Those who deny God His part of their estates may justly expect a curse upon their own part of them.
Those who rob God rob themselves of His benefits and protection.
In view of the immanence of Christ’s coming,
we should see to it that our accounts with God are balanced.
Malachi 1
1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ sope:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 ¶ Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8 ¶ Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
13 ¶ Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 ¶ Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
Malachi 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Malachi 3:1-12 – A Purging from Evil
The opening verses of this chapter stir the heart like the call of a trumpet. We remember how literally they were fulfilled in the presentation of our Lord in the Temple by His parents. Unnoticed by the crowds, jostled amid the press, borne in the arms of poverty, the King suddenly came to His Temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant. Only two faithful retainers, Simeon and Anna, were there to welcome Him. But there is another and more personal reference. Let us keep the doors of our hearts wide open to the coming of the King. There may be no blare of trumpet, no flash of jewel, no cry of herald, but into your heart’s secret shrine He will come. Is not this just what we need? Make haste, great Lord of all, and in our poor hearts do thy blessed work, that we may be refined as gold and silver, and offer to thee an offering in righteousness. Then will it be a delight to bring all the tithes into the storehouse. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Malachi 3:3—He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver.
If you are just now in the fire, dear soul, be of good cheer—it shows at least that you are silver, and that you are capable of performing more acceptable service in God’s holy Temple. If it were not so, God would not take so much pains. He chastens those whom He loves, and prunes the branches that are already bearing fruit. What a comfort it is that He surrenders this work to no other hands than his own. He may give his angels charge concerning us when we are in danger; but He keeps our purification beneath his special superintendence.
But notice that He sits. What patience is here! However many years thou mayest have to lie on that couch, He will sit beside thee. The nurses will go off duty, but He never. Love may faint and be weary, and nod into light slumbers; but He never slumbers nor sleeps. Those that were most frequent in attendances may drop off; but He will sit, night and day—when the soul is lonely, and when the room is filled with cheery voices; when the pain is almost unbearable—reach out the hand, you will touch his; breathe the softest sigh, He will answer, “I am here.”
And the process will be continued until the scum has passed away, with its rebellion and murmuring, and his dear face shines, sweetly mirrored in its every outline and lineament, Then the fires will die down, and He will bid thee arise to reap the full reward. God is set on reviving the better, holier past, to which some of us revert with tender interest. “It was better with me then than now,” we sometimes say. But the tender grace of those days that are dead will come again to the soul, who yields to God’s refining. “The offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old” (Malachi 3:4). —Our Daily Homily
Malachi 3:6 – Our hope is not hung upon such untwisted thread as “I imagine so,” or “It is likely”; but the cable, the strong rope of our fastened anchor, is the oath and promise of Him who is eternal verity: our salvation is fastened with God’s own hand and Christ’s own strength to the strong stake of God’s unchanging nature. (Rutherford)
A GIFT FOR THE ALTAR.
There were but few gifts recorded in the bible which were large enough to attract the attention of Christ. They were not large but they all implied sacrifice, they represented the utmost that the giver could bestow. When the widow bashfully pushed her little mite into the collection box she little dreamed that her offering weighed more than all the gold and precious treasure that lay stacked in the safety deposit vaults of Jerusalem. If God has a cordial contempt for anybody in the world, we suspect it is for the man who, having made a fortune, gives ostentatiously a part which is insignificant in proportion to the amount which he retains to minister to his own comfort and ease.
Malachi 3:8
Malachi 3:13-18 – Wickedness and Pride Shall Find Judgment
The day cometh! either in the fall of Jerusalem or in some terrible catastrophe yet future. Whenever it comes may we be reckoned as God’s peculiar treasure, preserved as a woman preserves her jewels in the day of calamity, Malachi 3:17. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Malachi 3:17 – What dirty, dreadful, disgusting stuff,” exclaims a man regarding that peculiarly unpleasant compound, the mud of London streets. “Hold, my friend,” says Ruskin. “Not so dreadful after all. What are the elements of this mud? First there is sand, but when its particles are crystallized according to the law of its nature, what is nicer than clean white sand? And when that which enters into it is arranged according to a still higher law, we have the matchless opal. What else have we in this mud? Clay. And the materials of clay, when the particles are arranged according to their higher laws, make the brilliant sapphire. What other ingredients enter into the London mud? Soot. And soot in its crystallized perfection forms the diamond. There is but one other – water. And water when distilled according to the higher law of its nature, forms the dewdrop resting in exquisite perfection in the heart of the rose.” So in the muddy, lost soul of man is hidden the image of his Creator, and God will do His best to find His opals, His sapphires, His diamonds and dewdrops. (Rainsford)