him.

Test Me Now In This

In the book of Deuteronomy, we read,

Deut. 6:16 "You shall not put the LORD your God to the test"

Jesus also quoted this when the devil challenged him to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. The amazing thing is that this is the one place in the Bible where God says, "Go ahead and test Me." This is something that you will be able to practically see - when you bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, you will see the blessings poured out on you.

The same is true today. When we are obedient to God, the rewards are immeasurable. In Luke 18, Jesus had told the rich young ruler to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. When the young man walked away sad, Jesus had said,

Luke 18:24 And Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!

The disciples became concerned! Peter said, "Lord, we've left everything to follow You!" Jesus' response was one of reassurance. "Whatever you've given up for the Lord, for the sake of the kingdom of God, will be recompensed - not only in heaven, but on earth as well."

3:13-14 "What Profit Is There In Serving God?"

The Israelites had fallen into religion, not relationship at this time. As a result, they were going through many of the motions, but had no heart for the Lord. Consequently, God was not blessing them, and they began to see their service to God as worthless.

Religion is always worthless if it is not accompanied by a relationship with God.

3:15-18 The Lord Gave Attention

There were those who had begun to think that God wasn't there, or that He didn't care, that He didn't judge the wicked. But there were some who feared the Lord. They discussed amongst themselves the righteousness of God and their need for holiness. And the Lord remembered those who feared Him. It was those people who were the true Remnant of Israel.

May we also be those people in this age of religion and arrogant sin.

4:1-3 The judgment

The Lord will judge the wicked that do not fear Him, but those that do fear Him will be completely healed and brought into the Kingdom. They will rejoice and be glad, like calves skipping in the stall.

They will also be part of God's avenging army, as we read in the book of Revelation.

Rev. 19:14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.

These are God's saints and the angels returning to the earth with Him.

4:4 Remember The Law

God tells them to continue to walk in holiness according to the Law of Moses. Jesus told the church that Love was the fulfillment of the Law. So this would apply to us by continuing to walk in love for God and our neighbor, walking in holiness, fulfilling the Law.

4:5-6 I Am Sending You Elijah

This was God's last statement to the Jews for 400 years. "I'm sending you Elijah."

When John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah, it could have qualified as Elijah coming. But Jesus said,

Matt. 17:11-12 ..."Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you, that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands."

John would have counted as the fulfillment of the promise of the coming of Elijah if they had received him. But they didn't. So Israel continues to wait for Elijah to come. Because of their resistance and hardened hearts, their time has been postponed until the tribulation. And of course we've already read of Elijah's coming in Revelation 11, as one of the two witnesses.

When we return to Thursday nights after the holidays, we'll go back to Exodus, to see the beginnings of Israel as a nation, and how they managed to get to such a point so as to harden their hearts towards God.

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