God was not pleased with the Israelites during the time of the Prophet Malachi. They were found wanting with their doubts, defiled sacrifices, their devious priests, and their disloyal Husbands. We can draw lessons from what they missed out on as the children of God.
Doubting Israelites.
Our God is a God who loves us unconditionally. He is faithful in showing His love to His Children. He loves us but hates the sins that we do so often. He hates it when we disobey him, doubt his love, dishonor Him, lead others to sin and do not obey His commands. That is what the Israelites did repeatedly. God’s love towards them did not change. He promised his mercy to those who fear and obey Him. But the Israelites began doubting God’s love, just like we do so often.
We fall back in our walk with the Lord and feel distant from him and begin to doubt if God really loves us. If we don’t try to bridge the gap by confessing our sins the gap widens. We blame God assuming that He is the one who is going away from us. We are responsible for the distance. The people of Israel did the same they doubted the love of God (Malachi 1:2). They came to God when they were in danger and needed His help and the other times they made idols for them to worship. They chose to love and worship idols. But our God who is the only God is faithful; he still loves us and waits for us to come back to Him.
Defiled sacrifices.
In the Old Testament times, sacrifices were for worship and for forgiveness of sins. In Leviticus we read about many kinds of sacrifices- peace offering, grain offering, sin offering and many more. An animal’s life had to be sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins. Each time a man sinned he had to sacrifice an animal for his sins to be forgiven. In those days sacrifice was a ceremony. The animal had to be ritually clean. It should not have any physical defects. That was a major criterion in choosing the animal to be sacrificed. It shows the importance, sincerity, whole-heartedness with which one is giving in sacrificing it. But the people of Israel were very negligent about it. They gave sacrifices for the sake of it. The animals they sacrificed were defiled. It shows they didn’t give the reverence the Lord deserves. You may say we don’t have to sacrifice animals. Yes! We don’t. We don’t have to sacrifice animals for the atonement of our sins. But we need to claim that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and heals us of all disease. Jesus was sacrificed for our sins. He died on the cross for our sins. He is the ultimate sacrifice – The Lamb of God, who knew no sin. Our sacrifices to Him are our sacrifice of praise, sacrifice of our life and sacrifice of all that we have. There are times we sing songs of praise because it has a lovely tune. The song may be a wonderful love song to the Lord but if we don’t mean what we sing, it is just a song. This kind of sacrifice is unworthy in the sight of God. We dishonour the name of the Lord if we bring sacrifices without reverence (Malachi 1:12). Our offering of praise, offering of worship, offering of tithes, and offering of our lives should be a sweet aroma to God (Philippians 4:18).
In the Old Testament times, sacrifices were for worship and for forgiveness of sins. In Leviticus we read about many kinds of sacrifices- peace offering, grain offering, sin offering and many more. An animal’s life had to be sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins. Each time a man sinned he had to sacrifice an animal for his sins to be forgiven. In those days sacrifice was a ceremony. The animal had to be ritually clean. It should not have any physical defects. That was a major criterion in choosing the animal to be sacrificed. It shows the importance, sincerity, whole-heartedness with which one is giving in sacrificing it. But the people of Israel were very negligent about it. They gave sacrifices for the sake of it. The animals they sacrificed were defiled. It shows they didn’t give the reverence the Lord deserves. You may say we don’t have to sacrifice animals. Yes! We don’t. We don’t have to sacrifice animals for the atonement of our sins. But we need to claim that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and heals us of all disease. Jesus was sacrificed for our sins. He died on the cross for our sins. He is the ultimate sacrifice – The Lamb of God, who knew no sin. Our sacrifices to Him are our sacrifice of praise, sacrifice of our life and sacrifice of all that we have. There are times we sing songs of praise because it has a lovely tune. The song may be a wonderful love song to the Lord but if we don’t mean what we sing, it is just a song. This kind of sacrifice is unworthy in the sight of God. We dishonour the name of the Lord if we bring sacrifices without reverence (Malachi 1:12). Our offering of praise, offering of worship, offering of tithes, and offering of our lives should be a sweet aroma to God (Philippians 4:18).
Devious priests.
The priests held a very important position in the temple of God . They were to perform the ceremonies, take care of the temple, and they were messengers from the Lord Almighty (Malachi 2:7). People looked up to the priests as examples and tell the people what God’s will is for them. But the priests in the time of Malachi lead the people in the wrong path. They were conformed to the world instead being transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2).They wanted to please the people around them and did not have a relationship with God, so they did not know the will of God. They caused the people to stumble. Here is a lesson for us, if the shepherd is going the wrong way the sheep will also follow. It is very important for pastors, leaders and elders in the church to be good examples to their flock- the people.
The priests held a very important position in the temple of God . They were to perform the ceremonies, take care of the temple, and they were messengers from the Lord Almighty (Malachi 2:7). People looked up to the priests as examples and tell the people what God’s will is for them. But the priests in the time of Malachi lead the people in the wrong path. They were conformed to the world instead being transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2).They wanted to please the people around them and did not have a relationship with God, so they did not know the will of God. They caused the people to stumble. Here is a lesson for us, if the shepherd is going the wrong way the sheep will also follow. It is very important for pastors, leaders and elders in the church to be good examples to their flock- the people.
Disloyal Husbands.
Husbands should be faithful to their wives. The Lord does not pay attention to offerings offered by an unfaithful husband. Man should love his wife and his wife only. Having an extra-marital relationship is sexual immorality and is a sin. Paul urges the people of Corinth to stay away from sexual immorality. Nowadays divorce has become so common. Malachi 2:16 says that God hates divorce. We as His children need to live a life that is pleasing to him and flee from all that is sinful. Abuse is breaking families now as it did in the past. A Husband – Wife relationship will be at its best when Christ is kept as the focal point. Eph 5:33 says “Every husband must love his wife as himself, and every wife must respect her husband”. If the husband really loves his wife, he will not be unfaithful to her.
Do Tithe.
Everything we have comes from the Lord. We should give a tenth of all that He gives us back to Him. By giving our tithes to the Lord we give Him the reverence (Deuteronomy 14:23). Abraham gave a tenth of everything to the Lord (Genesis 14:20). We know how much he was blessed and about his prosperity. The Lord says He will open the flood gates of Heaven and bless us if we give our tithes to Him. If we don’t we are robbing Him of what is due to Him. That is what the Israelites did. They did not offer tithes and they did not have a feeling of guilt. They were happy just the way they were, trying to justify their act.
Deliverance for the righteous.
The day of the Lord will come when the Lord will be the judge, the refiner. He will test everyone’s life like a blacksmith and deliver the righteous only. The righteous people are those who fear Him, obey His commands and who are washed by the blood of Christ. He has promised Hope and deliverance for the Righteous. He is a compassionate God. Both the Righteous and the wicked will ne tried and judged on the day of judgment. We are all acountable for our deeds. Our God will be just in judging us . But remember there is hope for the Godly.
To conclude, do we doubt God’s love for us? Are our offerings pure and holy? And are we faithful to our spouse? Do we tithe? Let us analyse ourselves and see if we are guilty of any of these shortcomings. Commit to the Lord once again and set things right before offering Him the praise and worship He deserves. Only then it will be a sweet aroma for Him. Remember there is deliverance and Hope for the righteous.
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