As your bibles are opened to Malachi 2:1-9. Let’s begin by looking at verse 1 together…
“And now, O priests, this commandment is for you.” – Malachi 2:1
- What does a Priest to Do?
Some people might be tempted to check out at this point because this passage is obviously not for us, or is it? The connecting point is the term “priest” because it was not only used to identify a certain group of people in the Old Testament, but is also used to describe every believer in the New Testament.
In the Old Testament, priests were descendants of Moses’ brother Aaron, who was from the tribe of Levi. They were called Levites and their job was to serve God.
An Old Covenant priest was “set apart” for three primary purposes:
(1) To truthfully and accurately teach God’s commands. (2) To serve God in full and constant obedience (3) To preserve the holiness of God by turning people away from sin.
Today we are under the New Covenant, a covenant made though Jesus our high priest, who offered Himself as the final sin sacrifice and fulfilled the sacrificial system.
We see this in Hebrews 4:14:
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.”
Importantly, Hebrews chapter 7:23-25 makes it clear that the Old Testament priesthood role in the blood sacrifice is now obsolete. It’s a relief in part because Hebrews 7:27 tells us that blood sacrifices are no longer necessary because Jesus has fully paid for every sin: “Who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He (JESUS) did once for all when He offered up Himself.”
Another change in the priesthood, anyone who sins is forgiven by the blood of Jesus, and is a priest. We become descendants of Jesus via a new birth. 1 Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”
As priests, we are set apart for worship and service. The apostle John recorded in Revelation 1:6: “And has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father…”
Here’s how this passage relates into our lives today:
- We are called Priests (vv. 2-3, 8-9)
Every believer is a priest and as such is set apart for worship and service. And, just as priests in the Old Testament were to point people to God, each of us is called to honor God in our life. Unfortunately, it’s easy for us to forget our function as priests for Christ. And sometimes we see our duty as a drudgery rather than a delight.
Do you get tired of hearing about the scandals of inappropriate behavior of pastors, coaches, and others in leadership? We’ve seen it in the church all too often, haven’t we? Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggert, Ted Haggard and Jerry Falwell jr. We see inappropriate behavior in other professions in life also. People will lose their jobs due to “inappropriate behavior.” In commenting on these scandals, one columnist said: “they had influence and an air of invincibility – a dangerous combination” We do not need to be embarrassed by exhibiting conduct unbecoming to our calling. When we make a wrong choice, we can confess it, and correct it. We don’t have to continue down these wrong paths as these men did.
There are 6 disgraceful steps that contributed to the spiritual slide of those who should have known better in verses 2-3 and verses 8-9. Sandwiched in between, in verses 4-7, are 4 positive steps that we’ll close with.
As we look at Malachi 2, we’re introduced to priests that exhibited conduct unbecoming to their call. And, they did it with an air of flippant invincibility.
- A disregard for God. (chapter 1)
“Where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name.” – Malachi 1:6
- They dishonored God’s holiness. (vv. 2-3)
These priests no longer honored God, which means that they didn’t consider Him to be worthy or treasured. The most important thing to them was themselves.
Notice in the first part of verse 2, they didn’t honor God and they didn’t bother listening to Him: “If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to My name,” says the Lord of hosts.”
The word “hear” means to “listen intelligently with the implication of obedience” and to “take it to heart” refers to an active decision of the will. We know from chapter one that they didn’t honor God because they were not bringing the best to God.
During these verses, God refers to Himself as “Lord Almighty.” Please don’t forgot that this is one of the titles that God used to communicate that He is “the Highest, the Greatest and Sovereign.
This spiral downward continues as they dishonored the holiness of God and His name. It will stand out in a person’s life. A.W. Tozer wrote, “What you think about God is the most important thing about you.”
And yet, because of God’s love and grace, He offers them to return and repent. Look at the very first word of verse 2: “If.” God is giving them a condition. If they persist, then He will punish them.
This is very similar to Jeremiah 13:16, where we read this:
“Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills.”
On the other hand, if they give glory to God and set their hearts to honor His holy name, He will unleash His blessings. (See Malachi 3:10)
It becomes very graphic at this point. If they don’t repent (act of will), then 4 things will happen:
- A Reversal (v. 2)
In the second half of verse 2, God declares that He will send curses upon them. “I will send a curse upon you,
And I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart.”
A curse is more than just wishing something bad on someone. A curse is a pronouncement, and it should not be confused with the idea of using profanity. A curse from God is in fact the opposite of a blessing from God.
When God says that He’s going to “curse their blessings,” He’s saying that their sin and rebellion will not be washed away by some benediction or religious sacrifice that the priest did for that purpose.
In other words, the priestly role would be rendered futile since they can’t offer a blessing which was part of their responsibility. Their work and service to offer blessings to people will turn into curses.
- A Rebuke (v. 3a)
Verse 3 begins with some tough words that are aimed at their children and grandchildren: “Behold, I will rebuke your descendants.”
Genealogical concern for their families was important. Remember that in order to be a priest you would need to be a descendant of a priest. Here God is removing the descendant factor of a priest. The way they lived and served God affected their children’s lives. As priests we probably need to think more about this and our role of passing down a godly heritage to our children..
God deserves honor and glory by how we live our life, so we will not need to see our children rebuked, and we will not also face…
- Shame (v. 3b)
“And spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your solemn feasts.”
This idea is important since every priestly ritual involves cleanliness. Before we look at this, there are important words to review:
The Hebrew word for “refuse” refers not just to the intestines but also to “dung” or “manure.”
The phrase “solemn feasts” is also significant, since these times required much greater sacrifice activity. By far the largest number of animals would be given which makes a larger amount of waste.
God is saying that because His priests have not honored Him, they will be humiliated! He will take the waste from animals and smear it on their faces. (Often when the Old Testament uses the term “face” it refers to the acceptance of a person. See Numbers 6:24–26)
There’s a 4th result that will happen when people know God and yet do not honor Him:
- Removal (v. 3c)
The rebuke leads to rejection, which finally leads to removal. The last part of verse 3 says that they “will be carried off with it.”
When the priests made sacrifices, they would lay them on a table and keep the intestines and organs separate so this could be taken outside the temple and walls and burnt, because it was unclean. The idea is that their faces were covered with dung, so they were unclean and unworthy to serve.
God is not passive about how we honor His name and He will not allow anyone to prosper in any form of rebellion to His known will. Why did God speak so critically to the priests? Because their disobedience affects something important to Him. Their roles affects His Honor and His people.
It goes back to Malachi chapter 1:2: “I have loved you, says the Lord.” He loves us too much to let us keep living like we are. We must come back to loving Him as He loves us.
But back to the downward spiral of steps of a person who falls away. The next step leads to a departure from what we know is right. The 3rd step, drop down to the first part of verse 8a:
- They depart from the way. (v. 8a)
“you have departed from the way;” – Malachi 2:8
One translation puts it like this: “You have left God’s paths.” Once a person stops walking with God, they must get back in step with Him.
The 4th step is found in v. 8b…
- Being a spiritual distraction to others (v. 8b)
“You have caused many to stumble at the law.” – Malachi 2:8
When we depart from the way, we usually end up taking others with us. Instead of pointing people upward they were tripping them up. God said it strongly in Isaiah 9:16: “Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray.”
In Romans14:13, “Decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.”
There’s a 5th step, is found in the last part of v. 8…
- Desecrating the covenant (v. 8c)
“You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” – Malachi 2:8
They were destroying a unique relationship with God. The purpose of the covenant was to produce a love from the heart between man and God.
That word “corrupt” means “to decay and destroy.” This term is used in Genesis 6:12:
“God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.”
We desecrate the New Covenant when we cause people to turn away from a relationship with God. A result of living with corruption is that people despise you.
- They were despised by the people (v. 9)
I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people, because you have not kept My ways. – Malachi 2:9
It’s ironic that we don’t tell people about God because we don’t want to offend other people. Yet that is the outcome when we don’t witness. They were in a spiritual freefall and they ended up being rejected by the people. The same happens to us when we don’t take our relationship with God seriously, the outcome is that the world will not care about you or God!
So how do we prevent our life from this detriment? There are some positive steps we can take. The first is found in v. 2…
- Respond to God in obedience (2a).
God wants for us to listen and to set our hearts for obedience. It’s one thing to believe something is true; it’s another thing all together to obey it. In James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only.”
The litmus test of listening is whether or not you are living out what you know to be true.
- Honor God (vv. 4-5)
“Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, That My covenant with Levi may continue,”
Says the Lord of hosts. “My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, And I gave them to him that he might fear Me; So he feared Me And was reverent before My name.” – Malachi 2:4-5
In verse 4, God wants His covenant with Levi to continue. Levi was the third of Leah’s sons born to Jacob. His name literally means, “to adhere,” or “be joined to.” Leah was hoping that with his birth, her husband might be drawn closer to her: “Now at last my husband will become attached to me…so he was named Levi” (Genesis 29:34).
Men, let me encourage you to commit to your wife. We’re going to talk more about this in Malachi.
What made the descendants of Levi so special? When Moses came down from the mountain after meeting with our majestic God, he threw the stone tablets containing the 10 Commandments to the ground because the people were worshiping the golden calf. Moses saw that all the people were running wild and so he stood at the entrance to the camp in Exodus 32:26 and said this: “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me. And all the Levites rallied to him.”
Moses told the Levites in verse 29: “You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”
Many of us compromise. We disobey whenever we feel like it… And right in the face of a holy God!
You see, many of us are bored with God because we don’t care who He really is! Then, we lose sight of what is really important. After responding to God and honoring Him, the next step is to be faithful.
- Commit to being faithful (v. 6)
Look at v. 6: Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, The law of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity.”
When we allow God’s Word to guide our own lives. Our walk with Him will impact others.
The phrase in verse 6 “turn many from sin” is important. As the exhortation in James 5:19-20 says: “My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”
The final step for now is in v. 7…
- Represent God to others (v. 7)
One of the roles of the priest was to represent God. We see this in verse 7: “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.”
If we’re living out faith, people will notice. If no one has asked you why your life is different, then maybe it really isn’t!
1 Peter 3:15: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”
We need to close, in review;
• Respond to God in obedience. What can you do this week to obey Him? Is there something you’re doing that you
know you should stop?
• Honor God. Read the Book of Malachi this week.
• Commit to being faithful. Are you spiritually growing? Are you walking with Him daily?
• Represent God to others. Don’t fear people, fear God. Make sure our life helps others know Jesus.
Finally, maybe God is calling you to be one of His witnesses? John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”