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Who Can Stand Before the Lord?

How easy it is to be bitter at God's dealings with other sinners when He's been so gracious toward our own sin. This is the great conundrum of the human heart, which rarely recognizes its own depravity as easily as it spots the depravity of others. This is where the remnant of Israel found itself in Malachi chapter 2.  Malachi 2:17 (ESV) 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?” The people were looking for God to judge evil people. They were even questioning His fairness. Where is the God of justice??? Did they not realize that if justice had come, they would be dead? These people had been offering second-rate sacrifices, calling worship a weariness, while divorcing their wives and marrying pagans (and that's all that's been reported thus far, up to Malachi 2:16). They committed the most comm...
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God Hates Divorce

The Lord's indictment against Israel continues in Malachi 2.  Malachi 2:10–11 (ESV) 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. Intermarriage with pagan people is strictly prohibited in the Law. But these returned exiles were doing something worse: they were divorcing their Jewish wives and marrying pagans! Then, they would show up at the temple to offer a sacrifice.  God declares: Malachi 2:12 (ESV) May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts! Because of their sins, the Lord did not accept their offerings.  Malachi 2:13 (ESV) And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tear...
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Dead Leaders, Dead Churches

The Lord's rebuke of Israel's Priests continues in Malachi 2. Always remember that in both the Old and New Testaments, the leaders of God's people are held to a higher account than the people. Malachi 2:1-3 (ESV) “And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 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. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. The Priests of Israel had dishonored the name by allowing second-rate sacrifices to flood the altar. They had also grown weary of their service in the Lord's house. It was so bad that, in chapter 1, the Lord wished the Temple doors were shut. So now the Lord says their blessings are cursed. Then the picture of dung on their faces sugges...
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Dishonoring the Name

In the second half of Malachi 1, the prophet presents the Lord's issue with his passive people.  Malachi 1:6 (ESV) “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?’ Notice the two terms together. No honor and "despising the name" of the LORD. They are synonymous. And the real issue is how they are dishonoring the LORD.  Malachi 1:7–8 (ESV) 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. 8 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. They give God the leftovers. They offer God that which they do not want, nor which is precious t...
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When Blessings Go Unnoticed - MALACHI START

The prophet Malachi is listed last in the Old Testament because his ministry occurred at the end of Israel’s long, millennia-old journey with God under the terms of the former Covenant. Although they have long since returned and rebuilt the temple and city of Jerusalem, they have yet to experience the blessings of the messianic age. Consequently, the people’s spiritual vitality deteriorates. They are in a stagnant and stagnant relationship with God, and the worst part is that they don’t even realize it.  Malachi 1:1 (ESV) The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. The word “oracle” here signifies a sense of burden. I find it fascinating to contemplate the thought of speaking on behalf of God. He doesn’t merely bestow words upon His servants; instead, He shares His burdens with them, and they are compelled to speak. One of the prayers I consistently offer during my sermons is that God may fill my heart with a burden that I must convey for His purposes. You know you’ve...
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The End We All Hope For

Zechariah 14:1–2 (ESV) Behold, a day is coming for the LORD, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. The last chapter of Zechariah begins on a dark note. Jerusalem will be utterly destroyed and exiled once again. History repeats.  Now, as to the question of what timeframe Zechariah 12-14 refers to, we come to the verse that seems to suggest the second coming in the strongest sense: Zechariah 14:4 (ESV)  On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. You could take this figuratively. As in, when Christ c...
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True Church, True Prophets

Zechariah 13:1 (ESV) “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. The question Biblical scholars struggle with in Zechariah is whether the "on that day" prophesies are referring to Christ's first coming, in which He dies for our sins and the Jews grieve over Him as their only son, or does it point to a future return of the Lord as the day of atonement is cosmically fulfilled and sin is utterly washed from the land?  Whatever side you land on, the good news is that both can be true. And prophecies often have a dual fulfillment in scripture. But we learn about the Lord's plan for us in these texts, both in Christ's first coming and in His second.  First, He seeks to cleanse us from sin. Sin putrefies our lives. It's filthy, and we know it. Even when we struggle to obey, we understand the immediate mental consequence of darkening our heart and mind in sin.  But se...
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