Mal 3:1 See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty.

Chapter 2 concluded with the Jews asking, so where is God then? To be more precise, it was “Where is the God of Justice?” Cynicism breeds cynicism. Some had turned away from the Lord, making the excuse, God isn't concerned with us. The quality of worship in the Temple fell and was becoming quite obviously just performance with little or no meaning. Others looked on and succumbed to the temptation to say, so if God was around He would do something about this, but He's not doing anything and so He's obviously not around for us.

In times of apparent spiritual dryness it is easy to say, why doesn't God turn up in revival and then everything would be right, and in a sense that is right, but God knows the right seasons and God has a day that He knows will be the best for Him to come. Verse 1 of this new chapter could perhaps be summarised as God saying, don't you worry, I will be coming at the right time and I've got it all planned; it would not be an act of a desperate God, it is all part of the overall plan that has been there from before the foundation of the world!

So let's see what He does actually say. There appear to be references to two people although there is a double reference and it's not quite clear which one of them it refers to. He starts out, “See” . i.e. look and take note of this. I've been challenging so far but now I want you to note that I am simply stating what I am planning to do. “I will send my messenger” i.e. there is one coming who will bring my message to you. Now this could be slightly confusing for the word ‘messenger' here is ‘malaki' in the Hebrew, and this whole book starts with, “ The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi,” (1:1) which could be translated, “The word of the Lord to Israel through my messenger.”

So Malachi himself is clearly a messenger from God (the last for over four hundred years as it turns out) but the tone and nature of this word would seem to indicate to them that there is yet another messenger who will come from the Lord. Now let's emphasise what we said earlier: a messenger brings a message and the message rather than the messenger is the all important thing. What is God going to say? He doesn't, at first sight at least, appear to say. But what does He say about this ‘messenger'? He is going to come to “ prepare the way before me.” Now that suggests that God Himself is going to come and this one who He will send will prepare the way somehow for Him. In hindsight we can say that he was to prepare people's hearts to be ready and open to God when He came.

So, yes the Lord is coming and that is now confirmed: “Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple.” God is going to apparently appear at His temple here in Jerusalem. Of course in retrospect we now know that the messenger preparing the Lord's way was John the Baptist, but how did this little part of the verse get fulfilled? You need to read Luke's Gospel: “When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord …..Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon ….. had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God.” (Lk 2:22-28) Wow! When God came to His Temple in Jerusalem it was in human form, and first of all in the form of a baby!

But then comes a repeat which is not clear: “the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty.” This follows directly after the Lord Himself coming but still uses the ‘messenger' language. Note the words, “whom you desire”. They hadn't been asking for a messenger; they had been asking for God Himself. Now of course John writing his Gospel refers to Jesus as “the Word” (Jn 1:1,14), and a word is a form of communication. The writer to the Hebrews wrote, “in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” (Heb 1:2). Jesus was thus coming as a “messenger of the covenant”, one who came to affirm God's love for His people and this messenger was, of course, God Himself in the form of His Son.

So, despite all of Israel's waywardness, they would yet have the wonder (in the future) of the Lord Himself coming and standing in their midst to bless them and reaffirm the covenant He had with them. Just because He is scolding them in this little book, it does not mean it is the end. God's plans are bigger than that. Hallelujah!

Mal 3:2-4 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.

In the previous meditation we saw the Lord speaking of sending a messenger who would prepare the people to receive Him. We also noted that in retrospect we are able to see quite clearly that that messenger was John the Baptist who was the forerunner of an even greater messenger, Jesus Christ the Son of God.

But now we are confronted with the nature of his coming, the coming of this first messenger. “Who can endure” simply means who can stand and remain untouched when he comes. “Who can stand when he appears” means who can hold on to their position of obstinate disobedience in the face of the one who comes with the word of God? There will be no resisting this one when he comes.

So what will he come doing? “He will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap.” This is very simple and straight forward language that says he will cleanse the people. The refining process gets rid of the dross. The soap that a laundry person uses, cleans the clothes. The pictures are obvious. He emphasises it even more: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” There it is spelled out. As a refiner purifies silver to get the muck out of it and create pure silver, so this messenger will have that same cleansing effect. No in passing, therefore, that he is not a mere messenger bringing a message from God. What he brings from God will have this purifying effect.

Will he do this with everyone? “he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.” The Levites or the servant tribe of Israel will get special attention, the tribe from which the priesthood comes. Previously, earlier in the book we noted that the priests were the ones at the heart of the nation who should be teaching the nation the Law of God, being the conscience of the nation.

Intriguingly Zechariah (Lk 1) was a Levite and so John the Baptist would also have been a Levite. Zechariah went through his own ‘purifying' at the hands of the angel in the process of having John. There were some who were priests who responded to John's words but it seems that many of the religious fraternity rejected him and rejected Jesus. The priests were very much part of bringing about Jesus' death. So perhaps ‘Levites' simply means in kingdom terms anyone who would be a servant of God. To become a servant of God in the new kingdom means that you first needed purifying – and that is surely so. When we come to Christ and surrender to Christ, the first thing he does is forgive us and cleanse us by his own work on the Cross. The second thing he does is put his Holy Spirit within us and adopt us into his family.

What will be the outworking of this ministry? “Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness.” Offerings were one of the key issues that arises in Malachi and were an indication of the people's half hearted approach to God. When the messenger has done his work, the people will no longer be half hearted but will be fully committed to God and therefore what ever they bring to God, whether it be literal offerings in the Temple, or simply the offering of whatever they have as given over to God, it will be given rightly, out of a submitted heart, a heart of love.

And even more: “the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD.” This will all result in a reconciliation and restoration of their relationship with the Lord. God will receive whatever they offer to Him because it comes out of a right heart. “As in days gone by, as in former years.” Yes, there had been days in the past when Israel had come to God whole heartedly with complete abandonment to the Lord. The days that will follow the messenger's coming will be like that – and we still; live in those days!

Mal 3:5 "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty.

God does have standards! We have noted previously that the Jews had been questioning where God was, where is the God of justice, doesn't He bother any more about what goes on? Oh, yes! He is going to send a messenger and that messenger is going to call the people to repentance. That is always God's answer when God's people fall off the rails – to call them back in repentance. Repentance is simply recognizing error (sin) and doing a one hundred and eighty degree turn about and turning from it and turning back to God. That was what was needed and that was what the messenger would call the people to do. Thus when John the Baptist came we find, “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Mt 3:1,2) But these weren't just words; he demanded action: “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Lk 3:8) Repentance means genuine life change.

Now some may plead, but I don't know what God wants for me! That is a pure excuse; the Bible is quite clear on the sort of lifestyle god wants us to have. The Old Testament is full of it and so is the New. So when the messenger comes, he will speak out against all sorts of wrongs. Note the list here.

First “sorcerers” – those involved in the occult. If you are involved in the occult you are doing what God forbids!

Next “adulterers” – are those who have little regard for marriage boundaries. It appears very common in Western society. TV soap operas are built on it – and it is wrong!

“Perjurers” are who those who disregard the truth. God is very strong on the truth!

Then there are “those who defraud labourers of their wages.” God is against bad employers who take advantage of their employees.

Then we have those “who oppress widows and the fatherless.” God cares very much for the weak and the vulnerable and so widows and orphans are much on His heart and those who take advantage and oppress those who are weak and vulnerable will find that they are against God.

And then there are those who are weak and vulnerable for another reason – they are aliens, foreigners in a different land, and so when they are oppressed and taken advantage of, God will step in!

But there is one more thing: there are these people doing all these wrong things and they do not appear to fear God, they think they can get away with what they are doing. Well, says the prophet (implied), you won't! God will hold you accountable. We find here a classic characteristic of sin – unreality! Sin says, you will get away with it, it's all right. That is exactly what Satan said in the Garden of Eden to Eve (Gen 3) – it will be all right. No it won't! God sees and therefore God knows and God will NEVER EVER just sit back and let you get away with it. EVERY SINGLE SIN committed on this earth will be accounted for. Justice demands punishment for every single wrong thought, word or deed.

Now either you will be punished or Jesus will. That is what the Gospel is all about. God will hold every single one of us accountable for our sin. Every single one of us will have to stand before Him and account for our sin. Either we are going to take the punishment or Jesus will – and that depends on whether we have made him our Saviour. Sin is only taken by Jesus when there has been repentance. Jesus' death on the Cross operates on your behalf when you repent, and only when you repent.

This is the truth behind this verse today: God does have standards. They are His “design factors”, the way he originally designed us to live. If we disregard Him and His design for our life, we are in trouble. This verse says there are things that are totally unacceptable to God – and they point to many more things as well. Any form of playing with the occult is wrong. Any form of crossing marriage boundaries is wrong. Any form of distorting the truth is wrong. Any form of taking advantage of other when you are in a place of power is wrong. Any form of taking advantage of the weak and vulnerable is wrong. If you do any of these things, you are answerable to God. Repent!

Mal 3:6,7 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty.

The Bible is always full of hope. Some people, when they refer to the Old Testament say it is full of judgment. Well there are three things about that. First, it is God's discipline more often than not, seeking to bring Israel to their senses and back to Himself. Second, it is a reminder of the sinfulness of mankind that is exhibited in Israel even though they had such amazing experiences of God. Third, there is always hope built in to whatever the Lord says.

Hope isn't a guarantee that everything will be all right but, as we will see, shows there IS an opportunity for everything to be all right. Right, remember the context of what has been going on. Israel had been cynically saying, where is God? The Lord had replied with a promise that He would send His messenger who would bring repentance to the people in preparation for the Lord Himself coming to them. That was a great hope, but now the Lord puts it in the form of various principles.

The first principle is that Israel are not destroyed because God doesn't change. That may need unpacking. Within the Old Testament, again and again, are declarations of God's love. The classic passage was Ex 34:6,7 “the Lord, compassionate  and  gracious  God,  slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” There are also many other references to God's love. Within the Old Testament text there are also a number of instances where the Lord declares His plans for Israel and for the world. These plans, although not obvious at the time, take into account the Lord's knowledge that Israel will fail Him again and again. He is not going to give up on Israel .

That fact is patently obvious throughout the Old Testament. Simply read Judges and see how He uses other countries to bring Israel back to Himself. Read the account of the Exile and even before it happens the Lord declares through Jeremiah that Israel will be back within seventy years. This message resounds throughout the Old Testament for those who have eyes to see it.

Thus when we come to these verses we find the Lord reiterating this. First, "I the LORD do not change.” It is the fact that is at the root of the hope we spoke about. God doesn't change and so His plans will not change. The outcome of that fact: “So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” That's why they are still in existence. He doesn't change; He is love and He does forgive.

Now none of this is new. It has always been like this: “Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them.” That has been seen in the life of Israel almost from the start. It's like the Lord might say, “I've lost count of the number of times I've had to step in to draw you back to myself and then forgive you.”

The same principle prevails: “Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty.” It's how it was, how it is and how it always will be with the Lord. The other side of this coin is one that many people forget, that God will not forgive without repentance, but as soon as there is repentance, as soon as there is a turning back, the Lord will be there for them and will forgive them.

We need to remember this. Yes, there is overall forgiveness for our sins when we come to Christ so our eternal destiny is settled, but there are individual sins which, if the Lord sees we are not repentant about, He allows to bring discipline on us. The sins themselves and their effects become a rod of correction in His hand. Until you repent, you have an unresolved issue with the Lord and he will use it to discipline you and bring you back to a place of repentance. This does not affect your eternal destiny, but it does affect your walk with Him. He loves you so much that He will not let us just carry on. He is working to bring us to repentance, to bring us back into a place where there is nothing that keeps us from the Lord, so that His blessings may flow again in our lives.

Mal 3:7,8 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty.  "But you ask, `How are we to return?' "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, `How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings.

We have partly considered verse 7 before but we need to see it linked to verse 8 now. Verse 7 started with that accusation that from long back, perhaps from the very beginning of their nationhood, Israel had turned away from what God had said. Now that last bit is important to note. When they entered into covenant with God at Sinai, the Lord had said, “ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.” (Ex 19:5) Israel 's side of the covenant was to obey God. God would say things to them and they were to obey what He said. The people understood this: “ The people all responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has said." (Ex 19:8) So then the Lord gave them the Law (Ex 20-23) Afterwards they reiterated their willingness to obey those laws: “When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do." Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.” (Ex 24:3,4) Then we read, “Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey." (Ex 24:7) God gave Moses the laws, he repeated them to the people, the people agreed them, Moses wrote them down and then a third time the people agreed them. THAT was how the covenant had come into being.

Right at the beginning of those laws we find (in the Ten Commandments), “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” (Ex 20:4) yet within a six weeks Aaron was making an idol for the Israelites (Ex 32) – within six weeks! Throughout their travels to Canaan they grumbled and eventually so much that they had to wander for another forty years. Once in the land the history of the book of judges sees them turning away again and again from the Lord. The Lord's statement now, “ Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them” is almost an understatement. He could have really laid into them, but He doesn't. Why?

The Lord's objective in this ongoing ‘prophetic conversation' is to get them to come back to Him: “Return to me.” That is the call. But will He receive us, they might ask. “and I will return to you.” There is the promise that we noted before, that as soon as there is repentance, the Lord will be there with open welcoming arms.

But then their blindness kicks in again: “How are we to return?” If you are “away” from God, it is because you have moved and you are doing something you shouldn't be that keeps you from Him. In such times it is only repentance that brings the change, but it has to be repentance FROM something to God, turning from the wrong thing you are doing back to God. If you are doing anything contrary to that which you find in God's word, then that will be the thing that is keeping you from God and to be able to return to God, you need to forsake or give up that thing. You cannot carry on doing something wrong and expect to have a living vibrant relationship with the Lord.

If you are stealing, being violent towards others, being verbally abusive towards others, allowing your anger to be uncontrollable, spitting out vicious words, if you harbour grudges, hatred or unforgiveness, if you are a scrooge with your money – oh, come on, there are so many things and most of them are there in the Scriptures! You know deep down what it is that is grieving the Lord, what it is that hindering the outworking of your relationship with Him. if you're struggling to face it, it is probably your insecurity that thinks you won't be loved if you are honest about yourself. Read again of the prodigal son and note the father watching and waiting for his return and then celebrating without an ounce of condemnation when the son returned. That is our Jesus! For the Jews it was a matter of tithing which we'll consider in the next meditation. Remember, if we're “away” from God, if He seems at a distance, there will always be “something” in the way. The “Job experiences” where it is all down to God are very few and far between. Dare to ask the Lord what may be hindering Him achieving in you what He wants to achieve.

Mal 3:8-10 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, `How do we rob you?'   "In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

We've said a couple of times that going through Malachi is like taking a spiritual check-up with God, Israel have become complacent with God and therefore now their attitudes and behaviour are unacceptable in a variety of ways. As we've also said before, when one sin creeps in, others soon follow. The Lord moves relentlessly on, laying down the next complaint, the next thing that needs to be dealt with, and which must be rejected if they are to return to Him.

“You're robbing me!” is essentially what the Lord now says. “What? How?” Israel appear almost indignantly reply. “By your tithes, or rather your lack of them,” the Lord replies. Again as we've said before they had rather sunk to a ‘minimalistic religion' where they can do the least possible while still maintaining some semblance of spirituality. We aren't told but it is possible that they were simply bringing a token offering, rather like the person who drops 50p in the offering plate as it goes around on a Sunday morning.

The overall principle of the tithe is clearly stated in the Law: “ A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD.” (Lev 27:30). A tenth of all produce from the agricultural economy belonged to God. The use of the tithe was also clearly stipulated: “I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting.” (Num 18:21) i.e. it was God's provision for His servants, the Levites: “It is the Levites who are to do the work at the Tent of Meeting,” (Num 18:23 ) and so “I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the LORD.” (Num 18:24)

Thus giving a tithe, a tenth of your income, to the Lord was to be an expression of your love and obedience, part of the covenant, and it was to be used to support the Levites and the priests who were part of them. If Israel stopped giving tithes or at least started cutting back on them it was first a sign of their diminishing love and concern for God and, second, a sign of their lack of concern for the Levites as God's servants. Those things, although not spelled out, are at the heart of what is going on here.

The consequence of all this is a curse! “ You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because you are robbing me.” The tithe was, for Israel , a specific command to be kept. We saw previously how the covenant had been initiated and how it was focused, from Israel 's side, on obedience. Obedience to the Law brought blessing, God's decree of good. Disobedience brought a curse, God's decree of bad. You know when you are under God's curse: nothing is going as it should and whichever way you turn things are going wrong and the blessing or goodness of God is clearly missing. It happens, and still happens, when we fail to obey God and do the opposite to what He has instructed. The instructions He has given us are for our good. They are always in accord with the way He has designed us to live good, wholesome, enjoyable and fulfilling lives. The giving of the tithe simply reminded the people constantly that God is The Creator who has made all things and so they belong to Him. They also remind us that God is our provider.

Obeying God always brings blessing: “Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” What an amazing challenge from the Lord! Obey me, and just watch what happens! Come on, do it! Bring in all the tithes and see what happens. You'll find that when you honour me and do as I've said, I will bless you in such a manner that you won't know what to do with it all.

The same thing applies today. Recognise that God owns everything you have, and allow Him to bring a generous heart to you that blesses the servants of God and those in need around you, and responds to His prompting, and then just watch out. It IS as simple as that.

Mal 3:10-12 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

We started looking at this matter of the lord promising blessing if Israel started obeying the Law again and restarted bringing their tithes to the Temple . You can never say that a relationship with the Lord is not practical. God doesn't want our relationship with Him to be mechanical but on love, but the fact is that if we live in a certain way and that includes our relationship with the Lord, then good, very practical things, WILL happen.

The Bible is FULL of God's promises of blessing on the righteous. The righteous are simply those who determine to live God's way as revealed in His word. Let's quickly note some of these. “the LORD watches over the way of the righteous.” (Psa 1:6) “O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.” (Psa 5:12). “God is present in the company of the righteous.” (Psa 14:5) “The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous.” (Psa 34:15) “the LORD upholds the righteous.” (Psa 37:17) “he will never let the righteous fall.” (Psa 55:22) “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree.” (Psa 92;12) “the LORD loves the righteous.” (Psa 146:8) “he blesses the home of the righteous.” (Prov 3:33) “The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry.” (Prov 10:33) “Blessings crown the head of the righteous.” (Prov 10:6) – and many more! Perhaps we need to meditate on these and let this truth permeate our lives. Faith is very practical and has practical, down to earth outworkings. Read Deut 28:1-14 to see the list of blessings that God promises Israel in return for their obedience. The good things that follow obedience are all very practical, observable things. We cannot emphasise this enough. When we obey God life changes. It's not just that the better way of living that we adopt when we turn to the Lord brings good. It is that but it is also because the Lord adds His blessing, His goodness to our lives. If your life has not changed considerably since you came to Christ, I would go as far as to say I question your experience. Being born again brings life transformation and it is for both the reasons we've just given.

Let's just say it once more: obeying God brings His specific blessing in the form of some good act on His part. In the description in our verses above, of the Lord coming to bring blessing, it isn't just that there will be so much practical provision that they won't know what to do with it, but that He will do specific things to ensure that happens: “I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit.” The Lord will act to keep pests from their crops and from letting disease affect their plants. This is no accidental or a natural outworking of what they do. No, this will be specific things that God will make happen to ensure their crops are good.

But see a further outworking of this: "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.” What happens will be visible to the rest of the world. We have said this a number of times already. The Old Testament is full of indications that God is concerned for the rest of the world as well as with Israel , and so He wants the rest of the world to see the good that is happening to Israel and thus learn of Him through them. In the midst of those promises of blessings on obedience we referred to just now in Deut 28 we also find, “Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you.” (Deut 28:10) There it is! The world will see and know.

We find the same thing in the New Testament: “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (Jn 17:23) God's intent is that the world hears about Him through us, they learn about Him by watching us. Tragically it is often far from that, but that is how it is supposed to be. We are supposed to be such expressions of Jesus that the world is blessed by us, not only by our words but also by our deeds and also by our acts of service which will be accompanied by the power of the Lord. May it be so!

Mal 3:13-14 "You have said harsh things against me," says the LORD. "Yet you ask, `What have we said against you?' "You have said, `It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty?

We have observed a number of times in this series that we can go through seasons where either God just doesn't seem to be doing or saying anything, or that things are happening that we just don't understand. The Christian life isn't an easy, steady flow or continuous unchanging experience. It is a life of constant change and so often the causes of that change are not clear, or where that change seems to be taking us is not clear. The most crucial thing is that our awareness of the Lord doesn't stay the same. It may be because of things happening within us or it may be because of something the Lord is doing but in both cases the outcome is not clear to us where we stand today.

It is at such times that we can find ourselves thinking and then saying silly things, things that are possibly being prompted on by the enemy. The Lord seems at a distance, and so we blame Him for moving away; we didn't realise it was simply because we have become over tired and had lost a measure of spiritual sensitivity perhaps. Perhaps we look around ourselves and see the standards of the world falling and so find ourselves grumbling and asking why God doesn't turn up, and perhaps fail to see that He is waiting for us to move so He can empower us to bring about the change that is needed.

In all these ways (and many more) we can find ourselves saying silly, harsh things about God, things which, if only we could see the whole picture, we would realise are silly and are harsh and are unfounded and are not worthy of the children of God! This is the place that Israel have come to. The Exile is way behind them. They are the freshly constituted people of God, living in a freshly built Jerusalem with a freshly built Temple . It's like they are ‘back to normal' except the whole spiritual side of their life seems to have waned and they are, we have said before, doing the least possible. But then the standards of the nation fall and they begin to feel unhappy about their state and start to blame God. It's at that point that the Lord says, "You have said harsh things against me,” Then, yet again, they exhibit spiritual blindness and ask `What have we said against you?'

It is worth noting in passing, that because we are still sinful human beings, whenever we are called to account, we become all defensive. That is what is behind all these questions we've seen in this little book. The Lord makes a statement about their condition and instead of simply acknowledging it and saying sorry, they question it. Who, us? So the Lord now gives them an answer: "You have said, `It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements.” If God is at a distance, they reason , He's not here to see what goes on and not here to do anything about it, so why bother with all this religious stuff, why bother with all this law keeping business. Well of course the reason is because those laws given by God are simply instructions to live in accordance with the way He has designed us, so that we have the best chance of living at peace and in harmony with one another. Never see requirements of the Bible – Old or New Testaments – as just mundane requirements of a God who wants to see if we will be obedient. They are an expression of His love and His means of enabling Israel (and now us) to live in the best way possible to achieve peace, harmony, blessing and fulfilment. God wants us to enjoy living but we will only truly have enjoyment when we live in accordance with the guidance He has given in His word, and by living in fellowship with Him. We may ‘get by' in our lives and just survive, without such a relationship as so many people do, but that is learning to live in a second rate way and tolerating pain and upset. That is not God's design for us.

But there is yet another expression of their having lost focus: “ and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty?” They have lost all joy in their experience of the Lord and everything they do is drab and miserable. The less they do in fulfilling the Law the harder it gets. There is a very real issue here. Living half-heartedly as a Christian, trying to do the least possible, means that very soon it is all your effort and that becomes hard and wearying. This is why, again and again in Jesus' teaching, he calls for whole-hearted surrender and whole hearted commitment. Only then do we find a sense of fulfilment and joy. Then we find purpose in life through Jesus' call on our lives, then and only then do we find the real joy of the Lord. If we are doing anything less than whole-hearted commitment, then we will have a sense of second rate about life – because it is. The blessing of God flows on obedience – complete obedience, not half obedience which is no obedience really. May we understand this and may we live it.

Mal 3:15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.' "

There is an inherent problem living as a righteous and godly person in an unrighteous and ungodly society or nation. In challenging the people of God with the word of God, the prophet acknowledges this difficulty. It is just a variation of what we have already considered earlier, but it does highlight certain specifics that the wise Christian should be aware of.

Fact one: we live in a fallen world and large numbers of people (in the USA and UK this is now the clear majority) do not acknowledge God and live out their lives as they see fit, not as God sees is right. That is the unpleasant truth of living in the twenty first century. But having said that, it has always been that way! That is why Jesus told the parable of the weeds (Mt 13:24 -30, 36-43) and the parable of the fish (Mt 13:47 -50). Both parables remind us that good and evil live alongside each other and that a final judgement will only come at the end.

Fact two: God rarely seems to tell us when He is going to turn up. This means uncertainty. Will it just get worse and worse or will He come and change it? That depends on exactly where we are in God's economy. According to the book of Revelation the last day appears to be preceded by unparalleled godlessness and unrighteousness, but are we actually in those days? Only the Lord knows. If we are not then, considering Church history as a whole, we may expect the Lord to turn up with revival and turn many people to Himself. There have been many prophecies and much praying over the last half century that suggests that that will be, but the truth is we don't know when. Lots of people have tried to put a positive spin on the state of the church and the state of the nation, but the truth is that God has NOT come in sovereign power in revival in this century at least. Yes, there were various ‘renewals' in both the USA and the UK in the 1970's to 1990's but we have not seen that sovereign move that has been seen in earlier parts of Church history – and we still don't know when it will come.

Fact 3: Jesus anticipated these feelings of frustration because, when teaching on prayer, using the parable of the widow and the judge, he concluded, “ And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Lk 18:6-8) Note the final words. What is he saying? Pray your heart out and keep on praying, but at the end of the day, regardless of whether you think you get answers or not – remain faithful!

So let's remind ourselves by looking at the verse above, what it is that we have to contend with and stand against. First, says the prophet, “we call the arrogant blessed.” In an ungodly society values get distorted and we esteem those who are proud and arrogant. I'm sure you can think of public figures (often politicians) who are loud, brash and self-esteeming – and who, as a society, we applaud. Second, he says, “ the evildoers prosper.” Those who are living unrighteously and are making big money seem to not only be getting away with their unrighteous and ungodly outlook on life, but they seem to be doing well out of it! Third, he says, “ even those who challenge God escape.” Are the names of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens familiar to you? They should be for they are two of the leading crusading atheists who have been pumping their anti-God propaganda into the world for the last few years – and apparently getting away with it.

So, go back to the first ‘fact' and remind yourself that so often God allows the ungodly to persist for two reasons. First because there WILL come a final reckoning either at the end of a person's life or at the Last Day and, second, because the Lord wants to give each person every opportunity to repent and turn to Him before their times runs out: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Pet 3:8,9) So, don't get frustrated with the unrighteousness and ungodliness you see around you. Pray your heart out and “overcome evil with good.” (Rom 12:21 ) Regardless of what others are doing, YOU “let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Mt 5:16)

Mal 3:16 Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.

Trying to understand the big picture is often difficult. In the previous meditation we noted the recognition of the state of the nation and the difficulty in maintaining a right attitude before God when the world all around us seems to be degenerating into a godless and unrighteous mess. Being aware of the state of many churches in the area in which I live, it is easy to write off the church as being powerless, ineffectual and, as far as the rest of society is concerned, irrelevant! And in fact, as institutions I believe that by and large that is a true assessment and the result of it is that rarely do we seem to be salt and light and having a purifying effect on society. But so far, this is all a generalisation. A generalisation in Malachi's day was that by and large, Israel as a post-Exile nation, were not doing very well – hence God's challenges that fill the book.

But what is true of churches as institutions isn't necessarily true of individuals within them. So far in this book it has been mostly negative with a little hope for the distant future thrown in but now, suddenly, we find the prophet recording a response by some of the people at least. In other words, not all the people are indifferent or complacent; some of them have heard what the prophet has to say and they are concerned. Who? Those who “feared the Lord” ! That simply means that there were those who still maintained a right attitude towards the Lord. In the midst of the majority who were complacent, there was a minority (we assume from what follows) whose hearts were right before God. They reverenced Him and were concerned about the state of the nation and it would appear were those who responded to all the prophet had been saying.

Notice what they did. They “talked with each other.” Talking is a second response. The first is to think but that is quickly followed by talking. Talking indicates that there were a number of them and they weren't afraid to be open about what they felt. But, I would suggest, it didn't stop there for later in the verse there is the indication that they “honoured his name,” which would suggest that they did things in response to what they had thought and then said. True repentance doesn't stay in the mind; it produces words and then action.

Now this tells us that the prophet's words did not fall on deaf ears. There were some who heard and responded and the truth is that throughout the Old Testament, and through all the churches that I referred to earlier, there is a remnant, there are people whose hearts are for God and who hear His word and respond to it. It is very easy to become over-negative. Elijah at a low moment succumbed to this: “ He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." (1 Kings 19:10 ) That was inaccurate as the Lord indicated: “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel --all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him." (1 Kings 19:18 ) There is always a faithful remnant; they just need looking for. It doesn't matter what church grouping it may be and what negative feelings we may have about them generally, there will be within them a faithful remnant who are wholly for God.

But there is something else here: “ the LORD listened and heard.” We may feel we are alone and isolated but the Lord sees and He hears what we say. remember that! But note what He does about them: “ A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.” Why should God write down their names? So that they will not be forgotten! Does God forget? No He doesn't but this is almost an act of solemn remembrance that says to everyone, “These people are to be honoured in heaven for having stood out on earth. This recording of their names is to ensure that heaven and earth honour them for their response to God. This is God saying, you will not be forgotten; your faithful acts will be recorded, remembered and rejoiced over! Always bear that in mind. You may think that no one sees your faithfulness, but the Lord does and the Lord will make sure your faithfulness will not be forgotten. Hallelujah!

Mal 3:17 "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.

When our children were small, there were rare serious occasions when a smack was warranted and tears would follow, but in our family there came a simple dictum: “After smacks come cuddles.” Smacks were never handed out from angry frustration but were the sign that something major had happened, something that if let go, could end up in harm, but even on the rare occasions when they did come they were always followed by cuddles. Now you may think (if you haven't thought about this carefully) that that was an artificial thing, but it is no more artificial than anything else we do to make a point. This said, just because you did wrong and we think it is serious, it doesn't mean we don't love you. I watch my children with their children operating the ‘naughty spot' policy and I'm pleased to note that after whatever ‘punishment' or ‘discipline' they bring (and children NEED discipline) there is always a reconciling or bringing back together. When we have been disciplined we need reassurance afterwards that the relationship is still intact.

This is what the Lord does now. This book is full of prophetic chiding for there is, indeed, much to be put right in Israel in the way they think about the Lord and act towards Him. So yes, there are warnings about strong words that will be spoken in the future to bring repentance and in many ways this little book is filled with unpleasant challenges – but needful! It is a book about discipline and the need to change and that is never comfortable, but then some of them do respond to what they have heard and so now the Lord responds with reassuring words for them.

He speaks of a day yet to come and the translators aren't completely sure about the order of the wording. An alternative note is given that says he may be speaking about, “ my treasured possession, in the day when I act.” The present version simply refers to “the day” implying a day yet to come. There is coming a time when He is going to gather together all His faithful ones and these ones who have just responded will be included in them: "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty.” This is the Lord saying even more, I have seen you and heard you and accept your response. You will indeed be part of my faithful remnant who I will bless. Indeed, He adds, “ I will spare them.” They do not need to fear being destroyed by the Lord's judgment. These may have been strong words the prophet has been speaking, but his words have had the effect the Lord wanted and some of them at least have responded and THEY will be saved because they have responded.

It may need saying in passing, that many people presume on the Lord's compassion and assume that when it comes to the Day of Judgment, God will just turn a blind eye to their rebellion and their sin. No, He doesn't. He honours and respects people for the decisions they took and so He lets them bear the responsibility for it and all that goes with that. God only forgives when there is repentance. I once did a study going through the whole Bible and as a result of that I can tell you that God doesn't forgive when there isn't repentance. This present small group of people He is now talking to, have repented; they have responded to His word and it is because of that that they are now being reassured. That doesn't apply to the rest.

But note how He refers to them: “ my treasured possession.” There is an echo here of what He said to Israel on Mount Sinai when he made them His own people: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession .” (Ex 19:5). Israel , as the obedient people of God were His treasured possession, so in saying this He is reminding them of their origins and in a most beautiful way saying, “You are still my treasured special, wonderful people, despite all that has gone on.”

And then, as if to drive the point home even more He adds, “ just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.” Father and son relationship was an especially meaningful relationship in those days. A son usually grew up and was trained by his father to follow in his footsteps and take on the family business. The son served under his father like an apprentice; it was the most natural thing in life in those days. If the son went off the rails it would obviously grieve the father and, like the father in Jesus' parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15:11-24), the father would be wanting the son to come back to his right place serving the father, getting ready to take over the family business, and would be looking for him to return to that. Thus when he did there would be an instant response of compassion within the father who gladly and joyfully and emotionally received the son back into the business. That is the picture behind this and it is like the Lord saying, “I welcome you back just as you would your wayward son when he returns to work under you in the family business.” An excellent picture and greatly reassuring!

Mal 3:18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not

Our modern world doesn't like distinctions because distinctions often lead to prejudicial actions, negative actions by one group on another. So we have laws making it illegal to distinguish between people in the work place, a place particularly prone to such actions; equality is all-important. Yet in other ways our societies rejoice in distinctions. We have ‘celebrities', people who for one reason or another the media have crowned super-people. It may be that they are sports people, it may be they are musicians or actors or comedians but they have been elevated above the rest of us, and mostly we like it; we like to know how the other half live. But at the mundane every day life level, we don't like distinctions, the thought that you might be ‘better' than me.

However, when we come to the Bible we see time and again, God DOES make distinctions and it is between “the righteous and the wicked”. If we are not clear what that means, the prophet expands it: “those who serve God and those who do not.” So if you think of all the people you know, maybe people who live in your street, people you work with or go to college with perhaps, we don't like to call them ‘wicked' because that has connotations of real evil, but the Bible isn't as misguidedly generous, because the indication is that ANYONE who has not got a living relationship with the Lord is ‘wicked'. Sin and evil go together. We aren't too happy talking about sin in our modern world and we only like to talk about evil when it is clearly something horrible and bad, sin is sin and sin is evil.

Let me give an illustration. There is a big banquet laid on for the great and the glorious and evening wear is required. As we watch people arrive a man appears who is covered in mud from head to toe; he has fallen into a utterly mucky pig sty. He looks and smells terrible. then along comes another man and he is lightly splattered with muck. he was obviously standing by the sty when the other fell in and caught the spray! Now imagine the two men trying to enter the banquet and sit down next to someone dressed in pristine clothing that is utterly spotless. Yes the man covered with mud will be violently rejected because it is so obvious, but actually after a minute or two so will the other man because although he's hardly got anything on him, he has gone something – and that smells! You see sin is sin; there may be lots of it that is violently obvious, or there may be little of it that is not so obvious, but it is still sin – and it still excludes from the banquet! There is a distinction between those who are utterly clean and those who are not.

Now in everyday life this distinction is not so obvious because ‘lightly splattered' people so often make up for it by trying to appear good in many other ways. Moreover those of us who would consider ourselves righteous find, to our horror, when we have the courage to be honest, that in fact we are still ‘splattered'! No, this distinction is not based upon individual good or bad acts, but one act that has either occurred or not occurred in your life – the act of surrendering to God through Jesus Christ and being given a new life to lead that is empowered by His Spirit. This does mean INSTANT change but NOT TOTAL change at that moment of new birth. So some things instantly change but other things take time to change – maybe a whole lifetime. The distinction therefore is between those who have a surrendered relationship with the Lord whereby they seek to serve HIM and the person who has never come to God and surrendered their life for forgiveness and cleansing, and who therefore serve ONLY THEMSELVES. In God's eyes there IS that clear distinction.

Thus, when these people in Malachi's day hear God's word and repent and turn back to God with whole hearts, their lives will reflect what has happened, and the distinction between them and the people who carry on unchanged, WILL become obvious. There is also a distinction going to be made on the last day – either when they die or when God winds up this world and all stand before Him. We previously referred to two parables that Jesus told, the parable of the weeds (Mt 13:24 -30, 36-43) and the parable of the fish (Mt 13:47 -50). In both of those parables, at the end, there is a separating out. That distinction sometimes isn't clearly made this side of death but it WILL be afterwards!