Author: Gary Witcher

Questions from Malachi - 7

     Throughout our study of the book of Malachi, we have noticed the wrong attitude exhibited by the people to whom the prophecy is directed.  As the book draws to a close, we discover not only more examples of this wrong attitude, but we also find three wrong conclusions that accompany this attitude.
     "Your words have been arrogant against Me," God says in Malachi 3:13,14.  "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against Thee?'
     "You have said, 'It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts?'"
     It appears that these people will never learn.  "It is vain to serve God," they complain.  In other words, they are saying, "God has not done anything for us."  They have the wrong attitude about God's relationship with them.
     Exodus records for us the story of the journey of the children of Israel as they leave Egypt and move toward the Promised Land.  God performs many mighty miracles through Moses to bring about the release of the Israelites from slavery, and then He parts the waters of the Red Sea so they can pass over on dry land.
     Exodus 15:19-21 records the destruction of Pharaoh and his army as they pursue the Israelites.  The following verse finds the people in the wilderness, and two verses later we hear the people complaining.  So God gives them water.
     In the next chapter they move on to another area, and in verse three we find them grumbling because of the food situation.  So God gives them manna and quail.
     The following chapter finds them in a new location, where they quarrel with Moses because of a lack of water.  So God gives them water.
     The entire trip follows the same pattern.  Over and over again the people complain about what is happening.  Each time they seem to be saying the same thing that their descendants will be uttering in Malachi, "It is vain to serve God; He hasn't done anything for us."
     Isn't it nice that we can sit back and point an accusing finger at the Israelites?  Isn't it a good thing that we aren't guilty of the same attitude?  Or are we?  Do we ever say that it is vain to worship God?  Do we sometimes ask, "What has He ever done for me?"
     What has God done for us, anyway?
     According to Isaiah 59:1-2, our sins have made a separation between us and God.  Romans 3:23 points out that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  And Romans 6:23 informs us of the just wage of our sin: spiritual death.  So we all deserve the worst.
     "For while we were still helpless," Romans 5:6-8 teaches, "at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
     "By this the love of God was manifested in us," 1 John 4:9,10 instructs, "that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
     What were we saying about it being vain to worship God?  What were we saying about God never doing anything for us?  What is our attitude about God's relationship with us?
     After questioning God's relationship with them by stating, "It is vain to worship God," the people referred to in Malachi 3:14 demonstrate their wrong attitude by asking, "What profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord?"  They are showing a wrong attitude about their relationship with God.
     Jesus addresses this same kind of person in Matthew 23.
     "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" He cries in verses 25-28.  "For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things that you should have done without neglecting the others.
     "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
     "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of robbery and self-indulgence.  You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also."
     The people referred to in Malachi, as well as those addressed by Jesus, are operating under the delusion that their mere outward worship is the genuine worship that is accepted by God.
     Notice what the people say in the last part of Malachi 3:14-"What profit is it...that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts?"
     Perhaps they have simply forgotten God's message in Isaiah 58:3-8.
     "Why have we fasted and Thou dost not see?" the people complain in this passage.
     "Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist," God responds.  God goes on to explain what kind of fast is acceptable to Him.
     "This people honors Me with their lips," Mark 7:6-8 records, "but their heart is far away from Me.  But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.  Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."
     Are we ever guilty of having the wrong attitude about our relationship with God?

     The people in Malachi have a wrong attitude about God's relationship with them and about their relationship with Him.  God has done much more for them than they recognize, and they have done much less for Him than they think they have.  As a result, they arrive at some wrong conclusions.
     "So now we call the arrogant blessed;" they boast in Malachi 3:15, "not only are the wicked built up, but they also test God and escape."
     "We will call the arrogant blessed," is their first wrong conclusion.
     "My feet came close to stumbling;" David admits in Psalm 73:2, "my steps had almost slipped.  For I was envious of the arrogant, as I saw the prosperity of the wicked."  David goes on in the rest of the chapter to expose the folly of this reasoning.
     "Doers of wickedness are built up," the people claim in Malachi.
     The weeping prophet ponders this idea in Jeremiah 12:1-4.  He notes that nature itself seems to suffer as a result of the greed of the wicked.  But he realizes that this illusion of prosperity is the result of the fact that the wicked give no thought to the end that awaits them.
     When all is said and done, do the wicked really prosper?  What will their wealth be worth on the judgment day?
     "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us," Paul points out in Romans 8:18-22.  "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
     "For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now."  The chapter goes on to describe the glorious end that awaits God's followers.
     Revelation 18 gives a graphic description of what awaits the wicked who seem to be prospering.  James 5:1-6 tells of the same thing.
     "The wicked...also test God and escape," is the final wrong conclusion arrived at by the people of Malachi 3:15.
     "Know this first of all," 2 Peter 3:3,4 states, "that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming?  For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation."
     Peter then points out that these people have arrived at a wrong conclusion about God's patience.
     "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief," Peter warns in verse 10, "in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed, and the earth and its works will be burned up."
     Fortunately, the book of Malachi ends on a positive note.  Starting with verse 16 of chapter 3, those who fear the Lord speak to one another, and God hears them.
     "They will be Mine," God promises in verse 17.
     "So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked," verse 18 points out, "between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him."
     "But for you who fear My name the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings," God says in Malachi 4:2, "and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall."
     They will accept the truth that will set them free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."