Malachi: Return To Me - Week 4 (Malachi 2:17-3:6)
Malachi 2:17-3:5
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Malachi 2:17-3:5
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Malachi 2:17-3:5 〰️ Malachi 2:17-3:5 〰️
This is now week five of our series in Malachi. It’s been pretty bleak up to this point, but I promise the entire Old Testament isn’t like this. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) for us, not much has changed tonally from the first few weeks to now. 2:17 opens with more doom and gloom: “You have wearied the Lord with your words.” Sheesh. I know up to this point, God has not been gentle with His displeasure and anger over Israel, namely the Levites, in their half-hearted worship of God. They’ve brought subpar animals and food offerings to be sacrificed for sin, displaying a massive issue in the hearts of the people. We can surmise that there’s either one of two things going on in their indifference toward paying atonement for their sin. 1) They don’t take God seriously in His hatred toward sin, or 2) they think their sin so insignificant that it doesn’t need a “perfect” sacrifice to pay their debt. Remember, the various sacrifices outlined in Leviticus 1-4 were meant to be just that: a sacrifice. It was meant to be costly to the people, because their sin is costly to God— and ultimately us.
So we get to this passage, and read that God is wearied by His people’s endless sin. As a point of clarity, we must remember that Yahweh, the Creator of the heavens and earth (Gen. 1:1), does not grow tired. He does not get exhausted from all that He does (Isa. 40:28). In this passage, however, His people’s sin and unbelief are so persistent that He is “wearied.” Malachi then goes on in v17, explaining just how they have wearied God in this way. “When you say, ‘Everyone who does what is evil is good in the Lord’s sight, and he is delighted with them, or else where is the God of justice?’” The “You” in this passage refers to the entire community, displaying the people’s complaint that God has not been faithful in punishing those they believed to be evil.
By their (understandable) logic: God punishes evil → they think this thing is evil (whatever it may be, it’s not specified) → God has not punished it → therefore, it is not evil. This is why we read “where is the God of justice?” in v17.
But God makes it clear that He is coming: “See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me.” The original audience would have been waiting for this messenger, but for us, with the whole Bible, we know that this messenger is John the Baptist. Mark’s Gospel begins with the quoting of this very passage: “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:,
See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
Prepare the way for the Lord;
make his paths straight!” (Mark 1:2-3)
What’s super cool is this passage in Mark is the combination of our passage here in Malachi 3 and of Isaiah 40:3.
Malachi 3:1 - See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me.
Isaiah 40:3 - A voice of one crying out:
Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;
make a straight highway for our God in the desert
Scripture is so cool like this. But moving on, we read more details about this messenger (John the Baptist) and the capital-M Messenger (Jesus), the bearer of a new covenant. In 3:2, He asks, “Who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like the launderer’s bleach.” We read this and can so quickly think of Jesus’s ministry. He refined His people, shifting the way they viewed God, His people, and His Kingdom. Jesus would completely change the rules of engagement, and, as we saw repeatedly in the Gospels, it started with the Pharisees— those who oversaw the Law and the temple. These are the “Sons of Levi” in v3 whom Jesus would “refine like gold and silver.” For those who might not know, to refine gold and silver, you have to put them in the heat— there needs to be an increase in temperature, and it must be melted down so the impurities can be separated. That is what Jesus was trying to do in all of the stories of His ministry in the Gospels, and that is what God desires of His people today, us. That in Him, we would be refined and purified. Made clean before Him. The best part? Jesus paid the price. Jesus went down to the eternal fire, stole the keys of Hades, and returned in glory so that you and I could share in this life (Rev. 1:18). If that doesn’t get you fired up (no pun intended), I don’t know what will.
Discussion Questions
Could someone read Malachi 2:10-16 for us?
What stood out to you from the passage?
Does this passage remind you of another part of Scripture?
Do you have any questions?
What does Malachi mean in verse 17 that “Everyone who does what is evil is good in the Lord’s sight, and he is delighted with them, or else where is the God of justice?”
According to this passage, what does God say He will do so that His people can once again present offerings to Him in righteousness?
What’s the significance of the messenger and (capital-M) Messenger in this passage?
How might this passage shape the way you see justice as part of God’s character? How does God say He will act this out?