Malachi: ThemeCovenant Renewal

Reference

Theme Meaning

1:1-5 Covenant Broken Doubting God’s Love

1:6-2:9 Blemished Sacrifice

Not honoring God

2:10-16 Divorce Rejecting God2:17-3:6 Injustice Misunderstanding God3:6-12 Tithing Robbing God

3:16-17 Covenant Keeping

Faithful Remnant, holding on

4:1-3 Judgement The Righteous God

4:4-6 Covenant Renewed

The Faithful God

Malachi2:17-3:6

Where is Justice?

North York (Chinese) Baptist Church

ESC SS, October 30, 2011 Pastor Lu-Lu Ling

2:17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

3“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.

2 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. 3 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, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

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.

6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

The Just and Unjust God

2:17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?” (cf, 1:2, 6 - “but you ask”)

What are some of the reasons some say that God is unjust.

Why is such thinking dangerous?

The Just and Unjust God

God is unjust :• they should be blessed: prosperity• the Messiah should be coming (seeking, desire

3:1)• they have been following the law (have been

doing the offerings)• the other nations, those who do not worship

God, are prospering (Job 21:7-26; 24:1-17; Ps 73:1-14; Jer 12:1-4; Hab 1)

The Just and Unjust God

•

Unjust Just

Job 24:1-17 Job 24:22-24

Ps 73:1-17 Ps 73:18-28

Ecc 8:14 Ecc 8:12-13

Jer 12:1-4 Jer 12:14-17

Hab 1 Hab 2:3; 3:2-19

The Just and Unjust God

God is just (from history): • Exodus 6:5-8 (deliverance from Egypt)• Deut 7:22-26; 9:1-6 (taking the land)• Deut 19:1-21 (seen through the commands)• Deut 28:1-14 (blessings)• Deut 28:15-68 (curses)

The Just and Unjust God

The state of the people: • doubted God’s love (1:1-5) • not honoring God with their offerings (2:6-

2:9)• rejecting God (2:10-16)• misunderstanding/accusing God (2:17),

• cf. Prov 17:15, Is 5:20 • God’s reaction: weary the Lord with your words • Is 40:28; Ps 121:3-4

weary because of their sin, desiring for their and maturity (Is 1:14; 43:24)

The Just and Unjust GodGod manifests his justice:

• In his preparation 3:1a • In his coming 3:1b-2• In his refining 3:3-4• In his judgment 3:5• In his mercy 3:6

Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. Malachi: God’s Unchanging Love, p. 77

God Manifests His JusticeIn His Preparation 3:1a

• “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me...”

• in answer to 2:17 b “where is the God of justice?” - See, Maranatha (Aramiac, the Lord comes!)

• will come like a king, with a forerunner before to clear the way (Gen 24:31; Ps 80:9)

• a spiritual housecleaning to prepare the way: John the Baptist (Matt 1:11), John Benton said, “John the Baptist is like a herald going before the royal procession to indicate the route that the king would take and to make preparations for his coming.”

God Manifests His JusticeIn His Coming 3:1b-2

• 1b: “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. ”

• in answer to 2:17 b “where is the God of justice?”

• will come suddenly, unexpected, connected with judgment

• the Lord, different from “Lord” at the end of verse (Ex 23:17, 34:23; Is 1:24) - the sovereign Lord, in control, master

• to his own temple (1:7; 2:13), ownership, the object of their worship, the one who receives their offerings, Zech 8:3; Ezek. 43:1-5.

• The One who had much to say about their offerings.

• the one, whom you are seeking.

the messenger of the covenant: only here in OT.

• If John the Baptist is the messenger referred to 3:1a, then Jesus is the messenger of the covenant the Messiah (Matt 11:10). The one whom you desire, the one to fulfil all the covenants in the OT, Gen 3;15; 9:27; Ex 6:2-8; 2 Sam 7:12-19

• the messenger or angle see Ex23:20-23, the Lord himself (Gen 16:10; 22:15-18; Ex 3:2; 33:14)

God Manifests His JusticeIn His Coming 3:2 (1/3)

• “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.”

• in answer to 2:17 b “where is the God of justice?”

• He is coming to judge. The people who complained will taste His justice

• The people expected judgement against the gentile nations. They expected that Israel herself would be spared of the judgement. However, this is not the case.

• Isa 2:12; Joel 3:11-16; Amos 5:18-21; Zech 1:14-18

God Manifests His JusticeIn His Coming 3:2 (2/3)

• “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.”

• refiner’s fire: to purify

• launderer’s soap: to wash away the dirt

• the purpose was not to destroy, but to purify and clean

• refiner’s fire: the metal is heated to melting so the impurities within it separate and can thus be removed, leaving a purer metal (Isa 1:25), does not destroy the metal.

• the ultimate goal is restoration, not to destroy.

God Manifests His JusticeIn His Refining 3:3-4 (1/4)

3:3 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,

• will sit on the day of his coming

• not in a hurry, patient, watching, attentive

• the process will take time

• the object of purification are the Levites (1:6, 2:1) first, then all the people of Israel (v. 4)

• they who are to offer sacrifice to cleanse the people have need to be cleansed themselves

• they are precious as gold and silver

Gold in the Post-Exilic Time539-530 B.C. 530-522 B.C. 522-486 B.C. 486-465 B.C. 465-331 B.C. 333-331 B.C.

Cyrus conquered Babylon,Persian Empirebegan

Cambyses Darius Xeres Artaxerxes I(464-423 B.C.)Artaxerxes II(404-359 B.C.)

Alexander the Great conquered Persia

-Imperial Persia at its peak controlled every known source of gold in the ancient world. - King Darius I used the gold to build the great cities. He amassed a lot of gold bullion in his treasury. - When Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, he distributed the gold throughout his armies.

God Manifests His Justice

In His Refining 3:3-4 (2/4)

3:3 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,

• The basic process of refining gold is to mix a chunk of metal/ore with flux and expose it to high, intense heat causing the metal to melt. The impurities bind with the flux, float to the top, and are removed. The dross is gone and the pure metal remains. This process is repeated multiple times, using different processes, to produce finer and finer metals.

• To refine gold, the fire must be greater than 1500 degrees Fahrenheit.

God Manifests His Justice

In His Refining 3:3-4 (3/4)

“Refining silver is a delicate work and takes time. Silver, when molten, it gives off twenty times its own volume of oxygen with a hissing and bubbling known as “spitting.” “Unless the molten silver is treated with carbon (charcoal was used by the ancients), the silver reabsorbs oxygen from the air and loses its sheen and purity. ... There is a dramatic moment when the refiner knows that all dross has gone from the silver. Peering over it, the silver suddenly becomes a liquid mirror in which the image of the refiner is reflected. Then he knows that his task is done.”

(Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me, all his wonderful passion and purity, O Thou, spirit divine, all my nature refine, till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me)

Alan Robinson, “God, The Refiner of Silver”, Catholic Biblical Quarterly 11(1949): 188-190. Quoted by Walter C. Kaiser in Malachi, God’s Unchanging Love, 85

God Manifests His JusticeIn His Refining 3:3-4 (4/4)

3:4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

Numbers 8 Malachi 3

Chosen from all the tribes 8:5, 14, 17

Singled out from the other tribes 3:4

To purify and cleanse 8:7 Be purified 3:4

Ready to do the work of the Lord 8:11

Ready to do the work of the Lord 3:4, not like 1:9

God Manifests His Justice • In his judgment 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.

# Sin Reference1 sorcerers Ex 7:11, 22:17; Deut 18:10

2 adulterers Ex 20:14; Deut 5:18For #1 & #2 both are put to death: Lev 20”10; Deut 22:22; Ezek 16:40; John 8:5

3 perjurers Ex 20:7, 16; Lev 19:12; Jer 29:23; Zech 5:3,4

4 those who defraud laborers of their wages

Lev 19:13; Deut 24:14

5 who oppress the widows and the fatherless

Ex 22:22; Ezek 22:7; Zech 7:10; Deut 10:18; 14:29; 16:11, 14: 26:12; Ps 68:6

6 deprive aliens of justice Ex 22:21; 23:12 ;Lev 19:10, 23:22; Deut 14:29, 24:17, 27:19; Jer 7:6, 22:3; Ezk 22:7

7 do not fear God Deut 6:4-5; Ps 128:1; Prov 9:10, 10:27, 14:26-27, 19:23, 22:4

The Just and Unjust God

God is unjust (in our favour): • 3:6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, O

descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. • Ex 34:6-7