Malachi 3:8 – 4:6          ROBBING GOD OR REVERING GOD?

  As Malachi sums up and closes this prophecy from God to the people of God we see that he divides them into two groups. One group robs God; the other group fears God. This word fears does not mean that they were afraid. It is translated in some versions as respect or revered or reverenced God. One group was out of step with what God wanted and were not in a right relationship with Him while the other group of people, as they talked with each other thought about God and His holy name and maintained personal contact with God.

The first group mentioned in this passage were robbing God. How were they robbing God? We are told that they were robbing God, “In tithes and offerings”. We need to begin by looking to see what the Bible teaches about tithing.

Tithing among the Jews was the practice of giving a tenth of one's income or property as an offering to God. The first recorded instance of tithing in the Bible occurs in Gen 14:17-20. After returning from rescuing Lot and defeating his enemies, Abraham met Melchizedek, the “king of Salem ” and “priest of God Most High.” The text states simply that Abraham gave Melchizedek a tithe of all the goods he had obtained in battle. The author of the Book of Hebrews, in recounting this episode, considered the Levitical priests who descended from Abraham, and who appeared centuries later, as having paid tithes to Melchizedek through Abraham. There is no evidence that Abraham received any demand for a tenth of what he had won in battle. Neither is any explanation given about why Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek nor how Abraham decided to tithe one tenth of the spoils.

In Gen 28:10-22 long before the law of Moses, Jacob also, promised that he would give to the Lord a tenth of all he received from the Lord.

10-11     Jacob’s situation

12-15     Jacob’s vision

20-22     Jacob’s vow

At a time when Jacob had nothing and was on the run from an angry brother he had a vision of God. God gave him marvellous promises and Jacob decided to do a deal with God.  “If God kept His promises to Jacob, and provided Jacob with all that he needed, Jacob promised in return to give a tenth of all that God gave him back to God.” It does not seem much of a promise but God kept his promise to Jacob and Jacob and his descendants kept Jacob’s promise to God. This was Jacob’s way of expressing his gratitude to God for all that God had promised to do for him and had promised to give him. Believing that God would keep all His promises Jacob responded by promising that of out of all that God gave him he would return one tenth to God.

It seems that at the time Malachi was preaching God’s Word to the descendants of Jacob many of the Jews were ignoring this practise and God said that they were, in fact, robbing Him. God was still supplying their needs in abundance but they were not keeping the promise made by their ancestor.

 So, what was the purpose of the tithe? Did God need the money? Was God going through a bad time? I don’t think so.

The tithe was a promise freely mad by Jacob to God. This promise was ratified by Jacob’s descendants at Sinai after God had delivered them from Egypt . Its main purpose was to remind the people of God of God’s goodness in providing all their needs and to instil in them a spirit of gratitude for all that God had provided.

In Romans 1:18-21 ingratitude towards God is the root evil that leads to all manner of sins. Not being thankful to God is the well out of which pours all manner of evil and filth.

I think the main lesson for us in this passage is that God expects us to keep the promises that we have made and that when we do we cultivate a relationship with Him where we can expect Him to keep His promises to us. A right relationship is always a two way affair.

And finally, in Malachi we see how precious to God are the godly minority when society in general has turned its back on God. A “book of remembrance” is kept, and God's remnant, are to be Jehovah's “peculiar treasure” in the day which He is preparing. As the Old Testament closes, we see the godly remnant speaking softly to one another of a great hope, “He is coming!” Then, for four hundred years they disappear from sight, until they reappear from obscurity in New Testament times where we find, in the aged Simeon and Anna, who we find in Jerusalem , waiting for the Consolation of Israel Luke 2:25. And so it is today. They who fear and love the Lord and His Son, Jesus, speak to one another in the closing decades of the present age.

We comfort one another with the words, “He is coming!”

God's book of remembrance is still being written. Yes, He is coming,  for “Unto you that fear My name”, says Jehovah, “shall the Sun of Righteousness arise, with healing in His wings!” And our prayer is, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

Yes, comforting, thrilling prospect, He is coming, coming a second time. The inviolable guarantee of this is the historical fact of His first coming, as vicarious Saviour, who fulfilled scores and scores of Old Testament predictions, with Divine precision. That first batch of fulfilments, two thousand years ago, constitutes the mightiest conceivable guarantee that all the other predictions and promises concerning His reign on earth in world-wide empire will similarly be fulfilled. Yes, He is coming! HE is coming - the Church's Bridegroom , Israel 's Messiah, and King of Kings and Lord of Lords of all nations.