Malachi 3
Chuck Smith on Malachi 3
Verse by verse, the C2000 series. Permission granted by The Word For Today.
Verses 1-4
Chapter 3 Now the promise of the coming of John the Baptist as the forerunner to Jesus Christ.
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like the fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and in the former years ( Malachi 3:1-4 ).
Now here we have a co-mingling of both the second... the first and the second comings of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist did come as the forerunner, proclaimed the coming of the Lord after him. "There's One coming after me mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I'm not worthy to unloose" ( John 1:27 ). When he saw Jesus, he said to his disciples, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" ( John 1:29 ). He bore testimony of Jesus Christ.
But Jesus was rejected. He did come to the temple. He did cleanse it. He drove out the moneychangers and those that were selling the doves. But He was rejected. But He is coming again, and before He comes again, Elijah shall come, precede Him, and prepare the hearts of the people for the coming of the Lord. So part of this was fulfilled in His first coming; much of it remains to be fulfilled in His second coming.
But with Malachi and so many of the others, they did not see the two aspects of the coming of the Messiah. So as they wrote, Peter said, "They wrote of things that they really didn't understand." Earnestly desiring to look into these things and to understand them. But they really didn't, and they didn't understand, really, the seeming ambiguity and contradictions of the prophecies that they were making. For they were prophesying that He would reign as King and Lord forever upon the throne of David and establish the kingdom forever, and yet, they were saying, "and He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief, cut off from the land of the living" ( Isaiah 53:3 ). "The Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself" ( Daniel 9:26 ), or without receiving the kingdom. So they were giving these prophesies that they could not themselves understand, because there was this seeming paradox, the differences. But yet, they wrote of them, honestly obeying the voice of the Spirit that was speaking to their hearts, though they themselves did not understand the things of which they wrote.
Now this is referring, of course, to the second coming of Christ; He's coming to judge the world. The first duty, the first activity of Christ when He returns to the earth is that of judgment, gathering the nations together for judgment.
and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers ( Malachi 3:5 ),
Verse 5
Now the sorcerers are those... the word in the Greek is pharmakeia, from which we get pharmacology, which is the use of drugs... those that are using the drugs for hallucinogenic purposes, against the adulterers.
against [those who are liars] false swearers [those who swear falsely], against those who are oppressing their [employers, or their] employees in his wages ( Malachi 3:5 ),
Verse 6
Withholding, actually. In James it says, "Go to now ye rich, weep and howl for the woes that have come upon you, for you have defrauded the laborer, you've been holding back his wages in order that you might live sumptuously." Now the Lord speaks of their being cut off. So those that are oppressing the hirelings holding back the wages,
oppressing the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed ( Malachi 3:5-6 ).
Verse 7
God's promises to Jacob are sure, otherwise He would've consumed them; He would've consumed the people. But His promises He keeps, and He promised that to Jacob there would arise the star, the morning star. So God keeps His word, but God is here declaring that if it were not for His word, they would be consumed. "But I am the Lord, and I change not." This is what is called, from a doctrinal standpoint, the immutability of God. That is, God does not change. In the New Testament we read concerning Jesus Christ, "The same yesterday, today, and forever." He does not change. God's immutability--one of the divine attributes of God.
Even from the days of your fathers you are gone away from my ordinances, and you've not kept them. Return unto me, and I return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But you said, Why should we return? ( Malachi 3:7 )
Verse 8
So God is even now giving them the chance to turn. "Return to Me," God said, "I'll return to you." They said, "Why should we?" They were surely impudent people. Then the question:
Will a man rob God? Yet [the Lord said] you have robbed me. But you say, Where have we robbed you? [And God said] In the tithes and in the offerings ( Malachi 3:8 ).