Messiah in the Minor Prophets Pt 6
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Proposition: Through the message of the Messiah God offers His people hope for the future.
Question: How does God’s message of the Messiah in the minor prophets offer us hope?
Jesus offers us hope through:
1). Reversal (Hosea)
5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.
Jesus offers us hope through:
1). Reversal (Hosea)
2). Restoration (Amos)
11 “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old,
Jesus offers us hope through:
1). Reversal (Hosea)
2). Restoration (Amos)
3). Security (Micah)
3 He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore;
4 but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
Jesus offers us hope through:
1). Reversal (Hosea)
2). Restoration (Amos)
3). Security (Micah)
4). Rejoicing (Zephaniah)
17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
Jesus offers us hope through:
1). Reversal (Hosea)
2). Restoration (Amos)
3). Security (Micah)
4). Rejoicing (Zephaniah)
5). Salvation (Zechariah)
Salvation from sin:
4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.”
Final salvation:
9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
The message of the Messiah in Malachi offers hope through righteousness
The message of the Messiah in Malachi offers hope through righteousness
Situational Context of Malachi’s Day:
Babylonian Captivity: 70 years
Decree of Cyrus: 538 BC
1st Return under Zerubbabel: 536 BC
Temple is completed: 516 BC
2nd Return with Ezra: 458 BC
3rd Return with Nehemiah: 445 BC
Malachi: 435 BC
Having been liberated by the Persians from exile, the people were now living under the thumb of Persian domination, and the meager sense of autonomy experienced in the fifth century BC was certainly not the kingdom promised by earlier prophets. Temple was rebuilt, walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt.... so now what?
God’s people were disappointed in their lack of prosperity, they were not experiencing the kingdom promised to them, so they abandoned God.
Key thought: you must understand this heretical thinking of the Jews if you are going to grasp the overall message of the prophet Malachi.
13 “Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’
14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?
This morning I have a rhetorical question for you…why are you here? Why are you at church on a Sunday morning? Why did you get yourself out of bed and come to church?
Examining our reasons for coming to church can reveal deeper spiritual needs.
Have you ever asked these kinds of questions:
What can I get out of this church?
Do I leave with that fuzzy feeling on the back of my neck?
Does it emotionally charge me up for the week?
Illustration: Real estate agent: his reason for attending his church: lots of connections with prominent people in the community.
These kinds of questions may reveal to us a deeper problem of our heart- why we worship God. Do we worship God for what WE can get out of the experience? Why should we worship God?
Think about why the Jews of Malachi's day were worshiping God!
It is vain- worthless, valueless, futile, useless!
Question: When the Jews spoke these words- for whom was it worthless or valueless to serve God? For themselves! What is the problem with this kind of worship? This is man-centered, self-motivated worship!
What is the profit?- advantage? benefit? gain? how have we been helped?
What advantage is it to ME if I keep God’s requirements? What profit is it to walk mournfully before the Lord? (In joyful, dependent, humility upon almighty God, but they spin it as- walk in morning before God!)
This was the thought that was driving the worship for the Jews!
1st Question to guide us through Malachi:
What are the results of a man-centered worship?
What are the consequences when our worship is motivated by self-centered gain?
What happens to our worship when we ask the question, “What’s in it for me?”
We may call into question God’s love
We may call into question God’s love
Malachi 1:2 (ESV)
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?”
We may offer repulsive worship to God
We may offer repulsive worship to God
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’
7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised.
8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts.
12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised.
We may turn people away from God
We may turn people away from God
8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts,
We may become faithless in our relationships to others
We may become faithless in our relationships to others
Some of the men of Judah had profaned the sanctuary of the Lord by marrying pagan women.
11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
We may respond with indifference to sin
We may respond with indifference to sin
They responded with shocked indifference to their sin. They were dismissive of their own undeniable guilt!
13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
Right worship of God is inseparably linked with personal righteousness. God does not accept the worship of those who grieve Him through unrighteousness. Right worship has far more to do with how you live on Monday through Saturday than most people realize.
14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
They were faithless to the Mosaic covenant by marrying pagan women. They continued to offer sacrifices of worship (sacrifices that were defiled, polluted, and profane). They arrogantly thought that they could live immoral lives and God would still accept their worship. And they even divorced the wives of their youth. They broke their marriage covenant with their wives from Judah so that they could marry pagan wives! And then they had the audacity to ask “Why does he not?” What? God doesn’t regard my offering? He doesn’t accept it with favor? Well, why not? Really!
We may weary God with blasphemous words
We may weary God with blasphemous words
They wearied God with their blasphemous words- words that were irreverently spoken about God.
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
The people were doubting God’s justice. They were looking around and seeing the prosperity of the wicked, and they came to this conclusion: God delights in the wicked! How did they make that leap of logic? They argued: everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord (i.e. they have lots of wealth and power and stuff), therefore God delights in evil people.
Conclusion: If the wicked are blessed, then why bother serving the Lord? What good is it to serve God when unrighteousness goes unanswered? (Every been tempted to think that today?)
By allowing their earthy circumstances to dictate their theology (very dangerous) they spoke irreverent words, words that tarnished the very character of Almighty God, and they wearied the Lord.
2nd Question to guide us through Malachi:
What are the results of a God-centered worship?
What are the consequences when our worship is motivated by a God-centered glory?
What happens to our worship when we ask the question, “What does God want?”
Our worship will be refined and purified in righteousness
Our worship will be refined and purified in righteousness
What is the Lord’s answer to these weary words?
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
How does God answer the question “Where is the God of justice?”
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
Jews: Where is the God of justice?
God: Behold, I will send my messenger (the voice crying in the wilderness, John the Baptist), and he will prepare the way (he will clear a path) before me. And then the Lord whom you (claim) to seek will suddenly come to his temple; (and/even) the messenger of the covenant in whom you (claim) to delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
Faithful remnant: What was their hope when the nation around them was perverting the worship of God? The coming of the Messiah.
Sinful nation: What was God’s answer to their claim that it was more profitable to do evil, that God was unjust? The coming of the Messiah!
2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
Jesus’ work is compared to a smelting fire used to remove metal impurities, and then to the lye soap used to wash clothes. What effect will Jesus have on the worship of God’s people one day?
3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
Jesus is going to purify and refine the worship of God’s people into what it ought to look like! And what should their worship look like? Offerings of RIGHTEOUSNESS! Friends, when we ask the question “What does God want in our worship?” And we understand the kind of effect Jesus will have one day on worship- we will right now begin to refine and purify our worship in righteousness.
Do you understand the difference?
Worship: “What’s in it for me?”
How does that change the substance of a Sunday worship service?
How does that change the substance of our daily living?
Worship: “What does God want?” And the answer is righteousness!
How does that change the substance of a Sunday worship service?
How does that change the substance of our daily living?
When our worship becomes refined and purified in righteousness what is the result?
4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
Our worship will be pleasing to God!
Our worship will be characterized by repentance
Our worship will be characterized by repentance
5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
After Jesus’s work of refining and purifying the worship of His people, the attention of the text turns to Jesus’ work of judgement.
False Claim: Mal 3 15
15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’ ”
One day Jesus will bring all the wicked into justice and judgement.
How should this knowledge affect us?
Malachi 3:6–7 (ESV)
6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
Return to me and I will return to you- repentance! If you see areas in your life of self-centered worship what is the correct response? Repentance! Turn away from that sin, and return to God!
Our worship will be steadfast through hope
Our worship will be steadfast through hope
16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.
Look at the quality of worship God desires: Those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. In other words there was a small remnant of the people who heard Malachi's preaching, took it to heart, and responded with faith and repentance.
And how does God act when we respond with reverence, faith, and repentance?
The Lord paid attention and heard them! And a BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE was written before the Lord of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name??? What is going on here?
What a reason to be steadfast in rightly worshiping God! What a reason to fear the Lord and esteem his name in every aspect of our worship! If you worship God this way what will God do for you? Write your name down in a book of remembrance....
17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
Wow!
18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
Implication: You don’t clearly see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked right now. But one day...
1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
The fate of the wicked! What better reason to abandon a worship of God that asks “What’s in it for me!”
But...
2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
Sun of righteousness!
16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
When Jesus Christ comes back and establishes His kingdom- when the sun of righteousness shall rise upon the earth- what effect will that have upon those who worship God rightly?
2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
Healing in its wings- Jesus will bring healing to all creation- he will fully fix the curse of sin finally and forever.
You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall (KJV- grow up as calves of the stall; NKJV- grow fat like stall-fed calves)
Leaping- פּוּשׁ
1). Charge along like horses (Hab. 1:8)
3). Be scattered (Nah. 3:8)
2). Frisk about- This vb. is used for the frisking of calves turned out to pasture; this picture serves as a metaphor for exuberant joy
11 “Though you rejoice, though you exult, O plunderers of my heritage, though you frolic like a heifer in the pasture, and neigh like stallions,
2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
Haggai, Malachi (3) A Day of Burning (4:1–3)
It would be hard to find a more vivid image of the excitement that will be felt by those who have just been delivered completely and forever from the darkness, pain, and grief of a world cursed by sin.
What other effects will the rising of the sun of righteousness have?
3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.
What a hope we have in the coming of the Messiah! The sun of righteousness. He will healing everything and he will cast down the wicked.
The coming Messiah was the people’s hope through righteousness, and He is ours as well.
Let this hope transform your worship!
No longer offer God self-centered worship. Stop asking the question “What’s in it for me?” That only leads to sin, ruin, and misery.
Start asking the question “What does God want?” as you approach him in worship.
Allow your worship to be refined and purified by righteousness
Let you worship be characterized by repentance
And maintain the righteous quality of your worship, even when it seems like the wicked are prospering, by looking ahead to the hope of the coming Messiah- Jesus Christ our righteousness! He will come and refine like fire and purify like fuller’s soap. He will come and it will be a sunrise of righteousness. He will bring healing to everything that is broken. He will cause you to go out frolicking like calves let loose from the stall. He will tread down the wicked. When Jesus comes, when the Lord acts it will be glorious. Let that hope motivate, strengthen, and transform your worship right now.