Introduction to Malachi

A saying that I have used repeatedly is: “those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”  The book of Malachi is a very clear indication of the truth of that quote.  This final book of the Old Testament was most likely written about one-hundred years after Haggai and Zechariah.  The temple had been rebuilt, Nehemiah had rebuilt the walls and the hand of God had clearly moved in a supernatural way to restore Israel to the land God had promised to Abraham.  God had used powerful leaders like Ezra and Nehemiah to provide for the physical needs as well as spiritual instruction of the people.  It seems most likely that Malachi was written during the time that Nehemiah was back in Persia before his second return as governor when he came and had to deal with the sins Malachi describes.  God has faithfully demonstrated His hatred of sin and His willingness to judge.  The exiles who returned to Israel accomplished a great deal of rebuilding but in a relatively short period of time their sacrifices had become mere rituals and their moral conduct had become reprehensible.  The very things that led them into captivity were now repeating themselves. When our worship becomes lifeless and we are walking if disobedience; we will eventually experience God’s judgment unless we repent.  This is the message that all of the prophets have been faithful to proclaim and it is clear that the returned exiles were in the process of repeating history.  Today’s generation must be very vigilant in order to avoid repeating it once again.

CONFRONTATION OF ISRAEL’S FAITHLESSNESS: Malachi begins his book by pointing to the everlasting love and faithfulness of God.  However, this unconditional love has repeatedly only been responded to by faithless rebellion on the part of Israel.  Time and time again the people have spurned God’s love and turned away from worshiping and obeying Him.  This current generation was repeating this history.  Leadership is usually the problem when a people are not following the Lord.  Malachi begins rebuking the priests for their lack of faithfulness in exercising their duties.  They had been making sacrifices in a careless and contemptible way.  Sacrifices were supposed to be perfect animals but they were using maimed and sick animals and presenting them as sacrifices to God.  The glory of God’s name was at stake and they priests who were supposed to be spiritual leaders were not concerned in the least.  God’s law was being violated and they were the ones who were supposed to confront the sins of the people and uphold the Law.  Instead they were flippant towards God and tolerant of the people’s sin.  Malachi also has a stern word of confrontation for the people who have been leaving their wives in order to marry foreign women among many other sins.  The people were living in clear violation of God’s Word and did not even seem to care.  This was the very attitude that led them into captivity in the first place.  Faithlessness is a common problem in our lives today.  It is always easier to follow the path of our fleshly desires than it is to walk in obedience.  We must learn to pay attention to the confrontation of God’s Word in our lives so that we can avoid the pitfalls of rebellion and sin in our hearts.

CONFIRMATION OF GOD’ FAITHFULNESS: The Lord is always faithful even when we are not.  The children of Israel had failed to follow the Lord’s Law time and time again, but even still God set messengers to call the children of Israel to repent and He promised to send the Messiah that would pay for the sins of the people and the world.  There is a tendency to think that somehow God depends on us in order for Him to be able to accomplish His will.  Or even worse, there is the thought that God’s faithfulness is conditional to our obedience.  We must be very clear on the fact that we depend on God and not the other way around.  God calls us to repent of our unfaithfulness and pride in order that we might experience the blessing of forgiveness but not so that He can accomplish His desires.  God is not in need of our repentance but we desperately need to repent of our sin so that we can experience forgiveness and enjoy a right relationship with Him.  God’s timing is not always, or almost never, according to that which we think it should be.  This sometimes causes us to question His faithfulness and even doubt His goodness.  The children of Israel often felt free to complain about God and thought that they deserved better than they were experiencing.  Even in the face of these complaints God uses Malachi to reaffirm His plan to restore the faithful remnant of Israel to Himself and save them from their sins.  Israel will go through many tests and trials but God will faithfully remember His promise and one day He will fulfill all of them; not because we deserve it, but because He is faithful.