Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Date Written: Malachi was written in the last half of the fifth century b.c., most likely after 433 b.c.

Although the book does not name a specific ruler or event by which it can be dated, its contents make clear it was written during Persian rule and well after the temple was rebuilt in 515.

Several facts support a date just prior to or shortly after Nehemiah’s second term as governor (around 435 b.c.; see Ne. 13:4–7).

1. Malachi’s reference to a Persian governor (1:8) indicates that the book was written after 538, at which time Persia came to power.

2. Malachi would have addressed corruption among the priests and the issue of blemished sacrifices only if the temple had already been rebuilt and the priesthood reestablished (1:6–14).

3. The spiritual and moral issues addressed by Malachi show that enough time had elapsed after the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah for the people to have grown cold and fallen away from the Lord.

4. Malachi rebuked several of the same violations addressed by Ezra and Nehemiah, such as intermarriage with Gentiles (2:10–11; see Ezr. 9:1–2; Ne. 13:1–3), neglect of the poor (3:5; see Ne. 5:4–5), and failure to tithe (3:10; see Ne. 13:10).

Ezra returned in 458 and Nehemiah in 444–445, so Malachi likely addressed the same generation or one not long after that.

5. Nehemiah left Judah for Babylon in 437 but returned around 435 and corrected the abuses he found (Ne.

13).

It is likely, then, that Malachi ministered either during the time Nehemiah was in Babylon or that he wrote and preached to a later generation that had backslidden after Nehemiah’s reforms.

To Whom Written: Malachi ministered to the returned exiles living in Judah after the temple had been rebuilt.

Considering the degree of the people’s spiritual decline, Malachi obviously ministered several decades removed from the generation that completed the temple.

It was to this backslidden generation that God’s last prophet wrote.

The book of Malachi is also written to all people of every nation and generation:

• to give an example and warning to us

“Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Co. 10:11)

• to teach us how to live and to give us hope

“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope” (Ro.

15:4)

Purpose:

1.

The Historical Purpose: to call the people back to faithfulness to God and to one another.

Malachi rebuked the religious leaders of his day for neglecting to teach the people proper worship and for accepting the people’s indifference and lack of commitment.

He also indicted the people for their lack of concern and their coldness toward God and to one another.

Beyond the general theme of unfaithfulness, Malachi exposed several of the people’s sins and wrongful attitudes.

Most prominent among these were …

• doubting and forsaking God’s love (1:2–5)

• dishonoring and disobeying the Lord (1:6–2:9)

• divorcing their wives to marry Gentiles or foreigners (unbelievers) (2:10–16)

• denying God’s justice and power (2:17)

• robbing God by withholding tithes and offerings (3:6–12)

• despising God’s grace and patience (3:13–15)

Malachi also described God’s coming judgment for these sins, a judgment that would surely come if the people did not repent and return to the Lord (3:7).

These judgments are spelled out between the passages of rebuke.

They are …

• judgment of the priests (2:1–9)

• judgment of the nation (3:1–6)

• judgment of the returned exiles (3:16–4:6)

2. The Doctrinal or Spiritual Purpose: the book of Malachi offers a glimpse into the heart and mind of God by showing how broken God’s heart was over the people’s callous behavior.

In the challenging dialogue between the Lord and His people, there are several vital lessons to be learned:

a. Malachi reminds us as believers that we are deeply loved by the Lord and that we have been chosen for a very special purpose.

We are to be God’s light to the world, proclaiming His great love to other people and nations.

In this way, we participate in God’s wonderful plan of salvation just as Israel and Jacob were called to be at the forefront of this great plan.

b.

Malachi reminds us that patience and faithfulness are required to inherit God’s promised blessings (2:10–16).

Patience is needed because there is often a delay between promise and fulfillment; that is, God’s promises are fulfilled according to His perfect timing, not ours.

In the meantime, we must remain faithful and obedient to the Lord, trusting completely in His promises.

In the most difficult times, we must persevere all the more, meditate on and trust in God’s Word more and more.

God’s Word and promises are sure; they are an anchor for our souls.

c.

Malachi teaches us how to worship the Lord, for how we worship Him is of critical importance (1:6–2:9).

The people in Malachi’s day were dishonoring God and profaning His Holy Name with their meager offerings and tainted sacrifices.

They thought God would not know or care about what they were doing.

But compromise in worship and service is dishonoring to the Lord.

Malachi reminds us that dishonoring God is a detestable crime because of who God is: He is the Lord Almighty and He holds the earth and eternal destiny of every person in His mighty hands.

Therefore, He deserves our best.

Anything less than our best is an insult, showing utter disrespect for who God is—the Sovereign Lord and Majesty of the universe.

d.

Malachi teaches that our faithfulness to God deeply affects how faithful we are to others, especially those who are most important to us (2:10–16).

God commands that we be faithful first and foremost to our spouses.

Malachi’s generation began to grow indifferent to the Lord and soon grew lax in their commitments to one another as well.

Men were divorcing their wives to marry foreign, unbelieving women.

The Lord bluntly told them that they were betraying Him and each other.

He told them even more emphatically that He hates divorce (2:16).

The key point to grasp is that we cannot be faithful to others apart from remaining faithful to the Lord.

God must come first in our lives because it is He who gives us the strength and fortitude to meet all of our other obligations.

e. Malachi teaches the importance of giving money to the Lord’s work.

How we spend our money is a direct reflection of how much we care for and love the Lord (3:7–12).

When we fail to tithe and to adequately support God’s work, we are not only acting selfishly but also robbing God.

3. The Christological or Christ-Centered Purpose: the Messiah is presented in Malachi as the great hope of God’s people, the cure for or Healer of their transgressions:

⇒ Christ is the Messenger of the covenant, the one who is sought and desired and who is coming to His temple (3:1).

⇒ Christ is the Refiner, the one who purifies and cleanses God’s people (3:2).

⇒ Christ is the Sun of Righteousness, the one who rises with healing in His wings and who causes the faithful to leap with joy (4:2).

Also related to these prophecies is the prophecy of the messenger who will prepare the way for the Messiah, a prediction of John the Baptist (3:1a; see Mt. 3:1–12; Lu. 1:5–23).

[Introductory Material Excerpted From: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Habakkuk–Malachi, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2009), 323–324.]

Main Thought: Don't make the mistake that Israel did in that she despised the love that the Lord had shown her.

Sub-intro:

...the book’s focus is “clearly on the message rather than the messenger since out of a total of fifty-five verses as many as forty-seven are the personal addresses of the Lord.”1

[1 Richard A. Taylor and E. Ray Clendenen, New American Commentary—Volume 21a: Haggai, Malachi, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2004), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 205.

Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Habakkuk–Malachi, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2009), 323.]

Body:

I. Calling the Blinded to Behold the Lord's Past Displays of His Love (Mal.

1:1-4).

A. The Courier of His Love (Mal.

1:1).

The word maśśā’ (“burden”), with which the book begins, sets a sober mood....

In the prophetic books maśśā’ introduces messages of a threatening nature 27 times (e.g., Isa.

13:1; 14:28; 15:1; Nahum 1:1; Hab.

1:1; Zech.

9:1; 12:1).... Standing alone at the beginning of Malachi, the word maśśā’ gives this prophet’s entire message a sense of anxiety and foreboding.

[Craig A. Blaising, “Malachi,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed.

J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 1575.]

The same word introduces oracles against the nations in Isaiah 13–23, characterized by eschatological judgment.

The last six chapters of Zechariah are deeply eschatological, and though Malachi is in a different literary category from them, they share the same conviction that God’s coming to judge the world is imminent.

The ‘burden’ which weighs on the prophet is meant to weigh on men’s consciences till they prepare for ‘that day’.

[Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary, vol.

28, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1972), 237.]

Malachi had a burden, and a heavy burden it was.

It had been placed on him by God.

The prophet called it “the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi” (1:1).

Malachi looked at society through the revealing lens of the word of God and, like Bunyan’s pilgrim, became aware of a great load on his back.

In Malachi’s day society was materialistic, secularistic, smug, wrapped in the graveclothes of a dead religion, divorce-prone, callous about the plight of the poor, and conceited in its airy dismissal of God.

The prophet was burdened about the alarming sins of his people.