“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty. “It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
“You place defiled food on my altar.
“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty.
“Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the LORD Almighty.
“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty.
“But you profane it by saying of the Lord’s table, ‘It is defiled,’ and of its food, ‘It is contemptible.’ And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the LORD Almighty.
“When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the LORD. “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the LORD Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations. (Malachi 1:6-14)
For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? (Malachi 3:6-7)
Overview
[1] Malachi, from Thru The Bible Radio with Dr. J. Vernon McGee ©, with free downloads Notes & Outlines (PDF), Complete 5-Year Study (MP3), When Divorce is Scriptural and Marriage is Unscriptural (PDF)
As we have said, Malachi was a messenger, but the thing that is important is his message. He himself uses the term messenger three times, and he makes three tremendous and significant references to other messengers.[2] Book of Malachi, from gotquestions.org (this website is also available in Afrikaans, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese-Myanmar, Cebuano, Chinese - Simplified, Chinese – Traditional, Hausa, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Malaysian, Persian-Farsi, Portuguese, Quechua, Sesotho, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese, Zulu, and 70 other languages)
1. In Malachi 2:7 he refers to Levi as the messenger of the Lord: “For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.” This suggests that every messenger, every witness, every teacher of the Word is an angel of the Lord, a messenger of the Lord. In the Book of Revelation where we have the messages addressed to the seven churches, it is expressed in this way: “Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write …” (Rev. 2:1, italics mine). I believe that this means the messenger of the church—not a supernatural being, but just the human messenger—in other words, the pastor of the church. I was a pastor for a long time, and I rather like this idea of calling the pastor an angel. I’ve heard him called everything else, so I don’t know why we shouldn’t include “angel.”
2. Malachi also announced the coming of John the Baptist as “my messenger.” “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me …” (Mal. 3:1). John the Baptist was the Malachi of the New Testament and began where the Malachi of the Old Testament left off.
3. The third reference to a messenger is to Christ as “the messenger of the covenant.” Again in Malachi 3:1 we read, “… and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.” The angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is definitely the preincarnate Christ. (Read the complete article)
Malachi wrote the words of the Lord to God’s chosen people who had gone astray, especially the priests who had turned from the Lord. Priests were not treating the sacrifices they were to make to God seriously. Animals with blemishes were being sacrificed even though the law demanded animals without defect (Deuteronomy 15:21). The men of Judah were dealing with the wives of their youth treacherously and wondering why God would not accept their sacrifices. Also, people were not tithing as they should have been (Leviticus 27:30, 32). But in spite of the people’s sin and turning away from God, Malachi reiterates God’s love for His people (Malachi 1:1-5) and His promises of a coming Messenger (Malachi 2:17–3:5). (Read the complete article)[3] Malachi, from Scofield Reference Notes (1917 Edition)
MALACHI “my messenger,” the last of the prophets to the restored remnant after the 70 years' captivity, probably prophesied in the time of confusion during Nehemiah's absence (Nehemiah 13:6). The burden of his message is, the love of Jehovah, the sins of the priests and of the people, and the day of the Lord. Malachi, like Zechariah, sees both advents and predicts two forerunners (Malachi 3:1; 4:5-6). As a whole, Malachi gives the moral judgement of God on the remnant restored by his grace under Ezra and Nehemiah. He had established his house among them, but their worship was formal and insincere.Discussion
The book is in four natural divisions:
1. The love of God for Israel, Malachi 1:1-5
2. The sins of the priests rebuked, Malachi 1:6-2:9
3. The sins of the people rebuked, Malachi 2:10-3:18
4. The day of the Lord, Malachi 4:1-6
[1] Of the Grace of Giving
Scriptural giving is one of the fundamentals of the Faith. We are commanded to bring our gifts into the storehouse (common treasury of the church) upon the first day of the week.[2] What is Biblical repentance?
Under grace we give, and do not pay, the tithe. We are commanded to bring the tithe into the common treasury of the church.
[3] God is …
- Omnipotent, Genesis 1.3ff
- Omniscient, Romans 4: 17-18, Isaiah 46:8-10
- Omnipresent, Psalm 139:7-12
- Immutable, Hebrews 13:8, Malachi 3:6, James 1:17
- Perfect, I Timothy 6:16
- Holy, Isaiah 6:1-6
- Just, Romans 3:26, II Chronicles 19:7, Job 4:17, Psalm 19:9, Psalm 89:14, Leviticus 5:17
- Faithful, Hebrews 10:23
- Love, I John 4:8
- Light, I John 1:5
- Spirit, John 4:24
- Truth, Romans 3:4, Numbers 23:19
[1] God Answers Back – Commentary On The Book Of Malachi, by Paul G. Apple
[2] Malachi, by Eugene H. Merrill
[3] Studies in the Book of Malachi, by Allen Ross (download Word doc)
- God’s Faithful Covenant Love (Malachi 1:1-5)
- Worship That God Rejects (Malachi 1:6-14)
- Faithful Teaching Of God’s Word (Malachi 2:1-9)
- Profaning The Marriage Covenant (Malachi 2:10-16)
- God’s Justice and Faithfulness (Malachi 2:17-3:12)
- Preparing for The Day of The Lord (Malachi 3:13--4:6)
- An Argument of the Book of Malachi (download Word doc)
- An Introduction to the Book of Malachi (download Word doc)
Sermons on Malachi (Be like the Bereans! Acts 17:11)
[1] Knowing An Unknowable God - Part 2 – Immutability, by Pastor Jeremy Stephens, Southview Baptist Church
[2] A Neglected Principle, by Michael Stark, Beginnings Baptist Church
[3] Sermons from South McGehee Baptist Church, McGehee AR
- The Messenger of the Covenant, Malachi 3:11
- The Sun of Righteousness, Malachi 4:1
- What the Tithe Is, and What It Is Not, Malachi 3:7-10,
- Five Questions I Must Ask Myself About Tithing, Malachi 3:8 -10
[6] Worship, by Jerry L Veatch
[7] Sermons by Peter L. Dorn
- Worshipping Together
- Questions People Ask WHATS WRONG WITH MY SERVICE
- Question People Ask 4 Where is the Justice of God?
- Why Do I Have To Repent
[9] Sermon Notes on Malachi 1, by Chris Bochniak
[10] 08-04-20 God is Already in Your Future, by Wayne Gropp
[11] Better than the Pepsi Challenge, by David Meeks
[12] Divine Disciplines for Financial Health - Pt. 2, by Daniel P. Thompkins, Jr.
[13] THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD_vol.1, by Jeong-ho Kim
[14] Encourage the Tithe, by David Krueger
[15] Return to worship, by Michael Trull
[18] Principles of Tithing, by Chris Twyman
[19] For other available sermons, please surf to Sermon / Preaching resources.
For other available sermons, please surf to Sermon / Preaching resources. Sermons are also available from South McGehee Baptist Church, McGehee, Arizona; Central Baptist Church, Lowesville; First Baptist Church, Mountain View, Missouri; Swift Creek Baptist Church; Word of Life Baptist Church, Pottsville, Philadelphia; Palm Springs Baptist Church, California; South Woods Baptist Church; Grove Baptist Church, Ulster; Dudley Baptist Church, United Kingdom; Independent Fundamental Baptist Sermons, Fundamental Christian Radio Broadcasts, Off-Site Audio Page and The Christian Radio Tuner
Notes: (1) This ministry does not necessarily endorse or share all the views and opinions expressed in the materials, resources or links mentioned in these posts. Please always refer to the Articles of Faith and Biblical distinctives of Baptists when you study these materials. (2) This lesson is part of the projected 300 plus lessons. From time to time, the lessons will be updated, revised, combined, formatted, and edited to comply with the VOA Simplified English word list. Later on, these lessons will be categorized, numbered sequentially, and made available as PDF downloads.
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