September 30, 2015

WHO, WHAT, WHEN, AND WHERE?

Malachi 1–4

John Wingfield
Wednesday's Devo

September 30, 2015

Wednesday's Devo

September 30, 2015

Central Truth

Marriage is a big deal. The Lord created marriage so that we might serve, bless, and become one flesh with our spouse. God wants couples to to be more than just "undivorced" in our homes.

Key Verse | Malachi 2:16

"For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty," says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. "So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife." (Malachi 2:16)

 

 

 

 

Malachi 1–4

The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 1 1:1 Malachi means my messenger

The LORD's Love for Israel

“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob's brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.’” Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!”

The Priests' Polluted Offerings

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the LORD's table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts. And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts. 10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be 2 1:11 Or is (three times in verse 11; also verse 14) great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. 12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. 13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD. 14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

The LORD Rebukes the Priests

And now, O priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, 3 2:3 Hebrew seed and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. 4 2:3 Or to it So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction 5 2:6 Or law; also verses 7, 8, 9 was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people 6 2:7 Hebrew they should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

Judah Profaned the Covenant

10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant 7 2:12 Hebrew any who wakes and answers of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!

13 And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? 8 2:15 Hebrew in it And what was the one God 9 2:15 Hebrew the one seeking? 10 2:15 Or And not one has done this who has a portion of the Spirit. And what was that one seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves 11 2:15 Or So take care; also verse 16 in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, 12 2:16 Hebrew who hates and divorces says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers 13 2:16 Probable meaning (compare Septuagint and Deuteronomy 24:14); or The LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and him who covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

The Messenger of the LORD

17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. 14 3:3 Or and they will belong to the LORD, bringers of an offering in righteousness Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.

Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

Robbing God

For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer 15 3:11 Probably a name for some crop-destroying pest or pests for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts.

13 Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”

The Book of Remembrance

16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

The Great Day of the LORD

16 4:1 Ch 4:16 is ch 3:1924 in Hebrew For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.

Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules 17 4:4 Or and just decrees that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” 18 4:6 The Hebrew term rendered decree of utter destruction refers to things devoted (or set apart) to the Lord (or by the Lord) for destruction

Footnotes

[1] 1:1 Malachi means my messenger
[2] 1:11 Or is (three times in verse 11; also verse 14)
[3] 2:3 Hebrew seed
[4] 2:3 Or to it
[5] 2:6 Or law; also verses 7, 8, 9
[6] 2:7 Hebrew they
[7] 2:12 Hebrew any who wakes and answers
[8] 2:15 Hebrew in it
[9] 2:15 Hebrew the one
[10] 2:15 Or And not one has done this who has a portion of the Spirit. And what was that one seeking?
[11] 2:15 Or So take care; also verse 16
[12] 2:16 Hebrew who hates and divorces
[13] 2:16 Probable meaning (compare Septuagint and Deuteronomy 24:1–4); or “The LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and him who covers
[14] 3:3 Or and they will belong to the LORD, bringers of an offering in righteousness
[15] 3:11 Probably a name for some crop-destroying pest or pests
[16] 4:1 Ch 4:1–6 is ch 3:19–24 in Hebrew
[17] 4:4 Or and just decrees
[18] 4:6 The Hebrew term rendered decree of utter destruction refers to things devoted (or set apart) to the Lord (or by the Lord) for destruction

Dive Deeper | Malachi 1–4

Malachi [who] was a prophet and messenger from the Lord [what] sometime after the completion of the temple in 515 B.C. [when]. Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament—go to Matthew and then one book to the left [where].

As Malachi 2 reveals, God has a perfect plan and design for marriage, originally laid with the foundations of the earth: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27, ESV) "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.'" (Genesis 2:18, ESV) "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." (Genesis 2:24-25, ESV)

This is where I come in and wreck God's perfect plan for my marriage. I was raised in a non-believing home, where anger and abuse were the substitute for love and cherishing. As a brand new believer at age 32, I promised myself that I would not become my dad; but Satan had me right where he wanted me, far away from Christ. I was still worshipping what I call the "human trinity"—me, myself, and I. Unforgiveness, bitterness, and anger marked our marriage. When conflict occurred, we began the crazy cycle—rage, withdrawal, the silent treatment—for weeks; then we would make up, having never resolved the initial conflict.

This crazy cycle went on for years. We were just living "undivorced." We joined Watermark eight years ago, and I began to run with godly men—A Few Good Men, who were warriors for their families, servant kings, powerful, and meek. I began to dive into God's Word and His promises for my marriage. Abiding in Christ, I slowly transformed into the husband He had designed me to be. Our marriage has gone from a two to a nine and is marked by Joel 2:25 where the Lord promises to restore the years the locust have eaten.

Discussion Questions

1. Men, are you praying with your wife in addition to just meal time? If not, why not?

2. Men, are you running with godly men or hiding in isolation?

3. Men, are you cherishing and tenderly loving your wife?

4. Women, are you encouraging and respecting your husband?