Malachi 2:17 – 3:5
“That's not fair!” How often do we hear this phrase coming out from the lips of people? I bet that we not only have heard this phrase but we, at one time or another, have uttered these words in response to what we perceive to be unfair treatment. Probably, when you were growing up, you've said those words in response to how your parents treated you in comparison to how they treated your older siblings – like when they told you to go to bed earlier than your older siblings who are still watching television, or that they get to stay out longer at night while you have to be home earlier. But when we are the receiver of good things, who are we to complain? In fact, do we ever complain that life is unfair when we
Get straight A's in school?
Receive an unexpected bonus or pay increase?
Are blessed with good health?
Get the best part of the chicken or the last slice of pizza?
Get to be first in line?
Of course not! We're not going to complain when everything is going in our favor. So, it is usually those who think they've been cheated or have been left out or who are envious of what others have who will exclaim that life isn't fair. We've all gone through that phase, that moment when we felt that we have been treated unjustly, and we go about pinning the blame on everyone – our spouses, our children, the teachers in school, our boss, our colleagues, and even God himself.
Admittedly, many if not all of us have all cried out the phrase “that's not fair”, but at some point in our lives we learn to cope and even understand why we aren't treated the same way as our siblings or our colleagues or our fellow classmates and we triumph over these issues with self-determination to improve ourselves and the resolve not to envy others. However, some will continue to remember those moments when they felt cheated upon and they let these thoughts control their lives such that they can never overcome it and they end up becoming bitter.
I recently watched over cable TV the Disney cartoon, Meet the Robinsons. The film is all about a talented young orphan boy named Lewis who travels into the future and meets his family in the future. He also meets a man who wears a bowler hat who is out to destroy him. He then learns that this mysterious man was his friend in the orphanage who had grown up becoming bitter and envious of Lewis because Lewis was getting all the attention while he was laughed at. In response to the unfair treatment he was receiving while Lewis was looked upon fondly, this other boy became obsessed with destroying Lewis and thus, he became Lewis' archenemy in the future.
I've mentioned in passing a moment ago that we also do put the blame on God for being unfair towards us. We accuse God of being unfair when we do not get what we ask for while others seem to always get their prayers answered. We accuse God of being unfair when we feel that we have been faithful to him and yet those who don't do much for God and those who don't believe in God seem more blessed than we are. We also think of God as being unfair when lawless and godless people get away with sin, and we begin to think that God doesn't have a fair sense of what justice is.
Do we personally call God unfair? I must admit that I have done so in the past and I am ashamed for having done so; and I am sure that many among you have done it in the past yourselves. But this morning, I would like for us to think about this: What does God think about our calling him “unfair”? What is his reaction to our accusations against him?
In this morning's passage in the book of Malachi, we find the Israelites calling God unfair because of their false assumption regarding God's justice (that those who practice evil were more blessed than them, thus God was dealing unjustly with his people) and the question of God's presence in the midst of all the injustice taking place (it was as if God was absent). God did not take these two false accusations very lightly. In fact, God himself said that he was wearied by what the Israelites were saying about him for this was to bear false witness against him, his reputation as God was being tainted by his own people. This morning, we will delve deeper into the issue of God's justice as well as why he felt weary about what the Israelites were saying about him.
In our past studies on the chapters 1 and 2 of Malachi, we've learned that the Israelites had returned from the Babylonian exile for quite some time already and the temple had been rebuilt and temple worship re-instituted. However, the blessing that they were expecting did not come, they were experiencing much hardship in the land, and now they were complaining to God because the ungodly were, in their eyes, more blessed materially than they were. This led Israel to become very shoddy when it came to their worship of God – from the leaders (the priests) all the way down to the people. All of them treated God with disdain or disrespect by giving their flawed offerings, by taking lightly their calling as God's servants and by disrespecting God's institution of marriage. In our passage today, we find the people questioning the justice of God and God replies to their accusations. But before we look at his reply, let us understand the implication of the people's statements.
“All Who Do Evil Are Good In The Eyes Of The Lord”
The Israelites saw the unrighteous people, those mentioned in verse 5, doing their evil schemes and yet, they go unpunished. Not only that, the unrighteous were growing wealthier everyday by their exercise of evil. This led the Israelites to conclude that God probably looks favorably on those who do evil because he doesn't punish them. So, if they themselves were to do evil things, then most likely, God wouldn't punish them. This accounts for why the Israelites behaved so badly towards God. They thought that God didn't care whether they were doing good or evil and this leads us to the second statement that the Israelites made.
“Where Is The God Of Justice?”
This second statement questions the presence of God in the midst of his people. The Israelites thought that if God was really present in their midst, then there wouldn't be a lot of injustice taking place. If God was around, there wouldn't be any bad people around. In fact, no one would dare do anything evil. But the fact is, a lot of injustice was taking place and people commit evil acts as if God never existed and this led the Israelites to put into question the presence of God in their midst. For them, God was absent and this was why evil was rampant.
Both these statements are serious accusations leveled against God and he wasn't going to take them lightly, because they were questioning one of God's key attributes – his justice. Just because evildoers seem to be getting all the breaks doesn't mean that God is blessing them. Just because evil is rampant in society doesn't mean that God is absent. In fact, in verse 1, God promised that he would send his messenger who would prepare the way for God's coming. This is a promise of God's presence as well as a promise of judgment. I will come back to this point a little later.
In Jewish theology, there is a key concept that is often used in the OT and this is the phrase, “The Day of the Lord”. The Day of the Lord is understood by the Jews to be the day of the Messiah's arriving; a day when the wrong would be made right, a day when God's people would be redeemed from the clutches of evil people, a day when a new world order would come to being where the Jewish race would enjoy being in the presence of God and where they would be rewarded. Unfortunately, many Jews take this concept and wrongly thought that all the Jews would be blessed by God, regardless of how they behaved. Check out Amos 5:18 - 19 where Amos wrote, “Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.” The Day of the LORD will not be a pleasant time at all as thought by the Israelites but it will be a day of Judgment! In today's passage, there is mention in Malachi 3:2 of “the day of his coming”, no doubt a reference to “The Day of the Lord.”
What will really happen on the Day of the Lord? Two things will happen on that great day. First is that God's people will go through a time of intense refining. Second, those who claim to be God's people but who live a life contradictory to God's law will face condemnation.
Intense Refining
The people of God will go through a time of intense refining. We get this idea from the mention of two elements – the refiner's fire and the launderer's soap.
According to some experts, refining silver is a very tedious process and requires constant attention. Silver ore is melted in intense fire. The refiner keeps constant watch over it to make sure that the silver is not overheated to the point that it is destroyed. The silver becomes free of impurities once a person can see his own image upon it. What a wonderful analogy of what God is doing in our lives. So often, when we go through God's refining fire, manifested through trials and testings, we complain and get easily uptight. We say to God, “God, why are you allowing me to go through this?” However, if we only realize that God's purpose for such refining is so that we will reflect his glory, that people will see Jesus in us, then the refining process is worth all the pain and struggles we go through.
The intense refining is also seen in the analogy of the launderer's soap. Laundry soap is a common household item and we know what it is for – to clean our clothes by removing dirt and stains. I am sure that no one here would like to wear clothes over and over again without having it washed properly. We want our clothes to be clean and fragrant, not marred with dirt and stinking in smell. Again, this is a beautiful analogy as it gives us the picture of God's reason for refining or for cleaning us. In this case, his refining is to make us blameless and holy.
The Day of the Lord will be a time of intense refining, a time when God's people will be purged of their sins and they will be made clean such that they will reflect the glory of God. It will not necessarily be pleasant at the start, but the results will be glorious. All true members of God's family are not exempted from this refining. We who belong to Christ know that we go through periods of testing because, at the end of it, we will reflect more and more the glory of God. Without refining, we will be complacent in our faith and we wouldn't care about being holy and righteous. Without refining, we would not turn out to being what God intended for us to become. This is part of God's judgment, when he disciplines us, so that we may end up reflecting the glory of God.
Condemnation
If you look at Malachi 2:17, we hear the people complaining that God is not around to administer justice and that he looks favorably upon those who do not fear God and who practice evil. Well, those who made these complaints were dead wrong! Those who presumed that God has turned a blind eye on injustice and were starting to follow evil were mistaken. God has not and will not turn a blind eye towards injustice. In fact, verse 5 of Malachi 3 shows us that on the Day of the Lord, God is going to come and he will testify against those who do evil such as those who practice sorcery, those who are adulterous, those who lie or perjure against others, those who do not treat their employees fairly, those who are oppressive towards the widows and the orphans, and those who deprive the aliens among them of justice. All those who do evil with reckless abandon, as if God were absent, will be judged harshly and they will pay dearly for their sins. While there is no mention of the word “condemn” or “condemnation”, the fact that God would testify against them is, in effect, another way of saying that such reckless sinners will find themselves condemned by God.
In essence, the two complaints the Jews made against God have been answered by God himself. He still is the God of justice and he will judge the evildoers. Thus, we are in no position at all to call God as unfair. God's judgment against evildoers may not come very quickly by our standards but it will surely come at the right time. Therefore, we are to wait upon the Lord for him to execute justice and not to take matters into our own hands. We are also to continue living a just life because God sees us and God will bring forth his reward to those who are faithful to him.
The God of Justice Has Come!
Going back to Malachi 3:1, we find that God talked about sending a messenger who will prepare the way for him; then the Lord himself will come to his temple and the messenger of the covenant will come. We wonder, what is God talking about? Is there any connection with the Day of the Lord?
I personally believe that this passage is actually talking about two key characters that we find in the New Testament – John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. The first messenger, the one who prepares the way for the Lord, is none other than John. This messenger is also mentioned in Malachi 4:5 where he is called the prophet Elijah. This prophecy is fulfilled in the person of John. How do we know this? Check out Luke 1:16 – 17 where the angel of the Lord declared to Zechariah that his son will bring the people of Israel back to the Lord, that he will go on before the Lord and that he would make ready a people prepared for the Lord. The language used by the angel is similar to what God said in Malachi. Thus, it leaves no doubt in my mind that John is referred to as the first messenger.
However, there is also mention that God himself, the Lord the people were seeking for would come to his temple and this stands in apposition or parallel to the phrase, “the messenger of the covenant” whom the people were desiring for. In other words, the two phrases are referring to one and the same person, namely God himself. The one whom the people were desiring for was none other than the Messiah and the Messiah is God himself. 2000 years ago, Jesus came in the flesh. He is the Messiah and his coming marks the start of the “Day of the Lord”. Ever since the day he came up to now, he is drawing people to himself, refining them and making them holy. At the same time, ever since he came, judgment has already fallen on those who refuse to repent of their sins and believe in Him. John 3:18 clearly states, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.”
We need to remember though that there will still be a final judgment when Jesus returns again soon to set up his kingdom. Those described in Malachi 3:5 as well as those described in Revelation 21:7 – 8 will be condemned by God. On the other hand, those who put their faith in Jesus Christ and whose life demonstrates that their faith is genuine will find everlasting reward as well as vindication from the injustices suffered in the world. The Lord Jesus that we love for his grace and mercy is the same Lord who will sit on the judgment seat on that great Day of the Lord.
This morning, we need to ask ourselves this question: What would we prefer to have, God's intense refining upon our lives or his condemnation? If you already know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you need not fear condemnation, however you must continually allow God to refine your life so that you will reflect his glory all the more. If you don't know Jesus yet as your Lord and Savior, I pray that you will not reject him but that you will accept him as your Lord and Savior. Standing condemned is not going to be a pleasant experience. You may blatantly sin against God in this life and seemingly get away with it but you will never escape the judgment of Christ when he returns. I plead with you – repent of your sins and turn to Jesus.
As Christmas is just around the corner, I hope that we won't just view Jesus Christ as merely as a loving and gracious Savior but we must also view him as the coming King who will judge this world. I pray that this season of celebration will not blind us to the reality that we all need to believe in Jesus before its too late.
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