Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Situation | Part 3: Jacob, not Esau | Part 4: Defective Leadership | Part 5: Defective Populace
As God approaches the end of his message through Malachi—his last words to his people Israel before going silent for 400 years—he presents them with the big choice: will they serve God, or will they resent him?
He begins by laying out Judah’s current attitude, which is resentful (Mal 3.13-15). “Your words,” he says, “have been stout [KJV; arrogant, NASB NIV; hard, ESV] against me” (Mal 3.13). The Hebrew word here is the one used of Pharaoh when he hardened his heart against God and brought down the plagues upon his country. To put it in today’s vernacular, they’ve gone toe to toe with God, defying him to his face.
Astonishingly, they respond with gaslighting: “How have we spoken against you?” (Mal 3.13 ESV).
And God, patiently, answers their insincere question. They have said by their actions, “It’s futile [NIV] to serve God. We gain nothing by obeying him” (Mal 3.14). Commentator Gordon Hugenberger (in the New Bible Commentary) observes wryly, “After the list of sins exposed already by Malachi, one may wonder to what requirements they could be referring.” It doesn’t appear that they have tried obeying God long enough to support their conclusion.
What’s especially remarkable about these words is that in the immediately preceding passage (Mal 3.10-12), God has promised abundant, global, and eternal blessings for their simple obedience. This is a lack of faith, probably prompted by sheer laziness.
And they’re not done. They complain further that the wicked have it better than they do (Mal 3.15; cf 2.17). If the wicked escape judgment, why should we bother?
That’s the current state of Judah’s culture.
But there’s another option. God lays it out in the last stanza of chapter 3.
There are some, apparently a small minority, who fear God. They found each other—birds of a feather always do—and they encouraged one another to swim against the tide. (Sorry about the mixed metaphor.)
And God, as he always does, notices. And he takes notes (Mal 3.16).
This isn’t the only place in Scripture where he talks like this. He writes about his people even in their fetal stage (Ps 139.16); he writes the names of his people in a “Book of Life,” to be consulted at the judgment (Da 12.1; Re 20.12, 15).
Now, God’s omniscient, and he doesn’t need to write things down so he doesn’t forget them. But he describes himself as writing these good things down; he delights in them, and he wants to keep a record.
And for those written in the book, he describes his feelings toward them. He calls them “jewels,” (Mal 3.17), his personal possession, and even his sons. Peter says something similar in 1P 2.9.
There’s an old gospel song based on this verse, written by William Cushing (1823-1902). We don’t sing it much anymore; some people may think it’s doctrinally light. But I’d suggest that there’s room for songs in the assembly that just express simple delight in God and in fellowship with him. Even “In the Garden.” (There. I’ve said it.)
Here at the end of chapter 3 God has laid out the choice in stark terms. We can serve God, or we can deny him. There are two teams (Mal 3.18), and we have to join one of them.
In the next chapter, and in the next post, we’ll see the eternal outcome of that choice.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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