This is the Word of the Lord

Malachi 1:1

Introduction 

Many religious leaders are unfaithful and abusive, making themselves biblically unqualified to lead the people of God. Marriage is not treated with honor. Believers marry non-believers. Divorce is rampant. Believers get divorced without biblical grounds. People are greedy. They love money. They do not thank God for his provision. Giving 10% of your gross income in unfathomable to most people.

Some of you may think that I’m describing American Christianity right now. And to a degree that would be an accurate description of American Evangelicalism. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about Israel in 500 BC. This describes the state of God’s people when they received the book of Malachi.

This morning we begin our fall sermon series through the book of Malachi. The goal for this sermon will be to introduce the book of Malachi and also to consider how the book opens. We will have two points: (1) the setting of Malachi; and (2) the substance of Malachi. Let’s begin with the setting of Malachi.

The Setting of Malachi

The book of Malachi was written by the prophet Malachi. Verse 1 tells us that the text is בְּיַ֖ד מַלְאָכִֽי, by the hand of Malachi. The Hebrew word מַלְאָכִֽי means, “my messenger.” We don’t know anything else about Malachi. He isn’t mentioned in the rest of the Old Testament or in any extra biblical literature of the time.

The book was written during the time of the restoration. Israel returned from Exile under Persian rule. Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Esther are all written within 100 years of each other. Chronologically speaking Malachi is the last prophetic word given by God before the coming of Jesus Christ. That is why our English Old Testaments place Malachi as the last book before the New Testament.

Canonically speaking Malachi is the last of the Prophets, but is not the end of the Old Testament, but is actually in the last third of the Old Testament. Remember from last week the Jewish Scripture, the Bible Jesus would’ve used was divided into thirds: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. The Law: Genesis – Deuteronomy. The Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the 12 Minor Prophets (Hosea – Malachi). The Writings are Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Daniel, Ruth, Esther, Ezra-Nehemiah, Job, Daniel, and Chronicles.

Malachi is the last in the book of the twelve (the 12 Minor Prophets were all 1 book in Jesus’ Bible, not 12 separate books). All of the Writings were after Malachi in Jesus’ Bible and the last book was Chronicles. So canonically speaking, Malachi would be about 66% of the way through Jesus’ Old Testament, not at the end. Malachi has always been considered one of the prophets. This is a prophetic word given by the LORD to his people 400-500 years before the advent of Christ.

After the Jewish people returned from exile Haggai and Zechariah led them to rebuild the temple. Israel was back in their land, but they were not free. They were under Persian rule. Notice in 1.8 that Malachi mentions the Governor. Israel did not have a king because they were under the Persian king. They had a Governor that answered to the foreign king.

So it’s important that we understand the longing and mentality of the people of God at this point in redemptive history. They had returned from exile but there was a sense they still felt in exile. First, they were still in political exile. A few weeks ago Pastor Brett preached on God’s covenant with David. At this point Israel had no king. Had God abandoned his promise? They were longing for the true Davidic king to come and rule justly forever.

Second, their hearts were still in exile. Earlier prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah had promised that God would initiate the new covenant that Pastor Kevin preached about two weeks ago. God would replace their heart of stone with a heart of flesh. God would write his law on their hearts and not just on tablets of stone. Another way to say it is that God promised that he would tattoo the 10 commandments on their hearts. He would give them a new heart that was able to keep God’s Law and more importantly wanted to follow God’s Law.

And the book of Malachi makes it clear that the people of God need new hearts. They need the true prophet, priest, and king to come and make all things new. Malachi indicts the people of God with all of the sins that we mentioned at the beginning of this sermon. The priests were desecrating the temple. The religious leaders were abusive and unqualified. God’s people were degrading marriage. They were marrying idol worshippers, another way to say that is to say they were marrying unbelievers. They were also divorcing without biblical grounds. The people were greedy. They were not tithing, as they should. They were robbing God.

This is the context into which Malachi writes. And Malachi’s style of writing is really easy to follow. The book is written in the style of dialogue between YHWH and the people of Israel. For example in chapter 1, YHWH says, “I have loved you.” And the people respond, “How have you loved us?” And then YHWH through Malachi rebukes Israel for their sin. Like all of the latter prophets, Malachi warns God’s people that there will be judgment if they don’t repent of their sin. If they will repent they will experience God’s blessing. And ultimately all of God’s promises will be fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

The Substance of Malachi

That was a brief survey of the setting of Malachi, now let’s look at the substance of the book of Malachi in Malachi 1.1. Verse 1 begins, the oracle. An oracle is a prophetic utterance. It’s a message from YHWH to a prophet for his people. The book of Malachi is composed of six oracles as the LORD rebukes the Jewish people for their abuse of the priesthood, their disregard for marriage, and their greed.

The book of Malachi like the entire Bible is the Word of God. What Malachi writes is דְבַר־יְהוָ֖ה - the Word of the LORD. The book of Malachi is consistent with the way God has always chosen to reveal himself. Our God is a God who speaks. Philosophically speaking we have a revelatory epistemology, that is to say the only way we know God or anything else for that matter is because God has spoken and revealed knowledge to us.

From the very beginning God created the world by his Word. Genesis 1.3, And God said… Every day of creation begins with God speaking his creation into existence ex nihilo, out of nothing. When God communicates to his people, beginning with Adam, he does so through speaking to them. There are rare occasions in the Old Testament when God sends an angel or even appears in what theologians call theophonies, but even then the emphasis is not on the shape God takes, but on the content of what he says.

When YHWH led Israel out of slavery in Egypt through the Exodus, he brought them to Mt. Sinai and made the covenant with them. God spoke the 10 Commandments to Moses. This was the first ever Bible. The first ever written Scripture was written on tablets of stone by God himself.

Over the centuries God spoke through the prophets and the poets and the Old Testament canon was built. Malachi stands in that tradition. This short book that we will spend the fall preaching is the very Word of God, given by YHWH to the prophet Malachi. The book of Malachi is self-aware that it is the holy Word of God. Malachi contains 55 verses. Nearly half of these verses contain some variation of the phrase thus says the LORD. The Word of God is by far the overarching theme of Malachi’s prophecy.

And as New Covenant Christians we know that the Word of God stepped into time and space and took on flesh and dwelt among us. We read it in our call to worship: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1.1, 14). The very Word of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a truly human life, yet without sin (Heb 4.15). He died on the cross bearing the judgment and wrath of God that his people deserved. He was buried and resurrected on the third day, crushing Satan, sin, and death, and inaugurating the Kingdom of God.

Because that’s true as Christians we look at every passage in the Bible through the lens of one question. It isn’t the only question we ask about any given text, but it is the most important question we ask about every text in the Bible: why did Jesus have to die and resurrect for this text to be true? For Malachi 1.1 Jesus had to die and resurrect for it to be true because Jesus is the very Word of God. All of God’s Words find their yes in Jesus Christ (2nd Cor 1.20). He is the substance to all of the shadows. He is the fulfillment of all of the promises. Jesus Christ is the final Word of God.

And we’ll see as we work through the book of Malachi that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the book of Malachi. Jesus is the answer to the people’s sin. They are sinning against their God through their greed, through their abuse of marriage and divorce, through their desecration of the temple and the priesthood. Jesus lived without sin and then took God’s wrath for sin so that everyone who will repent and believe in the gospel can be forgiven of their sin and live forever in the Kingdom of Christ.

As we move through the book of Malachi we’ll see how Jesus Christ is the answer to every specific pericope. But the encouragement this morning, in light of the fact that we worship a God who speaks, is to give yourself to the Word of God. The Scripture has the power to change and sustain your heart. That’s the reason why our liturgy every week here at Christ Community Church is intentionally shaped by the Word of God. We sing the Word, confess the Word, pray the Word, preach the Word, and see the Word in the sacraments. Come to church every week so that God’s Word can shape your heart.

Also read God’s Word. Read it every day. If you’re not a reader listen to it on a Bible app. If you don’t have a Bible app, download the ESV app. The app has a setting where you can listen to the every chapter of the Bible. Find a Scripture reading plan and do it. If you miss a day, just do the next day. Don’t fast from God’s Word. You can never get too much of it. The Bible contains Jesus and his gospel and that is the only thing that can save you and sustain you.

Conclusion

The setting for the book of Malachi isn’t all that different than the world we find ourselves in today. Many religious leaders are unfaithful and abusive, making themselves biblically unqualified to lead the people of God. Marriage is not treated with honor. Believers marry non-believers. Divorce is rampant. Believers get divorced without biblical grounds. People are greedy. They love money. They do not thank God for his provision. Giving 10% of your gross income in unfathomable to most people.

This ancient book contains so many answers for us here in 2021. The biggest reason why is because the book of Malachi is about the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the answer to abusive religious leaders, injustice, adultery, divorce, and greed. Jesus Christ is the Word of God and we hear from him in Scripture alone. We taste of him in the sacrament alone. As we prepare to dine with him at the Lord’s Supper let’s ask the Holy Spirit to sustain and grow Christ Community Church as we work through the book of Malachi together this fall.