1. If we are believers, the folly of Israel’s insensitivity to grace should cause us to be thankfully sensitive to the grace we have received. Nothing will keep religion alive more than being conscious of grace. Sensitivity to grace is always grateful and realizes that God’s love is not measured by things but by the reality of a personal, intimate relationship with the Lord Himself. God’s love is amazing; it is a truth we could not dare to know apart from His revelation that He loves us. God’s love is unmerited, finding its cause in God the Lover and not in us the loved. He loved Jacob, the deceiver who was without virtue or merit to be a candidate for grace. God’s love is unfailing and preserving. This sovereign, unchanging love is the banner over all His people.
2. Genuine worship flows from the reverential knowledge of who God is. The titles of God in vv. 6 and 14 particularly focus on His authority, honor, and power. A light regard for God is never conducive to worship. Until we see ourselves as little and God as infinitely big we will not worship as we ought or as He deserves. Fearing God, being in awe of Him, is an essential component of worship.
3. Israel’s casual and careless worship is a vivid reminder of how easy it can be for religion to become routine and empty. It is so easy just to go through the motions of familiar rituals or liturgies thinking that God will be pleased with the trinkets we throw Him. Too often, churches are filled with those who regard worship as a necessary nuisance (v. 13). Christ’s words to the woman at the well ring most appropriate: “They that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). God demands a genuine, sincere heart to worship Him and will be pleased with no less.
Malachi 2
1. Malachi’s charge against the priests for their unfaithfulness and bad influence is a sobering reminder of how vital good and faithful ministers are to the welfare of the church. Ministers are God’s gift to the church for its edification (Eph. 4:11–12). Certainly ministers must heed the warning and be sure that their preaching and testimony make them good examples. Likewise, the church should pray diligently and faithfully for their ministers that God will preserve them and empower them for the ministry.
2. Malachi’s exposure of the instability in families and his explanation that God is seeking a godly seed (2:15) through the marriage covenant shows how important the family structure is in God’s purpose for His people. God has ordained the family to be an experience of heaven on earth (Deut. 11:21), but too often homes have become battlegrounds. The fact of the matter is that religion is no more real than it is in the home. Christian parents should make it a priority to keep the Lord constantly in the forefront of all the activities of the home (Deut. 6:4–9). Godly homes make for godly churches.
Malachi 3
1. Verse 6 is a key verse for Malachi’s argument and for theology as a whole. God’s immutability, an objective aspect of God’s essence, is a most encouraging and comforting truth. Significantly, Malachi places this proposition in the context of God’s certain promise of the coming of Christ. The unchangeable God is the guarantee that every covenant promise will be fulfilled (Ps. 89:28–29,34). Paul sums it up well: “For all the promises of God in him [Jesus Christ] are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Cor. 1:20).
2. Verses 7–12 reminds us of how important it is to return to God a portion of what He has given to us. We are to offer our tithes and offerings in gratitude and in recognition of our dependence on Him. The more we find our satisfaction in God, the more freely we will give what we have to Him. God has promised to bless those who give, but we should never give as a bargaining device or as an investment strategy to get something in return. It is an expression of our enjoyment of the Lord. It is a fact that heartless religion hoards selfishly, and living religion selflessly gives.
3. Wrong motives kill good religion. Some of Malachi’s congregation did the right things (v. 14) for the wrong reasons. They offered their service to God with the intent of getting something in return and got upset when they did not get it. Our service to God must always be to His glory and never for personal gain or recognition. We cannot live according to self-interests in light of what Christ has done for us (2 Cor. 5:15). Our motive should be like that of John who desired to decrease that Christ might increase (John 3:30).
Malachi 4
1. Verses 1–3 remind us that things are not to be judged before the time. So often we can fall into the same trap as those in Malachi’s day thinking that the wicked prosper and are getting away with their wickedness. But the day is coming when the upright will have dominion, and the wicked will perish. This world is the best thing the wicked will ever know; this world is the worst thing the righteous will ever know. Eternity sets everything right, and it is better to be prepared for eternity than to be prosperous in time.
2. Significantly, the last Old Testament prophet ends with a message that heightens anticipation for the New Testament. Over four hundred years of prophetic silence were about to begin. But the years of divine silence were not years of divine inactivity. Events would progress on schedule according to God’s purpose until that fullness of time when the messenger of the covenant appeared suddenly and not long after His ordained forerunner. The last prophet predicted that Messiah would come, and John, the next prophet, announced His presence. Both preached the fear of judgment for the wicked and hope of healing and salvation for the righteous. Whether in the Old Testament era or the New, Christ is the difference between life and death.